This was a great session - fun to actually see people who's blogs I've been reading for a while in person. Tom Duff and Julian Robichaux did an excellent job - both informative and entertaining - which for someone operating on about 2 hours sleep is quite important.

From a technical perspective, the first thing I can note is that Java is not nearly as scary as it initially seems. I was impressed that the syntax was very familar for a some-what JavaScript developer (semi-colons, double equals etc) which straight away eases my nerves. The eclipse stuff was what I was probably least impressed with - I guess it's just not quite "there" yet - a cut&paste scenario just seems to clunky, but I guess if I ever actually start Java development, then it will become clearer.

Most impressive for me was the demo's - although they were very simple, they were clear, consise and useful examples of why I would learn Java - the status non-modal dialog was particularly impressive, and the charting is way better than launching Excel - so the sample database has already been downloaded and will be looked at on my return to Aus.

Also, the free books were a nice touch - Tim & I were lucky enough to get one each - which will certainly add to the weight of our bags for the next 3 1/2 weeks!

The only minor point I have, and this was the case with all sessions today - two hours is almost too long to sit still and listen...