Aaron Bedra

By Aaron Bedra

Exploring new technologies can be both challenging and rewarding. A good spike can make or break a new feature for your application. Have you ever thought that a technology or practice your company isn't currently using is the perfect fit for your next iteration? This is your time to shine! In this session you will learn how to treat new technologies as first class citizens and prove that they fit your needs. You will also learn how to provide concrete evidence supporting your decision. By the end of this session your fear of introducing new technology will simply melt away.

In this session you will learn how to cover the cross cutting concerns of bringing new technology into your organization. You will walk through ideas including:

• Initial proof of concept
• Fully functional demonstration
• Stress testing
• Operations
• Presenting your findings
• Bringing your team up to speed

You will also learn about arming yourself with these concepts to help make your case. There's no better time than now to start learning how to leverage the right tool for the job.

By Aaron Bedra

Ruby has made an significant upward trend in the past few years. Alongside this trend Charles Nutter and the fantastic JRuby team have implemented a version of Ruby that runs on the JVM giving you the power of Ruby coupled with the advantages of running on the JVM. Come see for yourself how you can harness the power of rapid development in Ruby and still maintain all the Java interoperability you need to help you build on top of your existing systems.

In this Session you will take a look at some real world examples of how JRuby can help you:

• Write new software that wraps existing Java libraries
• Utilize JMX to monitor your production code
• Increase the effectiveness of your test suites

This session will leave you with new information that can help you decide if JRuby is right for your next application or feature.

By Aaron Bedra

Find out why Clojure is Java.next

• Clojure provides clean, fast access to all Java libraries
• Clojure provides all the low-ceremony goodness you know and love from dynamic languages
• Clojure includes Lisp's signature feature: Treating code as data through macros.
• Clojure's emphasis on immutability and support for software transactional memory make it a viable option for taking advantage of massively parallel hardware.

Clojure is a dynamic programming language for the Java Virtual Machine, with a compelling combination of features:

• Clojure is elegant. Clojure's clean, careful design lets you write programs that get right to the essence of a problem, without a lot of clutter and ceremony.
• Clojure is Lisp reloaded. Clojure has the power inherent in Lisp, but not constrained by the history of Lisp.
• Clojure is a functional language. Data structures are immutable, and most functions are side-effect free. This makes it easier to write correct programs, and to compose large programs from smaller ones.
• Clojure simplifies concurrent programming. Of course, Java itself has pretty good concurrency support, but there is wide agreement that lock-based concurrency is difficult to use correctly. Clojure provides alternatives to lock-based concurrency: software transactional memory, agents, and dynamic variables.
• Clojure embraces Java. Calling from Clojure to Java is direct, and goes through no translation layer.
• Unlike many popular dynamic languages, Clojure is fast. Wherever you need it, you can get the exact same performance that you could get from hand-written Java code.