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Sessions in the Cool Stuff track at the 2006 JavaOne conference show you some of the most original Java technology available. And they have one thing in common: They inspire, motivate, and encourage innovative use of the Java platform.
With at least 39 different sessions in the Cool Stuff category, you'll need to plan ahead to make the most of your time and energy at the conference. Helping to guide you through all that's available, here's my list of the top 10 must-see Cool Stuff sessions.
- The Sun Grid Compute Utility (TS-1109)
Would you use a high-performance, high-availability, parallel-computing device if you could find one? What if it were cheap and easy to access? What if you didn't have to maintain it? That's exactly what Sun offers with its Sun Grid Compute Utility (SCU). The SCU provides computing cycles to developers and enterprises, offering computing power as a commodity over the web. This session first describes grids and parallel computing and then explains how to access this utility from Java technology APIs.
If this session isn't enough on grids, you'll find several more. Check out "The Grid Appliance: Simplifying Distributed Computing" (BOF-0668), "Sigrid: The Simplest Possible Grid Computing Platform" (TS-3108), "What's Next for Sun Grid?" (BOF-7995), or "Programmatic Access to Sun Grid Compute Utility With Java Technology APIs" (TS-5622).
- Building Highly Dynamic Battlefield Network Infrastructure for Boeing U.S. Army Future Combat Systems Using JXTA Technology (TS-3527)
Even if battlefield simulations and infrastructures aren't your thing, you have to be impressed with this project's network technology. Project JXTA is a peer-to-peer (P2P) platform that started at Sun Microsystems. The technology allows for highly mobile, reconfigurable, independent peers to communicate across both the Internet and non-IP networks. This session shows how Boeing is using JXTA to create Future Combat Systems (FCS), a highly resilient, scalable network that allows users to reliably communicate with any battlefield device, including sensors, tanks, planes, satellites, and even individual soldiers.
- Java Technology in an Intelligent Swarm of Heterogeneous Lego Robots (BOF-0503)
What person isn't fascinated with Lego toys? A good thing has become even better with the addition of embedded Java technology. This session reports on the work done in a university robotics course that uses Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) and Legos to create swarms of robots that interact and communicate to solve problems.
The robotic fun doesn't have to end with Legos. The Birds-of-a-Feather session "Hacking Vex Robotics by Adding a Smart Java Technology Brain" (BOF-0509) describes how the speakers used another Java technology control system as the brain of their Vex-based robotics kit.
- Corporate Cola: Visualizing Your Email (BOF-0639)
A critical communication medium for many businesses, email not only helps us communicate, it can also reveal information sources and information facilitators within an organization. This session describes a unique approach to discovering relationships among names and keywords that appear in email. A Java Foundation Classes/Swing (JFC/Swing) navigator provides the user interface that allows you to discover and explore more information about your email than you ever imagined existed.
- Groovy = Java Technology + Ruby + Python for the JVM* (TS-3273)
Scripting languages such as Python and Ruby are often used to bridge the gap between different languages and platforms, connecting tools and applications that might otherwise never connect. Groovy is an object-oriented scripting language that combines the strengths of both Ruby and Python, and it runs on a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). This session introduces Groovy Markup and other Groovy features, showing you how to build user interfaces and access databases in only a few lines of code. If you like to make quick work of big jobs, Groovy might be able to help you.
- JRuby: Bringing Ruby to the JVM Software (TS-3059)
If you enjoyed the Groovy session, you'll probably be drawn to this session as well. JRuby is a implementation of the Ruby language on the JVM. Related to Ruby, a very popular object-oriented scripting language for the development of web-based applications, the JRuby implementation provides access to Java technology APIs from the Ruby language. If you're interested in alternative JVM languages, you'll enjoy this JRuby session.
- High Performance: Writing a Sony PlayStation Emulator in Java Technology (TS-5547)
Why in the world would someone create a PlayStation emulator in Java technology? Because it's Cool Stuff, that's why! Games and game platforms push computing technology to its limits and demand blazingly fast graphics, accurate event timing and response, rich sound, and sometimes even streaming video. This session shows how the Java platform performs under these challenges and shows off creative solutions to implementing a PlayStation emulator in pure Java technology.
- Transparently Clustered Spring -- A Runtime Solution for Java Technology (TS-3217)
You can eliminate single points of failure and guarantee high availability by adding clustered nodes to your application. However, adding high-availability clustering to a Spring-based application can be difficult. Fortunately, some very smart people have found a way to cluster Spring applications without changing your application code.
Want more on this topic? The session "Extending the Java Runtime: Plug-in Capacity and Availability for Java Technology" (TS-4219) describes the Terracotta Spring Runtime in detail.
- Compile Time Assertions: Enforcing Extralinguistic Constraints (BOF-0723)
The Java language specification enforces language constraints on your programs but cannot do anything to ensure that they meet higher-level requirements. Higher-level extralinguistic constraints are typically described in documentation rather than in actual program code. So although programs may compile, they don't necessarily solve the required problem. This session describes the cause of runtime failures and shows how to use features in Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) 6, to generate compile-time assertions for a special set of extralinguistic constraints.
- Squawk: A Java VM for Wireless Sensor Networks (TS-1598)
Squawk, a Java ME virtual machine (VM), is one of the smallest known implementations for wireless sensor devices. This session discusses the Squawk VM internals, its architecture, and its device-driver support as implemented for the Sun Small Programmable Object Technology (SPOT) wireless sensors.
Although your list of top 10 Cool Stuff sessions may be different from mine, you're certain to find something exciting, new, and inspirational in this track. Review this track's offerings and make plans to attend a Cool Stuff session at this year's JavaOne conference.
For More Information
2006 JavaOne Conference Home Page
2006 JavaOne Conference Sessions
2006 JavaOne Conference Catalog: Under Topic, select Cool Stuff.
2006 JavaOne Conference Registration
Project JXTA
JRuby
Groovy
Spring Framework
Sun Grid Compute Utility
* The terms "Java Virtual Machine" and "JVM" mean a Virtual Machine for the Java platform.
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