Advice for 1st time WWDC attendees?

[louden]

Hey all;

I'm an admitted Windows platform developer, and really like what MS has done with their development platform. But I also have the opportunity to attend the WWDC and soak up as much as possible about the Apple platform.

Given all of that, what kind of pointers would you give a Mac noob on:

- What to do before WWDC?
-- I've seen some of the material on iTunes from ADC and they're great!
- Things to do while I'm there?
- Help me to find out what's the best "stack" of technology to use on the mac platform.
-- with MS, there's one kind of web server - IIS, one kind of database server (IMO)- SQL, one environment to work in (IMO) - VS, and one language of choice (IMO) - C#. What's the best equivalent in the mac world?

Thanks in advance for candid opinions...

See you at WWDC, where I hope I'll be oogling over a new 12" MBP with LED screen and solid state HD:)

[janey]

- Things to do while I'm there
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=298419&page=2 :D

-- with MS, there's one kind of web server - IIS, one kind of database server (IMO)- SQL, one environment to work in (IMO) - VS, and one language of choice (IMO) - C#. What's the best equivalent in the mac world.
This is really your own choice I suppose. There's no Apple-branded thing going on...you can use Apache or lighttpd or (i dunno, those are the two I use) for a webserver, you can use mysql or postgresql or sqlite or more...xcode is generally the IDE of choice but there's a bunch to choose from depending on what you want to do...and the language of choice is objective-c but you can use anything from java to ruby if you really wanted.

See you at WWDC, where I hope I'll be oogling over a new 12" MBP with LED screen and solid state HD:)
i want to drool over a slightly bigger MBP with all that :o

[louden]

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=298419&page=2 :D

you can use anything from to ruby if you really wanted.



I've never built with Ruby on Rails - what environment would you build apps in? XCode? Eclipse?

Thanks!

[janey]

I've never built with Ruby on Rails - what environment would you build apps in? XCode? Eclipse?
If I'm not using Visual Studio for some dumb classes, I use IntelliJ IDEA and Eclipse for java and Xcode for playing around with objc (i'm a noob at this..).

I also use TextMate, Dreamweaver, Komodo and Coda on the side depending on what I'm doing.

(rails and ruby are not quite the same ;) it's like what struts or zend framework are to java and php respectively)

Just a student :o

[louden]

If I'm not using Visual Studio for some dumb classes, I use IntelliJ IDEA and Eclipse for java and Xcode for playing around with objc (i'm a noob at this..).

I also use TextMate, Dreamweaver, Komodo and Coda on the side depending on what I'm doing.

(rails and ruby are not quite the same ;) it's like what struts or zend framework are to java and php respectively)

Just a student :o

I've heard lots of good things about IntelliJ - but isn't that $$$ or are you getting this for free because you're a student?

[Catfish_Man]

Xcode is the main IDE for doing Mac desktop app work. As for WWDC... I found the labs to be more interesting than the sessions.

[Chaszmyr]

Apple will probably do their best to pound into your head that you should be using XCode, so you might as well start now.

As for actual attendance, it's pretty self-explanatory.

[janey]

I've heard lots of good things about IntelliJ - but isn't that $$$ or are you getting this for free because you're a student?

academic licenses are cheap :D

[whooleytoo]

Web server: Apache is built into (client & server versions of) OSX, so it's likely the one many use.

Database: I think a lot of people use mysql. With the Core Data framework introduced in 10.4, more and more people are likely to be using SQLite as an embedded database in Cocoa programs.

Environment: Xcode (or the command-line equivalents, if you fancy).

Language: Objective C (or Objective C++); and the Cocoa frameworks.

[Fukui]

- What to do before WWDC?

Get a hotel as close as possible to moscone.
Plan what tracks you want to attend.
Plan what you are going to ask the engineers (they'll be happy to help you).
Bring bugs you've found.
Be prepared for the sorry excuse for food...


-- I've seen some of the material on iTunes from ADC and they're great!

Yea, its pretty good. You should take a look at the coding head starts for WWDC07.


- Things to do while I'm there?

Talk to as many people as possible.
Make connections, you may end up having dinner with someone (in the mac world at least) famous. (!)
Attend the labs, talk to engineers, ask them things like "I'd like to do this, how do I do it on mac" etc... they'll be very helpful, some people get help during the whole lab session.
Make friends with the engineers.
Get a front row seat at the keynote (as front as possible).
Drink lots of tea/coffee during the day if you wanna keep from falling asleep....
Arrive early to sessions, they fill up fast...


- Help me to find out what's the best "stack" of technology to use on the mac platform.

For typical desktop software, Xcode, Objective-C 2.0 + Garbage Collection, Core Data (SQL Lite) and Core Animation... as a start, there's nothing stopping you from using other technologies though.


-- with MS, there's one kind of web server - IIS, one kind of database server (IMO)- SQL, one environment to work in (IMO) - VS, and one language of choice (IMO) - C#. What's the best equivalent in the mac world?

There is a whole plethora of other technologies you can use in addition to those listed above. You can use C++ with Objective-C - even C# and Ruby-, you can use other database connection frameworks... almost whatever you need to suit your development needs.

[PeterPanMac]

How early do people lineup for the keynote. Is it midnight like Macworld?

[Fukui]

How early do people lineup for the keynote. Is it midnight like Macworld?
No, like around 7AM. I got there around 8:30 and got pretty close. (Not that its the most important thing, but once at least, being up close is cool.)

Midnight... I don't think I'll ever attend a macworld unless someone offered me a front row reservation!

[janey]

How early do people lineup for the keynote. Is it midnight like Macworld?

Last time I went to mwsf I think I woke up at 6am...got in line like an hour or two later and it was pretty decent, but...midnight?!?! :eek: :eek:

[Chaszmyr]

At least in the past, everyone at WWDC was guaranteed a seat in the keynote room, so you didn't have to lineup if you didn't mind sitting a bit further back. I don't have any reason to believe that's changed.

[louden]

When I picked up my registration information today - the admin noted to get there early to get a seat.

Have they oversold the event?

Standing Room Only for the keynote?

[Fukui]

When I picked up my registration information today - the admin noted to get there early to get a seat.

Have they oversold the event?

Standing Room Only for the keynote?

I've heard, its pretty much sold out. Moscone has a maximum occupancy after all....

[HiRez]

When I picked up my registration information today - the admin noted to get there early to get a seat.

Have they oversold the event?

Standing Room Only for the keynote?I know the attendance has been steadily growing for the last decade or so (I remember working WWDC in the late 90s when there were only a few thousand attendees, I think now it's more like over 3,500 and with more sessions). With the Mac marketshare increasing and the mindshare among scientist and engineers increasing (almost all of these folks I know own a MacBook Pro now, even if the Mac isn't yet their primary platform), it might be accelerating even faster in the last few years. Bottom line is I'd expect it to be getting harder and harder to get a seat in the keynote hall. The last few years I was there, the keynote hall was full. However, they were providing several overflow rooms on the second floor where you could watch the keynote live on a projection screen (which is probably as good or better than being stuck in the back of the large keynote hall anyway).

[Gelfin]

My advice:

Bar and billiards with decent food across the street in Jillians, but the place turns into a club at night.

Thirsty Bear is a block or two east on Howard. I haven't been there in a couple of years, but it was an okay place. Beer and tapas with a coin op billiards table or two upstairs. You'll pass a Chevy's on the way there if that's what you're in the mood for.

Mel's is around the corner on Mission. Classic diner food; don't pass it up.

If you feel like roaming a little, on 2nd north of Brannan you'll find 21st Amendment, one of the best brewpubs in the city. Try the Cubano and the IPA.

[louden]

My advice:

Bar and billiards with decent food across the street in Jillians, but the place turns into a club at night.

Thirsty Bear is a block or two east on Howard. I haven't been there in a couple of years, but it was an okay place. Beer and tapas with a coin op billiards table or two upstairs. You'll pass a Chevy's on the way there if that's what you're in the mood for.

Mel's is around the corner on Mission. Classic diner food; don't pass it up.

If you feel like roaming a little, on 2nd north of Brannan you'll find 21st Amendment, one of the best brewpubs in the city. Try the Cubano and the IPA.

Well, how about it then? Any of you all want to get together informally at someplace other than the conference room cafeteria? I'm up for Beer - how about the 21st Amendmendment tomorrow night at 7:00 - It doesn't look like there's anything scheduled yet. It does say TBA for tomorrow night on the attendee site.

[blackpeter]

I'm reviving this thread in anticipation of WWDC 2008.

What's the latest one could get in line and have any hope to get a seat in the auditorium? I was aiming for 7am.

As a first timer, I'm curious to hear from those who attended last year.

[Catfish_Man]

7 AM you'll probably be fine. Any later than 8 and I doubt you'll make it in.

[janey]

As a first timer, I'm curious to hear from those who attended last year.
Last year students (attending under the scholarship program) weren't..allowed to attend the keynote. I have no idea what the deal behind that was, but we were all shoved into the student lounge and we were allowed into an overflow room after the keynote started.

Dunno what the situation might be like, but just a heads up if it's applicable to you.