The 2008 JavaOne Conference Preview

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At the 2008 JavaOne Conference in San Francisco, California, on May 6 through 9, developers and consumers alike will exchange information and ideas about the converging technology-enabled digital network that lets information flow between mobile devices, computers, televisions, and automobile screens. The Java Platform continues to be the platform that is capable of scaling content and providing rich user experiences on any device.

Technical Sessions The Conference offers 11 tracks comprising over 300 sessions. Some tracks cover the core Java platforms (Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition, and Micro Edition) and the emerging JavaFX platform. Then there are the sessions on bleeding edge technologies in Web 2.0, rich media applications (RIAs), scripting, and social networking. Accompanying these technical sessions are the invaluable Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) events, hands-on labs, panels, and general sessions, as shown in Table 1.

To see some of the industry leaders talk about their specialty, be sure to look out for the Duke Rock Star icon next to the speaker's name. These participants are chosen by their peers as top speakers in their field.

General Sessions These daily sessions feature visionary industry leaders speaking about trends, challenges, and opportunities. This year promises speakers from AMD, Intel Corporation, Oracle Corporation, and Sun Microsystems.

JavaOne Pavilion You can catch the "Play the Power of Java" game as you walk through the various exhibition booths in the JavaOne Pavilion. Platinum cosponsors include AMD, Intel, Motorola, and Oracle. Check out the Mobility and Device Village, the SOA Village, Start Up Alley, Java Playground, and Community Corners by java.net.

Duke's Choice Awards These prestigious awards return for the seventh year, dedicated to recognizing extreme innovation in the world of Java technology. James Gosling, father of Java technology, presents the awards on Tuesday, May 6.

Evening Events There are two big evening events: the JavaOne Pavilion Welcome Reception at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, and the After Dark Bash on Thursday, May 8. The After Dark concert will be headlined by SmashMouth and held in the adjoining park. After 7:30 p.m. Both offer prime opportunities for networking and meeting new or catching up with old friends.

Activity	Description
General sessions	Industry leaders give daily general session addresses.
Technical sessions	Speakers present extensive in-depth technical sessions on the latest technologies and applications.
Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) sessions	BOF sessions are smaller and more informal than the technical sessions and present a great opportunity for networking.
Hands-on Labs	Learn how to use Java technologies with a hands-on approach in these labs.
Pavilion	Exhibitors showcase the latest products on the Pavilion floor, including Sun technologies and products.

Pre-Conference events on Monday, May 5, include Java University and CommunityOne.

Java University Attendees can choose from among one full-day or twelve half-day courses from Sun-certified instructors, as well as four bonus evening courses. The courses cover Java EE and SOA, the OpenSolaris Project, JavaFX software, Java Card technology, and the GlassFish application server.

CommunityOne This one-day free and open developer conference explores transformative participation-based technologies, solutions, and business models, driving such innovations as Web 2.0 and extensions to the Java platform. On Monday, May 5, the day kicks off with a general session at 9:30 a.m. and ends with a community reception at 6 p.m. Areas of interest include operating systems such as OpenSolaris and Linux, databases such as MySQL and postgreSQL, web and application servers such as GlassFish and Apache, tools and IDEs such as NetBeans and Eclipse, next generation, "Web 2.0", applications, web scale computing, Startup Camp, RedMonk Community, and more. Register here.

See the conference program review committee web site for track leads and reviewers.

Here are the session tracks or categories:

Consumer Technologies This track showcases technologies with a business impact, including ways to define projects, scope efforts, and set up a business model. Some topics include digital TV, Blu-ray Disc, set-top boxes, home security, and Java technology in cars.

Cool Stuff This track is the best place to see exciting new developments from industry, academia, students, and hobbyists. It includes making music with JFugue and JFrets, the Fortress programming language, 3D Earth, the Maxine virtual machine, and many others.

Desktop This track demonstrates the simplicity of Java GUI development using NetBeans, the Swing APIs and the new Swing application framework, Java Beans binding, the new Nimbus look-and-feel, and Sun's plans for powerful next-generation applets.

Java SE It all starts here, the core foundation of the Java platform. This track comprises highly technical sessions on topics such as the latest Real-Time Java architecture, Java support for multicore and multi-processor systems, updated NIO packages, modularity support with the new updates of JDK 6, new date and time APIs, and improved security.

Java EE Sessions in this track delve into the APIs for web services, persistence, security, management, deployment, and communications for building and deploying enterprise-wide, server-side applications. They will also discuss testing, debugging, data modeling, and innovation in the platform. Sessions on technology updates such as those on the Java Persistence API 2.0 and GlassFish v3 give you a chance to see where these technologies and technology implementations are headed.

Java ME Two billion devices worldwide use this technology, and this track covers the latest advances in the mobile service architecture (MSA), using Java ME with touch-screens, the MobileTV APIs, faster mobile graphics, integration with smart card technologies, and best practices for mobile-enterprise communication.

Next-Generation Web This track on the second generation of web design and development combines the use of Ajax for user interfaces on the web and opening the Java Virtual Machine to new languages and frameworks such as REST, Ruby on Rails, and Python. The openness of the Java platform and the Java Community Process have created an environment that has produced a wealth of technology aimed at Web 2.0.

Open Source Technical sessions include projects, case studies, and code bases that use an OSI-approved open source license. Business/community sessions focus on community building, governance issues, license choices, and revenue opportunities.

Rich Media and Content Sessions in this track cover delivering unified content across computer, TV, automobile, and mobile devices. They also cover scripting languages and tools—such as the JavaFX Script programming language— for the creation of rich media and interactive content , and best practices for developing high-performance interactive applications.

SOA and Enterprise Integration This track addresses the developer community's need for creating pragmatic e-business services and collaborations with Java technology, as we converge on a single global application development model. Topics cover interoperability, identity and security, scalability and availability, and portals.

Tools and Scripting Languages This track covers Java programming language tools and additional programming languages to enhance productivity for developing and deploying to the Java platform, accelerating development of cross-platform applications, and rethinking how sophisticated applications should be written.

Alongside the technical sessions are three Hands-on Labs: Exposing the Depth of Your JDK Release 7.0 Applications with Dynamic Tracing, Developing Mobile Web 2.0 Applications for the JavaFX Mobile Platform, and JavaFX Technology-Based Applications: Rich Client Applications with Cool Effects. These instructor-led sessions are devoted to specific technologies within each track. How about creating your own mobile game using the NetBeans IDE's mobile game builder? Dive into JavaFX Script and learn how to quickly build rich cool applications complete with animation and special effects. Develop a Ruby on Rails application on NetBeans and deploy it to a Java technology-based server. Learn how easy it is to use the Metro stack of technologies to develop web services, organize and orchestrate a set of web services into an application, build an Ajax-enabled Web 2.0 application, or use Dynamic Tracing (Dtrace) in the Solaris Operating System.

The JavaOne conference registration page tells you all you need to know to maximize your time in San Francisco. Sun Microsystems is continuing its eco-friendly efforts by offering a downloadable online guide.

Between sessions, the retail store for Java gear and the bookstore are popular destinations as are the rest areas featuring bean bag chairs and arcade games.

With your attendance, you provide a critical contribution to this dynamic, passionate developer and user community and evolution. You help shape this community's digital companions: the technology that allows consumers to connect, consume, create, and share their content however and whenever they like.

Christine Dorffi is an SDN managing editor. Robert Eckstein and Edward Ort are writers on the staff of java.sun.com.