SmartFriends U will offer developers a chance to get the latest info on technical languages and libraries in a weekend California event (Sept. 26-28) to be held in the redwoods of the San Francisco peninsula coastside, near Pescadero (between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay).
Computer scientists and industry experts and others will offer sessions on Boost, Whisper and other dynamic languages. SmartFriends U will be home to fireside chats, lab-style walk-throughs and idea sharing. The organizers also promise lots of informal time to “schmooze, share ideas and work with professional peers.”
Topics covered will include “The History of Abstract Algorithms,” “Untangling Software: C++ and Value Semantics,” “Boost: A Contributor’s View of the future of C++ and the Standard Libraries,” “Whisper: a Cross-Platform C++ framework,” “Putting the ‘Funk’ in Functional,” “An Economical Approach to Adapting C Libraries for C++” (as exemplified by Nitrogen, an interface to Apple’s Carbon library), “Objective-C: a Skeptic’s Introduction” and “Dylan: a Cure for the Common Code.”
Registration for SmartFriends U is US$500. This covers meals and a double-occupancy hotel-style room (attendees will have a roommate). If you want to save $50, you can opt for a camp-style cabin instead.
One of the companies behind SmartFriends is MacHax, which provides business consulting and software development resources. They’ve sponsored the annual Best Hack Contest at the MacHack conference for 17 years.