In this short summary I will describe the main topics of the conference and I will point to some good talks I’ve seen.

Metaverse

In simple words, the metaverse is a virtual place on the Internet, where people can join and do some social activities (like playing games, doing meetings and so on). There is an assumption that such a world will be visited using the Virtual/Augmented Reality headset – but this is not a must.

It looks like this topic is trending right now and many big companies (like Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, Google) want to develop software in this area.

This subject was represented by two talks:

• “The Future of Computing with Spatial Computing and Quantum Computing” by René Schulte – a nice overview of the metaverse and what can be achieved with it.
• “Foundations of the MetaVerse: Azure Spatial Anchors and Understanding 3D Space” by Andreas Erben – quite a heavy introduction to the ways Metaverse could be implemented (and used) using the Microsoft Azure cloud.

Software quality and architecture

As always a large part of the conference was devoted to talks about how to write better code. Here I could recommend those presentations:

• “Why GraphQL is Perfect for Microservices” by Roy Derks – a nice introduction to the GraphQL query language and its usage to create a consistent API layer on top of all microservices APIs 
• “Domain-Driven Refactoring“ by Jimmy Bogard – a live coding session which presents a way to refactor a typical web application code into the one that applies Domain Driven Design. If you start with DDD this is a very nice presentation to watch.
• “Consistency and Agreements in Microservices“ by Jimmy Bogard – an overview with some code examples of how transactions could be implemented in a distributed system.

Soft skills

Most conferences these days not only have technical talks, but also there are a bunch of non-technical presentations about various themes (starting with business topics and ending with topics that inspire to action)

• “Can Virtual Reality Change the Real World?“ by Piotr Łój – this talk influenced me the most – it shows how VR technology can help kids in their fight with their serious diseases or disabilities. Piotr does amazing work in his foundation, so I encourage you to support his work!
• “The Effective Developer – Work Smarter, Not Harder” by Sven Peters – an interesting study on how software developers should not only focus on writing code, but also on many more aspects like:
  • the business they are working with
  • the interactions with other people in a team
  • expansion of their knowledge beyond the topics they know from work
• “Building a Software Company From The Ground Up – Facts, Myths, and Everything In Between“ by Spencer Schneidenbach – in spite of its title, this talk could be interesting even for people who don’t want to create their own company. It not only shows some more technical stuff about running a software house, but it also shows what values make that the software engineer is good in what he does.
• “Use Principles of Psychology to Build Better Software” by Rachel Appel – this talk is a good reminder that while writing a software we should always think about people who will interact with it and how they view our software.

Final words

Overall, it was a good conference. I enjoyed all the talks – regardless they were more or less focused on the technical stuff. It’s always nice to meet with other people and exchange knowledge and experience with them.

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Last year I had the pleasure of attending the DevConf 2019 in Krakow, Poland. It was a two day IT conference with multiple lectures and presentations taking place simultaneously. It served as a great opportunity for all attendees to delve into a vast array of topics like technology or self-growth to name a few.

In this short note I would like to recommend a few interesting talks to watch at home. Here are my six picks:

“Domain Driven Design: The Good Parts” by Jimmy Bogard (link)

An interesting case study about the implementation of DDD in the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s system. The author goes into detail about which aspects of DDD work for him and which do not in said environment.

“Six Little Lines of Fail” by Jimmy Bogard (link)

Another presentation by the same author and yet another hit. This time, Bogard focuses on possible approaches to handling errors in code with multiple operations involved (i.e. a method that writes to database and subsequently invokes external API). The author also describes existing solutions for such scenarios.

“Code the Future, Now” by Adam Ralph (link)

This presentation shows how the SAGA pattern (link) can be used to change the state of system in the future.

Some service buses (like NServiceBus) allows sending a message form SAGA class that will occur in the future (a determined time period i.e. in a week). Such event has the potential to change the state of the system with a guarantee that it will be invoked only once (eliminating the issue of changing state by introducing multiple threats/services at the same time).

In NServiceBus such a scenario can be implemented using SAGA Timeouts – (link).

If you would like to learn more then I can definitely recommend this talk.

“Feature Toggles: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” by Andy Davies (link)

Here we can learn more about proper management of feature toggles in our code but also about the potential hazards of risky practices. This knowledge could save your company from an IT disaster. A definite must watch.

“The Art of Code” by Dylan Beattie (link)

A very entertaining presentation about the “art” of coding. Beattie demonstrates many examples of quirky code created by developers for fun and happiness of other people. A good and relaxing talk to improve your day.

“Welcome to The Machine” by Hadi Hariri (link)

Contrary to the previous suggestion, this lecture is more serious and even anxiety inducing. Hariri talks about the challenges the age of internet poses to our privacy and how big IT companies exploit our data for profit. Nowadays, we tend to divert our attention away from such issues and this presentation makes you think about the way you handle your data and with whom you share it.

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