Oopsla Ninety Nine

Not much to say really. Any Wiki BOFs planned? What's the big topic this year? Yada, yada, yada... (See LetsMeetAtOopsla and XunitBofAtOopsla)

Seems like architecture and distributed systems are very big this year; along with a smattering of metadata things.

Big conversation topics will probably be

KentBeck's book ExtremeProgrammingExplainedEmbraceChange
MartinFowler's RefactoringImprovingTheDesignOfExistingCode
retreat from BigDesignUpFront

and the three volume set of framework books by MohamedFayad?, RalphJohnson, and DouglasSchmidt?.

So, I've never been to OOPSLA before and if I can persuade my boss to send me, what are people's recommendations? --RichardEmerson

OOPSLA is a five-ring circus. There is way too much to do, and too much to see. As at most conferences, the important things are in the hallways.

Although you are past the deadlines for workshops, you can probably still get into most of them if you ask nicely. Contact the organizers of the particular workshops you find interesting. I always strongly recommend workshops as a way to get to know people and a way to start some good technical conversations that will last the rest of the week. I also recommend DesignFest.

I tend not to go to paper sessions because I read the papers instead. I tend to hit panels and demos instead. And talk a lot in the hallways.

-- RalphJohnson, who has an OOPSLA perfect attendance ribbon