After numerous requests, I finally got my presentation from the FB conference, along with the example code, zipped up and available for download. It should also be posted on the conference web site, but I'm not exactly sure where.
Monthly Archive for September, 2004
While I was at the conference, I also had the opportunity to work with John Quarto von Tividar on some fundamental changes to the way the FB core files work. The mods will make the guts of the core files much simpler, make the new custom lexicon features that are being demoed in the 4.1 series amazingly more powerful, and also let us (the core developers) "eat our own brand of dog food", so to speak.
Some of the changes will make their way into a future 4.1 beta, but some of them won't be made available until the next release of the cores. Suffice to say, there are some really neat things coming down the pipe over the next year or so.
I went to the 2004 Fusebox Conference over the weekend, and had a good time. It was held in Rockville, MD, which is somewhere around 20 miles northwest of Washington DC. Nice to see everyone face to face again, and meet various people who I'd not met before.
I also had the privilege of speaking on FB and CFCs. It was both enlighting and enjoyable, and reconfirmed my inner desires of one day ending up as a teacher. I was somewhat nervous beforehand, not from stage fright so much as fear that the topic was hard to compress into 50 minutes. But it all turned out well. The audience seemed engaged and interested, and from the positive response afterwards, it seemed that my expectations of people were too low. I guess that's the price I pay for being eternally surrounded by idiot clients. ; )
Also at the conference, Steve Nelson, Rey Muradaz, and I decided to try and jump start the community into being formal content producers to the CF community at large. Most Fuseboxers have more than a slight fanatical bent, and many (like Steve) are absolute zealots. However, the community as a whole doesn't have a large voice in the greater CF community, other than the periodic discussions about FB (and frameworks in general) on various mailing lists.
Steve, Rey, and I committed to writing/gathering four articles each on any topic even remotely related to Fusebox, and we'll publish them over the course of next year, initially as an email newsletter, and possibly included in CFDJ. Anyone who would like to participate, please let one of us know what you'd like to write about, and get us an article as soon as you can. One to two pages is totally sufficient.
Amid the rush to get my presentation for the FB conference finished, I also started working on building me a little computer for the bar at our house. I'm planning to mount it inside a dead corner in the cabinets, and hang a monitor from the overhead cupboards, mounted with a super-slick fold-up hinge thing. Should be sweet, if I can find the time and tools to build the computer, and then fabricate all the hardware to put it up.
Once I get something built, I'll take a picture or three, and post them.
