Tag Archives: Sun

Ann Arbor Java User Group meeting tonight: format change

Time, Location, and FOOD has changed (and added to program)

The original plan was to start the meeting around 7:00 and have pizza and then Rags Srinivas (Java evangelist from Sun) would start talking about JavaFX Script and plans for the new consumer friendly JRE.   Both topics are of great interest to me, so I have been looking forward to this JUG meeting.

Ah, but then some MORE changes were made. 

  • Instead of PIZZA, there will be a PASTA BAR.  So come earlier, around 6:30 instead of 7 (presentation will start around 7:15).
  • The location changed to ML101, and the room will be open by around 6:15.
  • AFTER the presentation, Rags will hang around for Q&A "Ask the Java Evangelist" session.

Please spread the word.  I hope that this is a great meeting and well attended in spite of the late notice.  I'm looking forward to it. 

See you there!

JavaFX Script in Ann Arbor next week!

Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 6:30 pm (note new time and location)

I'm really excited!  The AAJUG meeting topic was announced today (for the meeting next week), and it's JavaFX Script, being presented by Raghavan "Rags" Srinivas, CTO of Technology Evangelism at Sun Microsystems.  Announced at JavaOne, JavaFX is a HOT topic in Java GUI building.  It's being discussed as a challenge to Flash.  Personally, I don't see that, but anything that helps build momentum in Java on the desktop (and simplify Swing development) is good, IMO.

The meeting announcement is at the Ann Arbor Java User Group website at http://www.aajug.org/.  Please RSVP so that there's enough pasta bar!

If you're a regular AAJUG attendee, Please note, we are meeting in a different room (changed again MONDAY)!

 

JavaFX Script

Ann Arbor Java User Group

Sun Project Blackbox Tour

Tour coming to Southfield tomorrow!

I first heard about the “datacenter in a shipping container” on the Java Posse. Today, I got an email from a local friend that Sun is doing a tour of the “Project Blackbox” in Southfield, MI on Tuesday, March 20, 2007.

This demo/tour is open to the public and free. If you want to sign up, go to http://www.sun.com/events/st/loc.jsp

They are holding these events all over the country.

Sounds like an interesting tour. I’m looking at my schedule to see if I have time to attend.

Swag at the Java Posse Roundup

Cool swag

Is it rude to brag about the swag at a conference? Ah, well, I’m gonna do it anyhow. Next year, I’m convinced that the Java Posse Roundup 2008 will sell out during the early bird registration period, and it won’t be just for the swag.

But it was cool swag.

Cenqua and Google and O’Reilly sent t-shirts. There was a serious lack of shirts in small sizes. Kathy Sierra would NOT be pleased. She’s right … it DOES matter. Even the guys were amused at the number of XL and XXL. Not a small or medium in the bunch of Google or O’Reilly shirts. I didn’t check out the Cenqua shirts (I like their product, though).

O’Reilly sent some books and notepads. But they made the mistake of labeling the box “Dark Chocolate”. OK, the notebooks were great, but the expectation of chocolate kinda set the bar!

Google also sent some really cool flashy pins. Bruce’s company (Mindview) has great floaty pens.

Adobe sent a training video for Flex and a nice travel mug too.

Sun sent developer tools. I hope that I didn’t forget anyone. The swag table was quite laden with goodies. We have some cool notebooks that I could have taken, but the thought didn’t occur to me.

But next year, someone better send chocolate. I definitely know what SRT will take to its next event. Hmm, we’re sponsors of the Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing in a few weeks. Maybe I should see if we still have time to get chocolate!

Announcing CodeMash 2007

Ohio … where you need to be January 18-19

What? January in Ohio?! That’s always the first reaction. But … once I tell them what’s going on (and that it’s at an indoor water park), the tune changes to, “Really? Cool!”.

I’ve been involved with the planning of CodeMash, a 2-day conference for developers, to be held in Sandusky, Ohio January 18-19. 2007. It’s a conference for developers of all flavors: Java, .NET, Python, PHP, Perl … you name it! We’ll have some Ruby on Rails and some TurboGears, some Oracle and MySQL. The goal is to all get together and learn from one another. We all benefit from advances in other languages and platforms.

We’ve scheduled some really cool keynotes. Bruce Eckel is going to talk about issues of design in software development, from a philosophical standpoint. Neal Ford is planning a talk about the evolving programming paradigm. Scott Guthrie will also be doing a keynote.

We’re accepting abstracts right now, and conference registration will be open really soon (you can reserve a spot now, though!). The pricing is phenomenal … early bird price of $99 for the 2 day conference, if you stay at the Kalahari Resort (conference hotel, discounted room rate of $88/night). The regular price for registration (after Nov 30) is $149.

I think it’s going to be an amazing event.

CodeMash – I'll be there!

Code Mash Conference Page

Energy Builds After Conference

Energized and Ready to Get Back to Work!

It’s amazing what a few days at a conference can do! It’s been a while since I’ve been at a conference. The past few years have seen me “stuck” in town with family responsibilities. It was really great to get away, and I really forgot how energizing getting out among different people can be.

A lot of the topics discussed at Bruce Eckel’s “Programming the New Web” conference weren’t really things that I use in my daily life. I don’t use ColdFusion or PhP or Python. I mainly live in a .NET/Java world. But I love to hear and talk about technology and solutions as much as the next guy, and so even the topics that weren’t directly related to what I do offered insight and grabbed my attention. The advantage of only having one session at a time is that I felt free to attend these talks, and of course, I learned a lot there too!

And, one thing that pretty much everyone agreed on was that innovations like Ruby on Rails has really driven updates in Java tools!

We even had a session on Java vs. .NET programming that turned into an entirely non-technical talk, about how Microsoft has built up a support structure that really helps business like mine, while Sun has pretty much ignored the Java community. Upon my return, I was amused to see a (totally coincidental) email soliciting Java Champions, which might help to achieve at least part of what Microsoft does with their Most Valuable Programmer and Regional Director designations. I’m looking forward to our local Java user group meeting (next week), and I’m hoping that I can become more involved with that.

Next entry will be on tools!