[Event] JManc 2025

I had the opportunity to attend JManc again this year—and once more, it was fabulous. The sessions were organic, deeply technical, and full of insights shared by developers across different domains. Here's my wrap-up from the day, highlighting a few memorable sessions and conversations. 1 Tony Wilson, Manchester 30 Years of Java — Jim Gough’s Retrospective Jim Gough delivered a fantastic keynote on the evolution of Java over three decades. As a Java Champion, his perspective mixed historical insight with a touch of humor and lived experience. Here are some of the milestones he covered: Applets & Early UI: Java’s original fame came from applets—tiny applications that ran inside web browsers. AWT & Swing: Early GUI development in Java involved the AWT toolkit, later replaced by the more versatile Swing. JavaFX: The modern Java UI framework that succeeded Swing. It was eventually removed from the JDK and spun out as an open-source project. While less commonly used in modern ...