Join Me at Access DevCon 2021

On something of a personal note, I'm excited to share that I will be presenting the TwinBasic project at the upcoming Access DevCon.  Access DevCon is an English-speaking, international Microsoft Access developers conference normally held in Vienna, Austria.  

Due to COVID-19, the conference will be held virtually this year.  While I'm a bit disappointed I don't have an excuse to travel to Vienna, it does bring the total cost for attending the conference down significantly.  If you're a developer who lives outside Europe, this is a great opportunity to participate in this event without having to travel.

What to Expect from DevCon

Last year, the event organizers waived the registration fee as the world was still learning to cope with the pandemic.  The good news for you is that means all of last year's presentations are available for viewing at the Virtual Access DevCon 2020 web page.

If you're on the fence about whether to attend the 2021 conference, watch a few of the videos to get a sense for the kind of high-quality content that Karl Donaubauer,  Peter Doering, and Philipp Stiefel put together.

Then, head on over to the registration page to sign up for the 2021 conference.  For about $100 USD (85 Euros), this is a fantastic value.  

Each session includes a short Q&A at the end, so it's worth attending live if you can.  If you can't attend some or all of the sessions live, the recordings will be available if you register.

As this year's conference is a paid event, don't expect to be able to watch any of the recordings if you don't register.  Some recordings may be offered publicly after the event, but if there's a session you really want to see, make sure you sign up.

What to Expect from me at DevCon

As the agenda shows, I will be presenting an overview of the TwinBasic project.  TwinBasic is the result of years of work from Wayne Phillips, the preeminent wizard of the VBA world:

TwinBasic is an audacious undertaking with the ultimate goal of providing 100% backward-compatibility with VB6 (and, thus, VBA).  Once complete, the language will allow for native, cross-platform compilation.  As a fully compiled language it will require no heavyweight runtime, unlike most modern programming languages that do (including Java, .NET, Python, etc.).

How does this apply to Access developers?

Initially, the biggest opportunity I see for Access developers is to use the TwinBasic language to convert existing "code library" modules into actual dynamically linked libraries (i.e., DLLs).  I'm hoping to be able to demonstrate this exact capability during the presentation.

Over the long term, TwinBasic could allow you to leverage your knowledge of VBA to seamlessly expand beyond Office development and into other areas, such as cross-platform application development.

Join me in Vienna!

I will be writing some additional preview articles over the coming weeks to whet your appetite for the TwinBasic presentation.  

You can register for the conference here: Access DevCon Vienna.  

I look forward to seeing you in Vienna.*

* Assuming that you live in Vienna.  I'll be streaming from Prompton, PA.  If you live somewhere other than Vienna, well, I look forward to seeing you wherever you are.