NIX Solutions’ Java-delegation at JPoint-2015

The JPoint-2015 conference comprises hardcore Java. This year a group of Java developers from NIX Solutions checked if everything they heard about the event is true.
At the end of April, the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel in Moscow was filled with Java developers. Everyone from newbies to Java gurus was there for one of the coolest Java conferences — JPoint-2015. Of course, our developers could not miss it so NIX Solutions sent a group to attend the best Java event this spring.

Hardcore JPoint-2015

The JPoint is the conference for experienced Java developers and all reports presented here are on development only. This is the third event, and every year it gets more interesting and more hardcore. Java User Group organized the conference, and it is being marketed as an alternative to Oracle conferences.

Although the JPoint-2015 is associated with hardcore Java, all levels of Java-adepts could choose the topic to broaden their horizons. They could look at familiar technologies from a different perspective. Also, they could find out about the novelties of the sphere and to adopt the speakers’ best practices.

Candies from “Odnoklassniki”, Trinkets from JetBrains, and Philosophy for Java developers

After a short registration procedure, the participants met the sponsors, hosts, and other participants. There were sponsor showcases at the lobby of the hotel where everyone could talk to companies’ representatives and ask them questions. Stands lured the participants in several ways. For instance, “Odnoklassniki” gave away candies, Deutsche Bank offered a workout for the brain, as well as T-Systems entertained with a football game between radio-guided robots. JetBrains gave various promotional trinkets, although the stand itself has aroused genuine interest from many developers, who knew their products firsthand.

After the formal opening, the conference began with an extraordinary speech by philosopher Dmitry Galkin. Expanding the participants’ consciousness, to help them see development as a creative process was their major aim. The same way to show the importance of the technical component in contemporary art was important. The report was amusing, sometimes harsh, and definitely unexpected.

Within one day, there were more than 20 reports in 4 parallel rooms, and several roundtable discussions. The reports touched upon various topics, and everyone found something to their liking. Due to the “open room” layout of the conference, the participants could move from one room to another at any time.

What’s interesting?

The experienced Java-gurus who developed well-known products were the speakers of the conference:

• Representatives of the Oracle Java Performance Team (Alex Shipilev, Sergey Kuksenko, and Dmitry Chuiko)
• JVM Developers (Vladimir Ivanov from Oracle, Ivan Krylov from Azul, Volker Simonis from SAP)
• Developers of high-load and fault-tolerant systems (Andrew Pangin from Odnoklassniki, Alexey Zinoviev from Tamtek)
• The creators of the best tools for Java programmers (Podhalyuzin Alexander, leading Scala expert in JetBrains, Anton Arkhipov, JRebel and Xrebel expert, Nikita Salnikov from Plumb)

During the coffee breaks, the participants could ask questions directly to the speakers, share impressions or just chat in a relaxed atmosphere about their areas of expertise.

The event lasted all day. However, the time went by in a flash. Most of the reports were truly topical and meaty, which is not surprising given the immense experience of the speakers. Some solutions to issues were familiar, some were worth considering, but a few of the solutions were really overwhelming.

In fact, the NIX Solutions delegation has made its own reports’ rating:

• “The best debugger is the one made by yourself”, Andrey Pangin, Odnoklassniki – a report on profiling and debugging capabilities offered by JDK to create its extremely efficient and simple tools, tailored to solve specific tasks. The report was very concise, simple, and simultaneously exciting, and full of interesting details.
• “Javassist at Java-developer’s service” Anton Arkhipov, ZeroTurnaround – lifted the veil and told us what’s happening on the other side of JRebel. They dedicated the report to Javassist’s functionality within dynamic code changes and the problems it can solve. In addition, Anton told us what we should not do.
• “Mom, I want Hibernate for NoSQL or whatever you have in mind…”, Alexei Zinoviev, Tamtek–taught us to manage projects without Hibernate and mentioned what tools can be used instead.

NIX Solutions’ Java delegation left Radisson Slavyanskaya inspired with new development ideas. The intensive program, outstanding speakers, and engaging reports contributed to this.

In conclusion, NIX Solutions Java experts strongly believe that the JPoint is a highly recommended conference to be even for the most experienced developers. Our guys are already planning a trip to the JPoint-2016. See you there ;).