webOS developers: the next generation
This past weekend, hundreds of webOS developers gathered in Manhattan to meet face to face with each other and with members of the Palm teams that manage developer tools and the App Catalog. Highlights of the weekend included:
- overviews and expert sessions on the tools used to create webOS apps;
- a presentation from Rod Whitby, who spearheads the webOSinternals group;
- a presentation from Phil McKinney, CTO of HP’s Personal Systems Group, who tweeted “Had a great time at the #palm dev day. I was pleasantly surprised by how many young developers were at the event.”
Just how young? Well, several of them won’t be able to enjoy the after-hours beer bash until we have a developer event in 2017. Max Hauberstock, a 15-year-old from Florida, was excited to get an overview of where the platform was headed. (He was also excited to get a free Pre 2, which he said effectively cut the cost of the trip in half.)
Max has been active with Palm platforms since owning a Centro, and since he created his first website when he was 10, he already knew the basics of the web-centric tools used to create webOS apps. When asked how much time a teenager had available to work on developing apps (like his Study Buddy app), Max figured he plays around with it for maybe an hour a day (adding that that was of course after his homework was done, just in case his parents read the Palm blog).
Jason Teplitz (also 15) first learned programming skills because a few years ago he decided he wanted to program a robot (“like most 11 year olds”). When he saw the video of the unveiling of webOS at CES in 2009, his first thought was “I really want that phone.” But his second thought was “I really want to make something for that phone.” Which he did – Jason’s apps include Lemonade and Never Lost. He took the train in from Connecticut, excited to find out more about Enyo and other new tools being shown off to the community.
BTW, if you couldn’t make it to the event, you can catch videos of all the sessions on Palm’s YouTube channel.
Jon Zilber