Josh On Design

We are now in the final push to get the first Preview Release of the JavaFX SDK out the door for the end of the month. I'm excited by what we've put together but also exhausted. We've done an incredible amount of work during the last year. Now I know what it was like in the early days of Java. Since JavaOne 2007 we've built (from scratch), a compiler for a new language with many non-trivial features, a GUI runtime with a new graphics and animation stack, new netbeans plugins with code completion, utilities for graphic designers, a new kind of javadocs (rewritten from the ground up), plus docs, samples, and demos. And that's not even counting the many improvements that are going into JavaSE 6 update 10. Whew! It's been a long year.

We still have a lot to do before the final 1.0 release this fall, but we will have hit a huge milestone. Now all of the many pieces will be in one place so we can share it with you, get feedback, and improve performance and API design on the road to 1.0.

As part of the SDK kickoff, I'll be speaking at OSCON next week in Portland, Oregon (a scant 2 hour drive from my house!). My session is called "Developers vs Designers: Expanding the Java Platform Beyond Programmers". I will discuss how the Java platform is growing beyond market of corporate programmers to encompass designers, web 2.0 programmers, and eventually consumers themselves. And of course a super helping of demos. It's a good time to be involved with the client side Java ecosystem!

If you will be there on Monday I will be doing a signing for my book Swing Hacks at 10am (i'm not sure of the location yet. next to the bookstore i think). I've been informed that all books at the bookstore will be 30% off. Plus, thanks to the magic of Oregon state law, there is no sales tax. If you attend also be sure to stop by the Sun booth. Sadly I won't be able to stay the whole week. I must leave Thursday morning which means I will miss the annual Oregon Brewfest. Be sure to drink a pint for me.

PS. If you haven't registered yet you can get 15% off with the code os08s15.