Yet Another Seaside Talk

At the next Omaha Dynamic Language User Group, I will be speaking on Seaside. If you missed my talk at the BarCampKansasCity, you can catch it now. I will be showing how to build web applications with the best web framework out there. Expect lots of simplicity and heretical statements.

Omaha Dynamic Language User's Group

Fingers tired from typing in all of those Emacs commands from trying out new Ruby and Lisp code from the books you got for Christmas? Why don't you take a small break and join your fellow comrades. Trust me your mind and fingers will thank you. This month we have a very special guest from Microsoft, Bob McCoy. He'll be demonstrating all of the cool things that you can do with PowerShell. It just might make Mac users envious. Here's the full abstract:

PowerShell is Microsoft’s next generation scripting language and environment. It will be the native shell environment for Windows Server 2008 and is at the heart of every administration task in Exchange 2007. It is extremely powerful and at the same time very simple to use. It is aimed at system administrators and scripters.

This will be about 40% slides and about 60% demonstration. I try to keep it highly interactive so it ends up answering a lot of questions along the way.

But, that's not all! You not only get Bob McCoy, but we're also bringing the brightest fellows in Omaha. But, wait that's not all! We'll throw in sponsorship from TekSystems which means free food and more pop than you can drink. All for the incredible low price of FREE! Why delay? Come to the meeting!

On a side note, a little bird told me that TekSystems has some Ruby openings right now! Get in contact with Heather Blockovich or better yet come to the meeting to find out more.

Topic	PowerShell
Speaker	Bob McCoy
Time	January 8, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Omaha Dynamic Language User's Group

Still eating leftovers from Thanksgiving? Had your fill of Christmas shopping? Sounds like you need a break. Why not head on down to the local Omaha Dynamic Language User's Group and meeting the best and brightest that Omaha has to offer? This month we are honored to have world famous "No Fluff" wowie zowie speaker, Matt Secoske presenting. He will be showing us the ins and outs of a framework called "Processing". It's a graphical canvas with a programming interface. Simple to use and the results are jaw dropping. Spice up your Christmas cards this year.

There will be pizza and drinks provided. Free food, drink, great conversation, an exciting presentation, and an amazing new technique to make cards. What do you have to lose? Christmas shopping can wait. It's time to have some fun.

Topic	Processing: Cool Graphics Now
Speaker	Matt Secoske
Time	December 4, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Omaha Dynamic Language Group

You wanted the best. You got the best. The hottest presenter in the land...Ben Heath! What could be better than a Kiss concert, a talk on PHP of course. This month Ben has offered to show us what we have been missing in PHP. The language itself is loved by web programmers all over. If you have ever been curious, now's the time to find what the fuss about PHP is all about.

ProKarma is sponsoring this presentation. They will be providing the food and drinks. So, what do you have to lose? You get to learn something new, hang with the smartest people in Omaha, and free food. My friends, it just doesn't get any better!

Topic	PHP: Practical Web Programming
Speaker	Ben Heath
Time	November 6, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Omaha Dynamic Language Group

Erlang is the hottest new language in the land to learn. It's what on the tip of everyone's tongue. Why is it so hot? What makes it so special? I am proud to have Erlang guru Sam Tesla presenting to answer all our questions. He will be displaying why Erlang scales so well and it's many unique features. This will be one meeting that should not be missed!

And if that wasn't enough, we have none other than Tek Systems providing all of the pop and pizza that our bellies can take. Prepare to have your mind and stomach stuffed!

Come out and join us for the best user group in the land (In my opinion, of course).

Topic	A Gentle Introduction to Erlang
Speaker	Sam Tesla
Time	October 2, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Why Is Groovy So Slow?

Peter Knego wonders "Why Is Groovy So Slow?" and shows some evidence. I will admit I expected Groovy to be slower than Java because even though it does compile to Java byte codes. It has to perform various translations to satisfy the VM that expects a lot to be already typed. The Java VM is an ugly world for dynamic languages because of the early bind nature to gain performance. Some of his numbers were shocking. He also mentioned he was going to run numbers on jRuby as well. I'll be curious about that too. I'm expecting the numbers to tell a similar story.

But, that's not the point of this post. I'm worried with posts like the above because developers will use it as evidence that you shouldn't use dynamic languages. I never thought the arguments for not using dynamic languages would be played out again. Back in the 90's, it was Smalltalk vs. C/C++. I remember having many a debate how the productivity gains out weighed the small performance hit for late binding. I thought when Java won, I would never have to argue about performance ever again.

It's not that the above posts are bad. I think they are wonderful. It gives something that the Groovy guys can use to make their product better. And that's good for all of us wanting to be dynamic in a static world. But, those numbers will also be used to prove why you shouldn't use dynamic languages. And that's sad. It's all come full circle. I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it. The numbers are not bad because dynamic languages are slow, but because trying to get them run on an architecture not built with them in mind.

Omaha Dynamic Language Group

Pinch me. Our speaker this month is none other than "Mister Groovy Eclipse Plug-In" Scott Hickey. He will be speaking about Rexx though. Rexx is a little known scripting languages with some unique features. This should be an incredible talk to make you think about Rexx in a totally different light. I can not wait.

I hope to see everyone there!

Topic	Rexx: The Little Known Scripting Language
Speaker	Scott Hickey
Time	September 4, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Omaha Dynamic Language Group

Get out the thinking caps because Jay Hannah is coming to speak about how to mix Bioinformatics and Perl together perfectly. It's going to be one night that you will not forget. Jay has a love for both and he will make you a believer that Perl is more than just another scripting language.

We are sponsored this week by none other than Bass. They will bring the food and beverages.

Intelligent conversation, great food, excellent company, and it's all free. Come and see that the fuss is us.

Topic	Bioinformatics and Perl
Speaker	Jay Hannah
Time	July 10, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Omaha Dynamic Language Group

The air is warm, the sun is shining bright, and the monitors are glowing. Yes, it's time again for another stupendous Omaha Dynamic Language User's Group meeting! This month we are honored to have Ryan Stille speak on Cold Fusion! If you've ever been curious about this technology, then you need to see this presentation. You may never see the world the same again afterwards!

This month we are also honored to have Concentric sponsor us! They will be providing food, drinks, and much merriment. We are glad for their participation.

I will see you all there for the greatest user group ANYWHERE!

Topic	Cold Fusion
Speaker	Ryan Stille
Time	June 5, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Omaha Dynamic Language User Group

This month's meeting is brought to you by the letters G and B. Brent Adkisson is taking time out of his busy schedule to show us the power of Google's new GData API. It's a safe bet that you'll be astonished and will can't wait to find a use for GData for yourself. Brent has been telling me all about the exciting things he has been discovering with it. This is one meeting not to be missed.

Pizza, drinks, and a special prize (just like a box of Cracker Jack) will be provided for by this month's sponsor's Tek Systems.

Free food and stimulating conversation make for an exciting Tuesday night! See you all there.

Topic	GData
Speaker	Brent Adkisson
Time	May 1, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Omaha Dynamic Language Group

Has it already been a month? Wow. We have a stupendous talker this month, Axel Jenson. He will be presenting the us the new Flex framework and showing off the next verion of ECMAScript: ActionScript! This promises to be a talk that you will be talking about for months. I've heard it will make you instantly download Flex and try out all the cool things it has.

Want more? How about sponsorship from ProKarma, Inc. (eSymbiosis)! They will be providing us with a door prize, pizza, and drinks.

This is one exciting meeting that you can not afford to miss. I will see you all there!

Topic	Flex/ActionScript
Speaker	Axel Jensen
Time	April 3, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Dynamic Language User Group Is Back!

The holidays are over and it's time to get back to programming in the languages we love. I'm happy to announce we have a new location this month courtesy of Matt Payne. It's located at UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building! So, why the change you dare ask? Here's the blurb:

Room PKI 269 is nice because it has about 25 machines, each connected to the Internet, and a large screen projector at the front of the room. A laptop may be connected to the projector or you can just use the PC at the front of the room. Almost every room in PKI has a large screen projector at the front of the room with a PC and a laptop connection. All of the rooms have white boards.

WOW! I would like to give extra special thanks to Heather Blockovich of Tek Systems for all of her help. So, when are we meeting at our bright new shiny place? February 6 is the date usual time of 7-9pm. Of course, I'm always up for a little chit chat before.

Now, for the most important announcement (drum roll please): the speaker! Ben Heath will be providing a special evening of discussion on Common Lisp and his Netflix project. Ben is a passionate programmer with years of experience and is a Lisp and dynamic language lover. It's going to be an exciting talk for sure! I can't wait.

And if that wasn't all, Tek Systems will be joining us with food, refreshments, and maybe a few suprises! Yes, we have sponsorship for this meeting. Now, I have to ask what better way to spend an evening with free food, great place, great people, and awesome Lisp coding?! It's just too good! I look forward to seeing everyone.

Topic	Lisp and Netflix
Speaker	Ben Heath
Time	February 6, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE