Gems are a fundamental part of the Ruby ecosystem. Through the tireless work of open source developers we're able to amplify our own capabilities and build systems of complexities that would otherwise be out of our reach. Amongst Ruby developers from veteran to beginner a common wisdom of "use a Gem for it" pervades our culture.
Though at times the use of a Gem can be a mistake. When you add a gem to your project you are adopting it's code into your system. In this talk you'll learn what it means to add a Gem to your project. You'll get a grasp on some ways to decide if you should add a Gem to your project. You'll also walk away with a firm understanding of what it means to the future of your project when you become dependent on a Gem. If you're new to Rails and want to learn more about libraries, Gems, and all the other things surrounding third party code in your project this talk will be perfect for you.