Speaking at Devoxx

Good news for me, I'll be giving a 15-minute quickie at Devoxx on the topic of Groovy Code Generation. The talk is normally a little longer, but most talks can be improved by making them shorter. I'm sure the 15 minutes will be great fun. Check out the slides for the longer version here.

If you can't make Devoxx, then be sure to catch fellow Canooie Dierk König at W-JAX during the same time. His slots are all in German, but the code samples will surely be in Groovy.

For those interested here is the abstract for my talk. If you run or help organize a JUG and want a speaker then please contact me. I'm excited to travel around in 2011, see more of the world, and meet great people.

Code Generation on the JVM: Writing Code that Writes Code
"The Pragmatic Programmer" admonished us all to "write code that writes code": use code generators to increase productivity and avoid duplication. Today's language communities have clearly caught on, as more and more frameworks generate code at compile time: AST Transforms, Project Lombok, Spring Roo, and more.

This session reviews these approaches including examples of how and why we'd want to do this. Come see the newest Groovy language tools, look in-depth at production deployed AST Transforms, and view libraries based on these techniques.

Audience: developers searching for cutting edge solutions to increasing team velocity.

Code Generation on the JVM: Video and Slides

Two weeks ago I spoke at the Chech Java User Group (CZJUG) on the topic of “Code Generation on the JVM”. Some of the technologies covered are Lombok, Groovy, GContracts, Spock, AST Transformations, Spring Roo, and other fun stuff.

Links to the slides and videos are available on the Canoo Blog: http://canoo.com/blog/2010/07/14/code-generation-on-the-jvm-video-and-slides/

Hackergarten in Basel Next Friday

There is a new group starting up, and if you're anywhere near Basel Switzerland next Friday (March 26th) then you definitely want to stop by and participate.

Hackergarten is a group for people who define themselves by what they make, not what they consume. We've decided to meet regularly to create things as a group and give our work back to the community. Our goal is to create something that others can use; whether it be working software, improved documentation, or better educational materials. Our intent is to end each meeting with a patch or similar contribution submitted to an open and public project. Membership is open to anyone willing to contribution their time.

Our first event this Friday is a "Gradle Jam" at the Canoo offices in Basel. We are planning to add an "announce" plugin to Gradle that integrates with Twitter, Mongrel, and other messaging services. I expect a lot of pair programming, so please do not worry if you have no Gradle, Groovy, or Java experience.

The best way to get started is to join the mailing list and lurk around or follow the Twitter account @Hackergarten.

I expect this to be a lot of fun, a little work, and ultimately rewarding. Please do stop by!

Upcoming Gigs: Cologne, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, and Prague

The Groovy roadshow is on tour this Spring! My benevolent benefactors are letting me out of the office to visit a few user groups and conferences:

March 8 - Cologne JUG - Groovy AST Transformations

May 3rd - 7th - Jax.de - Code Generation on the JVM

May 19th to 20th - GR8 Conference - Groovy AST Transformations

June 28th - Czech JUG - Code Generation on the JVM

Sadly, I am not going to be at GR8 North America... but if you are in the US then that is the event of the Spring, in my opinion.

I'm crazy excited to visit places I have never been to and meet other programmers. If you have any desire to see any of my talks then drop me an email. I think these are my three best sessions:

Code Generation on the JVM

We're seeing more and more JVM frameworks designed to generate code at compile time: AST Transforms, Project Lombok, Spring Roo, Clojure Macros, and more. This session reviews these approaches, including examples of how and why we'd want to do this. We'll see the newest Groovy language tools, write our own AST Transform, and look at some amazing libraries based on these techniques.

Slimmed Down Software: A Lean, Groovy Approach

The Groovy Programming Language advertises itself as an "agile and dynamic Language for the JVM", but what does this mean exactly? This sessions explain Lean Software Development, and shows how your choice of programming language can your entire process remain nimble and adaptive. Come learn about the principles of Lean, and see how Groovy and the associated ecosystem help eliminate waste, defer commitment, and build quality into your product.

Legacy Code, Groovy, and You

Thinking about writing Groovy unit tests for your legacy Java code? This session is an honest discussion about what Groovy will gain you and what it won't. Come learn the engineering practices and tools that you can use to battle tight coupling, monolithic projects, and tangled dependencies, and then decide for yourself whether Groovy is the answer for your project. Plan on returning to work with a vision of what your team can do to write better software.

GUM, OTUG, 2GX, and Strange Loop, oh my!

I'm going to be out on the road September and October, talking about programming and testing and maybe trying to make people laugh a little. Here's my schedule so far:

September 8th - Minneapolis, MN - Groovy Users of MN - Groovy+OSGi Jumpstart
September 15th - St. Paul, MN - Object Technology User Group - Thinking in Functions
October 19th - 22 - New Orleans, LA - 2GX Groovy/Grails Conference - All 4 talks for 1 low price!
October 23rd - St. Louis, MO - Strange Loop - Groovy Compiler Metaprogramming for Fun and Profit

If you haven't registered for 2GX, get on the stick... early bird pricing ends soon. And if you haven't heard of Strange Loop, then be sure to check out this super affordable unique and esoteric event.

I'm definitely interested in practicing these talks as much as possible, so if you need a speaker for a JUG or work group just let me know. The legacy code talk has turned out to be a really fun event, and it can have as little or as much Groovy as you want. Southwest has super cheap airfare right now... all I need is an invite.

Here are the summaries for the talks:

Groovy Compiler Metaprogramming and AST Transformations (aka Groovy Compiler Metaprogramming for Fun and Profit)
'A language should have access to its own abstract syntax' John McCarthy, Father of Lisp. Well, now Groovy 1.6 does! This talk is about why AST transformations are important, what you can do with them, and where the language world is headed. We'll dive into some of the useful Groovy annotations and libraries being written that harness AST transformations, see how to write our own, and work with the AST tools coming out with the next version. At the end we'll prognosticate about the future of programming languages in general, and hypothesize about where the Groovy features fit into the history of languages. Fun!

Functional Groovy (aka Thinking in Functions)
For many, learning Groovy made you think differently about Java. Now it's time to think differently about Groovy. Although Groovy is not a functional language by many measures, it does support many of the common functional idioms and patterns. Come explore both how far functional programming can be pushed in Groovy, where functional programming can't currently go, and where functional programming is headed in future releases of both the language and the JVM. Learn about morphisms, option types, tail call optimization, pattern matching, and functional composition in the context of solving classic CS problems side-by-side with a more traditional functional language, and decide for yourself how terms like elegance and simplicity should drive your coding.

OSGi and Groovy Jump Start
OSGi, Jigsaw, modularity, service lifecycles, bundles... where do you start? This talk covers the basics of using OSGi and Groovy together. You'll be introduced to the OSGi framework by building a Groovy based application that introduces the core concepts of OSGi such as the module system, service registry, and service life cycles. We'll also cover common pitfalls encountered by mixing Groovy and OSGi, as well the latest OSGi tools available.

Legacy Code, Groovy, and You
Thinking about writing Groovy unit tests for your legacy Java code? This session is an honest discussion about what Groovy will gain youand what it won't. Come learn the engineering practices and tools that you can use to battle tight coupling, monolithic projects, and tangled dependencies, and then decide for yourself whether Groovy is the answer for your project. Plan on returning to work with a vision of what your team can do to write better software.

Groovy at Twin Cities Code Camp April 4

Twin Cities Code Camp is a free, one day conference in Minneapolis this Saturday, April 4th. If you missed my and Scott's Groovy Metaprogramming a few weeks ago, never fear! We're booked in the second session of TCCC. The sessions look fun, so come on out. This is truly cutting edge stuff as I'll be showing off the new AST Browser that I added to Groovy 1.7 just this week. w00t!

For anyone down in Wisconsin, I'll be giving the same presentation at Capital City JUG on June 9th. See you there!

Upcoming Speaking Gigs and Appearances

I have four speaking appearances booked this year (so far) in the Twin Cities area.

If you're in the area then please come out and say hi. If you're not then feel free to come crash on my couch. And if your JUG is within a motorcycle ride and you need a speaker then by all means contact me. My range is about 700 miles a day and I work for less than peanuts.

Here is what's confirmed so far in 2009:

Groovy Users of Minnesota
February 10, 2009
Groovy + IDEA For-The-Win (part of a larger IDE shootout)

Twin Cities Language User Group:
March 12, 2009
Groovy Metaprogramming (with Scott Vlaminck)
Expect greatness, we're super excited!

CITCON North America
April 24-25, 2009
Open Spaces Conference on Continuous Integration and Testing
Registration still open... it's free and in Minneapolis

Twin Cities Java User Group
July 13 or August 10, 2009 (TBD)
Zen and the Art of Java Concurrency
This isn't a catchy name. I genuinely plan to cover Zen Buddhism.

I'd love to fill up my calendar more... so please, please, please contact me if you have some sort of opening.

Thanks everyone!

Intro to F# at Groovy Users of Minnesota

I'm presenting an introduction to F# at the Groovy Users of Minnesota group this Tuesday night, July 8th, at 6:00 PM, Refactr World Headquarters.

Robert Fischer will present an "OCaml for Groovyists" and I'll present a fancy, full-color, laminated handout called "The F# Handout" that is certain to steal the show. (and will be posted here later).

Expect chaos.

Directions available here.

Event: Neward & Scala at OTUG in May

Short version: OTUG is bringing in Ted Neward to talk about Scala at the May 20th meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota!

Long version: I personally organized this event so I'm begging you to show up and make it a crowd. His Scala talk at No Fluff was very cool, as were his two articles on IBM developerWorks. It's all free, starts at 5:00 PM, and includes free pizza afterwards.

If you're looking for more information on Scala, I found the "Scala for Java Refugees" posts to be a pretty good overview of this functional, statically typed, type inferring, JVM running-on-top-of, pattern matching, etc., etc., language.

See you there!