Java University

I'm at JavaOne today for Java University. Sun has done a great job with the Moscone Center. I'm sitting in the Hackers Den (or something to that effect) on a comfy leather couch in front of several plasma TVs hooked up to XBox 360s. There's also some nice Solaris workstations for use with your JavaOne pass (it reads the SmartCard on the pass.) Very cool. I had heard the Wi-Fi had been bad in the past, but it has been pretty good so far from me. Of course there's a lot less people at Java University than the general JavaOne madness that starts tomorrow. Maybe the network will get maxed out then.

The Java University course I am taking is on architecting Java applications. Most people have a hard time saying what's the difference between architecture and design. This course does a good job putting it in perspective. It makes me wonder about the existence of Agile Architects. In many ways the kind of forward-looking thinking needed by successful architects is at odds with some agile principles. Or then again, maybe successful architects are an urban myth.

I skipped out on the free lunch and had lunch with a good friend of mine. We went to Osha Thai for lunch and it was really good. I highly recommend that to any JavaOne attendees or anybody in downtown San Francisco for that matter. Just go early, it is very crowded (it's San Francisco.)