On James Gosling and the special prison reserved for creators.

James Gosling was in town yesterday and I took the opportunity to listen to what he had to say. He is an accomplished engineer who really cares about how the technology he creates improves the lives of others. This is the man who invented Java, a tool that is one of the cornerstones of my career to date. This was not just James talking about whatever he liked; the talk was hosted by Sun, the company he works for and I am indirectly partnered with.

A message that came through very strongly is that he detests being a mouthpiece for his employer. He started off his speech with "What the hell am I doing here." This almost works to lend credit to what he has to say; I'm a tech guy, he's a tech guy, we'd rather be creating technology instead of delivering and absorbing marketing messages. The talk was more interesting for witnessing how he is "handled" than anything else.

It was hard to tell what was James and what was Sun. He talked about model-driven IDEs, tools used to make programming easier and faster, as a way for experienced developers to make better use of less skilled programmers. Another interesting idea was the creation of tools built in such a way so that as the user becomes more proficient with it, they can remove and change layers that make up the tool. In a sense, this is how computers already are because when you are able to peel back a layer, well, you will. He used the term "anthropology in software", something I am interested in.

The talk was most interesting to witness the reality that the technology we build entraps us; the tech becomes married to the identity of the creator. The prison might appear to be more like a hotel, but a hotel you can't leave is still a prison.