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The Top 10 Sessions from EclipseCon 2020

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - 13:24 by Hudson Kelly

After announcing in March 2020 that EclipseCon 2020 would be held as a virtual event for the first time, there was plenty of uncertainty and concern on how our community would react. While it is impossible to replace the camaraderie that came from the in-person event in Ludwigsburg, the response from every corner of the Eclipse community was truly incredible and made EclipseCon 2020 an unforgettable virtual experience for all involved. With over 2,500 registered attendees, 2020 marked the largest EclipseCon in history. So many new faces eager to learn about Eclipse technologies proves our ecosystem is growing faster than ever, positioning us well to continue to innovate through open source and collaboration in the year to come. 

While we hope celebrate a return to Ludwigsburg again soon, EclipseCon 2020 offers plenty to reflect back fondly upon; 10 different tracks and 80 sessions spread over three days gave our audience more content of a greater variety than ever before, showcasing new, updated and unique Eclipse Foundation projects and technologies and raising awareness across the industry to spark involvement and grow contributions. Since the event, every EclipseCon session has been added to the Eclipse Foundation YouTube under the EclipseCon 2020 Playlist, amassing thousands of views. While every session continues to grow in view count, a few have already emerged as tremendously popular; here are the most popular EclipseCon 2020 sessions based on views: 

 

10: Sirius Web: 100% open source cloud modeling platform - Melanie Bats (OBEO) and Stephane Begaudeau (OBEO)

Created in 2013, Sirius is a popular Eclipse project used by developers around the world to create domain specific modelers. Capable of creating modeling studios dedicated to custom domains in just a few hours, Eclipse Sirius is a powerful application. Unfortunately, distributing, updating and maintaining Sirius based solutions is a struggle, or, was a struggle. With the introduction of Sirius web, modeling tools developed with Sirius can be installed on a web server, carrying Sirius into a new technological space. Learn about Sirius Web and see how you can easily define workbenches running in the cloud with this live demo from Melanie Bats and Stephane Begaudeau. 

 

9: The Foundations of Open Source - Josh Simmons (Open Source Initiative; Salesforce)

In his EclipseCon 2020 Keynote, Josh Simmons explains how nonprofits like the Eclipse Foundation and the committers and contributors who make up their ecosystem are the silent heroes behind not only open source software, but all software development. Pull back the curtain hiding this infrastructure and find out why organizations like the Eclipse Foundation are so critical to the future of software; then learn what you can do to get involved. 

 

8: Coding Kubernetes for kids with Scratch and Che - Sun Tan (Red Hat, Inc.) and Ilya Buziuk (Red Hat, Inc.)

For the little coders in your life, Sun Tan and Ilya Buziuk from Red Hat introduce Scratch; a programming tool for children. Using Eclipse Che to build custom Scratch blocks, kids can interact with kubernetes, code their applications and share with friends. 

 

7: AdoptOpenJDK - Making Java free again - Hendrik Ebbers (Karakun AG) and George Adams (Microsoft)

With over 140 million downloads in the last year, AdoptOpenJDK (now Eclipse Adoptium) is rapidly becoming a leading provider of OpenJDK™ binaries using prebuilt open source sets of build scripts and infrastructure. In their EclipseCon 2020 talk, Hendrik Ebbers and George Adams discuss how they built on 15+ platforms and execute over 87 million tests while distributing OpenJDK™ binaries to millions of users. Watch to learn the difference between OpenJDK™, Oracle Java™, AdoptOpenJDK and all the other distributions. 

 

6: Developing and Debugging ESP32 IoT Applications using Espressif Eclipse Plugin - Kondal Kolipaka (Espressif Systems) and Ivan Grokhotkov (Espressif Systems)

 

See how the ESP-IDF Plugin improves, simplifies and enhances standard Eclipse CDT with improved tooling capabilities on ESP32.  A popular low-power system on chip microcontrollers with integrated Wi-Fi and dual-mode Bluetooth, ESP32 is commonly used in designing and prototyping IoT solutions. 

 

5: Eclipse Theia vs Che vs VS Code - Jonas Helming (EclipseSource)

Should you use VS Code or Eclipse Theia? How does Theia relate to Eclipse Che? What about Che and VS Code? Jonas Helming clears up the confusion and provides a comprehensive overview and comparison of some of the most interesting projects in the online IDE and cloud development tools space. 

 

4: Establishing Trust between People, Organizations and Things - Jelle Millenaar (IOTA Foundation)

The default level of distrust we experience when interacting with new parties in the online world not only affects the quality of interactions between people, but prevents the vision of IoT and Smart Cities, so how do we change that? The concept of digital identity, implemented in the Eclipse Tangle Identity project hopes to provide the layer of trust the online world requires. See how Tangle Identity can be used to safely digitize physical documents like passports, verify company proof of employment and prevent other fraud. Get an introduction to IOTA, how to use Tangle Identity and an introduction to the Tangle EE Working Group. 

 

3: Secure Microservices made easy with Eclipse MicroProfile JWT - Emily Jiang (IBM)

If you’re wondering how to secure your microservices, Emily Jiang and Eclipse MicroProfile JWT may have your answer. In the most popular Cloud Native Java talk from EclipseCon 2020, Emily provides an overview of the MicroProfile JWT design - a token based authentication and authorization mechanism enabling clients to access services using JWT tokens. After her overview, Emily puts JWT in action in a demo with Open Liberty and Quarkus

 

2: Introducing Open Harmony OS  - Davide Ricci (Huawei ) and Adrian O’Sullivan (Huawei)

Familiarize yourself with the current trends in the consumer electronics market along with some of the problems caused by fragmentation due to dominant vendor-led initiatives. Then, witness the solution to the problem introduced by the possibility of a unified operating system. Get to know Open Harmony OS by Huawei and its aim to deliver a unique user experience across devices and scenarios, changing the consumer electronics and mobile phone experience forever. 

 

1: Eclipse Tips and Tricks - Lakshmi Shanmugam (IBM) and Sarika Sinha (IBM)

Check out some cool tips and tricks in action on Eclipse IDE, one of the most popular IDEs released every quarter. With such frequent releases and such an abundance of features, community contributors often come across bugs asking for new features that already exist. This session aims to highlight the powerful capabilities, new features and hidden gems you may have overlooked on the most popular Eclipse project.