tigerbears!

Today’s one of the most-anticipated days of the year for a Cocoa developer: WWDC was announced. The annual meeting of the minds (and livers) is a touchstone for the community that gets a lot of us thinking like Ralphie from A Christmas Story. The excitement, lack of sleep, good cheer and wonder at what Steve will leave for us under the New API tree is our Red Ryder BB gun. (The WWDC app is the compass in the stock.)

It wouldn’t be a community without a little kerfuffle, though.

@SteveStreza: And don’t spend $1600 just to go see the keynote. If you’re not a developer, this isn’t the event for you. #wwdc

Colin Barett has an excellent followup.

I’m with Colin on the topic of inclusion. Your pass, your purpose. We’re not well-served by litmus tests or their ilk, and WWDC doesn’t stand for Won’t Waive Developer Criteria. We don’t have a place discouraging anyone from learning more about our craft as developers.

While a pure marketing head probably isn’t so interested in the details of a new API, there have always been sessions they could find useful, and getting a summary of the new hotness (this is not always just on Monday) could prove valuable to them. That goes triple for a product manager.

Similarly, there’s a great opportunity for cross-pollination of ideas. It’s a cornerstone of Mac and iPhone development that a good developer needs to understand design, product development and marketing1. I’ve found it’s just as important for good designers, product managers and marketers to have a good understanding of engineering and development. WWDC is an perfect opportunity for those who wish to take advantage of this.

That said, though, the folks who descend on Moscone West just for Monday (often just for the keynote) take up spaces for later in the week that someone else could have used. (WWDC sold out in just about a week last year.)

OK, everyone and their Mom has a great set of WWDC tips out there. Three of my personal faves are from OG’s Jeff LaMarche, Marco Arment and Jiva DeVoe.

Michael Jurewitz also recently tweeted, “Hey #wwdc attendees: Bring your development iPad/iPhone and provision it with your MacBook/MacBook Pro. This cannot be emphasized enough.”

The small additions or reinforcements to the consensus I’d make are few, but they helped me a great deal last year.

SubEthaEdit. Worth repeating. Note-taking was actually fun and other contributors could fix / explain any errors you may have made. (There’s usually one or two folks just trying to capture as much info in as possible, and the rest clean up.) A few times, someone would ask a question in the notes, and another participant would chime in helpfully as a little backchannel. Even if you’re not familiar with the particular APIs, or even programming in general, you can earn your copy of the notes by helping with formatting and other bits. Invaluable.

Be cool about power. Bring that long extension cord for your MB*’s power brick. Outlets are a scarce resource, and you don’t want to be the guy taking up three plugs with your shiny white wall wart. You’ll also be in range of more power strips. Note that the layout and availability of power strips may change from time to time.

Say hi to and thank the presenters. They’ve put a lot of work into making WWDC a great experience for us. Since we’re all very polite and considerate people, I’m sure we’ll all do our best to show them love when given the chance, but remember put a little extra effort into doing so at the end of a session that hit the little red “turbo” button on your brain.

Prep to go wired at times. Imagine that Apple releases some software during the event. Let’s say … development software. Maybe it’s a beta and you will not want anything in the way of trying out the new hotness with everyone else.

These packages can be fairly large and would make the WiFi network cry plaintively in the corner. My memory is too hazy to recall if these downloads were blocked over the air last year; but be prepared for that kind of situation. I’ll likely be toting an Air and will be double-plus sure I’ve got my USB Ethernet adapter. (That Apple has mentioned this as well is a compelling argument on its own.)

Lunch and munch with randoms. Maybe you have a posse rivalling Gruber’s or the legions surrounding The Palmed One™. Probably not. You, too, can be awash in exuberant developers, even if you’re starting from scratch. (Hot tub not required.) Just about everyone will be cool, and this is probably the best chance of the year to have your mind blown by a brilliant new friend. Try not to use up all of those opportunities by working quietly in the corner unless you really really prefer to chill that way.

Hydrate and medicate. Water, amigos, water. Wash yer mitts. Vitamins. Electrolytes. Get some sleep. Your brain and your body will be taking a substantial toll over the week and you don’t want to peak too early. Sugar bombs all week long probably won’t help you much … but personally, I can’t resist the brownies.

See you at WWDC – and introduce yourself if you spot me running around. I usually wear a tan LaRue Tactical ball cap and will be smoking too much between sessions.