Java Users of Atlanta Upcoming Events

["Burr Sutter" <sutter@bravepoint.com>]

AJUG Happenings

Table of Contents:
- April 20th - Jon Kern - Agile Manifesto and MDA
- May 18th - Java DevCon with Andy Hunt
- Call for Speakers
- June 15th - Java Server Faces

** April 20th - Jon Kern 
You have probably heard of the raging debates over Model Driven
Architecture, UML's immaturity, code generation controversy or that modeling
is for wimps. Even such industry notables as Martin Fowler and Scott Ambler
have negative opinions about the viability of MDA. 

We found an author of The Agile Manifesto, Jon Kern (friends with both
Ambler and Fowler), who takes a somewhat contrarian view. Jon is a fanatic
about ensuring software development efforts deliver business value.

** May 18th - Java DevCon - AJUG's first day long conference.
Andy Hunt is one of our anchor speakers at this year's Java DevCon 
Andy is Dave Thomas' partner in crime (Dave gave us a fantastic presentation
last year)
Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas are the Pragmatic Programmers, recognized
internationally as experts in the development of high-quality software.
Their best-selling book of software best practices, The Pragmatic
Programmer: From Journeyman to Master (Addison-Wesley), is filled with
practical advice on a wide range of software development issues. They also
authored Programming Ruby: A Pragmatic Programmer's Guide (Addison-Wesley),
and helped to write the now famous Agile Manifesto
(http://agilemanifesto.org/).

www.pragmaticprogrammer.com

We have also lined up Neal Ford, author - Art of Java Web Development, who
can speak about the most popular web development frameworks.  A recent
article by Neal www.theserverside.com/articles/article.tss?l=Cocoon

Plus we are planning on JXTA, rich client development (aka Swing, SWT, etc)
and J2EE security.

Please begin to talk this up in your organization.  Most corporations are
not investing very many dollars into software development-related training.
Very few AJUG'ers get to attend JavaOne so we are bringing a little slice of
JavaOne to Atlanta this Spring. Sun, BEA, JBoss and Compuware have agreed to
support this event.

Refreshments and lunch will be provided and represent the vast majority of
the costs. The expected budget for this event is around $8K to $10K and AJUG
will absorb a large portion of these costs, however, we believe an
attendance charge of about $45 a person is reasonable to help defray these
costs. More information on how to register and exact details will be
forthcoming.  Also, please let us know who in your organization should be
contacted so that all the Java-related developers can be released for a day
and attend this special educational event.  We can make personal pleas to
various executives who control the purse strings and your 9-to-5 hours. 

** Call for Speakers
The Atlanta Java Users Group is the focal point for Java evangelism in
Atlanta.  We provide valuable educational events for professional software
developers in our local community.  Normally AJUG only needs around 11
speakers per year.  Typically these slots are highly sought after and we
have the luxury of putting the better speakers and topics on stage. With the
introduction of the conference AJUG now needs around 20 speakers and topics.
If yourself or someone you know is interested in presenting at an AJUG event
or if there is a particular topic that you wish to see us address please
send an email to ajug-program@ajug.org

** June 15th - We plan on having a detailed Java Server Faces presentation.

Your feedback is always appreciated and is absolutely vital as AJUG expands
its offerings beyond the basic monthly meeting.

Thanks,
Burr