Java User Group Philippines

Join us at the JUG PH Meetup - July 2026, where the speakers will talk about new topics in AI that is relevant for Java and the Java Community Process (JCP).

Special Guest from JCP
In this meetup, Heather Vancura, VP for Developer Relations, Oracle will join and discuss what is the Java Community Process and its relevance to the vibrant Java Community.

We will be giving away a 1-yr JetBrains Ultimate License for one of the JetBrains IDE.

Agenda: (Speaker time may change)

• 6:00 PM - Networking and Snacks
• 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM - JUG PH, Azul and Whitecloak Introductions
• 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM - Java Community Process by Heather Vancura
• 7:30 PM - 7:35 PM - Break
• 7:35 PM - 8:05 PM - Catching Up with the Java Renaissance
• 8:05 PM - 8:35 PM - Agent Skills for Java Development
• 8:35 PM - 8:40 PM - Break
• 8:40 PM - 9:15 PM - Open Spec Driven Development
• 9:15 PM - onwards - Raffle, Networking, and Snacks

Speakers:

• Heather Vancura, VP for Developer Relations, Oracle
• Tristan Mahinay - Solutions Architect - AI Engineering, IBM
• Jansen Ang - Senior Software Engineer, Maya

Speaker 1: Heather Vancura

Title: Java Community Process

Abstract:

Java’s enduring success as a global platform is not an accident; it is the result of a meticulously structured, community-driven governance model known as the Java Community Process (JCP). For many developers, Java Specification Requests (JSRs) dictate daily workflows, yet the mechanics of how these standards are proposed, debated, and formalized remain a black box.

This session provides a foundational guide to the JCP, demystifying how the Java ecosystem evolves. We will explore the lifecycle of a JSR, the role of the Executive Committee, and how corporate entities, open-source projects, and individual developers collaborate to ensure cross-platform compatibility and innovation. Whether you are a software engineer curious about how your favorite language features are born or an aspiring contributor looking to influence the future of Java, this talk will provide the clarity and roadmap you need to get involved.

Speaker 2: Gabriel Virrey

Title: Catching Up with the Java Renaissance

Abstract:

Since the adoption of a 6-month release cadence starting JDK 10, Java has grown more rapidly than ever before. In just 12 years after the release of JDK 8, 18 versions have been released, each bringing its own set of features and improvements into the Java SE Platform. So much, in fact, that it may be challenging to see the bigger picture painted by these changes.

This session seeks to shine light on what might be best labeled as Java’s quiet renaissance, driven largely by initiatives of the OpenJDK community. We will go through seven of the most significant ongoing projects in the OpenJDK, namely Amber, Babylon, Leyden, Lilliput, Loom, Panama, and Valhalla to explore how they are driving Java’s future, and for some, how they are changing the way we write Java code today. This session aims to acquaint all Java developers—from curious students to established professionals—of the latest developments in Java, and ultimately, to spark excitement and community participation with the OpenJDK's initiatives.

Speaker 3: Tristan Mahinay

Title: Defying Context Bloat: Designing High-Performance Agent Skills for Java Ecosystems

Abstract:
As AI-assisted development evolves from passive autocompletion into autonomous engineering agents, developers face a new architectural challenge: "context rot" and tool saturation. Indiscriminately feeding massive enterprise codebases and hundreds of generic tools into an agent's context window leads to high latency, increased token consumption, and unreliable code generation.
The solution lies in shifting from broad prompts to specialized, lightweight Agent Skills—modular, deterministic capabilities that equip agents with surgical precision.

In this session, we will deep dive into the mechanics of designing and implementing custom Agent Skills specifically tailored for the modern Java ecosystem. We will explore how to build skills that abstract complex frameworks (such as Quarkus and Spring Boot), manage multi-step dependency upgrades, and enforce enterprise architectural boundaries. Attendees will learn how to transition from brittle prompt engineering to building a robust, reusable library of agent capabilities that keep autonomous workflows fast, deterministic, and highly accurate.

Speaker 4: Jansen Ang

Title: Open Spec Driven Development

Abstract: TBD

Explore the Global Java Community: