As for the conference...
Nov. 11th, 2005 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kickahaThis has been, hands down, the best conference I've ever attended. Period. Bar none. It was actually two conferences meeting at the same time: WICSA and WCRE.
WICSA is the Working Conf on Software Architecture - architects are a twitchy breed, I've decided. They have this lofty view of their job and position that doesn't quite jibe with reality in some ways. They kind of have fallen prey to the 'we're newer so we're better' that the software design community went through a decade ago, the OO community a decade before that, the structured programming folks the previous decade... you'd think someone would notice this and learn, don't you? Naw.
WCRE is the Working Conf on Reverse Engineering - these guys are so focused on the details that they can't see the big picture, and half of what they produce is, while not trivial, utterly without context and therefore about meaningless for most of the goals that most people want.
I loved it. These two groups were at the opposite ends of the spectrum, and I sat in the middle grinning like a madman because I got to be the outsider with *both* groups, and act like the crazy loon from The Other Side that extended an olive branch. I can't tell you how many times I sat in a working group, or a presentation Q&A, or a dinner, and acted as the translator between these folks. It was GREAT.
The friction between these two groups sparked off *SO* many damned new research directions that I can't stand it. I just added a decade's worth of ideas to my plate, I swear. To be honest, I loved both communities, and the folks in them. Great people doing great work all around, just with this bad habit of talking past each other. (I still think the SA side is headed for a reality check in the next couple of years, and I'm seriously tempted to lead the charge on that with a little revolution I have cooking. Watch this space for the Manifesto. Muahahahaha.)
To top it off, I ended up making insanely important contacts on both sides: Grady Booch and Mary Shaw on the SA side, and Eliot Chikovsky and Philip Newcomb on the RE side. I also, completely randomly, happened to run into the lead researcher today for what can be considered my 'competition' in the field, and we compared notes like mad for over an hour, before he had to run to the airport. (It's FUJABA/RE, btw - good work... but I so totally p0wn on the fundamentals it isn't funny. :D They have the better tool right now though, go check it out if you're using Java, it looks incredibly useful.) I'm hoping we can combine resources in a couple of areas, and provide two platforms for folks to play with in others.
Just a fucking amazing week all around.
Train home leaves at 4:15am, and until then, I'm going to be hanging in the lobby again. Whoo. :}
WICSA is the Working Conf on Software Architecture - architects are a twitchy breed, I've decided. They have this lofty view of their job and position that doesn't quite jibe with reality in some ways. They kind of have fallen prey to the 'we're newer so we're better' that the software design community went through a decade ago, the OO community a decade before that, the structured programming folks the previous decade... you'd think someone would notice this and learn, don't you? Naw.
WCRE is the Working Conf on Reverse Engineering - these guys are so focused on the details that they can't see the big picture, and half of what they produce is, while not trivial, utterly without context and therefore about meaningless for most of the goals that most people want.
I loved it. These two groups were at the opposite ends of the spectrum, and I sat in the middle grinning like a madman because I got to be the outsider with *both* groups, and act like the crazy loon from The Other Side that extended an olive branch. I can't tell you how many times I sat in a working group, or a presentation Q&A, or a dinner, and acted as the translator between these folks. It was GREAT.
The friction between these two groups sparked off *SO* many damned new research directions that I can't stand it. I just added a decade's worth of ideas to my plate, I swear. To be honest, I loved both communities, and the folks in them. Great people doing great work all around, just with this bad habit of talking past each other. (I still think the SA side is headed for a reality check in the next couple of years, and I'm seriously tempted to lead the charge on that with a little revolution I have cooking. Watch this space for the Manifesto. Muahahahaha.)
To top it off, I ended up making insanely important contacts on both sides: Grady Booch and Mary Shaw on the SA side, and Eliot Chikovsky and Philip Newcomb on the RE side. I also, completely randomly, happened to run into the lead researcher today for what can be considered my 'competition' in the field, and we compared notes like mad for over an hour, before he had to run to the airport. (It's FUJABA/RE, btw - good work... but I so totally p0wn on the fundamentals it isn't funny. :D They have the better tool right now though, go check it out if you're using Java, it looks incredibly useful.) I'm hoping we can combine resources in a couple of areas, and provide two platforms for folks to play with in others.
Just a fucking amazing week all around.
Train home leaves at 4:15am, and until then, I'm going to be hanging in the lobby again. Whoo. :}
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Date: 2005-11-13 01:35 am (UTC)