logo_2xThe LoneStarRuby Conference kicks off Thursday and runs through Saturday at the Norris Conference Center in Austin.
The event features more than 25 speakers and a RailsBridge training day for women, teens, and recent grads seeking to learn how to program. The training, made possible by a donation from Rackspace, is free and open to the public but registration is required .
The event is one of a handful of regional conferences that draw hundreds of startups, IT executives, and developers focused on Ruby on Rails, the open source web application framework that runs on the object-programming language known as Ruby.
According to Lance Vaughn, Executive Director of the LoneStarRuby Foundation (), the event organizer, the purpose of the conference is to address the market opportunities, challenges and future of Ruby on Rails.
“We put together this year’s conference to address how design can impact communities, and vice-versa, in a way that can lead to positive change in our world,” Vaughn said. “The Ruby community has long been one of the most diverse communities in the world of software development, so this year we wanted our speakers to reflect that richness in background, culture, gender and values.”
Speakers include Sandi Metz, Steve Klabnik, Katrina Owen and Avdi Grimm. The conference also features the following:
• Ruby Rogues panel and live podcast
• Cloud panel featuring speakers from Rackspace, Heroku, Engine Yard, and HP Cloud
• Dave Thomas, author of The Pragmatic Programmer, presenting Elixir
• Ashe Dryden speaking on diversity in the computer programming culture

The conference is open for registration.