I have always been a big fan of spare batteries for traveling. However, after moving from a MacBook to a MBP and being left with three spare batteries I couldn't use, I figured I'd like to find a better solution . . .
The conference is a blend of two days of ColdFusion training and then three of Flex (you can sign up for either section - or both). It's got a lot of the best ColdFusion and Flex speakers and I'm really excited about the chance to learn (and network) some more.
It's not too late to sign up!
Had really wanted to see Brian Koteks talk on code generation. Oh well, gonna get an early night, throw this off and enjoy the rest of the con.
On balance, while I like SPL's, I think it is too broad a topic to handle in an hour (I wasn't able to show any code), so in future I'm going to try to focus more on more specific subsets so I can get down and dirty with some real worked examples including code. It's tough as there is so much background required - it's really hard to talk about code generation choices without having an audience baseline awareness of things like abstract grammar vs. concrete syntax, internal vs. external DSLs and the like, but I'll keep refining the way I present the core material so it can be tighter and I can get more into specific code examples on the slides.
May just chill tonight to try to throw off whatever it is. May pop downstairs later, but not sure I'm up for a trek to see IronMan tonight.
Joe's going to be introducing Gesture (model-glue 3), there's going to be some great presentations from the Adobe team on advanced topics, and I'm looking forward to getting some Flex training from Mike Nimer, Terrence Ryan on selling professional development at a hostile shop, listening to John Mason on MX Unit, Mark Mandell on Transfer, Dan Wilson on refactoring to OO, Brian Rinaldi on Cairngorm, Peter Farrell talking about ANT, Scott Stroz on prototyping in Flex and a hands on workshop on ColdBox from Luis Majano himself.
Brian Kotek will be doing a session on getting started with code generation which I'm really looking forward to. I'll be presenting on Software Product Lines - proven approaches to improve re-use and efficiency between projects.
cf.objective() really is THE enterprise CF conference and the networking in the bar is even better than the sessions. There will also be some great BoFs, so if you're free next Friday and haven't already, you really should sign up now!
I was on the program committee this year and there were lots of great topics presented and the final programme contains lots of great content for anyone wanting to understand better how they could start to use code generation to develop applications more quickly and maintainably.
As with most conferences, a lot of the value is also in the informal discussions and networking events. Last year I was astonished at the depth of experience between the various presenters and participants, so if you're interested in learning best practices in code generation it really is a "must attend" conference.
The early bird ends on Monday, so go save yourself some money! If you have any questions about the conference, feel free to drop me a line below in the comments.
