This year I taught an ObjectARX class at AU. As usual, there wasn’t nearly enough time to cover all the things I wanted to cover. I’m still contemplating what I want to do differently next year in order to be able to spend more time on the subject without boring everybody to death.
By the way, fellow programmers, do you agree that we need a Programming campus at AU 2007? I hate being lumped into a generic category like General Design. I suggest a new campus just for programmers, with our own industry reception (I’m thinking pizza, beer, and a Pink Floyd tribute band — and Lynn Allen of course).
If any of you went to the Programming Gurus Go Head To Head panel discussion on Thursday afternoon and were wondering why I wasn’t present… well, er, next time, could you please call me on my mobile phone a few minutes before the class to jog my aging memory? Sheesh. I always enjoy the quasi-chaotic gurus panel, and I can’t believe it completely slipped my mind.
Speaking of chaos, I like chaos — but more on that subject later. I like unscripted discussions where the topics are limited only by the imaginations of the participants. I usually sit in on a few classes at AU, but with a few rare exceptions, the only time I learn something new at AU is outside the structured classrooms.
This year I did learn something new in a class, though. I sat in on Josh Johnson’s Demystifying Installers class, and I learned how to create a new registry key that AutoCAD’s secondary install uses to trigger a third party secondary installer (this would occur when a new user logs in for the first time). Thanks, Josh! I did not know that! [An interesting sidenote: Josh taught the class with his father in the audience. How cool is that? Er, not cool at all, especially in Vegas! Seriously, I thought it was cool, and it was a pleasure to meet both of the Johnsons. Good thing I brought… never mind.]