I didn't even bother to try to do daily updates from YAPC as others did. I know for a fact that I won't be able to keep up with the schedule. One because it takes me too long to write an entry, but also I was just too busy (which was a really good thing). Instead for ease of the readers I'm going to split the post in two.
YAPC started off for me with a miscommunication on where the subway runs. Trush thought he would be able to meet me at Fairview Mall, but quickly found out that the new Sheppard line doesn't run from Downsview right across. Then we met at Bay station when we should have met at Bloor so back to Bloor and down Yonge we went. Once we finally figured out where we were going we were fine.
rjbs called me, and we met up in the lobby of 89 Chestnut and proceeded to the arrival dinner. Of course we got lost and ended up sitting at the table that was last served. No one mentioned that we had to order by writing the number of what we wanted on little pieces of paper. After dinner we pushed rjbs into a cab and took him to the Paramount theatre to see Batman Begins on the IMAX screen. There had been a lot of discussion on the YAPC mailing list as to whether or not it was true IMAX. Who cares. Really big screen, really big sound, really good movie.
Day 1
The day started with an opening talk by Richard Dice, a keynote by Larry and the State of the Carrot by Allison. Then to my first session The Testers Toolkit. I picked up a couple of things I hadn't used before and there was mention of Test::WWW::Mechanize, which was really nice to see.
We went to Spring Rolls for lunch (great Thai food- mmmm cashew chicken) and were joined by Chris Winters. I've been reading his blog for a long time and when I found out he was going to be at YAPC I at least wanted to see who he was. At lunch I only knew his name was Chris and didn't put it together until now.
After lunch (slightly late) I attended Chromatic and Ian's talk on Solutions to Common Testing Problems. I found the talk quite useful as they mentioned a couple of test modules I hadn't tried, and it was good to see them in action. I'm really looking forward to their upcoming book. Next was a talk on a Perl Mongers group's experience Phalanxing a module. Now that Toronto.pm has finished with YAPC::NA, I'm hoping that we can pick up a module and have a go at it. Listening to the experience of the NY Perl Mongers has me a little concerned however as to whether the updated tests will ever be implemented by the authors.
The day ended with cog's Perl Black Magic Unleashed Obfuscation and Golfing which was absolutely hilarious. I've added practicing obfuscated code reading to my list of things to do. I can see how it'll help my non-obfuscated coding.
The CGI::Application crew was having a BOF at a not so local pub. Somehow they were convinced to change the location to a closer pub. Trush and I tagged along and it ended up being our best YAPC decision. While we ended up sitting in the middle of a long table we quickly became the section not discussing CGI::Application but the one concerned with drinking beer. Afterwards the decision was made to return to the hotel and find a spot where we could all meet and continue discussing CGI::Application. The discussions didn't end until after 1am.
So much for well rested for my presentation.
