Frameworks? We don't need no stinkin' web frameworks. OK, so maybe that's overstating the case. Web frameworks do plenty of good things, but sometimes they can also be golden handcuffs. Too many web developers fall into the trap of thinking, "If it can't be done by my web framework, then it simply can't be done."

This presentation focuses on the cool things that you can accomplish by stepping out of your web framework and getting closer to the underlying technology. We'll take a detailed look at what really goes on during the request/response cycle, and how new techniques like AJAX allow you to break the mold. We'll look at the clever things you can do with MIME types, User-Agents, and HTTP Headers in general.

Old technologies like CSS, DOM, and JavaScript are experiencing a renaissance under the guise of new names like DHTML and AJAX. Google Maps and GMail are literally redefining our expectations of how rich a web application can be by using these technologies to their fullest potential. Come see what makes these sites tick, and how you can utilize the same techniques in your own site.

Mark Twain once said, "Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." Do you feel the same way about Unit Testing? Are you actively testing your code, or are you just thinking about testing your code... some day... once you get some more free time...

Unit testing offers benefits beyond the obvious. A happy side effect of writing unit tests is that your code ends up being better architected. By forcing you to be a consumer of your own code outside of the context of the main application, you end up seeing your code in a different light. Hidden dependencies get flushed out early. Good unit tests force your code to be more loosely coupled and highly cohesive.

This presentation is a survey of the testing ecosystem. A good testing infrastructure should include more than just JUnit. Cobertura, a test coverage tool, shows you how much of your code base is being tested. Writing test cases in Groovy adds a measure of flexibility that makes working with XML (and string data in general) a piece of cake. EasyMock allows you to test interfaces instead of implementations (and also avoid having to hand-code and maintain your own mock objects). We'll also look at functional testing libraries like HttpUnit, DbUnit, and JUnitPerf that allow you to test how your code behaves out in the wild, interacting with real subsystems instead of just mocks.

Most importantly, you'll see these tools live in action -- real code examples instead a simple slideware overview. Rather than looking at each tool in isolation, you'll see how they interact and complement each other. Rather than just talking about testing, we'll (finally) do something about it.

Hopefully your test plan involves more than, "Well, it compiled..." JUnit is fast becoming a required part of the modern Java developer's toolkit. Unit testing your Java classes is a great start, but your test plan shouldn't stop there.

This talk will introduce several additional testing tools for the web developer -- HttpUnit, Canoo WebTest, and JMeter. These tools allow you to test a live website with no changes to the production code. Even better, you can test sites that have been implemented in technologies other than Java.

You will see code examples and live demos of these tools in action. We'll talk about the differences between unit testing, functional testing, and performance/load testing. Come get "test infected" -- you'll never look at the development process the same way.

In this talk, we'll survey the web services exposed by leading websites (Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay) and discuss how they are driving the AJAX revolution. You'll see examples of RESTful, SOAP, and JSON web services, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Everyone seems to be talking about AJAX and Web 2.0 these days. While the UIs of AJAX-enabled websites such as Google Maps and Flickr are undeniably cool, they wouldn't exist without a strong SOA/Web Services infrastructure behind the scenes.

"Web Services" is an overloaded term. While SOAP is a mainstay in the web services world, there are other equally valid flavors (REST, JSON) that accomplish the same goal -- decoupling the data from the presentation layer, the platform, and even the programming language used.

Rather than talking about web services in the abstract, this talk shows examples of each flavor of web services as it is used in the wild by leading web companies. They have all taken slightly different approaches to the same problem. We'll compare and contrast their public-facing offerings.

There is no one "right way" to expose your API via web services. After this talk, you should have a better idea of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each variant.

The release of Google Maps was a "Wizard of Oz / Technicolor" moment for web developers everywhere. It didn't just change the way we look at mapping sites; it forever changed the way we look at all web sites. It put AJAX on the map, both figuratively and literally.

Based on the book Pragmatic GIS, we deconstruct the mechanics behind Google Maps, showing you the magical combination of JavaScript and CSS that allows it to work. In 12 easy-to-follow steps, we take you from static HTML all the way to your own "slippy map", complete with zooming and different map types.

Even if you don't have immediate plans to add maps to your website, come look at "the man behind the curtain". The hands-on, practical approach to learning AJAX in this talk will pay you dividends. The pretty map you get at the end is just the icing on the cake.