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 <h1>Show &amp; Tell: NetBeans &amp; Java at the PanamaJUG Congress</h1>
 <span style="font-style: italic;">(February 2008)</span><br>
 <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"></span><br>
 <br>
 <br>
 When <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/fabi/">Fabiola Rios</a> accepted an
 invitation to give a presentation at the
 first-ever <a
  href="http://www.panamajug.org/panamajug/faces/afiche.jsp">PanamaJUG
 Congress</a> she was fully aware of the challenge ahead: “Panama is
 mainly Microsoft territory, and programmers there develop
 with Visual Basic, C and .Net.”<br>
 <br>
 Encouraging Java and NetBeans adoption in rival territory was the goal
 of the two-day conference which was organized by
 <a href="http://www.panamajug.org/">PanamaJUG</a> president and
 NetBeans Dream Team member <a href="http://avbravo.blogspot.com/">Aristides
 Villarreal Bravo</a>, and held in mid-December 2007.<br>
 <br>
 <table style="width: 197px; height: 173px;" align="center">
   <tbody>
     <tr>
       <td> <img style="width: 500px; height: 333px;"
  alt="NetBeans Mobility Engineer Fabiola Rios at the PanamaJUG Congress"
  src="../../images_www/articles/panamajug07/panamajug-aud.jpg"><br>
       <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Fabiola
 Rios</span><br>
       </div>
       </td>
     </tr>
   </tbody>
 </table>
 <br>
 Rios, a NetBeans Mobility software engineer, started her session with
 an introduction to Java ME development, an overview of the growing
 mobile applications market and the advantages of using development
 tools
 such as the NetBeans IDE's Mobility features to build slick
 applications. But developers can be a tough bunch to sway just with
 talk alone and she moved quickly into a demo.<br>
 <br>
 “NetBeans is a new tool in Panama,” she said. “People still work from
 scratch and I wanted to show them how easy it was to create a real
 mobile application in a matter of minutes with the IDE.”<br>
 <br>
 <table style="width: 197px; height: 173px;" align="left">
   <tbody>
     <tr>
       <td> <img style="width: 176px; height: 132px;"
  alt="PanamaJUG president and NetBeans Dream Team member Aristides Villarreal Bravo"
  src="../../images_www/articles/panamajug07/panamajug-bravo.jpg"><br>
       <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Aristides
 Villarreal Bravo</span><br>
       </div>
       </td>
     </tr>
   </tbody>
 </table>
 To establish credibility with the audience, she
 opted to use a borrowed
 phone for the demo. She created a simple SMS application, deployed it
 and sent a message to another phone. The audience was sold. There were
 no empty seats at her
 hands-on lab the following day.<br>
 <br>
 Java enlightenment, one could say, begins with a bit of show-and-tell.<br>
 <br>
 &nbsp;For Villarreal Bravo, a long-time Java developer and NetBeans
 user, the
 idea of the PanamaJUG Congress took root because he often encountered
 students and developers who expressed frustration with learning Java or
 professed ignorance about the NetBeans IDE.<br>
 <br>
 “People thought that Java was difficult to learn, and that other visual
 and fast development tools like those of Microsoft didn't exist.” <br>
 <br>
 What was needed, he reasoned, was an opportunity to
 showcase the benefits of Java as a programming language and the
 NetBeans IDE as a tool for learning and for creating a wide range of
 applications. He reached out to several Java specialists such as Rios
 and her fellow NetBeans engineers Tomasz Slota and Rodrigo Andueza
 Gallardo, and asked if they were interested in presenting at the
 conference.<br>
 <br>
 <table style="width: 230px; height: 174px;" align="right">
   <tbody>
     <tr>
       <td> <img style="width: 220px; height: 146px;"
  alt="Rodrigo Gallardo at the PanamaJUG Congress"
  src="../../images_www/articles/panamajug07/panamajug-gallardo.jpg"><br>
       <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Rodrigo
 Gallardo</span><br>
       </div>
       </td>
     </tr>
   </tbody>
 </table>
 The 80-plus attendees at the event turned out to be a fitting
 microcosm of the trend that prompted Villarreal Bravo into action—many
 had no prior
 experience with the NetBeans IDE or were new to Java. Over the
 course of the two-day conference, they participated in talks about Java
 ME, JavaFX, web development and the NetBeans IDE. NetBeans
 Globalization Manager Janice Campbell was also on hand to discuss
 efforts to translate the IDE for Spanish-speaking developers. By the
 end of the conference, most attendees wanted to know if a second event
 was in the works.<br>
 <br>
 Students who attended have formed new Java
 groups on their campuses; a
 number of companies are giving the NetBeans IDE a closer look for their
 development needs, Villarreal Bravo said. He called the feedback
 positive and encouraging, but not completely unexpected since companies
 and universities in the wider Central American region are starting to
 pay more attention to open source technologies.<br>
 <br>
 “Universities want their students to learn Java with ease and to use
 open source tools, and companies want high quality tools as well” he
 said. “NetBeans is a simple-to-use and powerful open sourced IDE that
 meets these needs.”<br>
 <br>
 The growing appeal of open source technologies in many Latin American
 countries is a pragmatic one and offers NetBeans an advantage.<br>
 <br>
 NetBeans evangelist Tim Boudreau, who embarked on an <a
  href="http://weblogs.java.net/blog/timboudreau/archive/2007/10/netbeans_goes_t.html">11-day,
 13-city
 tour of South American universities</a> with community manager Bruno
 Souza
 in October and November 2007, explained:<br>
 <br>
 “No [government or company] needs to fear that by using Java they will
 make themselves dependent on some corporate entity because the source
 is always there to do with whatever they want. This makes us, as a tool
 for Java, more compelling.”<br>
 <br>
 Boudreau's whirlwind tour which included stops on campuses in Brazil,
 Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, sought to increase awareness of Java,
 NetBeans and other open source technologies among the next wave of
 developers. Like the PanamaJUG, the reception for the university tour
 was enthusiastic, with faculties motivated to integrate Sun
 technologies into their projects and students asking for tips about
 creating user groups.<br>
 <br>
 The interest in NetBeans and Java shows no signs of stopping as new
 fans of
 the IDE across the region undertake evangelism efforts
 similar to those of Villarreal Bravo's PanamaJUG Congress.<br>
 <br>
 Ruben Hernandez, for example, is organizing a <a
  href="http://wiki.netbeans.org/NetBeansDayMaracaibo2008">NetBeans Day,
 in
 Maracaibos, Venezuela</a> on February 16.<br>
 <br>
 The teaching assistant and Computer Science major at Rafael Belloso
 Chacin University has been using the NetBeans IDE for a year and a
 half, and says he has not been able to find a better IDE. His goal for
 NetBeans Day is a clear one:<br>
 <br>
 “I want to bring this awesome IDE to every developer out there.”<br>
 <br>
 <br>
 <h2>Additional Links</h2>
 <br>
 Photos from PananaJUG Congress<br>
 <a href="http://animoto.com/play/d4063f5ddcd5747264ef2f5043897db0">Java
 ME session</a> &amp; <a
  href="http://animoto.com/play/bdec25cc852347737ab005dce6679f77">NetBeans
 Mobility Hands-on Lab</a><br>
 <br>
 Photos from NetBeans South American University Tour<br>
 <a href="http://silveiraneto.net/2007/11/02/relato-e-fotos-da-caravana/">Fortaleza,
 Brazil</a><br>
 <a href="http://alobbs.com/album/montevideo07">Montevideo, Uruguay</a><br>
 <a href="http://www.alobbs.com/album/buenos_aires07">Buenos Aires,
 Argentina</a><br>
 <br>
 <br>
 <br>
 <br>
 </body>
 </html>
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	<html>
	<head>
	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
	<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../netbeans.css" media="screen">
	<meta name="author" content="Tinuola Awopetu">
	<meta name="keywords" content="NetBeans IDE, NetBeans Platform, PanamaJUG, NetBeans Mobility, Fabiola Rios, Aristides Villarreal Bravo">
	<title>Show & Tell: NetBeans & Java at the PanamaJUG Congress</title>
	</head>
	<body>
	<h1>Show & Tell: NetBeans & Java at the PanamaJUG Congress</h1>
	<span style="font-style: italic;">(February 2008)</span><br>
	<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;"></span><br>
	<br>
	<br>
	When <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/fabi/">Fabiola Rios</a> accepted an
	invitation to give a presentation at the
	first-ever <a
	href="http://www.panamajug.org/panamajug/faces/afiche.jsp">PanamaJUG
	Congress</a> she was fully aware of the challenge ahead: “Panama is
	mainly Microsoft territory, and programmers there develop
	with Visual Basic, C and .Net.”<br>
	<br>
	Encouraging Java and NetBeans adoption in rival territory was the goal
	of the two-day conference which was organized by
	<a href="http://www.panamajug.org/">PanamaJUG</a> president and
	NetBeans Dream Team member <a href="http://avbravo.blogspot.com/">Aristides
	Villarreal Bravo</a>, and held in mid-December 2007.<br>
	<br>
	<table style="width: 197px; height: 173px;" align="center">
	<tbody>
	<tr>
	<td> <img style="width: 500px; height: 333px;"
	alt="NetBeans Mobility Engineer Fabiola Rios at the PanamaJUG Congress"
	src="../../images_www/articles/panamajug07/panamajug-aud.jpg"><br>
	<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Fabiola
	Rios</span><br>
	</div>
	</td>
	</tr>
	</tbody>
	</table>
	<br>
	Rios, a NetBeans Mobility software engineer, started her session with
	an introduction to Java ME development, an overview of the growing
	mobile applications market and the advantages of using development
	tools
	such as the NetBeans IDE's Mobility features to build slick
	applications. But developers can be a tough bunch to sway just with
	talk alone and she moved quickly into a demo.<br>
	<br>
	“NetBeans is a new tool in Panama,” she said. “People still work from
	scratch and I wanted to show them how easy it was to create a real
	mobile application in a matter of minutes with the IDE.”<br>
	<br>
	<table style="width: 197px; height: 173px;" align="left">
	<tbody>
	<tr>
	<td> <img style="width: 176px; height: 132px;"
	alt="PanamaJUG president and NetBeans Dream Team member Aristides Villarreal Bravo"
	src="../../images_www/articles/panamajug07/panamajug-bravo.jpg"><br>
	<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Aristides
	Villarreal Bravo</span><br>
	</div>
	</td>
	</tr>
	</tbody>
	</table>
	To establish credibility with the audience, she
	opted to use a borrowed
	phone for the demo. She created a simple SMS application, deployed it
	and sent a message to another phone. The audience was sold. There were
	no empty seats at her
	hands-on lab the following day.<br>
	<br>
	Java enlightenment, one could say, begins with a bit of show-and-tell.<br>
	<br>
	For Villarreal Bravo, a long-time Java developer and NetBeans
	user, the
	idea of the PanamaJUG Congress took root because he often encountered
	students and developers who expressed frustration with learning Java or
	professed ignorance about the NetBeans IDE.<br>
	<br>
	“People thought that Java was difficult to learn, and that other visual
	and fast development tools like those of Microsoft didn't exist.” <br>
	<br>
	What was needed, he reasoned, was an opportunity to
	showcase the benefits of Java as a programming language and the
	NetBeans IDE as a tool for learning and for creating a wide range of
	applications. He reached out to several Java specialists such as Rios
	and her fellow NetBeans engineers Tomasz Slota and Rodrigo Andueza
	Gallardo, and asked if they were interested in presenting at the
	conference.<br>
	<br>
	<table style="width: 230px; height: 174px;" align="right">
	<tbody>
	<tr>
	<td> <img style="width: 220px; height: 146px;"
	alt="Rodrigo Gallardo at the PanamaJUG Congress"
	src="../../images_www/articles/panamajug07/panamajug-gallardo.jpg"><br>
	<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Rodrigo
	Gallardo</span><br>
	</div>
	</td>
	</tr>
	</tbody>
	</table>
	The 80-plus attendees at the event turned out to be a fitting
	microcosm of the trend that prompted Villarreal Bravo into action—many
	had no prior
	experience with the NetBeans IDE or were new to Java. Over the
	course of the two-day conference, they participated in talks about Java
	ME, JavaFX, web development and the NetBeans IDE. NetBeans
	Globalization Manager Janice Campbell was also on hand to discuss
	efforts to translate the IDE for Spanish-speaking developers. By the
	end of the conference, most attendees wanted to know if a second event
	was in the works.<br>
	<br>
	Students who attended have formed new Java
	groups on their campuses; a
	number of companies are giving the NetBeans IDE a closer look for their
	development needs, Villarreal Bravo said. He called the feedback
	positive and encouraging, but not completely unexpected since companies
	and universities in the wider Central American region are starting to
	pay more attention to open source technologies.<br>
	<br>
	“Universities want their students to learn Java with ease and to use
	open source tools, and companies want high quality tools as well” he
	said. “NetBeans is a simple-to-use and powerful open sourced IDE that
	meets these needs.”<br>
	<br>
	The growing appeal of open source technologies in many Latin American
	countries is a pragmatic one and offers NetBeans an advantage.<br>
	<br>
	NetBeans evangelist Tim Boudreau, who embarked on an <a
	href="http://weblogs.java.net/blog/timboudreau/archive/2007/10/netbeans_goes_t.html">11-day,
	13-city
	tour of South American universities</a> with community manager Bruno
	Souza
	in October and November 2007, explained:<br>
	<br>
	“No [government or company] needs to fear that by using Java they will
	make themselves dependent on some corporate entity because the source
	is always there to do with whatever they want. This makes us, as a tool
	for Java, more compelling.”<br>
	<br>
	Boudreau's whirlwind tour which included stops on campuses in Brazil,
	Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, sought to increase awareness of Java,
	NetBeans and other open source technologies among the next wave of
	developers. Like the PanamaJUG, the reception for the university tour
	was enthusiastic, with faculties motivated to integrate Sun
	technologies into their projects and students asking for tips about
	creating user groups.<br>
	<br>
	The interest in NetBeans and Java shows no signs of stopping as new
	fans of
	the IDE across the region undertake evangelism efforts
	similar to those of Villarreal Bravo's PanamaJUG Congress.<br>
	<br>
	Ruben Hernandez, for example, is organizing a <a
	href="http://wiki.netbeans.org/NetBeansDayMaracaibo2008">NetBeans Day,
	in
	Maracaibos, Venezuela</a> on February 16.<br>
	<br>
	The teaching assistant and Computer Science major at Rafael Belloso
	Chacin University has been using the NetBeans IDE for a year and a
	half, and says he has not been able to find a better IDE. His goal for
	NetBeans Day is a clear one:<br>
	<br>
	“I want to bring this awesome IDE to every developer out there.”<br>
	<br>
	<br>
	<h2>Additional Links</h2>
	<br>
	Photos from PananaJUG Congress<br>
	<a href="http://animoto.com/play/d4063f5ddcd5747264ef2f5043897db0">Java
	ME session</a> & <a
	href="http://animoto.com/play/bdec25cc852347737ab005dce6679f77">NetBeans
	Mobility Hands-on Lab</a><br>
	<br>
	Photos from NetBeans South American University Tour<br>
	<a href="http://silveiraneto.net/2007/11/02/relato-e-fotos-da-caravana/">Fortaleza,
	Brazil</a><br>
	<a href="http://alobbs.com/album/montevideo07">Montevideo, Uruguay</a><br>
	<a href="http://www.alobbs.com/album/buenos_aires07">Buenos Aires,
	Argentina</a><br>
	<br>
	<br>
	<br>
	<br>
	</body>
	</html>