RMOUG Training Days 2011 Schedule-At-A-Glance Available

RMOUG has made the first edition of their Training Days 2011 Schedule-At-A-Glance available online. There are numerous interesting abstracts highlighted in this schedule. My two presentations are both scheduled for the first day and this is unlikely to change because of their respective durations. There is only one 30-minute slot and one 90-minute slot and I have one presentation in each of these slots. The typical RMOUG Training Days presentation slot is 60 minutes. Before highlighting some of the abstracts that look particularly interesting to me, I'll briefly summarize my own presentation abstracts.



Groovier Java Scripting
Session 2 (Wednesday, 16 February 2011, 10:30 am to noon, Room 406)

Groovy is a dynamic language that runs in the Java Virtual Machine and has full access to the Java SDK as well as third-party Java libraries and frameworks. Groovy supports most Java syntax as-is, but provides an even more concise syntax that makes it more suitable for scripting. Groovy can be run directly without explicit compilation and enjoys many other script-friendly benefits.

This presentation expands on topics discussed at RMOUG Training Days 2010 in the presentation "Applied Groovy: Scripting for Java Development." The presentation briefly summarizes select basic features and syntax of Groovy, advantages of using Groovy as a scripting language, and demonstrates how to use Groovy to improve building, developing, and testing Java-based applications. The presentation will emphasize how easy it is to write and parse XML with Groovy and how easy it is to manipulate database content with Groovy.

Although the basics of Groovy will be covered initially in the presentation for those who have not used Groovy previously, most of the syntax and other features covered in this presentation will be presented in conjunction with the use of Groovy in building, maintaining, and testing applications for the Java platform.

A First Look at HTML5: 30-Minute Quick Tip

Session 4 (Wednesday, 16 February 2011, 2:45 pm to 3:15 pm)

HTML5 is the the forthcoming standard in hypertext markup for the modern web. Although work on HTML5 has been ongoing for several years, interest and support for HTML5 has increased rapidly in recent months. An example of this is the JavaOne 2010 announcement that JavaFX 2.0 will provide HTML5 support. This short presentation will describe some of the most exciting features of HTML5. The presentation also covers the reasons that HTML5 is important and describes some of its limitations and obstacles to adoption. Finally, HTML5 features already supported in three popular modern web browsers (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome) will be demonstrated.

There are numerous other abstracts that appeal to my interests. I probably won't attend the Tuesday University Sessions, but Brad Brown's Building Enterprise Apps for the Android Platform looks interesting. In his abstract, Brown states something that I've felt and been telling people as well:

I liken Android to the 'IBM PC' of the mobile world. Apple came out with a great OS for the Mac, but it only ran on the Mac. The 'IBM PC' (DOS, which later became Microsoft Windows) was generic and ran on a variety of hardware. Android runs on hundreds of devices today.

Brown's abstract states that this University Session will "discuss how you can write an application for the Android that accesses your corporate data securely. From concept to publishing in the Android market - for sale or for free - private or public."

One disadvantage of my presenting A First Look at HTML5 in the 30-minute Quick Tip presentation slot is that I won't be able to attend Rob Osterburg's presentation Scala: A Concise Introduction through Code, Concepts and Demonstrations. I'm not normally in the habit of recommending attendees attend a presentation at the same time as mine, but I would have liked to attend this session because Rob is a friend and because the topic (Scala) is of significant interest to me. In fact, attendees at my Groovy presentation will likely hear me enthusiastically recommend his session on another JVM-based programming language.

Gwen Shapira (blog) has an abstract discussing another topic of high interest to me: NoSQL (see my coverage of a JavaOne 2010 presentation on NoSQL). Her presentation is called NoSQL Deep Dive and her abstract summarizes NoSQL: "NoSQL is a general name for a new type of database - One that throws away the relational model in favor of better scalability."

Another abstract title that stood out to me as I scanned the Schedule-At-A-Glance is Introduction to Mobile Application Development. This abstract states that the presentation will "cover introduction, approach, and leading practices for building applications in a mobile platform" and will provide an iPhone example.

The Rocky Mountain Oracle Users Group is deeply rooted in Oracle database technology and this year's slate of presentations, like most years before, provides numerous in-depth database-heavy topics. Similarly, it is not surprising that many Oracle tools received focused coverage in RMOUG Training Days 2011 presentations. The schedule is subject to change (one presentation still needs a title!), but it is interesting to start planning what I will attend.

RMOUG Training Days 2011 will be held February 15-17, 2011 (15 February is University Sessions) at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. The Colorado Convention Center has a Flash-based interactive floor map available for seeing where the rooms for each session are located.