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If you attended Tuesday morning's general session, then you heard all about JavaFX. In fact, that's the product that I couldn't wait to tell you all about yesterday.
Just to make sure that you're not tongue-tied and thinking of seashells on the seashore: JavaFX is the name of a product family. Within the JavaFX family are two initial products: JavaFX Script is the scripting language, which can be used to easily create Swing GUIs; while JavaFX Mobile is the environment for mobile platforms that support JavaFX. Thanks to the Java-powered phone stack that we introduced Tuesday, that should be a ton of devices, very soon.
Speaking of Swing, it's pretty hard to miss the Filthy Rich Client series of talks that Chet Haase and some of the members of the Java desktop team are performing at the conference. (That would be like missing the fact that the Oakland Coliseum has a branding agreement with Oracle -- you can spot it all the way from downtown San Jose.) These were standing room only last year, so if you're interested in these talks, be sure to get in early. Chet is also finishing up his book, co-authored with Romain Guy, and published by Prentice Hall, also called Filthy Rich Clients. If the jazzy Swing animations and special effects whet your appetite, you can check out a "rough cut" copy using the Safari online book access (not the Apple Mac OS X browser; O'Reilly is running a free 3-day trial here at JavaOne that you can access by going to my.safaribooksonline.com/javaone).
Okay, time for total honesty: I always get nervous when I first open the conference newspaper on the initial day of JavaOne. And this Tuesday was no exception. It was just a little worse this year thanks to the syrup-drenched pancakes I downed at the Argen... err, Westin right before I ran down to the Moscone. You know, there's just something about seeing your comments and opinions next to an aging photo being read by thousands of people waiting for a General Session to begin that does a number on your stomach. It's easy to write a blog and post it on the Internet. It's much harder to write a column and then wait while 10,000 people are reading it in front of you. You occasionally find yourself looking across the attendee-scape, seeing someone smile, and thinking, "Are they reading my column? Or are they just day-dreaming about their boss and some falling anvils?"
On a different note, if you have any interest in the Java Real-Time System 2.0 that was introduced in the Tuesday general session, I would encourage you to visit the appropriate sessions and web sites to learn about it. Real-time Java is one of those areas that beckons with a sign that says "Meek Programmers Need Not Apply." After all, it's easy to create a Java application for a consumer desktop, but it's a little more stressful when you need to ensure that the pacemaker you're working on doesn't throw an OutOfMemoryException. And trust me, folks, there's no "You must restart your engines before the desired changes take effect" in airplane navigation systems.
Finally, don't forget to attend some of those talks from Chris Oliver on JavaFX Script. If you see him mentioning JavaFX Script as "F3" or "Form Follows Function", don't worry. That's the previous name of the technology as it was created when he came to us from SeeBeyond.
Finally, in the spirit of meeting people, I really encourage you to visit JavaOne Camp, the "unconference" that we are holding here at JavaOne. With an unconference, any Java technology developer (and that means you) can sign up to give a talk. Share your ideas with your peers, network with people, and like John Gage mentioned, "change the world." You might think that these sort of ground-breaking changes only happen in smoke-filled boardrooms. Not so anymore. Come join us and make a difference.
So, with that, enjoy your Wednesday, and we'll see you here again tomorrow.
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