txjs 2012
I spent almost a full week in Austin Texas for the Texas JavaScript 2012 conference, and it was a great time. I landed a day early of the JavaScript training day (hosted by Bocoup) to soak in the heat and humidity. Ironically once I landed and walked around the city, clouds rolled in and it started to rain. Gotta love the south. But the rest of the week was really sunny, which I don't mind at all. Most of my friends call me crazy for enjoying humidity.
The Bocoup JavaScript training went very well. I was a bit worried since there was no experience level listed, but it ended up being a good breadth of JS run through and I learned a lot of things I didn't know, and went over design patterns and trickier concepts like hoisting and closures. After the training I was able to have beer, bourbon, and bbq with some former coworkers and it was an awesome time. One of my most memorable meals was at Lambert's, which I highly recommend if you ever find yourself in the area. Pork ribs were to die for, and I was quite fond of the grits, lamb tamale, and quail.
The actual TXJS conference was also really cool. I met a few cool folks, and learned a few things from the talks. Despite it being only a one day conference, there is a ton of value gained. It's small enough so that you don't feel lost, with the breadth of high quality speakers to take away something from. Highlights: I especially enjoyed Marcin Wichary's talk on how he uses CSS/JS and progressive technolgies to craft the famous Google homepage doodles. While I knew a fair amount about responsive web design, Dave Rupert's entertaining and hilarious (and somewhat comicaly self-deprecating) talk gave me more perspective on the technique. While I admittedly was a bit bored, Brendan Eich's talk on the current state of JavaScript was interesting, especially as the language is being developed to be able to handle crazy 3D processing and gaming now, even at demo stages.
One of the coolest experiences was also visiting Austin when SXSW was not happening. It gives the city a whole new feel and I love it even more now. The locals are nice people, the food is amazing, and I like the area in general. I anticipate my next visit and hopefully to attend another TXJS to learn me some more JavaScripty goodness!