ACCU Conference News

The ACCU 2108 call for session proposals isn’t actually open, but it seems wise to try the software out to try and make it usable, unlike last year. Things are still very much under development, this is alpha or perhaps beta software at this stage in the general scheme of things.

If you fancy doing a source trial feel free to follow the instructions below. If you just want to try things out, I have set up https://cfp.testconference.accu.org as though it were a live call for session proposals. Any comments, criticisms, bug reports, etc. please file issues on GitHub https://github.com/ACCUConf/ACCUConf_Submission_Web_Application/issues

The source for this Web application is at https://github.com/ACCUConf/ACCUConf_Submission_Web_Application please clone the repository in the usual Git/GitHub-ish way. You will need to ensure you have SQLite3 and Python3 installed, and then ensure you have the Python packages in pip_runtime_requirements.txt installed. I do:

If you want to run the tests (and who doesn’t :-) you will also need the packages in pip_test_requirements.txt.

Running the Python tests:

The tests should be green. Running the JavaScript tests requires NPM with Mocha. If you have those installed then:

should also be green.

To actually run the application, you have to first create a database:

to create accuconf.db. Then:

should set the server going. Navigating to localhost:8000 with a browser should get you to the page. The default state should be "closed" so nothing interesting happens. To change the state close the server, and create the file accuconf_config.py with the line:

and then start the server.

For any comments, criticisms, bug reports, etc. please file issues on GitHub https://github.com/ACCUConf/ACCUConf_Submission_Web_Application/issues Pull requests with constructive changes will be most welcome.

When we first asked Herb Sutter to come back to ACCU and do a keynote, he agreed, but wasn’t sure which of many things he would talk about. We ran with a meta-title and some meta-blurb so as to allow for any possibility. A week before he was due to be on stage, Herb emailed us with the title and blurb for his keynote, which by now had been scheduled as the closing event for ACCU 2017. We quickly changed the meta-title and meta-blurb to the real title Thoughts on Metaclasses and associated blurb, which still seemed a bit meta, but quite classy. He also made what seemed at the time a strange request. He was happy for the session to be videoed, but wanted an embargo on publishing for a while.

Anyone who was at the session will, I suspect, agree that is was one of the most exciting session on C++ in ACCU history – the energy of the audience during the session was palpable. This was borne out by the questions going on for a good 80 minutes after the presentation.

Despite lots of requests for immediate publication of the video of this by now world famous ACCU session, the organisers stood firm on their commitment to the embargo. Herb wanted to make a presentation to the full C++ committee before the ACCU video was published; it was important for the ACCU organisers to fulfil their commitment to Herb. The embargo was lifted 2017-07-26 with Herb publishing his blog post about all this. The ACCU video of the session was release a few minutes after the blog post was published and is here. For once in the history of the Internet, the comments are actually worth reading.

The ACCU conference has a You Tube channel Notice the header image is a photo of the opening of Herb’s session.

We look forward to getting Herb, and also Bjarne Stroustrup and Andrew Sutton, back to ACCU, to bring more new C++ things to us. All keynotes are unique, many are very special (as Herb’s ACCU 2017 one was), none are reproducible – nor should we try to reproduce per se. The challenge for the committee and organisers is try and get another keynote that creates the same audience energy. This is an aim, not a meta-aim.

The observant may have noticed something of a change in the ACCU conference website. We have decided that #363e6d (aka Dark Midnight Blue) will be the colour for ACCU 2018. The rationale for this will not be revealed now (so as to engender a feeling of suspense) and may, or may not, be revealed sometime in the next 8 months^[1].

The website has been rearranged to create a clean slate for ACCU 2018, with ACCU 2017 joining ACCU 2016 in the "Previous ACCU" drop down menu. I expect various changes to happen to the website over the next few months. The source is still a Git repository on GitHub. Investigators of this repository will notice that it is now just the source of the static website generated using Nikola. The Web application for submission and review is being rewritten and is now separated completed from the main website – avoiding many of the problems people had last year. The new "submission Web application" has it’s own repository here. Work has only just started on this Python3/Flask/SQLAlchemy/SQLite-implemented system, but should progress very rapidly. If you want to get involved, please feel free to chip in using the issues, and think about possible pull requests.

Although the conference dates are now fixed (Workshop day 2018-04-10, Conference days 2018-04-11/P4D), the dates of the call for proposals, etc. are just proposals. Unlikely to change, but they may.

If you know anyone who wants to sponsor the conference, get them to contact The Conference Chair in the first instance.

Huge thanks to Ahto Truu for sending in a pull request updating the ACCU 2017 conference schedule page with links to the videos. Not all have been checked, and not all are there as yet. If you find an error, or a link not yet in place, please feel free to send in a pull request, or at least an email telling us the changes needed.

Thanks again Ahto Truu for getting the "updates after the conference stuff" moving. The pressure is now on us to do the slide PDFs!

The original title and blurb for Herb’s keynote closing ACCU 2017 left room for one of many actual presentations. Herb has now sent in the choice he has made. So the printed materials now have the wrong title and blurb. The selected title is:

Thoughts on Metaclasses

which is a link through to the blurb on the website. The website and the Web application have the correct title and blurb even if the printed materials have been overtaken by events.