Posted by sharon1234 on February 25, 2011 at 11:09pm
I would like to suggest a topic for the westside meeting. HOOKS
This is a really powerful feature, does anyone have experience with hooks that would be willing to talk about what a hook is the features and how to use it?
Comments
SimpleTest presentation
I'd love to see a presentation on SimpleTest and how/why to write tests, even if it's kinda high-level. It's one of those things that I know I should do, and maybe a presentation would get me to actually do it.
If nobody else can do it in a couple months, maybe I'll put myself under the gun and volunteer to do it myself at DTLA. Then I would have to learn :D
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Ahh, lovely, lovely SimpleTest
I gave a presentation at one of the Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) Drupal meetups on SimpleTest last year. You can see the slides at: http://migshouse.com/content/simpletest-drupal-7-you. I'd like to update it now that D7 is live but won't be able to present on it until my schedule quiets down a bit (in the next month or 2).
My thought process was to have my 1st SimpleTest presentation be pretty generic & newbie-friendly. No code shown to avoid non-developer types or folks new to Drupal being overwhelmed & "losing them" during the presentation. The 2nd, follow-up, presentation was going to be a bit more in-depth so coders & others could dig in & witness how powerful it is. I'm a big fan of breaking up talks into parts when you have different audiences who could benefit the most from that particular part.
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
The hook system and how you
The hook system and how you use it would be a great topic, but only if the presenter actually explained it and didn't feel compelled to describe all 280+ hooks.
I would love to do this, but definitely can't do it in March.
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Hooks for the non-programmer
"Hooks for the non-programmer."
Or... "Hooks, and Drupal's use of Naming Conventions"
Or maybe... "Hooks: Shortcut or headache?"
Or perhaps... "Hooks: when that module is just plain overkill."
The last two monthly meetings have been high-level programmer-centric, imo. Remember January was about the Forms-API?
If "Hooks" will be as high-level as the last two major presentations were, I think we should announce that the Culver City monthly group is for programmers.
Gear the Hooks presentation for the non-programmers and the newbies (like me) and maybe the newbies (like me) might want to grow up to be a programmer someday too. Recently, it's been too codey for me. If Hooks can be a part of a top-down explanation of something bigger, maybe that would be an interesting approach. (See second proposed title, above.)
I remember Rain's presentation on administration was good. Also, the Mobile workshop a few months back was very good for beginners - and didn't dumb it down at all. Has there been a D7 basic feature-set presented at the CC meetings or the downtown meetings? If so, I missed it. At DCLA there was a great presentation as an intro to D7. Maybe a scaled-down version of that would be nice.
Captain Hook
I second (fourthen?) the idea of a presentation on Hooks. So many people just throw out, "You can do that. Just hook_form_blabla." As a neophyte programmer that is not enough information for me. How do you implement a given hook in a module?
I also agree that the recent presentations, although excellent, have been technically advanced for me. I love learning about something new and challenging. But when a presentation gets too high level, it might as well be be given in Mandarin for what I absorb from it.
At the meetings a clipboard is passed around asking if you are a designer or developer. I consider myself both and wonder if that question gives a skewed view of the audience. I wonder if it would make sense to instead ask if we identify ourselves as a designer or a programmer or a developer.
So I guess this is my way of saying that "Hooks for the non-programmer" sounds like a dream-come-true presentation for me.
hooks
I agree -- I consider myself both a designer and a developer, and a newbie programmer. I suspect too, that people who are strictly designers don't use Drupal -- if they do, then they venture into becoming developers.
I think a presentation on hooks would be great. I know nothing about them, but they seem like a powerful tool.
Throw me a hook to get out of this curve
I am also see myself as a designer/developer with my eye on the programmer role. What seems to be missing for me are hooks. After all from the name alone one must know that this is how all the elements in the giant belly of the beast called Drupal are connected.
Given all the hoopla on what and where LA Drupal is(not to open that wound whatsoever), I feel that bringing the active drupal community to an advance level will benefit everyone. I myself will go anywhere for good learning but if it is given in Mandarin as mcfilms put it, I may need to brush on my Mandarin elsewhere before attending.
In short, give us hooks and we shell come.
Score with a Hook Shot
I would like to learn more about hooks so long as it is geared towards non and beginning programmers.
I recommend a revival of the pants module!
The pants module was pretty fantastic in helping me understand hooks (and quite funny :)) though it is now outdated (it was in Drupal 5). Methinks we need pants at 7 ;)
I think there's a module
I think there's a module called Hooker, but only those with bad judgement can use it.
WizOne Solutions - https://wizone.solutions - Drupal module development, theme implementation, and more
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In case anyone missed it,
In case anyone missed it, WizOne just posted in the comments on the March 15th meetup announcement at http://groups.drupal.org/node/112644#comment-426084 that:
Thanks, guys!
Thanks Wizone
Thanks for stepping forward on this topic. Hopefully this will be recorded.
I'm Hooked....
I started out in design and this is my first foray into website design. 9 weeks ago I knew nothing about any of this. Now I'm teaching myself programming. Although I've enjoyed all the meetings I've been to,and have learned a lot, it would be great to see some topics directed specifically at beginners. Hooks being a good one, since they are an instrumental part of Drupal and Drupal development.
Metting Formats
There are so many good comments here. There seams to be a large section of the members that are beginners or at least the loudest voice. We might want to consider a 2 part meeting (for lack of a better term) gear 1/2 towards designing and 1/2 towards developing-programming OR possible 1/2 beginner and 1/2 more advanced and intermediate levels. This might bring a larger attendance to the meetings. It is always good having a mix at the meetings.
I would even go so far as to propose:
6:30-7:15 workshop w/computers out
7:15-8:15 beginner topics
8:15-8:30 break
8:30-9:30 intermediate - advanced topics
Great Idea
Great idea I have been thinking the same thing. Another way to do this is to break into two tracks, and have 2 talks at the same time. The Media Temple space is definitely big enough to handle it.
Two tracks gives more flexibility
I like the two tracks idea very much. It will cover all levels and keep attendance throughout each meet up.
That's a great format
That's a great format, but we're always at the mercy of our venue sponsors. This is just my 2¢, but I don't think either Oversee or Media Temple actually have what we need right now. Media Temple, for example, currently has space available to us for a 2-hour meetup but not a 3-hour meetup.
Also, to have simultaneous presentations in multiple tracks, we would need more community members to step up and present (or risk draining our "presenter pool") and we'd need more space to do it (since each track would ideally have its own room so that people can participate without disrupting others).
I like the idea, though. I secured these venues at Oversee (with @Techivist) and Media Temple (with @otseld and @leev) for LA Drupal and am happy to talk with our venue sponsors, but obviously this is an open discussion and everyone has a voice. Does anyone else have thoughts or requests?
My thoughts on multi-tracks @meetups
I like the idea of multi-tracks but it really does take a lot of person-power to not only manage, but run effectively. I've always liked the idea the LA Drupal managers came up with for "break-out groups." What if when putting those up on the board for consideration you assign a simple "BIA score" to each- Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced. This might kill 2 birds with one stone.
I agree w/Christefano about remembering that we need to keep our venues in mind. Both Oversee & Media Temple (as examples) have & continue to be great venue sponsors but there are limitations, naturally. Equally as important is Christo's mention of possibly "draining the presenter pool." What he means is "presenter burnout." This is VERY real. Those of us who have been around long enough to lead/organize groups and those of us who've simply attended groups have seen it all happen way too many times. It happens to both presenters & organizers from being the select few who do everything. All the time. So if we want this awesome community to continue flourishing & the sharing of Drupal goodness, we, as attendees, also need to step up. Especially since resources are thin & word has already come down of only 1 "official/main" meetup & no support for the others. So we, as community, need to step it up as a whole.
Being the type who not only points out problems but also likes to provide solutions to those problems, I've got a challenge for the LA Drupal community: Offer to present a lightning talk!
Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be a Drupal Ninja to give a presentation. You could be new to Drupal & share your thoughts on the difficulties you're having getting started, where Drupal could improve, how the documentation is good but could be better. There are MANY topics where I'd prefer to hear from a Drupal Newbie. Especially since it's fresh in their/your mind. Take a couple notes during your experience. I guarantee you'll have at least 5mins of content to share. Take it on as a challenge for overcoming shyness & improve your public speaking skills. There's a lot of things YOU can gain from sharing 5mins. with your fellow Drupaleros.
So my challenge is to challenge yourself to give a lightning talk in the next couple of months. I'll start:
Presentation: Intro to SimpleTest
Audience: Beginner
Slated: May 2011
Location: DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles) Drupal
Presenter: Miguel Hernandez
Bio: http://migshouse.com/about
Hmm, maybe starting a different thread for this might be a good idea...
Miguel Hernandez - www.migshouse.com
Founder & CEO - The OpenMindz Group
Writer- Linux Journal & TechZulu
Our hooks presentation
Great to see the positive response to our plan to do a presentation on hooks.
Just wanted to fill you in that the plan is to keep this beginner oriented. We're going to focus on the basic concepts and provide a general introduction to hooks, what they're for and how to use them. Then we'll delve into a little sample code, just to whet everyone's appetite.
This is a very broad topic; many of the individual hooks could be stand-alone topics. Some have indeed been presented on by members of the LA Drupal community at previous meetups and camps.
My suggestion is to come with some questions, and keep proposing topics for future meetups. Maybe we can pick some of the major hooks and plan future talks to go into greater detail.