Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
In its fourth year, the sold-out Strange Loop conference, September 23 through 25, is set to host 1,100 software developers from 20 countries; companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter; and an enviable array of speakers, from Google Chrome developer Lars Bak to JavaScript creator Brendan Eich. “These are the people building the tech, shaping the future of the Web, pushing the boundaries right now,” says conference founder and software engineer Alex Miller.
How do you explain Strange Loop to the layperson?
It’s a conference for software developers, and we tend to focus on mid to advanced developers pushing the boundaries of how programmers create applications today. We focus on a lot of new and emerging programming languages, and the ways people are storing and manipulating data.
And what’s “sexy” about it, so to speak?
A lot of people these days are using mobile and web apps, and a lot of speakers and attendees come from companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. One of the keynote speakers we have is Lars Bak, one of the leads on the Google Chrome browser. Another one is Brendan Eich, who created JavaScript, which is behind most of the web apps that we use every day. These are the people building the tech, shaping the future of the web, pushing the boundaries right now.
Why did you create Strange Loop? What need does it fill?
This is a way to showcase St. Louis as a place with more tech than people are aware of. Also, a lot of conferences are run by large media organizations, as opposed to the trend of developer-run ones, like ours, which are smaller and a little more focused. We’ve actually grown bigger than a lot of the corporate ones at this point. This year we’ll be at 1,100 people. The niche that we’re really filling is we’re a melting pot of different technologies, and people get to rub off on one another.
How strange does Strange Loop get?
Last year the strangest request from a speaker was to have a mariachi band for his talk. Unfortunately we weren’t quite able to provide one. We found one, but they weren’t able to make it.
So what does the future of the Web hold?
I think we’re gonna continue to see more mobile apps and a lot of exploration because of things like the iPad. There’s the whole trend of augmented reality—using wearable devices that integrate the real world and the digital world, like Google’s [Project Glass]. That’s just over the horizon.
How will Facebook be usurped by the next Web-based app? I believe things will begin to mesh back into your life more. The idea is that you don’t go to a computing device to meet with your extended network of friends—there will be ways to access and add to that info without taking out a device, more implicit and less explicit ways—but I could be wrong.
Describe the status of the St. Louis programming/tech scene.
St. Louis doesn’t have as big a tech scene as San Francisco or Seattle, but I think there is a good solid core between the universities and the big engineering companies, like Boeing. There’s a good base here, and there’s a very active user-group community, for whatever you’re into. There are a few growing companies doing work in big data. There’s a lot of startup activity going on, a lot of funding of new comps. Forbes just did an article about how St. Louis is bringing tech companies in.
There is such a gap between people like me and the IT help desk people who loathe and pity us in our ignorance.
Well, I think if you talk to a lot of professionals they’ll tell you tech is changing so fast that even if you’re in the industry, you’re in one little part of it, and there’s so many things out there to know, it’s virtually impossible to know a significant percentage of it. You have no choice but to learn; if you want to understand how to do your job, it’s a continual learning experience. We’re all learning more continually, whether we know it or not.
