Next week it's time to kick off the 2019 conference season with DevNexus conference in Atlanta, USA. I go to a lot of conference and events every year, but DevNexus is always one of the highlights. Not only is it usually the first big event of the year for me, but the vibe of the event is different than most.
Although it's grown to be a big event over the years, you can still feel the humble, nerdy, beginnings of a community-driven event when you get there. Vince, Pratik, and the rest of the Atlanta JUG team pull together to make this event one of the most inclusive and fun developer events around.
Learning PWA hands-on
If you've followed my work online, you probably know I'm really into Progressive Web Apps (PWA). I've written PWA tutorials, recorded step-by-step PWA guides, and given countless presentations around the US and Canada about the topic in the past couple of years.
If you're not familiar with PWA, they are apps that are native to the web platform. They are web applications using new ServiceWorker and caching APIs they allow developers to build applications that offer the user experience (UX) of native apps, but with the frictionless access that only the web can offer. Although it comprises a relatively new set of technologies, several big companies like Twitter and Starbucks are using them in production with impressive results.
In my presentation, I take a hands-on, practical approach to explain the core concepts of PWA by live-coding a small application from scratch.
Building an open source community with an open bar (and mind)
Most of you who have been to conferences probably agree with me that the most rewarding part of the conference is often the after party. After a long day of learning, you get to wind down and talk to other developers and speakers. Perhaps even enjoy an adult beverage or two.
The after party is where all fun ideas happen, and cool collaborations get off the ground. This year the DevNexus afterparty has been kicked up a notch by Amelia Eiras and her team of #UsualSuspects. Joined by the open source teams of Hazelcast, JakartaEE, Okta, Sonatype, and Tomitribe, the Open Source RRR party will start on March 7 at 6pm.
If you're in town, be sure to stop by my talk, and join the afterparty to hang out with the Java open source crowd!