4 Key Takeaways from the Java Barcelona Conference
Some of our Senior Developers participated in this year’s Java Barcelona Conference and put together their key takeaways. Don’t miss a single trend or topic.
Barcelona’s Java User Group is continuing to grow and thrive. That was obvious at this year’s Java Barcelona Conference (JBCNConf). If you missed it, with 450 attendees and a schedule jam packed with international speakers and workshops, you might feel a little left out. Good thing we’ve got you covered. Some of our Senior Developers put together their key takeaways so you don’t miss a thing.
Machine Learning
The conference has become ‘a must’ for Java experts in Spain! Just a month after Spring I/O Barcelona conference, JBCNConf attracted over 400 developers which is no small feat. The conference covered trending topics. To name a few: Java embracing reactive frameworks (Vert.x), going deeper in containerisation platforms (Docker, Kubernetes) and sharing real project experiences using Java 8 features.
My favorite topic was Java's place in the Machine Learning world. Some of the best talks covered Apache Spark Machine Learning and open-source Deeplearning4j libraries. - Valdas
Reactive
I think the key word of the conference was the word: REACTIVE. The term is not new. It was coined by Jonas Boner in 2013. Already a few years ago, there were several technologies available that embraced this new approach of creating systems and programming, such as Play and AKKA. It's nice to see the Barcelona developer’s community finally start to pick up on this topic. I recommend everyone read The Reactive Manifesto for more information about it as this is the present and future of application development. Microservices was another hot topic as expected.
Besides the conferences, I also attended the conference's workshops on the third day. Sandro Mancuso's talk about "TDD in Baby Steps" was fun and educational. It involved pair programming with an unknown attendee and writing down the API for a tic-tac-toe game. Tests had to be written first of course. - José Ramón
Microservices and Reactive Programming
JBCNConf was organised into four tracks featuring different topics like reactive programming, functional programming, microservices and cloud native applications. Some of the main frameworks covered were Vert.x for reactive programming and Spring Boot for developing microservices. Kubernetes was present in several talks as a solution for typical problems presented on microservice and cloud native applications.
JBCNConf definitely increased my interest in developing reactive applications, especially with Vert.x. Bert Jan Schrijver and Burr Sutterdid a great job talking about this and giving interactive examples of how the reactive programming can improve our software. - Carlos
High Quality Talks
As my first time as a JBCNConf attendee, I was pleasantly surprised. The talks were high quality, the speakers were experts and some of the presentations included interactive demonstrations. This kind of audience engagement really adds to learning and the experience of a conference. The sessions focused on several topics which meant you could benefit from real deep dives and expertise. The hottest topics were microservices and reactive programming, followed closely by containers and functional programming.
In terms of discussions at the Netcentric booth, our organization’s “operating system” Holacracy was a big topic and our micro bonus reward system, bonusly. - Santiago
Netcentric at JBCNConf
Whether as event volunteers or attendees, the Netcentric team supports JBCNConf and its mission. While knowledge sharing and networking are definitely the best things about JBCNConf, this year we brought an arcade machine to our booth. We hope you had the chance to play some of the games - Pacman, Metal Slug, Street Fighter and Super Sidekicks to name a few!
The conference location, a cinema, added a great atmosphere to the event. The audience's participation and energy was contagious! Attendees asked many thought provoking questions, networked and sharing their knowledge. The Netcentric team definitely lived our core value of sharing, discussing, and bringing ideas to life.
Of course, the real big takeaway is this event is too good to miss, so see you at next year’s Java Barcelona Conference!
