Google I/O: Now online, starting with all things Client

JUNE 3, 2009

The Google Client Team had an exciting and inspiring two days last week at Google I/O. We had the opportunity to talk to developers and have insightful conversations on what we're doing in the realm of HTML 5, Chrome, V8, Native Client, and 3D graphics on the web.

Today we're excited to reflect on these conversations at I/O, and kick off a series of videos and presentations from Google I/O. Starting with the Client track today, session videos and presentations from I/O will be posted online over the course of the next seven days and free to the world, on the Google I/O website.

Chrome: Extensions, Internals, V8 and more

Aaron Boodman gave a great talk on creating extensions for Chrome, and built several extensions live during his talk. I think this reflects our commitment to make it easy to build extensions, and I hope that developers -- not only those in the room, but those around the world who watch the recorded video of Aaron's talk -- will be inspired to create great extensions.

Darin Fisher delved into Chrome internals, managing to cover large swaths of Chrome code, philosophy, and lore without breaking a sweat. Darin's talk is a great way for developers to see that Chrome is more than just a fast browser with a slick UI -- we believe that developers at I/O came away realizing that there is a lot going on behind the scenes that sets Chrome apart.

Mads Ager talked about V8, walking attendees through the reason Google decided to build a new JavaScript engine, how some of the internals of V8 work including hidden classes, inline caching and garbage collection, and recent improvements made to further speed up JavaScript execution in V8. We were glad to present a thought-provoking session for developers, as attendees left the session with impressed and contemplative looks on their faces.

HTML5, Native Client, O3D and moving the web forward

Matt Papakipos, in addition to making an appearance in Wednesday's keynote, gave a great talk on where Chrome is, with respect to HTML5 and the open web platform. He explored what the platform means for developers, how they can use it, as well as the vision going forward. Matt delivered this talk to a packed room - attendees were spilling out to the aisles and doorways in our largest session room at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. We're thrilled and humbled that developers are as excited as we are about the web platform and where we are taking it.

At the session on Native Client, Brad Chen got developers excited about the possibility of running native code as part of their web applications. Brad gave a comprehensive low-down on how Native Client works, and how it can be used to further strengthen the platform and move the web forward.

Vangelis Kokkevis and Gregg Tavares gave a talk on bringing 3D graphics to the web via O3D. Vangelis started the presentation with an overview of the O3D project and its goals and highlighted some its most significant features. Gregg then took over and demonstrated how, in a few simple steps, one can go from a blank HTML page to the beginnings of an entertaining mini-game with only a handfull of calls to the O3D API.

In addition, Henry Bridge led a panel with developers from Large Animal and Crazy Pixel, sharing insights about developing 3D graphics applications using O3D and getting developers excited about 3D on the web. You can also view sandbox video interviews with these two developers (Large Animal, Crazy Pixel) in the Developer Sandbox section, along with many other developers.

Browsers and standards development

To give developers more insight into how standards development and implementation in browsers work, we put together a panel with Jonas Sicking from Mozilla, Charles McCathieNevile from Opera, and myself, moderated by Mike Schroepfer (formerly of Mozilla now at Facebook). At this session, we talked more about the vision advanced by various browsers, and deliberated questions on where the browsers and the web are going.

Beyond the sessions, I/O provided the Client team the opportunity to interact with developers through Fireside Chats, where developers freely asked a broad range of questions. We also staffed Chrome Office Hours, where I/O attendees could stop by with their burning questions about the browser and chat with the team. We got developers excited about Chrome extensions, HTML5, <video>, O3D and more at the the Client developer sandbox pod.

All in all, we're thrilled to have spent two days with developers in conversation about Chrome, the web platform, and a shared future that we are all working so hard to create. We're excited to now bring these conversations to a larger community of developers with our I/O session videos and presentations. If you like, drop us comments through the Google Friend Connect gadget we have enabled on the session web pages - we'd be delighted to hear from you.

By Ian Fette, Chrome Team

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