You know, there are certain things that always tell me I'm at the
JavaOne conference: Duke taking pictures in the halls, video clips playing
at the bottom of the Moscone North escalators in the morning before
the general sessions, the flurry of activity just before the Pavilion
opens, and, of course, John Gage.
Let's face it, it wouldn't be the JavaOne conference without John
Gage as master of ceremonies. His voice is mesmerizing as it echoes
through the cavernous halls of Moscone Center. If John Gage, Barry
White, and James Earl Jones got together and had a fiery debate, I'd
probably ask the sound technician in the back to play some soft
instrumental music behind it, and then just lie back and fall asleep.
It would take a flying chair to wake me up.
On Tuesday afternoon, I dropped by the Java Puzzlers session given by
Josh Bloch and Bill Pugh. I'd attended it a few times in previous
years, but I steeled myself this time, thinking, Bob, you need to get
at least half of these puzzlers right. Your reputation as a Java
programmer is on the line!
And guess what? I scored a big fat zero.
That's right, folks, as far as a grade, it doesn't get more F- than
this. I'm honestly quite ashamed: I've authored six programming
books, edited 20 or so others, written this column for three years,
and I still couldn't get a single Java technology question right. You
know, the Java Puzzlers session has a ton of useful information, and
I highly recommend that you attend, but if I don't start getting at
least one question right per year, I swear I'm going to wind up in a
straitjacket.
On a more serious note, it struck me as I walked around on Wednesday
morning just how many people are connecting to the Internet
on their mobile phones. Jonathan Schwartz and Rich Green mentioned
Tuesday morning that the United States may be more biased toward
laptops as an Internet connection device, whereas the rest of the world
may not.
Frankly, I've had a like-hate relationship with my mobile phone. I
like -- but don't love -- using it, and I absolutely hate programming
it. So aside from the obvious business opportunity, I hope that
someone out there reading this can help make the next generation of
phones a true bridge for the digital divide. Not to overuse the word
like, but I'd like to like my laptop less.
Speaking of getting around, if San Francisco is not your native town,
I encourage you to walk around a little and see the sights. For
example, Ed Ort and I walked down Third Street last night to AT&T
Park and watched the San Francisco Giants hit a few from the outside
gate.
Barry Bonds hit an out-of-the-park foul ball that landed in the water
behind us, and I've never seen kayakers split water like that before.
Since Bonds is approaching the record, I can only imagine what it
would be like if the ball was a true home run -- maybe the kayakers
train in kendo, a form of fencing, on the side. (Ed tells me as this
goes to print that Bonds did hit a home run later in the game, but I
missed the aquatic combat.)
Don't miss the Thursday After Dark session: It features the
BattleBots and MiniKiss. I have to confess that I don't know much
about the latter -- I was a big fan of Kiss when I was eight years old,
much to the horror of everyone on my block -- but I do want to go
watch the BattleBots. Call it my geek adrenaline, but there's
something about metal flying in all directions that makes me want to
grab a bag of popcorn and watch... from a distance. Also, I hear
there is a Wreck Deck, where you can view what's left of those robots
up close. Those poor fabulously destroyed robots.
So with that, enjoy your Thursday, and we'll see you here again
tomorrow for the final day of the 2007 JavaOne conference.
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