Hi people,

It's already fourth week. I have no idea how that happened. I guess I've spent a lot of time staring at my Eclipse window. Oh well. Also, those of you who didn't come with us to Game On[0] last week missed out, because it was ace. If you get a chance to go before the exhibition ends, you should do.

[0] http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/gameon/

Speaking of Eclipse reminds me. I recently installed Sun Java 6 (or is it 1.6 this week?), and I have no idea what it gives me that Java 1.5 (or maybe 5) did not. Quite by chance, the Compsoc talk on Thursday should help me out here:

Java in the Real World (DecisionSoft) ===================================== When: Thursday 8th February, 20.00 Where: Denis Sciama Lecture Theatre, Denys Wilkinson Building[1]

DecisionSoft[2], a local software development company, will talk about why Java is their development platform of choice. This will include the advantages and disadvantages of developing in Java, as well as a look at the new features offered by the latest version of Java. They will not tell you whether to call this version of Java "6" or "1.6".

[1] http://tinyurl.com/yeqtzg [2] http://www.decisionsoft.com/

We'll have someone at the entrance to let you in. If you're late, you'll be stuck outside, since there's no phobile reception in the lecture theatre. If you're likely to get there late, let us know and we'll see what we can do.

Oxford Geek Night ================= When: Wednesday 7th February, 20:00 Where: Jericho Tavern[3]

This isn't a Compsoc event, but you might well be interested. According to the website:

Oxford Geek Nights offer a chance for web developers and designers in the local area to get together, share their skills and talk about new ideas, techniques and technologies. The format of the night will include two or three keynote talks of 15 minutes each, followed after a healthy period of socialising with a set of 5 minute long open microslot sessions.

We have a fantastic line-up for the evening including two keynotes on very different subjects. Simon Willison gives an introduction to OpenID followed by Olly Willans demonstrating the latest version of Photoshop - Photoshop CS3. The microslots cover a wide range of exciting topics. The first set of 6 covers content management, frameworks and statistics, the second set explores maps, mashups, JavaScript and accessibility.

http://oxford.geeknights.net/2007/february-7th/ has more information. I'll definitely be there; find me and say hi if you come along.

[3] http://oxford.openguides.org/wiki/?Jericho_Tavern

This is Spinal Tap is on TV in half an hour. You should watch that. See you on Wednesday and/or Thursday,

Will