EclipseCon was very good this year. The new venue and some new format ideas seemed to work. It was a lot more intimate and easier to spot people. Lunch was packed but that made it harder for people to sit isolated in their own little group (that’s a good thing).  Moreover, the talks were very good. I made a concerted effort to go to more talks and was well rewarded. It seems that others were as well.

One of the great things we’ve been doing for a few years now is the talk voting.  Simply by dropping a card in one of three buckets as you exit the talk you can signal a +1, 0 or -1 for the talk. You can also leave text comments which the team collects, transcribes and eventually distributes to the speakers.

The talk voting results were put up on the EclipseCon site recently. There are a number of interesting points.

• Of course, Jeff Norris’ keynote got rave reviews. Nearly 300 people cast their +1 for the talk and not a single -1.  Surprisingly three lost soles voted 0. Not sure what what it would take to get their approval but…
• We don’t know the full number of people at each talk but based on the keynote responses, it seems like roughly 50-60% talk attendees vote. I figure there were about 500 people at each keynote and there were 250-300 votes in each. Not sure if that translates for the smaller sessions but its a data point. Would be good to get the voter turn out up next year. I mean, you’re right there…
• Of the over 6500 votes cast, only ~7% of attendees did not like (-1) the talk they went to and over 70% were very pleased (+1) with what they saw. That is pretty impressive with such a varied group.
• About half of the talks received no -1 votes!

I was particularly pleased to see that the OSGi Best Practices talk I did with Paul, Martin and Chris was well received (111 +1′s, 8 0′s and no -1′s).

We were less lucky on the OSGi tutorial.  72% where very pleased but a few (4%) were disappointed and the rest were, well, ok with it. We’ll have to see what the write-in reports say. For sure the room was packed and there were a few issues getting setup and running. Seems par for the tutorial course but still not satisfactory. Perhaps next year we can do better both on the setup and structure but also on the facilities.

In any event, another great EclipseCon done.  Everyone involved in running the show and presenting should be proud.  Thanks for all your hard work. Well done.

Tags: eclipsecon

We are very pleased to report that the long awaited 2nd edition of the Eclipse RCP book (http://eclipsercp.org) is going to the presses on Thursday, April 15th. That means it should be in the stores by the end of the month. Of course, you don’t have to wait, you can pre-order from Amazon or read it online at Safari. Check out the book website for more info.

In addition to the snazzy new cover, this book is an update of the original content to include new technologies, updated workflows and more detail. Here is the marketing blurb from the back cover…

In Eclipse Rich Client Platform, Second Edition, three Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP) project leaders show how to use Eclipse 3.5 (“Galileo”) to rapidly deliver cross-platform applications with rich, native-feel GUIs.

The authors fully reveal the power of Eclipse as a desktop application development platform; introduce important new improvements in Eclipse 3.5; and walk through developing a full-featured, branded RCP application for Windows, Linux, Mac, and other platforms—including handheld devices and kiosks.

Drawing on their extensive experience, the authors cover building, refining, and refactoring prototypes; customizing user interfaces; adding help and software management features; and building, branding, testing, and shipping finished software. They demonstrate current best practices for developing modular and dynamically extensible systems, using third-party code libraries, packaging applications for diverse environments, and much more.

For Java programmers at all levels of experience, this book

• Introduces important new RCP features such as p2, Commands, and Databinding
• Thoroughly covers key RCP-related technologies such as Equinox, SWT, JFace, and OSGi
• Shows how to effectively brand and customize RCP application look-and-feel
• Walks through user interface testing for RCP applications with SWTBot
• Illuminates key similarities and differences between RCP and conventional plug-in development

Hands-on, pragmatic, and comprehensive, this book offers all the real-world, nontrivial code example working developers need—as well as “deep dives” into key technical areas that are essential to your success.

Tags: book, eclipse, rcp, syndicate

In days gone by the EclipseCon online program had ics calendar entries so you could just click and have a talk added to your calendar. The other day I was setting up my EclipseCon schedule (wow, hard decisions) and noticed that calendar entries were missing.  After a few iterations with Don and Gabe as we struggled with the vagaries of timezone support in ics files, we now have the calendar entry links back!  Check it out!  See the calendar icon on the right side?

Thanks Gabe and  Don for the fast turn-around on this very useful service.

Tags: eclipsecon

Yup, that could be you. On your boat, cruising past Saba Rock in the British Virgin Islands, learning Eclipse RCP or Equinox/OSGi.

Twice a year the Eclipse Foundation runs the Eclipse Training Series and the Spring ’10 sessions were announced earlier today. The series has always been a great opportunity for the community to learn more about the technologies they are (or should be) using.

This year EclipseSource is very pleased to announce that we are offering a number of courses in a “virtual classroom” format. Over the past few months we have tried out this idea and found that it has worked quite well.  The courses are run largely in the same sequence as in-person classes using the same materials but using screen sharing and web conferencing facilities. Despite the lack of personal contact, participants report a solid learning experience and very much appreciate not having to travel.

We are also expanding our virtual offerings into our RAP, p2 and PDE build courses. Of course, we continue to provied in-person classes. Check out the full Eclipse training lineup.

Tags: eclipse, equinox, OSGi, training

Earlier today we released a new version of the sample code for the OSGi and Equinox book. This new version has many updates to the Samples Manager itself as well as updated code for several chapters. Check out all the details on the book blog.

We have also added the ability to download the whole Samples Manager software site as a zip.  See the downloads page for more details on how to get the samples.

Finally, we’ve added forums to the book site and encourage readers to share their experiences, questions and discoveries.

Tags: equinox, OSGi, syndicate

Finally! Moments ago I received my personal copy of the new OSGi and Equinox book!

More than a year in the making it is very gratifying to finally have the physical book. The cover looks great and the production team did a good job of the layout.

To celebrate I updated the book website a bit to have forums and a few other things. More will come in the next few days including a teaser chapter and the table of contents. Some people have asked for the samples in a zip file so we’ll put that together as well.  Stay tuned.

Of course, if you just can’t wait and want to get the book now, you can
buy it now. Note that Amazon thinks that it is still coming but I’m assured that it is indeed in-stock so ordering now will get it to you shortly. Enjoy.

Finally, for those of you taking a wait and see approach, we are planning to give a few away at our EclipseCon tutorial…  The tutorial will use material from the book giving you a great opportunity to get a quick start and then dive deep and explore more by reading the book afterwards.  See you there.

Tags: equinox, OSGi, syndicate

Today we formalized some changes in the Eclipse Series of books. Some time ago Lee Nackman left IBM and his various roles related to Eclipse. Many of you may not know Lee but he was instrumental in the early days of Eclipse and IBM’s ongoing contribution and commitment to Eclipse. Lee, Erich Gamma and John Weigand envisioned and created the Eclipse Series of more then 20 books that today conveys so much vital information to the Eclipse community.

I’m pleased to report that I am taking over Lee’s place on the Eclipse Series editorial board. One of my first tasks has been to help in the redesign of the series look. The result of that effort can be seen in the OSGi and Equinox book going to press this week.

The original series had a sequence of Eclipse photos. This was fitting and attractive. Unfortunately, many of the photos looked similar and as a result is was hard to distinguish one book from another. For the new look we have standardized on a new color scheme and layout. Different books will have distinct images largely at the discretion of the authors but the overall look will be consistent.

We have also introduced a subtle branding differentiation through the use of the Eclipse or EclipseRT logos (see the top left corner) depending on their focus (tooling vs. runtime).

In this new role I will be looking for new ways to drive the content that the community needs. Writing a book is a huge investment and while many teams have made very significant technical contributions, they are not big enough or well-funded enough to write books. There are a few ideas kicking around for how to lower the barrier and what topics are in most need of coverage. While we have  great wealth of new projects at Eclipse, the book pipeline is surprisingly sparse.

As with everything at Eclipse, the community can help. Your suggestions for formats, topics and indeed, content are more than welcome. Feel free to contact me directly or post comments on this blog.

Tags: books, eclipse, syndicate

After more than a year of work we have finally completed the entire OSGi and Equinox book. The text, artwork, index, front matter and now cover are done and will be off to the printer and a bookstore near you in the next few days.

The cover marks a departure from the original series style of Eclipse photos. The publisher and series editorial team felt that that theme had run its course and the wanted a new look. We are pleased to be the first book with the new look. Expect subsequent books in the series to have a similar upper portions with different main images in the lower half.

Note also the use of the EclipseRT logo on the upper right corner.

Books in the series will have either the Eclipse logo or the EclipseRT logo depending on their focus (tooling vs. runtime). The upcoming 2nd edition of the RCP book will be the second in the series to have the new cover style and the EclipseRT logo. We have not decided on the imagery yet though…

Happy reading…

Tags: eclipseRT, equinox, OSGi

Over the past few days I have spoken to many different groups at the EclipseRT days, various democamps and some students in one of our Advanced RCP courses. Each time people have asked…

“when is the OSGi and Equinox book coming out?”

Most were hopeful, some were trying to get a rise out of me. Well, ask and ye shall receive!

I am very pleased to say that the full, pre-copy-edited content is available on Rough Cuts. There are a few minor differences between what is online and what will end up in print but that is mostly a bit of grammar and a few technical fixes. The early versions of all the code is available though there are a few known issues in the packaging that we are still working on.

I am really very happy with how the book has turned out.  The structure has lots of content for everyone.  Tutorials, deep-dives, reference material. As you can see by the table of contents below, we start with some history, context and concepts. Then there is a set of tutorial chapters where we build up an example fleet management application called Toast to have a funky embedded vehicle user interface with Google Earth integration, client0server connectivity as well as a back-end control center for managing the fleet.

The Toast system from Chapter 14, the final tutorial chapter, has been donated to Eclipse as the Toast Examples project where is has been extended to have a RAP UI for the backend, EMF and EclipseLink for data management, ECF for infrastructure bits, etc etc.

The tutorial is followed by a number of deep-dives on key topics such as Declarative Services, the HTTP service, Remote Services (RFC119) and more.  Finally there are a set of reference chapters that go even deeper and look at the grotty issues of classloading, dynamic behavior and third party code libraries. It’s a good range of the popular OSGi concepts and services. Of course, there is always room for more in a 2nd edition! (can’t believe I said that…)

Part I:   Introduction
1              OSGi and Equinox
2              Concepts

Part II :  Tutorial
3              Tutorial Introduction
4              Hello Toast
5              Services
6              Dynamic Services
7              Client/Server Interaction
8             Testing
9              Packaging
10           Pluggable Services
11            Extensible User Interfaces
12            Dynamic Configuration
13            Web Portal
14            System Deployment with p2

Part III: Deep Dives
15            Declarative Services
16            Extensions
17            Logging
18           HTTP Support
19            Server Side
20           Release Engineering

Part IV: Reference
21            Dynamic Best Practices
22           Integrating Code Libraries
23           Advanced Topics
24           Declarative Services Reference

Now for finishing up the 2nd edition of the RCP book.  Chris and I are together this week and will be plugging away at the final tweaks before the copy-editing phase. The first 13 chapters of that book have gone to the copy editors and are available on Rough Cuts.

Tags: book, eclipseRT, equinox, OSGi, p2, rap, syndicate

We’ve reached the 20th of Movember and its time for a progress report from this Eclipse Mommitter.

• Shaved in the ‘stache earlier in the week
• Kids just could not stop laughing
• Wife would not look at me or kiss me
• After a week there has been some progress.
• The kids have finally stopped laughing (though now “pull the ‘stache is the game of the day)
• Wife will kiss me but still can’t really look at me

Here, judge for yourself.

Its a little strange to be out in public with the new look. I spent much of the week on the road for the EclipseRT days in Austin and Toronto.  Great events with lots of good people around.  I particularly enjoyed that there were ample breaks between sessions and lots of good conversations. And it turns out that the whole Movember thing is a good ice-breaker.  Even got a donation out of it! Valentin Baciu, another Mommitter of similar moustache design donated more to the cause.  Thanks! The Eclipse Mommitter team is up to $2200 now.  Pretty good effort but we could always use more donations.

Tags: movember, syndicate