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Ask HN: What's a good topic for a technical presentation?

My company holds a monthly lunch/technical presentation, with the lecture given by an employee. Four of my clients have yet to approve hours, so next week is my turn. What topic can I talk about that won't put a group of custom software and web programmers to sleep?

xox 17y ago
Your thoughts on some language or technology that you are interested in but that is not used at your office.
- presidentender 17y ago
  That's a good idea. My concern is losing or boring people.
shmichael 17y ago
Javascript is always a nice topic to discuss. Depending on the technical level, you could take it in different directions: * "good" paradigms in Javascript (using concepts of functional programming). I always recommend Crockford's Javascript: The Good Parts - http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748 * Demonstrate some interesting JS libraries such as mootools or Raphaël - http://raphaeljs.com/ http://raphaeljs.com/ * For less technical folks, you could demonstrate new JS graphical capabilities, such as the porting of Quake and the chrome experiments gallery - http://www.chromeexperiments.com/ http://www.chromeexperiments.com/
- presidentender 17y ago
  Javascript is particularly good because we have a lot of it kicking around, but nobody seems to like to read or write it (copying and pasting javascript is much more popular).
HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago
Avoid languages. I have yet to see a language presentation that didn't devolve into a discussion of some esoteric "feature" that was cool but almost completely useless. Instead choose concepts, e.g., functional programming and use a well known language to illustrate its benefits. Or choose a new, interesting and relevant technology to discuss. What would I like to see? A presentation on what it takes, from start to finish, to develop and release a simple iPad application, along with a short sample app you've written for illustration. Fit that in an hour and you'll have a packed room.
frossie 17y ago
Lunchtime? As in, people are eating? The sleep risk is real with those. War stories, whether they had a happy ending ("I fixed it") or not ("I learned from it"). If you don't have your own, you can walk though someone else's provided enough technical information is available - for example the lost NASA Mars Rover is a good way to explain race conditions, depending on your audience.

xox 17y ago

Your thoughts on some language or technology that you are interested in but that is not used at your office.

presidentender 17y ago
That's a good idea. My concern is losing or boring people.

shmichael 17y ago

Javascript is always a nice topic to discuss. Depending on the technical level, you could take it in different directions: * "good" paradigms in Javascript (using concepts of functional programming). I always recommend Crockford's Javascript: The Good Parts - http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748 http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748 * Demonstrate some interesting JS libraries such as mootools or Raphaël - http://raphaeljs.com/ http://raphaeljs.com/ * For less technical folks, you could demonstrate new JS graphical capabilities, such as the porting of Quake and the chrome experiments gallery - http://www.chromeexperiments.com/ http://www.chromeexperiments.com/

presidentender 17y ago
Javascript is particularly good because we have a lot of it kicking around, but nobody seems to like to read or write it (copying and pasting javascript is much more popular).

HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago

Avoid languages. I have yet to see a language presentation that didn't devolve into a discussion of some esoteric "feature" that was cool but almost completely useless. Instead choose concepts, e.g., functional programming and use a well known language to illustrate its benefits. Or choose a new, interesting and relevant technology to discuss. What would I like to see? A presentation on what it takes, from start to finish, to develop and release a simple iPad application, along with a short sample app you've written for illustration. Fit that in an hour and you'll have a packed room.

frossie 17y ago

Lunchtime? As in, people are eating? The sleep risk is real with those. War stories, whether they had a happy ending ("I fixed it") or not ("I learned from it"). If you don't have your own, you can walk though someone else's provided enough technical information is available - for example the lost NASA Mars Rover is a good way to explain race conditions, depending on your audience.