JavaOne

What fun that was. I was at JavaOne from 98 until 2003 (pretty much when my company focus went from Java tools to .NET tools). Google sent me this year to work the booth for a day - what a hoot. Very nostalgiac and I must say, the place was hopping.

Java is still big - definitely to my surprise. It sure wasnt the same without my biz partner and friend Gabe nor my Ph.D. advisor Doug.

I also bought a J2SE phone while there - the jasper S20. Sort of quirky and I'm not sure I love it but once i get some time, it will be fun to play with making some apps for it.

Classhat

Prior to joining Google I was relatively poised to launch a new developer product through my (other) company Outscheme that I had been working on for the last 2 years or so. Well, after joining Google that idea not only sort of waned, the "one more month" completion time got very extended.

I ended up morphing the product into a free version of what I envisioned. After a year, I'm happy to say that its up and running - at least in beta format.

If you know Java, like, hate, or wonder about generics - you should check it out.

The system is called Java Specifics and is a source code templating system. Interestingly, it can be used as an alternative to generics for any release of Java (generics is only jdk 1.5 and above). Apart from that though, it can do much more.

Anytime you need cookie-cutter type classes, you can make a specific to do the job for you.

See the beta compiler at: http://www.classhat.com