The JavaOne Experience - 2008
San Francisco is a great city. Sure, like any city it has its negatives but there's a great number of positives about the city too. Of course there's the weather, much nicer than New England. Transportation is much more accessible than a place like Boston(the streets are also wider to account for this system) and there's plenty of great things to do and see.
My first day attending the conference and on my way to the Moscone Center at about 8am, I walked right by James Gosling, the Chief Architect of the Java language,
eating breakfast right outside a bagel shop. I would've said hello, but
come on, he was eating. Besides, currently we're coworkers... distant
coworkers. Nevertheless, how weird would it be if I asked for something like an
autograph? If the roles were reversed I certainly would think it's
weird, but that's just me. Plus, I'm merely proficient with the language, I'm no architect; thus what would be the topic of conversation? In retrospect, maybe the topic would be Sun Microsystems.
I've put up some pictures in the gallery. This being my first JavaOne, and largely being unsatisfied with the quantity of pictures taken, I hope to take more the next time I attend as I now have a better grasp of what occurs at an event like this. One of my favorite pictures is of Orientals in formation next to the arts center practicing fan technique at about 8:30 am PST in the morning, and it's not even conference related.
In case you didn't know, JavaOne is the conference of all conferences if you're into Java. Some of the brightest minds come from all over to meet and talk about the latest with the Java platform. Heck, simply walking around the Moscone Center is enlightening. I won't go into details about the conference's sessions because you can find that information spread out all over the JavaOne website, and the content is extensive.
One of the benefits of an event such as this is the chance to keep your ego in check; programmers' egos can tend to increase when they shouldn't... events like this are a nice reminder that there's always better than you. With this in mind, it's a great opportunity to go up to someone that might have been speaking about something like... say concurrency, and ask them about oh who knows, something related to maybe its pitfalls in present day computing. The point is, it doesn't matter if you are in fact a novice, there's plenty of information to be gobbled up at this event, and if you are more skilled than a novice you can still learn from the masters.
The most entertaining session I attended was a topic I know absolutely nothing about, titled "Duke Riding the Geospatial Wave". As you might be able to tell, it concerned geography and map navigating; to say the least and declare my non-knowledge. The session was very engaging by encouraging attendees to simply yell out when they have a question or something to say. It was exciting because the speakers broke out into a small argument amongst themselves over how efficient something like Google Maps is compared to a Microsoft version. The guy from TomTom also openly and admittedly bashed Microsoft which is always good for a few laughs. I don't know if the argument was staged... it certainly didn't appear to be. In retrospect I recall an attendee asking a question which ignited the argument. Fun fun fun. In the end, it was definitely educational to learn of some of the API's used for development of geographical navigation systems and have a few laughs too; which is difficult to say for some sessions that can be the equivalent of sitting by yourself in a quiet library(but fortunately these are a small few).
Another notable session that comes to mind is the release of a new programming language by Sun Labs, named "Fortress", which apparently has the ability, or will have the ability to read and evaluate natural mathematical statements in their truest form, rather than having us programmers abstract their form into the language.
Thus, imagine something like the quadratic equation being represented in its natural form with the basic mathematical syntax, rather than having to alter it to allow incorporation into the source code. Pretty cool. Although, one of the strongest debates concerning this parsing of statements was the parser and compiler. Just how can it perform this analysis of mathematics statements unlike any other language? Discussed at the site for this project, you'll note that this parsing ability is still literally under construction, but pretty neat overall if you think about it. I think I enjoy abstracting mathematics statements in my programs... though it'll be interesting to see this ability when it arrives. The Fortress project is headed up by Christine Flood, also of Sun Labs.
The last session I'll talk about that I really enjoyed was related to robotics, specifically, a fully Java written and autonomous robotic car, named "Tommy Jr.". Perrone himself talked about how the code that was written for this feat includes the ability for realizing when it's at a stop sign, checking height measurements(think drive-thru's with height restrictions!), and passing other vehicles, to name only a few of the basic things human drivers have to assess every day. I guess what was the most fascinating about this equipment is that unlike radio controlled robotics, such as remote controlled toy cars or planes, this car is fully operated and controlled, and therefore makes decisions through the use of, all-Java code. Put another way, no human intervention
is required! Finally, little did I know there was actually a competition for robotics of this nature! Tommy Jr. competed in a DARPA sponsored event not once but twice, and placed reasonably well- Go Java!
They handed out all sorts of geek goodies every day and as part of the conference package you're treated to a breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack - of which the food was really good. I would always get the loaded turkey club, side of pasta and awesome brownies. If the conference organizers didn't get anything else right, their food was at least awesome. But all in all they did get it right, which is why I'll be attending again next year.
I've put up some pictures in the gallery. This being my first JavaOne, and largely being unsatisfied with the quantity of pictures taken, I hope to take more the next time I attend as I now have a better grasp of what occurs at an event like this. One of my favorite pictures is of Orientals in formation next to the arts center practicing fan technique at about 8:30 am PST in the morning, and it's not even conference related.
In case you didn't know, JavaOne is the conference of all conferences if you're into Java. Some of the brightest minds come from all over to meet and talk about the latest with the Java platform. Heck, simply walking around the Moscone Center is enlightening. I won't go into details about the conference's sessions because you can find that information spread out all over the JavaOne website, and the content is extensive.
One of the benefits of an event such as this is the chance to keep your ego in check; programmers' egos can tend to increase when they shouldn't... events like this are a nice reminder that there's always better than you. With this in mind, it's a great opportunity to go up to someone that might have been speaking about something like... say concurrency, and ask them about oh who knows, something related to maybe its pitfalls in present day computing. The point is, it doesn't matter if you are in fact a novice, there's plenty of information to be gobbled up at this event, and if you are more skilled than a novice you can still learn from the masters.
The most entertaining session I attended was a topic I know absolutely nothing about, titled "Duke Riding the Geospatial Wave". As you might be able to tell, it concerned geography and map navigating; to say the least and declare my non-knowledge. The session was very engaging by encouraging attendees to simply yell out when they have a question or something to say. It was exciting because the speakers broke out into a small argument amongst themselves over how efficient something like Google Maps is compared to a Microsoft version. The guy from TomTom also openly and admittedly bashed Microsoft which is always good for a few laughs. I don't know if the argument was staged... it certainly didn't appear to be. In retrospect I recall an attendee asking a question which ignited the argument. Fun fun fun. In the end, it was definitely educational to learn of some of the API's used for development of geographical navigation systems and have a few laughs too; which is difficult to say for some sessions that can be the equivalent of sitting by yourself in a quiet library(but fortunately these are a small few).
Another notable session that comes to mind is the release of a new programming language by Sun Labs, named "Fortress", which apparently has the ability, or will have the ability to read and evaluate natural mathematical statements in their truest form, rather than having us programmers abstract their form into the language.
Thus, imagine something like the quadratic equation being represented in its natural form with the basic mathematical syntax, rather than having to alter it to allow incorporation into the source code. Pretty cool. Although, one of the strongest debates concerning this parsing of statements was the parser and compiler. Just how can it perform this analysis of mathematics statements unlike any other language? Discussed at the site for this project, you'll note that this parsing ability is still literally under construction, but pretty neat overall if you think about it. I think I enjoy abstracting mathematics statements in my programs... though it'll be interesting to see this ability when it arrives. The Fortress project is headed up by Christine Flood, also of Sun Labs.The last session I'll talk about that I really enjoyed was related to robotics, specifically, a fully Java written and autonomous robotic car, named "Tommy Jr.". Perrone himself talked about how the code that was written for this feat includes the ability for realizing when it's at a stop sign, checking height measurements(think drive-thru's with height restrictions!), and passing other vehicles, to name only a few of the basic things human drivers have to assess every day. I guess what was the most fascinating about this equipment is that unlike radio controlled robotics, such as remote controlled toy cars or planes, this car is fully operated and controlled, and therefore makes decisions through the use of, all-Java code. Put another way, no human intervention
is required! Finally, little did I know there was actually a competition for robotics of this nature! Tommy Jr. competed in a DARPA sponsored event not once but twice, and placed reasonably well- Go Java!They handed out all sorts of geek goodies every day and as part of the conference package you're treated to a breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack - of which the food was really good. I would always get the loaded turkey club, side of pasta and awesome brownies. If the conference organizers didn't get anything else right, their food was at least awesome. But all in all they did get it right, which is why I'll be attending again next year.
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