Brennan’s Blog

I will be in Chicago to present Ajax UI Design Tips and Techniques for the Great Lakes Software Symposium. It is a No Fluff, Just Stuff show (NFJS) and the first time I will speak for the show.

I have been a fan of the NFJS shows and have attended the past 2 years. What is great about the show is that the size is limited and there are no vendor presentations. It is just developers presenting to developers, which is extremely useful. I have learned a great deal from these weekend presentations. And at the last show I even got a great backpack to hold my laptop.

For this show I personally hope to speak with Dave Thomas, David Geary, Jason Hunter and Ted Neward. Between sessions any attendant can chat with the speakers during the break as well as during the lunches and dinners. It can be invaluable to talk with the likes of Ted Neward or David Geary about advanced topics especially when they are so deep in the details.

For about 2 years I have been digging into .NET due to the wind blowing in that direction for most of the client assignments I am on. As a part of that I have found ways to specialize on common technologies which are shared across Java and .NET, such as XHTML, XML, CSS, and Javascript and leverage their strengths so that when I bounce between the worlds of Java and .NET I can take that experience with me. My work with Ajax and web development in general is based on a platform neutral approach which will be obvious in my presentation.