Based on the success of last week's conference, I'm starting to plan the "Thinking in Java" conference for July. In particular, I need to set the dates.

I continue to be amazed at how insanely great OpenSpace conferences are with so little effort on my part. Certainly, I provide structure, but most of that occurs in the first half hour and then I become a participant. As always seems to happen with OpenSpaces, I got so much more out of this event than I ever imagined.

A response to Guido's discussion about marketing Python, and some observations about the issues that have come up.

The second part of the Java Posse's interview with me is up.

Part one of the Java Posse interview with me is now available.

I often get questions, mostly from Java programmers, about IDEs for Python. In Java there's so much finger-typing that the language wouldn't be feasible without an auto-completion IDE, so it makes sense that a Java programmer would want one when using Python. And they exist, but I don't know many who use them.

The last time I paid any attention to Groovy was when Mike Spille blogged about it, and when the Bile Blog chimed in (links below). Basically they wrote off the project (albeit giving lots of details about why). But recently the Java Posse talked about it in slightly different tones, so it made me start wondering.

On previous road trips, I've been able to fill my driving time by listening to ITConversations, but I ran out. So I started looking, via iTunes, for other podcasts that were IT based. There are plenty, and some are quite good.

I've put up the page for Thinking in Java, fourth edition. On it you can find a sample including the first 7 chapters, the source code and installation instructions, and links to sites which are taking orders for the book.

My previous posting about Ruby generated a lot of noise and very little light -- that is, not much in the way of compelling reasons to learn the language. So I went to a couple of Seattle.rb Ruby users group meetings and spent time with 3 uber-geeks. Now I at least have the beginning of an understanding of what's interesting about this language.

Mike Levin has posted a new podcast interview with me, recorded 1/4/06.

The Java hyper-enthusiasts have left the building, leaving a significant contingent of Java programmers behind, blinking in the bright lights without the constant drumbeat of boosterism.

There's one rather mind-bending idiom that appears periodically in Java generics. Here's what it looks like: class SelfBounded<T extends SelfBounded<T>>

There appear to be some strange side effects on packages when using generics.

I'm hoping this is an obvious one and that my brain is just fried from over-generification.