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Last issue we gave you the venue and outlined the conference format. Over the coming weeks we'll be filling in the details for you about Revolution Live in Las Vegas next January, who is speaking and what topics they will be covering. Don't forget, we're giving an extra 10% discount on the EarlyBird pricing only until the end of August. Don't miss out on that, make your booking now! Look out for the launch of the conference website, with all the information about venues, Vegas and speakers, which will be ready any day now. In the meantime, here's the information I've got for you today.
 Confirmed Speaker: Mark Waddingham
Talking about: Creating Externals
Come along and get your hands dirty with our Director of Technology. We can't think of anyone better to guide you through the intricacies of creating Revolution Externals. In fact he assures me its surprisingly easy even if you've never done it before, and he looks forward to showing you just how its done. I asked Mark to define what a Revolution External is and he told me: "An external is a plugin for the Revolution engine that extends its functionality. They are written in native code, and therefore allow full access to the host machine - including all system libraries and interfaces. An external will define a number of Revolution command and function definitions which can then be used from Revolution script in the same way as you would call a normal handler." This will be a two session hands on workshop, where you can follow along and create with the master. What he wants from you is feedback on just what externals you would like to create. Have you got an idea for a really neat addition to Revolution that would be best addressed as an external? Let us know, and we promise we'll pass it on to Mark. About Our Director of Technology
Mark is the man behind every Revolution release over the last two years. As a company director he is intimately involved in every aspect of planning and operations at Runtime Revolution. His job ranges from coding the Revolution engine, to supporting all of Runtime's other developers, to in his words: "unbending Kevin's reality filter" when Kevin's optimism and enthusiasm stretch beyond 6 impossible things before breakfast.
Mark began programming in BASIC at age 5 when he acquired a ZX Spectrum. He moved on to the Amiga at age 10 where he taught himself Amiga BASIC, 68k Assembly Language and C. At age 13 he had moved on to an Acorn Archimedies A5000, where he continued to program in C and C++, writing utilities for his school. Two events at about this time sparked Mark's interest in computer languages. One was the arrival of version 1 of Linux, the other was his discovery of "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools". Both of these stimulated the mind of the young Mark, opening new realms of language, organisation and abstract reasoning.
Mark attended the University of Bath in South-west England in a course in Computing and Mathematics. By his 3rd year he had become frustrated with the limitations of the computing course and spent his last two years almost exclusively reading Mathematics. In 2001 he began a PhD in pure mathematics at Edinburgh University. It was here that he met Kevin and by early 2004 he had postponed his academic career and infiltrated the Revolution.
Mark was intrigued by the philosophical potential of Revolution, its English-like language structure was radically different from his background in C. As the Revolution language takes inspiration from the natural language, English, there is no need to learn esoteric syntax, just vocabulary. Instead the question becomes "how much do you know". He sees a lot of potential to redesign and redevelop Revolution combining his mathematical reasoning with Revolution's intuitive English.
Mark thrives in the challenging and high pressure environment at Runtime. He enjoys both the highly technical development and the community spirit amongst the Revolution developers and Runtime staff. While he'd love less stress, shorter hours and a bigger team as he says "I chose to do it so it's not really something I can complain about". Like all members of the Runtime team he is highly motivated and excited that what he does benefits the community on a regular basis.
When asked about his other activities Mark laughed: "there's life outside work?" However, he does seem to find time to do some things, he enjoys reading and is a fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy as well as modern literature and other fiction. He also aims to play the piano more than he does and is currently learning Chopin's Revolutionary Etude. Occasionally he even finds the time to visit some of Edinburgh's many pubs - although has discovered that such visits are not necessarily compatible with high productivity at work the next day.
Mark is looking forward to meeting you in Las Vegas at Revolution Live 2008. Don't forget, the Super Early Bird pricing (10% discount on Early Bird pricing) is only until the end of August. Buy your conference ticket now to get the lowest possible price.
All speakers, schedules and sessions subject to confirmation and may change without notice. |
