So for better or worse, I've had time to dive into things more deeply than in years past. As a result, these posts are about 1/2 content from the talks, and 1/2 additional related content to provide context, background, or explanation.

Articles

1. A few weeks ago, I wondered if generics were going to be the death of Java. But today, I began to wonder if Oracle might just manage to do it in a lot more quickly. That particular tirade is under Trials and Tribulations.
   
   
2. Despite the difficulties, though, I managed to glean some good information. In Upcoming Java Features I mention some things coming up in the Java language that look pretty cool --and some that sounded a lot cooler on paper, before I got a look at them.
   
   
3. In Functional Programming, from Java to Scala, I recount a terrific talk by Dick Wall that showed how to do serious functional programming in Java, explained when and why you might want to do that, and showed how much easier it is to do in Scala. Then he listed a bunch of Scala features I happen to love from JRuby, including DSLs and closures, and all kinds of stuff. So I have to admit that my interest is seriously piqued.

Note:
It looks like the only things left are out are the massively dangerous/powerful things you get from a totally dynamic language, where the class you're using at one point in the program could be completely rewritten at a later point. That kind of flexibility comes with serious tradeoffs, so I'm inclined to think that Scala may be in the ideal "sweet spot", where you have power and flexibility at one of the spectrum, safety and readability at the other, and Scala managing to come up with the ideal object-oriented, functional programming language. I've been wishing for "Ruby without the Perlisms" for a while now. Dick's talk makes me think that Scala just might be it.