Tag Archives: workshop

Books and Conferences and Blogging, oh my!

Long time, no blog. I’ve been putting all of my writing energy into the book that I’m writing with Bruce Eckel. We’re working on Atomic Scala, a book targeted at a gentle introduction to Scala, for programmers and not-yet-programmers alike. If you like the language, we expect that the book will prepare you for a more comprehensive book.

If you want to experience what we’re working on, Bruce and I will be holding a 4-day workshop, “A Gentle Introduction to Scala” in Crested Butte, CO from July 18-21. We’re limiting attendance to 8 people for now, and holding it in Bruce’s living room.  The goal is to gently introduce the workshop attendees to the language through a series of discussion-y type interactions based on the book and exercises that we’ve developed. We will gain valuable feedback about the book and we hope that the attendees will become comfortable enough with the language that they can decide if they want to pursue its study or not.

We decided to do a social experiment on pricing the Atomic Scala workshop. Inspired by the Humble Bundle folks, we’re letting the attendees decide how much they want to pay. We set a minimum ($75) and show how other open spaces conferences have been priced for comparison sake. Unlike the Humble Bundle folks, we didn’t write any cool code to show how much above or below the average people are paying, or separate it out by platform, and we didn’t throw in any bonuses for paying above average. Frankly, the numbers are just to small for that to be meaningful in this case. But we are looking forward to seeing how people respond to “pay-by-worth”.

Immediately before the Scala workshop, I will be presenting the Scala Koans with Daniel Hinojosa at OSCON, in Portland, OR. I’m really looking forward to the conference. I haven’t been to Portland in quite a while, and I’ve never been to OSCON. The koans will be presented on Monday afternoon. Daniel and I have presented them together several times now, and it’s been an interesting experience each time. The participants really make it fun!

I’m looking forward to my own little Geek Week this summer!

MTU/IBM offer summer workshop for High School Women

Deadline to apply is May 30!

IBM Sponsored Summer Program in Computing for High School Women at Michigan Technological University

Do you know any high school women who are interested in computing?

IBM is supporting a weeklong workshop for high school girls at Michigan Tech in Houghton, Michigan, June 24-30.  If you know of any young women who are interested in learning more about the field of computing, and who might like to attend this workshop, the deadline is TOMORROW, May 30. Details at http://www.youthprograms.mtu.edu/wics/index.html
For more information, contact Linda Ott (linda@mtu.edu) or call (906-487-2209).

I can and will personally vouch for MTU's summer programs for women, since I attended one (eek!) over 25 years ago now.  Ugh, I wish I hadn't done that math. Anyhow, it's a great program, so if you know of any women who might benefit from attending, please contact them right away.  My recollection is that you pay for your travel to get there, but everything else is covered by a scholarship.  This is a great way for young women to learn about the field of computer science, to meet and interact with other young women who might be interested as well, and also to tour the campus to decide if Michigan Tech is right for them.  I loved it there, and the program is excellent.

Youth Programs for Women in Computing

It’s a busy week in Ann Arbor!

I’m still trying to finish up my blog from my visit to Microsoft last week (and from the Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing over the weekend), but I wanted to make sure that I mentioned the busy week that we’re having in Ann Arbor this week.

James Ward, Flex evangelist from Adobe, is coming in from Oklahoma City to present Flex both Tuesday night at the Ann Arbor Java User Group (www.aajug.org), at 7:00 (note the earlier time!), and on Wednesday night at the Ann Arbor Computer Society (www.computersociety.org) at 6:00 pm. While James has sent me the same abstract for both nights, he’s said that the Tuesday night event will be more Java-focused and the Wednesday night event will be more about the technology. There’s not much overlap in attendance at the groups but since I’m planning to attend both nights, it will be great to hear something different the second night.

Here’s the abstract:

Sexy Web Apps with Java, Mozilla Tamarin, and Flex

In this session James Ward will do live demonstrations and write code to show how easy it is to build sexy web apps with Java, Mozilla Tamarin, and Flex. The session will cover the programming model, Java Remoting, Pub/Sub messaging & JMS integration, Data Synchronization, Hibernate integration, charting, cinematic experiences, and media integration.

I’ve seen James demo some incredible stuff with Flex. He built a TurboGears widget with Flex at CodeMash. He demo’ed a nice bookshelf photo application there as well (using photos from CodeMash!). And, he showed a demo at the Java Posse Roundup that used transparent pages from an old medical textbook … wow! To be able see the transparent pages turn, and to be able to see through them to the previous page is REALLY cool, and really does give you a flavor for the compelling interfaces that can be built with modern technologies.

We’re really making the best of James’ time while he’s here. In addition to the evening events, Adobe, Microsoft, and SRT Solutions are presenting, “UI Smackdown 2007: Using GWT, Flex, and WPF”. This is a one-day workshop to learn more about all of these toolkits in an open spaces type of environment. We’re going to start off by presenting a quick overview of each, and then the participants will be breaking out into groups of their choosing to work with the various toolkits. The $90 registration fee includes continental breakfast and lunch. There are still a few slots available, so if you still want to sign up, do so right away so that we can make sure that we order enough food!