This article is the 18th day entry of IT Study Group / Community Management Advent Calendar 2017.
Java Book Club BOF has been holding a book club on the theme of the programming language Java in the suburbs of Tokyo once a month since December 1998 on Saturdays (10: 00-17: 00). The purpose of this is to deeply understand the contents of highly specialized technical books that everyone is interested in and use them as their own skills.
The book club selects one technical book about Java and spends several times reading it from start to finish. At each time, participants will read aloud in turn. From the preface / author introduction to the source code and footnotes, read aloud, and if you have any questions or questions about the content, freely speak and discuss on the spot. Participants are one of the real pleasures of the book club, with lively discussions by participants from beginners to those with practical experience in various fields. I'm often surprised by the novel opinions that come up there, and this is an experience that can't be obtained by reading a book alone. In addition, each time we decide on a secretary to take the minutes, we briefly write down the items discussed at that time and publish them on the Java reading group BOF website at a later date.
--Java Book Club BOF website http://www.javareading.com/bof/
| item | value |
|---|---|
| Total number of times | 225 times |
| Average number of participants | 11.6 people/Times |
| Number of books | 34 books |
| Total number of pages | 13,Page 077 |
| Average number of pages | Page 58/Times |
| 1998-2004 | 2005-2011 | 2012-2016 | 2017- |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java object design with Peter Code | The mystery of agile software development | RESTful system construction with Java | Deep Learning Java programming |
| Java Virtual Machine Specification | Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Tiger | Hadoop 2nd edition | RxJava Reactive Programming |
| Java maxim | Object-oriented mind to learn with design patterns | Programming android | Cryptography made and learned in Java |
| Java thread programming | Java concurrency programming*1 | Getting Started with JUnit Practice | |
| An introduction to design patterns learned in Java | Java Language Specification 3rd Edition | Clean Code | |
| Effective Java | The essence of Java network programming | Java 8 Lambdas*1 | |
| Refactoring | Effective Java 2nd Edition*1 | The secret of API design | |
| More Java Pitfalls*1 | Filthy Rich Clients | Java performance | |
| EJB design pattern | Scala scalable programming | A thorough introduction to Java EE 7 | |
| The essence of UML modeling | The Art of Multiprocessor Programming | Functional programming with Java |
-* 1 read a foreign book
The operation of the Java Book Club BOF consists of the following three pillars.
The Java Book Club BOF mainly uses public conference rooms run by local governments as venues. The main reason is low cost. It costs about a few thousand yen a day. The Java Book Club BOF once belonged to the Java Conference and the Internet Association and was supported by the venue fee, but most of the time it is self-paying. Therefore, the venue fee is covered by splitting the participants, but the maximum contribution is 300 yen / person, and 3000 yen is a guideline for the venue fee for an average of 10 participants.
Reserving the venue is now easy to do from the internet, and payments can be made by debiting your bank account, so it's not a big burden. However, in the past, there were some things that were quite burdensome, such as having to search for a vacant conference room by phone, make a reservation, and go to pay the fee in advance.
Currently, I mainly use the public conference room in Kawasaki City. By registering as a group, Kawasaki City can apply for a lottery from the Internet three months in advance, and if it wins, it can use the conference room. In addition, you can make a reservation at any time for use within 3 months if it is available. Conference room prices range from 2000 yen at low prices to tens of thousands of yen at high prices. The Education and Culture Center, which is a 15-minute walk from Kawasaki Station, is currently in the high 2000 yen range for morning and afternoon use.
Regarding group registration, Toru Takahashi, the representative of the Java Book Club BOF, will be the representative of the group registration, and the list and identification cards of the five members including the representative will be presented. Group registration needs to be renewed every three years, but five people visit the venue office on the day of the reading party in the renewal month, and renewal registration is done on the spot.
To secure the venue, apply for a lottery on the desired date four months ahead by the lottery deadline every month, make a reservation if you win, and if you lose, search for a vacant conference room and make a reservation from your home etc. It is done on the Internet.
The event information is announced on the Java Reading Club BOF website and applications are accepted via the form on the website. As mentioned above, the venue for the Java reading party has been confirmed up to three months in advance, so we will update the information for the next month immediately after the reading party. Therefore, the event information is almost always posted throughout the year.
However, posting it on only one website is not enough as an announcement. It seems that many media that are disseminating information on IT-related study sessions these days are automatically collected from event operation sites (ATND, connpass, doorkeeper, etc.). The Java book club BOF, which operates a web server on its own domain, is unlikely to be the target of such study group information, so we have announced the Java book club BOF to connpass. In addition, we make a posting request to dots each time. https://javareading.connpass.com/
Previously, I posted an event notification to a Java-related mailing list and contacted an IT study session calendar for a posting request. However, the mailing lists have been closed one after another, and the IT study session calendar has ended, so I feel that it has become more difficult than before to widely announce the event information.
Every time I hold a book club, I decide on a clerk, write a memo of the discussion, and publish it on the Java reading party BOF website at a later date. Also, after reading one book at the book club, I will start reading a new book the following month. At this time, the book to read is decided by Web voting.
Tomohiro Takahashi, the caretaker of the Java Book Club BOF, manages the operation of the Java Book Club BOF website, posting information about the event, managing the reception desk, and managing the web voting for the next book to be read.
Java reading clubs are held once a month on Saturdays from 10:00 to 17:00. First, we will introduce our participants, select a clerk, and start the session of the day. Participants will read the books in turn and have discussions. I have a break about once an hour. During the reading, questions and opinions are discussed at any time, so the threshold for vocalization seems to be lower than in lecture-style seminars. There are also simple questions.
In the daytime, we all go to a Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood (almost the only restaurant nearby in Kawasaki, which we mainly use). At events that sandwich lunch, there are concerns about lunch, especially if you are attending for the first time, but at the Java reading party, basically everyone will work together (of course, those who do not eat lunch and those who are not good at Chinese food do not need to accompany them. ).
In the evening, after withdrawing at 17:00, volunteers will hold a second party at a local izakaya. Izakaya often open at 17:00, so you can usually visit without a reservation and enter without any problems. The cost is usually around 3000 yen (although it sometimes costs 4000 yen).
I've been doing it for the past 10 years, so I'm not aware of the issues, but if I force you to mention it, is it something like the following?
--There are few Japanese technical books that are readable (although there are many foreign books) ――There is no situation that will be full thanks --There is no successor to the person (representative, caretaker) involved in the operation --The participation fee cannot be free ――There is a feeling of mellowness
Since technical books cannot be sold in Japan, it is difficult to publish good books. At a book club, it's really fun to work together to read a book that is frustrating alone, so I'd like to have a book with a little bone. In addition, Java is undergoing technological change, but Japanese books are not catching up with it. In the past, I had read foreign books, but it was difficult to prepare for translation in advance and distribute the translation on the day.
I've picked up some of the hottest books (Hadoop, Scala, Deep Learning) at the book club, but I didn't get flooded with participants. Book clubs "sweat your brain", so I think there is a greater need for a seminar format that you can understand by listening passively. Or maybe you're moving away from technical books, so you might not want to come to a book-reading party. (Because I can't understand this by asking the participants ...)
It has been operated for nearly 20 years by myself (Toru Takahashi) and Mr. Tomohiro Takahashi, who were the first participants in 1998. It's okay to take turns, but the current situation is that there aren't many people who will manage it.
Participation fee cannot be free because the venue fee is split between the participants. We are looking for a cheap venue and using it so that it will be as cheap as possible (about transportation costs).
I don't think it's a problem with the feeling of mellowness. I think that the reason why we have been able to continue for nearly 20 years is that the operational load is light. However, I think it's okay to have something new. I have had a training camp in the past, but the training camp is difficult to establish because of the burden of the secretary.
I think it is important that the operational load is small. In addition to the three pillars mentioned above, reading clubs can be held without prior preparation as long as you have a book. In the lecture format, it is necessary to decide the speaker and prepare, and also need a projector. Participants bring books to the book club, so no projector is required. As mentioned above, there is no pre-adjustment for the second party as people who want to go on the spot go.
Next, we are conscious of the fact that we will carry out every month. Even if the number of participants is small (the minimum number of participants in the past is 2), we will hold a reading party and write the minutes. We don't put off because we don't have a good book, we choose a book and hold a reading party. If you make a reason not to do it, the continuation will be interrupted.
Choosing Java. This is a coincidence, but books on Java have a wide range of applications such as object-oriented programming, multithreading, networks, databases, design patterns and designs, unit testing, refactoring, GUI, and various languages on JavaVM. The range of books is expanding, and I have never run out of books to read.
In addition, there are various notebook PCs brought in by participants, such as Windows machines, MacOS X machines, and Linux machines, but Java runs on them in common at the binary level. At Java reading clubs, we occasionally carry out hands-on (when we have extra time, etc.), but we can do so without worrying about the model (OS) we bring in.
So, I talked about the operation of the Java reading club BOF ~~ a little bit ~~.
Recommended Posts