Presentations

Groovy + The Semantic Web

The Semantic Web is Tim Berners-Lee's full vision of what the Web can and will be. This HTML stuff we are all so enamored with is just the tip of the iceberg. "Web 2.0" is a kindergarten plaything (and a stupid name). Webs of linked data will allow us unprecedented flexibility in how we produce and consume information. While many people have been waiting on the sideline for the Semantic Web to get here, others have been making it happen.

Groovy raises the bar on what is possible with Semantic Technologies on the JVM. A rich dynamic language that interacts with a rich dynamic data model is all kinds of cool. We will combine Groovy metaprogramming and its expressive syntax to extend several existing Java-based Semantic Web technologies. We will also see how to consume machine-processable web pages using RDFa parsers, query data sources w/ SPARQL and even invoke an OWL reasoner.

This talk should be accessible to anyone familiar with Groovy. No Semantic Web knowledge will be assumed.

Metaprogramming the Microkernel: Groovy + NetKernel

Most organizations have a pretty conservative attitude toward adopting technology. If you are allowed to use a language like Groovy, chances are it is still going to be deployed in a conventional container like Tomcat or some other J2EE infrastructure.

What would happen if you took the power of a language like Groovy and married it to a next-generation environment like NetKernel? Imagine combining the power of Groovy metaprogramming with a microkernel-based resource-oriented environment. Expressive, powerful, scalable. It's pretty much guaranteed to rip a hole in the space time continuum. Come watch it happen.

You will be amazed at how much can be accomplished with so little code (not to mention how well it will perform).

We will start with an introduction to NetKernel and then steadily apply some Metaprogramming Fu to build up from there.

You do not need to know anything about NetKernel, but this will be a challenging (and fun) talk.