No Fluff Just Stuff 2007 Orlando, Day One

Originally posted 2007-08-25 02:59:27

I’m at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel in Orlando, Florida, at No Fluff Just Stuff. Both an offsite management work meeting all morning and an accident on I-4 delayed my arrival past the registration, opening remarks, and the first session, but I arrived in time for the second session: David Geary’s presentation on JavaScript frameworks. He covered aspects of Prototype, Scriptaculous, and Rico with overview, code, and demos. Seeing some of the possibilities that these frameworks offer was certainly interesting, and the Rico Accordion will tempt me to implement a solution-driven design (\”This is cool! Now, what problem can I apply it to?\”), but I was more excited for his next talk: Ajaxian Faces. I want to understand the synergies between JSF and Ajax.

The talk started, my PDA buzzed, I checked my email . . . and one of my people had quit that day. I ran out of the presentation and got on the phone, trying to figure out what had happened. He’d started only last Monday and didn’t show up on Friday, so we’d failed to welcome him appropriately and he moved on. Recruiting and hiring can both consume and discourage, and now we have to start over with this position. Not a good end to my Friday, and I completely missed the Ajaxian Faces talk.

They fed us dinner, which was actually good, and then we stayed for Scott Davis’ keynote: \”No, I Won’t Tell You Which Web Framework to Use: or The Truth (with Jokes).\” You expect keynotes to inform, and hope they entertain, and this did both. He compared selecting a web framework with selecting a cell phone provider, explaining that all frameworks add value and that you’ve got to figure out which features you require from a framework to be able to make an appropriate decision. You really can’t be wrong, whichever direction you go. I’m running a web framework selection process at my work right now, so his comments were timely. I’m leaning toward Seam, though a guy at work is pushing Wicket. This will be fun.

BTW, I now have an opening for a Java developer in either Jacksonville, FL, or Dallas, TX, to focus on performance and monitorability of our web application. Email me at rwarner@interspatial.com with interest. We promise to do a better job of welcoming you!