Help Me If You Can, or Trivia Sorely Needed

Here I am again, hat-in-hand asking for your help. You see, in a little over a month, I'll be making my way to the SD West 2008 conference where, among other things, I'll be hosting the Developer's Bowl, an event described as a test of knowledge about the history, technology, and traditions of software development. Right. But what it's really about is the opportunity for a lot of really smart people to make me look...well, not as smart.

I ask questions that the different teams answer. The team that first buzzes the buzzer gets the first crack at anwering a question. If they get it right, they get points. If they get it wrong, the other team gets a free shot at it. The team with the most points at the end wins.

I have to come up with all the questions--which means that I also have to know the answers. (Are you getting the picture?) Where I need your help is in coming up with the questions and answers. If you have any questions that you'd like to pose to some smart folks from IBM, Google, CodeGear, and others, please send them to me right away at jerickson@ddj.com. Trivia, history, people, technical, software, hardware, technology, whatever. Send me a question (or questions)--puh-leeeze! All questions are really appreciated.

And to show my appreciation, I'll pick the best 10 questions and send their submitters a DVD or t-shirt or something equally cool.

Now if you'll be at SD West 2008, I'd like to treat you to lunch. All you have to do is tell me in 100 words or less (hey, I originally said 25 words or less, but someone upped the ante) why you'd like have lunch with me. Then send your reasons to lunch.with.jon@gmail.com. It will be fun and the food might even be decent.

Thanks in advance, and start sending in those questions now--and as many as you can.

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 07:55 PM  Permalink