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Friday 29 June 2012

JavaOne Redux

It was back in 1997 that I started out using that cool new programming language called Java. As a young developer, the language quickly became the core of my toolbox,  but it wasn't until a few years later that things really started to kick off for me and Java...

In 1999 I got to attended JavaOne hosted by Sun Microsystems in San Francisco. What an amazing conference - and city - that was! The sheer amount of attendees and the quality of speakers and exhibitors has from my experience and as a whole still to been met. -And that huge old yellow conference t-shirt is still around as a token of my faithfulness and the indestructible foundations of Java and the community.

Perhaps was it those days in the bay i California that made me dedicate most of my resources and life for the Java ecosystem. And although I've always kept an open mind to other technologies, using Java has just always made me feel good. I especially remember coming home bubbling with ideas and inspiration, taking on any and all sorts of little projects - like doing some quick application for the Palm devices, using the KVM v0.7, that could send data between devices over IR. -Those were the days! :-)

As Java EE came into my world things got both good and bad. The first versions were... well... not so good. -EJB 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 or even 2.1 anyone? *Brr...* Now however, the EE stack has truly matured. It has an enormous support among almost all major vendors and is the choice in most major and serious businesses. The lightweight alternatives are not be brushed aside though! They are many, have a very strong support and are of equal value in their own applicable areas as the EE are in its. This flexibility and strength come from the huge amount of existing Java-based technologies. You can just choose exactly what you want for the situation you're in - or you can naturally write it yourself if noting exist or just isn't good enough in your eyes. In the Java community, evolution and progress never ever stops! 

Now, with much over a decade away from the conference where it all began, I will once again attend JavaOne in San Francisco. This time the huge corporation Oracle will host the conference as the current prime caretaker of the platform Java has evolved into. To say that I'm psyched about the whole thing is a clear understatement.

During the conference days I will make daily reports available at this blog and in-between I'll tweet quick and short comments more frequently as swesource.

Stay tuned and/or see you there!

JavaOne, hosted by Oracle, will be in San Francisco, CA, USA, September 30th - October 4th, 2012.