SAP TechEd is looming large, and this year it's in Munich. (If you're not in Europe, then SAP are holding TechEd events in Bangalore, Tokyo, and San Diego too). I went last year (in Basel), and was both impressed - by the quality of the session and tutorial content - and disappointed - at the lack of wifi and 'net access in general. One thing that was lacking overall last year was a sense of community; everyone was their on their own, with the whole event feeling more like an exhibition or computer fair, rather than a conference. That, or everyone was avoiding me 😉
This year, it's going to be different. There's a wiki, there will be Birds Of a Feather sessions, including a SapAndOpenSourceBof run by me and my good friend Piers. Wifi and 'net access has even been promised too. (Although when I compare the bullet points on the Munich and San Diego pages, there's a distinct difference - no wireless at Munich?)
But the biggest change this year for me is that I'll be speaking. I'm giving a one hour session:
The Internet Communication Framework: Into Context and Into Action!
Business Server Pages (BSP) technology is a great way to put together ABAP powered web-based applications. But that's not the only way; in the grander scheme of things, BSP technology is 'just' a layer that sits on top of the Internet Communication Framework (ICF), the Web Application Server's core foundation that provides a full set of object-orientated APIs for handling HTTP requests and responses. This talk will put the ICF not only into context - what it is, how it works, why it's important - but also into action, with a live demonstration where we build, debug and run a simple web-based service. If you're interested in looking under the hood at the engine that connects the Internet Communication Manager with the ABAP Personality world, and learning how to use it yourself, then this talk is for you!
I'm really excited at the chance to ramble and rant about some great parts of the Web Application Server; in many ways, the ICF is a bridge between the traditional walled world of SAP and the world of open standards. And this particular bridge is constructed with blocks that have 'HTTP' stamped through them.
