Tony (Stark) Anecito

Principle Software Engineer
Meridian, Idaho

Tony Anecito was born and raised in Santa Cruz California. He has been involved in software and hardware development, testing and product support for over 27 years. He has worked as a consultant, manager and higher levels leading small engineering teams of four to five people to large teams of over 60. He has been involved with open source such as JVLC and NASA WWJ.

Q:How long have you been involved with Java?

A:I started working with Java around 1996 and a couple of years later started working on MyUniPortal—now it's known as Rolling Thunder. My colleagues would describe me as passionate about innovative engineering, team building, product quality, and—when it's feasible—being very much hands on with projects. I have been known all my life to have an innovative vision and the courage to follow it. I strongly believe the impossible can be done—it just takes a little longer to accomplish.

Q:What do you think is really brilliant about Java?

A:Java can be applied to other operating systems but like all other things in life you have to work at it.

Adam Bien

Consultant and Author
Munich, Germany

Consultant and author Adam Bien (blog.adam-bien.com) is an Expert Group member for the Java EE 6, EJB 3.1, and JPA 2.0 JSRs. He has worked with Java technology since JDK 1.0 and Servlets/EJB 1.0 in several large-scale projects and is now an architect and developer in Java SE/EE/FX projects. He has edited several books about Java (FX) and J2EE / Java EE and is the author of Real World Java EE Patterns (press.adam-bien.com). Adam is a Java Champion and JavaOne 2009 Rock Star.

Q:What do you find most interesting about Java?

A:I've been working with Java since JDK 1.0 and its get more interesting every day. It just cannot get boring - there are infinite resources out there and you can learn your whole live and still have fun.

Stephen Chin

Director, Software Engineering
Northern California

Stephen Chin is director of Software Engineering at Inovis by day and an open-source developer and author by night. He has been working with Java desktop and enterprise technologies for over a decade, and was voted into the Java Champions group for his contributions to the community. Stephen's interest in RIA technology lead him to coauthor the Pro JavaFX Platform book and found the Silicon Valley JavaFX User Group, which streams monthly presentations live and receives tens of thousands of online views. He is also a recognized international speaker on JavaFX technology and was named a 2009 JavaOne Rock Star. For more information follow him on Twitter @steveonjava or see his blog at: http://steveonjava.com/

Q:What's most exciting to you about Java?

A:Java has become more than just a language, it is a programming culture. One of the great traditions of the Java culture is JavaOne, which helps to reinvigorate the platform and set forth the vision each year. This year at JavaOne is the seminal event of Oracle's stewardship, which will drive the future of Java, and I am glad to be a part of that future.

Julien Dubois

Java Developer
Paris, France

Julien Dubois has been a passionate Java developer for more than 10 years. He's a frequent speaker at Java conferences, and has co-authored a book on the Spring Framework. Today, Julien runs his own Java-focused consultancy company, Responcia, located in Paris, France.

Q:What do you regard as the greatest strength of Java?

A:Java's strength lies in its community. Every day, I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of talented people who help each other through forums, blog posts and open source code. This is what makes Java successful, and it's also what makes it fun and enjoyable.

Yakov Fain

Managing Director,
Farata Systems

Yakov Fain is managing director at Farata Systems, a company that provides consulting services in the field of development of enterprise applications. He authored several technical books, and dozens of articles on software development. His upcoming book is Java 24-Hour Trainer. Yakov is a Java Champion, one of only 150 people in the world. He leads the Princeton Java Users Group. Presently, Yakov is working on a new Java tutorial, http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470889640.html, and started a crazy project, recording a series of Java audio lessons, available at http://nobsit.libsyn.com/.

Q:What are your thoughts on Java?

A:Winston Churchill once said, "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried." I rephrase, "Java is the worst programming language except for all those others that have been tried."

Q:Are you looking forward to JavaOne?

A:I'm attending JavaOne this year to get a first-hand confirmation that the Java community is the weakest one except for all those others that have been created so far.

Rom Feria

Professor, University of the Philippines
Quezon City, Philippines

Rom Feria is an educator and a computer scientist. After graduating with a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from the University of the Philippines, he joined the faculty of the Department of Computer Science from the same university. Rom later went to the United Kingdom to complete his MSc in Information Systems from the University of Leeds, England.

Q:What are your thoughts on the future of Java?

A:I still believe that Java is the best first programming language to learn for computer science—it opens the world of software engineering to students opting to develop applications on the desktop, enterprise or mobile, or all three combined, without the need to learn another language.

Cay Horstmann

Professor of Computer Science
San Francisco, CA
(currently in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

Cay Horstmann has been involved with Java since before version 1.0, when the only reliable library documentation was the source code. He is author of Core Java (Sun Microsystems Press 1996-2009), co-author of Core JSF (Sun Microsystems Press 2004-2009), and author of numerous textbooks. For four years, Cay was VP and CTO of an internet startup that went from three people in a tiny office to a public company. He is now professor of computer science at San Jose State University.

Q:What's most interesting to you about Java?

A:In my work as developer and educator, I look forward to many more years of an open and actively maintained Java platform.

Lucas Jellema

Technical Architect, ACE Director
Zoetermeer, The Netherlands

Lucas Jellema is technical architect at AMIS and an Oracle, Java, and SOA specialist based in Nieuwegein, The Netherlands. He works as a consultant, architect, and instructor in diverse areas such as SQL and PL/SQL, Java, Oracle Application Development Framework, Oracle WebCenter, and Oracle SOA Suite. The focus of most of his activities is the transfer of knowledge and enthusiasm. He blogs at http://technology.amis.nl/blog.

Q:What is most important to you about Java?

A:Java is everywhere: on all platforms and devices and in all countries around the world. Java enables me to make programs work just about anywhere. And Java inspired the evolution of an incredible technology community. This community has been the heart and soul of Java - with individuals, small groups and huge corporations working together to foster and grow the language, the platform, and everything that comes with it. Thanks to the internet and the community spirit around Java, so many people have been able to make a difference, earn a place in the spotlight with their own framework or tool, be recognized for their contribution, and really influence the Java world.

Matjaz B. Juric

Professor
Maribor, Slovenia

Matjaz B. Juric holds a Ph.D. in computer and information science. He is a full professor and head of the Cloud Computing and SOA Competence Centre. Matjaz is a Java Champion and Oracle ACE Director. He is a noted author on topics ranging from SOA, BPEL, and Java. He is a reviewer, program committee member, and conference organizer. In cooperation with IBM Java Technology Centre, he worked on performance analysis and optimization of RMI-IIOP, an integral part of the Java platform. Matjaz is also a member of the BPEL Advisory Board.

Q:What's most interesting to you about Java?

A:Java is the most important thing that happened to IT since C++. Java has been net-centric since its beginning. Java will continue to grow and become an important technology for cloud computing.

Clara Ko

Lead Architect
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Clara Ko works to build bridges between business and technology. She is a lead architect in the financial sector, leading teams in delivering end-to-end banking solutions. She is a co-founder of Duchess, a global network connecting women in Java. Together with the other Duchess leaders, she is looking forward to growing the network in the U.S. and other countries.

Q:What is the future of Java?

A:The future of Java will be intertwined with that of agile and lean thinking that will allow the Java community to continue to innovate and deliver quality systems that address business needs. I believe that women have a role to play in this story, by helping to accelerate the evolution of IT from isolated systems to collaborative development. Java is embedded in many of the world's important IT systems and is in a good position to play a part in future innovation.

Manfred Kube

Business Development mHealth, Cinterion Wireless Modules
Munich, Germany

Manfred Kube is responsible for the mHealth segment at Cinterion Wireless Modules and assesses machine-to-machine market trends, analyzes mHealth ecosystems and future business models and supports strategic growth of the market for wirelessly enabled medical devices that assist with chronic care management, ambient assisted living, remote fitness and wellness monitoring, and more.

Q:What impact do you think that Java will have on the future?

A:Cinterion's Java-powered wireless modules are changing the future of healthcare by making medical devices "talk" securely over cellular networks to ultimately help save lives.

Qusay H. Mahmoud, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Director, Centre for Mobile Education and Research
University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada

Qusay H. Mahmoud, Ph.D., is the founder and director of the Centre for Mobile Education and Research, whose mission is to engage in cutting-edge research to build state-of-the-art applications and services to facilitate and enhance mobile education and learning, and provide leadership in integrating mobile devices into the computer-science curriculum. Dr. Mahmoud is the author of two Java books: Distributed Programming with Java (Manning Publications) and Learning Wireless Java (O'Reilly). Read Qusay's interview on Teaching Mobile Computing to Generation C.

Q:What's most interesting to you about Java?

A:I started working with Java in 1995 and published a tutorial on Sockets Programming with Java back in December 1996. Fourteen years later I'm still receiving feedback about it from novice Java developers learning about network programming. Java is still the most pervasive platform, whether you want to use it for developing smart card applications, mobile applications, or server-side enterprise applications. I cannot think of any programming language with a more comprehensive set of APIs. It is a great language for students to start out with, and to continue across the curriculum. It is the language of choice for developing applications for the BlackBerry smartphone.

Josh Marinacci

Developer Advocate, Palm Inc.
Eugene, Oregon

Josh Marinacci first tried Java in 1995 at the request of his favorite TA and never looked back. He is a blogger and co-author of Swing Hacks for O'Reilly. He is currently a Developer Advocate for the webOS at Palm, Inc. He previously worked on JavaFX, Swing, NetBeans, and client lead for the Java Store at Sun Microsystems. Josh lives in Eugene, Oregon and is passionate about open source technology and great user interfaces. He uses a Palm Pre, MacBook Pro, and Nikon D50 SLR to spread understanding of great design in software.

Q:What do you think is cool about Java?

A:They say that Java is the new Cobol. I think that's awesome! It means I'll get to use Java for at least the next 25 years.

Fabiane Bizinella Nardon

Computer Scientist
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Fabiane Bizinella Nardon is a Brazilian computer scientist, passionate Java developer and an active community leader. She was the lead architect of the Brazilian Public Healthcare System, winner of the Duke's Choice Award in 2005. She has co-led the JavaTools Community at java.net since 2004. She is co-founder of ToolsCloud, a community that hosts software development tools in the cloud. She is also a Java Champion, a well-known conference speaker, and author of several articles about the Java universe.

Q:How would you describe the future of Java?

A:The brilliance of Java is due to its passionate community. The creativity, engagement, intelligence, and openness of the people that crafted what Java is today will certainly also foster the future of Java.

Harshad Oak

Founder, Rightrix Solutions & IndicThreads
Pune, India

Harshad Oak is the author of Oracle JDeveloper 10g: Empowering J2EE Development, Pro Jakarta Commons, and the Java 2 Enterprise Edition 1.4 Bible. He has a master's degree in computer management from Symbiosis, in India. He is both an Oracle ACE Director and a Sun Java Champion.

Q:What's most important to you about Java?

A:Java's magic is in its remarkable ability to innovate and morph as the tech landscape changes. It is adept at not only riding a tech wave but also creating one from time to time. An often-overlooked aspect of Java is how it has empowered software solution providers across the globe. Basic hardware and little or no additional expense is all it takes to deliver the entire range and depth of software solutions with Java.

Osama Mohammad Oransa

Java Specialist
Cairo, Egypt

Osama is Sun Certified Architect and SME in Web Services technology. He worked at the IBM corporate center in Egypt as a software engineer, at Oracle as a senior software engineer, and is currently a Java specialist at HP. He also has participated in establishing Pulse Corp as a medical software services company in Egypt. Osama has an IT diploma from the Information Technology Institute, a CS diploma from Arabic Academy for Science and Technology and is working currently for a CS Master Degree. He was one of the speakers at the Cairo Java Developer Conference 2010, speaking on the topic "RESTful Web Services." He also has participated in the open source community and posted some projects in the SourceForge.

Q:What do you think is brilliant about Java?

A:Java is the only complete homogenous set a company would need to work in all systems and devices. Java is the language that has a solution for everything, from Java Card APIs and up.

Paul J. Perrone

Founder/CEO of Perrone Robotics
Charlottesville, Virginia

Paul J. Perrone is the founder and CEO of Perrone Robotics, which provides software platforms and solutions for robotics and automation applications. He is the architect behind Perrone Robotics' patent pending MAX technology, which serves as a general-purpose robotics and automation software platform. Using MAX, Paul works as the chief software engineer automating rock star Neil Young's "green car" LincVolt, a 1959 Lincoln Continental retro-fitted as an electric car with onboard clean generator. He has been an engineer, author, speaker, and entrepreneur in the robotics and software space for over 18 years. He has a B.S.E.E. from Rutgers University and an M.S.E.E. from the University of Virginia.

Q:What makes Java brilliant?

A:Java makes the robots and automation applications we build portable, economical, and easier to build. Building fully autonomous and thoughtful robotic creations is difficult enough. Dealing with low level programming syntax and porting across hardware is death for complex robot projects. Java solves this by problem with a fluid language, rich library suite, and hardware portability. Combing it with our Java-based MAX robotics software platform, we can build anything from rat, to cat, to elephant sized in good time.

Rags

Architect/Evangelist
Boston, Massachusetts

Raghavan "Rags" Srinivas is a technology evangelist and architect involved in new technology directions and trends. He focuses on distributed systems, with a specialization in cloud computing and mobility, including location-based services and security. He has spoken on a variety of technical topics at conferences around the world and has taught graduate classes.

Q:What's your prediction for the future of Java?

A:The Java ecosystem is self-sustaining. From mobility (Android) to middleware (Hadoop), Java will continue to make a big impact.

Daniela Ruggeri

President, Java Italian Association
Rome, Italy

Daniela Ruggeri was born in Rome, Italy. After graduating with a degree in mathematics in November 1981, she was able to test all the technologies within the IBM mainframe environment, primarily in the area of programming. She has been involved in Java technology since its beginnings. Because of this interest in Java and in emerging technologies she has written articles and has participated as a speaker at Italian national events such as the Java Conference, Webbit, and others.

Q:What do you think is the greatest potential of Java?

A:I have worked with Java since 1995. From the beginning, I understood the potential of this language was focused mainly on its portability. This makes it extremely suitable for use on the internet because of the ease-of-transport for an application from one operating system to another without rewriting the source code. Today, the JVM has become so flexible as to allow for the creation of new programming languages that make it possible to reuse all the libraries written for Java, such as Scala or JRuby or Jython, for example.

I believe that today, more and more, Java will have to touch the end user of mass media that supports social networks. It will create new products and applications for programmers in the areas of mobile, support tools for multimedia, and graphics applications on the Web.

Andrii Rodionov

Kyiv, Ukraine

Andrii Rodionov graduated from National Technical University of Ukraine in 2005 with a master's degree in applied informatics. He was the Sun Campus Ambassador at his university, and then became the Community Manager in the Open Source University Meetup program. He is now an assistant professor at National Technical University of Ukraine, and is working on hs Ph.D thesis.

Q:What's most exciting to you about Java?

A:Java frees you and your applications from platforms and gives you opportunity to develop for all of them: from mobile to cloud.

Sang Shin

Founder and Chief Instructor
JavaPassion.com
Boston, Massachusetts

Sang Shin is the founder and chief instructor at JavaPassion.com, a popular online learning site for Java developers. Before founding JavaPassion.com, he was a Java technology architect and evangelist at Sun Microsystems. He frequently teaches and gives talks on various Java technologies such as Java EE, Java SE, Web application frameworks, Web services and SOA technologies to a worldwide developer audience. He also gives talks on Ruby on Rails, JavaFX, MySQL, and Android.

Q:What's really brilliant about Java?

A:What is exciting about Java is that someone somewhere is doing something interesting with Java, whether it is a new language over the JVM, a new application, new games, new something. And the huge and ever-evolving Java ecosystem gives us a great starting point no matter what we do. I cannot think of another technology, non-software included, that has such a big ecosystem.

Petar Tahchiev

Java Developer
Sofia, Bulgaria

Petar Tahchiev is a founder and CEO of Phamola Ltd., a Bulgarian company that targets the European e-commerce market. He is a graduated award-winning mathematician from Bulgaria, who has worked for HP, and headed up the Bulgarian Java Users Group. He also serves at the Apache Software Foundation as a Jakarta Cactus lead developer, Apache Maven developer, and Jakarta PMC member. In 2010 he co-authored the best-selling second edition of JUnit in Action. He is a regular speaker at some of the biggest software conferences in the world, such as ApacheCON and CommunityONE.

Q:Tell us about your interest in Java.

A:I've been using Java all my life. My interests are mainly focused on the open-source world. Java is the best of both worlds - it's an open-source platform, and it has a big corporation at its back. I expect the community of developers to continue growing steadily and I want to see in the near future Java as the only platform for robust, scalable applications—not only on the server-side, but also on the desktop and on any micro devices, such as phones. I hope that Oracle will allocate more resources on the JSE development and we will soon see the Java 7 released. I also expect Java to conquer the tablet world. We will soon need a platform to write applications that work on all of the tablets out there.

Fabio Velloso

System Architect Leader
São Paulo, Brazil

Fabio Velloso is System Architect Leader at Telefonica in Brazil. Working with Java since 1996, he has developed projects for financial institutions using Java technology for JEE-based application development, legacy system integration, security and PKI. Fabio is also founder and director of Sou Java, (Brazil's largest Java User Group and a Top-25 Sun JUG) has extensive experience as a speaker at Brazilian conferences such as JustJava, Cafe Brasil, Abaporu and university events, and is also a professor at Federal University of São Carlos, adopting open source tools such as NetBeans, Glassfish and Apache AXIS to teach SOA and Web services.

Q:What do you think is the most interesting thing about Java?

A:The brilliance of Java is the platform independency, the power of a strong and dynamic community and the technology evolution process based on an active JCP. The future of Java is to consolidate its position as the main platform for enterprise development, including new Java EE 6 features, languages, and increased ease of development.

Brian Tarbox

Distinguished Member of Technical Staff
Boxboro, Massachusetts

Brian Tarbox has been a developer since graduating from Wesleyan University with a degree in linguistic philosophy. He also has a Masters in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Hawaii where his thesis was a Prolog model of the language learning abilities of bottlenosed dolphins. He holds several US patents for user interface design, vehicle tracking, and server resiliency. He's a frequent contributor to Pragmatic Programmer magazine and writes a blog about the intersection of software, cognition and tai chi at briantarbox.blogspot.com. He received Rock Star status for his 2009 JavaOne presentation, and won a Charlie Award at the 2010 Atlassian Summit.

Q:Tell us what you find most interesting about Java.

A:In my day job I'm a distinguished member of the technical staff at Motorola, but my JavaOne work has been on my open source side project Log4JFugue. The project converts any program's log output into a music stream. Just as a mechanic can hear what's wrong with an engine, you can now hear what's going on with your program.

The power of Java is that a small team or even an individual can create software that changes the game. That, plus the fact that everything is open and standard enough so that we can stand on each other's shoulders. My Log4JFugue project is build on top of David Koelle's JFugue project. We're both doing this in our spare time and yet we've created something interesting and hopefully useful.

James L. Weaver

Developer, Author, Speaker
Indianapolis area, Indiana

James Weaver is a Java developer who writes books, speaks for groups and conferences, and provides training and consulting services. His latest book is Pro JavaFX Platform.

Q:What's the most interesting thing about Java?

A:The JavaFX platform holds the potential of bringing back rich-client Java, after fifteen years of force-fitting the Web to be an application execution environment. Java, JavaFX, and related deployment technologies will help rescue users and developers from continuing to settle for far less than what could be experienced with rich-client Java.