unspoken reflections of my heart
Posts tagged javafx
JavaFX workshop @ Vortex ’09
Mar 14th
It was a great day at college. 58 students eagerly waiting in the lab to learn a new technology – JavaFX. Vortex ’09, the technical symposium of the Department of CSE, NITT, was in full swing. As a part of the symposium, a JavaFX workshop was organized by me.
The previous day was a long one which kept me busy learning, looking up sample codes, creating sample tutorials and presentations for the seminar. I tried to familiarize myself with the varied features of the technology. I learnt about how powerful and useful it is. I had prepared four different slides and ten sample codes to elucidate the ease of use of JavaFX.
The workshop was at 2:00 pm. And the sight of such a good turnout for the workshop made me happy. Every participant initially registered at the Open Source University Meetup (OSUM) site, the online community for open source technologies. It was a hands-on workshop, where students could try out programs on Netbeans platform.
Initially I gave a small talk on opensource technologies and the use of OSUM. Then I proceeded to explain the changing times, the necessity for rich internet applications and the emerge of JavaFX.
Learning of any new technology starts with the famous ‘Hello World’ code. Participants were given the first feel of JavaFX by teaching them to write a small HelloWorld application using JavaFX Script.
Then the basics were explained, which included the concepte like data types, syntax, etc. Classes and Objects, the fundamental blocks of any Java code, were handled in detail. All concepts were explained through sample codes.
I went on to explain how to create and modify various Shapes and their properties. Data Binding and the way the bound values are computed in real time was discussed, with a variety of examples. Then simple transitions were explained, like translation, rotation and shearing of objects.
Having gained a substantial amount of practice by trying out codes, the students were ready to learn a bit more advanced concepts like effects on objects. event handling, the most important aspect of RIA’s, was demonstrated next. The last topic for the day was animation. Simple animation effects like tweening were explained using sample codes.I ended the seminar by giving them various external links and resources from where they can learn JavaFX.
The response for the workshop was very good. Students were able to follow and understand easily. And it really made me happy when a few participants mailed me back expressing their views on the workshop.
” It was really great and I got a stronghold of the basics of JavaFX now. Thanks.”
This shows that the workshop was a great success..
JavaFX workshop @ Pragyan ’09
Feb 14th
The JavaFX workshop was organized successfully as a part of Pragyan ’09, The International Techno-management Festival of NIT Trichy. . It was a day long workshop organized by Sun Microsystems. The workshop was aimed at teaching how to use JavaFX software for developing rich Internet applications. The engineers explained how to use the technology to create animations and effects, add multimedia to applications, and incorporate Java software into JavaFX applications.
The response was really overwhelming. More than 500 students had registered for the workshop, and many of them were students from various colleges across the state. 150 registrants were shortlisted to attend the workshop, out of which 50 were from outside colleges. The workshop was conducted in the annexe lab in the Octagon Computer Center.
The session started with Kumar Abhishek giving a talk on Open Source technologies. He explained about how the world is shifting from the ‘information age’ to the age of ‘participation’. He cited examples to explain why the computing world is slowly moving towards open source.
We had three engineers from Sun, Mr. Elancheran, Mr. Srinivas and M. Praveen. The next few sessions were handled by them. A basic introduction to the world of JavaFX was given initially to the students. Various features of the technology was explained. Brief demonstrations were given to show how JavaFX functions as an expressive rich client platform for creating and delivering rich Internet experiences across all the screens of our life.
The next session was regarding the JavaFX Script, the scripting language used in creating JavaFX applications. Sample programs were provided to explain how the language is an object oriented, integrating easily with Java with automatic data binding. The demo programs explored a wide range of features of the language.
The next session was the hands-on session where the students tried their own code and came up with really innovative applications.
Occasionally, questions were asked and prozes were awarded to the students who answered the questions. T shirts, pens and keychains were presented to the students. The best application received a Transcend Flash drive as an award.
Members of the Sun Club helped in organizing the workshop and ensuring that the things went on smoothly. The students feedback also was good. Certificates were given away to the students who attended the workshop.
Keeping in mind the success of this workshop, many more workshops on open source technologies are being planned in NIT Trichy. It is always a great experience to organize a huge event successfully.
