Big Android BBQ 2015

Last week I attended and spoke at my first Big Android BBQ. After hearing from more than one person that the BABBQ is more of an "enthusiast" conference, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. However, I am happy to report that it was a heckuvalot of fun and that, as far as I could see, BABBQ 2015 is as much a developer conference as anywhere else (just looking at the schedule, you'll find a majority were tech talks).

Overall, I would rate it as a Would-Go-Next-Year. Okay, part of that is because (confession) due to weather and planning I missed out on the actual BBQ part, and I refuse to write off a BBQ without having eaten any dang BBQ.

Here's the lowdown on my BABBQ 2015.

Starting with a Colt Keynote (a Colt-Note?)

<insert sad rimshot here>

Part of the conference opener was an (as expected) entertaining keynote by Colt McAnlis.

Something that particularly warmed my Texas Flooded heart (seriously, the word "deluge" wouldn't be far off) was the coming together of the #perfmatters and #enummatters clans.

 
 

Talking Technical

Again the BABBQ had plenty of technical talks and recorded many of them for mass distribution. Check them out the handy YouTube playlist of the available vids.

My New Talk

Creating efficient Android layouts has been a subject close to my heart ever since I first started Android development, and since the theme of BABBQ 2015 was #perfmatters, I put together a brand new talk on Loving Lean Layouts (yes, the alliteration was necessary) which focuses on:

  • Understanding why lean layouts matter to performance.
  • Building a toolbox of good practices.
  • Analyzing layouts and finding problem areas.
  • Fixing those problem areas.

My presentation included an example app showing both bad and good practices for Android layouts, and I uploaded the souce code to GitHub.

Many thanks to all the folks that spent their precious conference time with me. Double thanks to Marie Schweiz and Chiu-Ki Chan for gracing my preso with their gorgeous graphic talents.

 
 
 
 

See Y'all Next Year

The BABBQ 2015 was definitely chock full of love and enthusiasm for Android as well as hearty doses of fun and food (despite the rain). Cheers to all my fellow speakers and attendees, and here's to me actually getting some delicious BBQ next time.

 
 
Android, SpeakingHuyen Tue DaoRandomly Typingbabbq, layouts, conference