Now that my personal job situation is resolved, it’s time for me to start thinking about EclipseCon. For so many of us involved on a somewhat day-to-day basis with Eclipse, this is the highlight of the year. This is where we get to put faces to names, where we get to see what each other are doing lately and to have a few debates over a few beer, to feel like we’re part of the bigger Eclipse team that we are.

And it’s a great chance for the people around the periphery, who use Eclipse technologies in their work or play, or use it as the foundation to build their great products on, or even thinking of doing so, to join in with us. One thing I’ve seen and, of course, do over the years is always give anyone who comes up to us a chance to join in on the fun. You have to, it’s how you build communities.

I always love hearing how people are using the CDT in their products and the problems they encounter and the successes they have had. It’s so much easier to participate in person than over a mailing list since it becomes a real discussion in real-time. And I hope that the people who come and walk away with some answers, or learn some new things, or had their chance to influence others in the Eclipse world, make it that much easier to justify the trip.

And of course, there are the sessions and the tutorials and the BOFs and a few symposia and summits and showcases, there’s a lot of opportunity to participate. As an example dear to my heart, we are having a CDT Summit on the Tuesday (I’ll post here and on twitter @dougschaefer the details once I know them) where CDT contributors, and even those who having a passing fancy they may contribute, will get together and talk about the next CDT release for Kepler. There’s some cool stuff going on there which you will also see in the sessions like multi-core debug visualization and more. And, as usual, we’ll have a BOF where anyone can come and join in the CDT discussion.

So, if you haven’t already, register now. I hear the hotel rooms are going fast at the conference center so get in early so you can stay up late. And I look forward to seeing you there! http://www.eclipsecon.org/2012