This month's topic: Java Performance Testing with Project Bonneville

Project Bonneville is Chris Cowell-Shah's evenings-and-weekends open source project for measuring the performance of certain core Java SE features. Chris will review the results of these benchmarks with an eye to addressing the following questions:

How does performance vary across JVM vendors?

How does performance vary across JVM versions?

How does performance vary across operating systems?

How does the performance of 1.4 features differ from their 1.5+ replacements?

How true are commonly held assumptions about Java performance?

Can we generate simple rules of thumb for high-performance Java SE programming?

There will also be a short discussion of the tradeoffs between micro- and macro-benchmarks. Because this is a work in progress, comments and observations about Project Bonneville's benchmarking methodology, or suggestions for future benchmarks, are especially welcome.

Chris promises a LOLCAT-free presentation, though there may be a slide or two of his kids.

Speaker: Chris Cowell-Shah

Chris does quality assurance for Oracle's Java-based Rules engine. He has also worked as an IT consultant for Accenture, and as a researcher for Accenture's Palo Alto research and development lab. He studied computer science and philosophy, and is always on the lookout for points of intersection between the two. http://www.cowell-shah.com/

PJUG meetings start with some time to eat and socialize (pizza and beverages are provided), followed by the featured speaker, then Q&A, discussion, sometimes a drawing to give away swag. :)

Though we like knowing how many people to expect, you don't have to RSVP, on Upcoming or otherwise. Go ahead and just show up!

Many people also go for a drink and further discussion following the meeting, at a location determined ad hoc (lately, the Market Street Pub at 10th and Market: http://mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=24 ).

http://twitter.com/pjug http://pjug.org/ (join our mailing list, linked from the website!)

Just-released open-source software that implements VoteFair ranking is now available to help us reach higher levels of voting fairness. You do voting when you click on Google search results, and you use voting results when you view the star rating of an Amazon product. Now learn how voting really works, how it is usually miscalculated -- intentionally in the case of elections -- and how it can be done to fully extract the wisdom in a group. Learn the math behind the puppet strings that connect politicians to the biggest campaign contributors. (Partial spoiler: The biggest unfairness is hidden in primary elections.) Also learn the math that eventually will cut those puppet strings. Along the way you will learn that there are different kinds of popularity.

Presenter: Richard Fobes, author of The Creative Problem Solver's Toolbox and Ending The Hidden Unfairness In U.S. Elections, developer of the Dashrep programming language and the software negotiation tool at www.NegotiationTool.com.

This event is a meeting of the Westside Proggers, a group of language-agnostic programmers who like to talk about pioneering new frontiers in software.

Please RSVP (and reserve slices of free pizza) at the Westside Proggers forum on Google.

"Thnad's Revenge: A Programming Language Implementation Tale."

Presenter: Ian Dees

Meteor (http://meteor.com) is an open-source platform for building top-quality web apps in a fraction of the time, whether you're an expert developer or just getting started.

Let's get together and discuss the platform and show some of the apps we've built with it. You've built some apps with it, right? :)

We're happy to announce that there's a new user group in Portland that's dedicated to increasing visibility, promotion and interconnectedness of the local open-source movement and participants thereof. This group is not limited to software and encourages participation of anyone from musicians to government planners. Please read the mission statement on our website: http://librepdx.org/

Our kickoff event is to bring together people who are interested in taking an active role within the group, particularly people who are stoked about our mission and want to help network with others in the community. If you cannot physically attend, we encourage you to participate via our Etherpad for part or all of the event: https://notes.typo3.org/p/LibrePDX_Website

2-5 pm: Software/website-focused hacking and resource collection

5-7 pm: Main event, brainstorming, next steps

7-* pm: Beer and article writing for publication @ Tugboat (711 SW Ankeny St) ...what could possibly go wrong

If you have any questions regarding venue or mission, please contact Daniel @ 503-453-7535 or [email protected].

If you didn't read the website...

LibrePDX is a community with the common belief that great things are achieved through cooperation, accessibility and a strong supporting foundation. We believe that the open-source movement embodies these characteristics and helps strengthen some of the most positive qualities of a functioning society.

LibrePDX is a flat, non-legal do-ocracy focused around increasing visibility and connectedness of all things relating to the open-source model of development and community building. If you have a idea, share it! If you can do something, do it! If someone has your idea, join them! You can't fail if you volunteer, you can only learn.

Hi folks,

We've decided to cancel the December meeting due to the weather.

We will be back in January :)

Decred Meetup - tonight! Join us for knowledgeable and lively conversation. Presentation: Decred - Tools, Use and Contribution 6:30pm at Dick’s Primal Burger (4905 SE Woodstock) Please RSVP over Meetup so we can coordinate food and drink. Hope to see you there! http://meetu.ps/e/GyPqd/GTgHx/f

We meet second Mondays to discuss the first truly decentralized open source crypto project - Decred. Bringing empowerment to the community who take part in the Decred ecosystem. New contributors welcome.

A special primer from 6:15 - 6:30 PM for those interested in a short discourse on the foundations of blockchain, bitcoin and decred technology.

Open Sourcing DBIx::Class::Events

Andrew Hewus Fresh will be giving a trial run of his TPCiP talk

While I will explain a bit about what DBIx::Class::Events does and how it works, this talk is primarily about open source contributions being driven by the folks in a company who care about them and how it is up to those people to provide the resources and knowledge to everyone else in order to create an open source culture in the workplace. As far as I know, no request to open source something has ever been denied by my employer, Grant Street Group, and while the company has always had the same "go for it" attitude, the folks writing code are only just starting to gain momentum releasing things publicly. I'll talk about showing other folks in the company the benefits of sharing code internally, how that exposed the benefits of open-source in general, and how we as a company progressed to getting DBIx::Class::Events onto the CPAN.

For those who are unable to join MySQL at Oracle OpenWorld, we are hosting an exclusive happy hour in downtown Portland on Tuesday, September 10th. Join MySQL experts and your peers for an evening of complimentary premium cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at the cool speakeasy style bar, Clyde Common!

Kenny Gryp, MySQL’s high-availability expert and evangelist, will be in town to provide a brief update on the latest advancements in MySQL 8.0 and answer all of your questions. Register today and take advantage of this casual evening to share best practices while mingling with your peers and MySQL experts!