Can all developers juggle

Is there a direct correlation between being a software engineer and the ability to juggle?

The reason why I ask is that we were giving away juggling balls at JavaOne2008 and I'm amazed at how many people at JavaOne can juggle, the best I saw was 6 balls. What I really want to know is if there is a correlation with how good a software engineer is and their ability to juggle. I'm not going to do a survey on this but if someone discovers the answer and it happens to be yes then all interviews I do in future will require:

1. Presentation
2. Interview
3. Juggling exercise

---Update--- just to make Jim happy the original discussion was started by Jim, I just embellished it.

JavaOne2008. A day for applets and reporting

If I can conclude anything about JavaOne2008 on Wednesday it's that the Java community is once again thinking about Java Applets (especially if you like JavaFX), the second thing is that there is a big drive to produce highly interactive reporting tools.

We met a number of Sun Microsystems staff today, some we expected to meet and other by chance. I asked Ethan Nicholas who works on the Java JVM kernel if it was possible to get two applets to communicate with each other without using JavaScript and guess what, it may not be a simple task (the question was asked during our talk yesterday).

Jim's thoughts for versions of Java earlier than 1.6u10 would be to use static variables/classes, the problem with this approach is that both applets need to be aware of each other and would be tightly coupled, not Web 2.0 at all. At least this would have worked though.

With the delivery of Java 1.6u10 it's going to be even harder for Applets to communicate in a browser as each Applet will run in its own virtual machine and so globally available static classes are not an option, so it's back to JavaScript - on the plus side Ethan appears keen on the idea of making this happen. I think a solution is needed if Java Applets are to be used on the desktop as demonstrated in one of the key note talks. The standard for desktop applications communicating has been set by Microsoft and so Java will need an equivalent communication mechanism for desktop applications to really succeed, and it needs to ensure applications are loosely coupled.

I regret not seeing the talk on JavaFX where dropping widgets onto the desktop was shown and it seems that it was not made clear during the talk that this ability to drag an applet to the desktop was a plugin feature and not JavaFX. Jim, Tom and I had to explain this several times to people visiting the booth.

I'm going to try and spend the day tomorrow looking at all the different reporting tools, there's a great fit between RIA and reporting, and there are lots of possible products to choose from it's just identify how easily AltioLive could integrate with different reporting products.

JavaOne2008. Java applets still have the power to draw a crowd

Conclusion for Tuesday 6 May - Java 6 update 10 provides a whole new opportunity for Java Applet technologies to compete on a level playing field with Adobe Flex, Microsoft Silverlight. The combination of improved download options, faster JVM load times combined with JavaFX rich graphics will enable the AltioLive product to focus upon adding value to the Java Development community rather than overcoming problems with the Jave SE plugin technology. 2008 and 2009 provide many opportunities for Java Applet technologies and I feel confident enough to say that Applets are NOT a "old school" technology, and are here to stay for the forseable future.

Loss of focus by Sun Microsystems and/or the Java product team is the only concern. If enough Java developers push for improved performance and a simpler user interface API's Sun will need to meet the demands. It's about working as a "community", considering all the options and not thinking Adobe and Microsoft offer the only solution to rich user interfaces in a web browser.

Enough of my soap box rant and a quick review of the day.

The booth had a steady flow of people interested in both the freebies and our product. The interest in a product was really great to see making all the hard work to improve the AltioLive product worth while, and the java development community still has interest in Java Applets technology.



Jim and I guess about 80-100 came to the presentation, and given that the were a number of very big talks by popular speakers I was pleased. Aside from not feeling too good - a serious lack of sleep, the talk went really well, with a few lessons learnt should we do a talk again next year.




The question that catches you out! - "How do you get two applets to communicate in the same browser session?", Jim put a lot of effort into his examples and neither of us spotted the fact that we didn't do an example of Java Applets talking to other Java Applets, is direct communication possible and more importantly should the security model allow it to happen. Not something I plan to answer in this blog.

Jim gets his 10 minutes of fame- a surprise visit by the JavaOne2008 reporter caught us out and Jim had to do a 10 minute technical interview about applets and AltioLive - good interview Jim especially when it was at the end of a very long day.

JavaOne2008. Booth ready to go

San Francisco day 1.

Our first full day at JavaOne 2008, and I think all of us are very tired - it took us nearly all day to prepare the booth, demo's and practice the talk that Jim and I will do tomorrow.

The day started at 6am this morning with a vigorous walk up some very steep hills, I'm amazed the houses don't just slide down the hills.

Tom has put together some good videos of AltioLive designer and applications that we will play back through the next few days. Even before they were complete people were stopping and looking at what was happening.

Tom and I decided that the Community One speed dating event just wasn't for us. Wives and girlfriends should not worry, it was all to do with meeting up with other organisations and discussing how you could benefit each other - we were just too tired to meet 21 companies in 45 minutes.

Everything has gone to plan so far at the event. Although, the BIG worry is the Altio website, we have had a few issues with the website and hope they will be fixed by tomorrow. If you have difficulty accessing www.altio.com, try the alternative http://altio.com , http://www.altio.co.uk. Our service provider is working hard to investigate the problem and we hope to have this resolved soon.

For those of you attending JavaOne2008 and who read my posts I look forward to meeting you.