Name: Testing on Thin Ice + IDE Shortcuts + Gradle 9 + Testing Toolbox in Action
Start: 2025-09-25T17:45:00-07:00
End: 2025-09-25T21:00:00-07:00
Location: Elastic, N.V. SF Office

This event is a joint effort between the [San Francisco JUG](https://www.meetup.com/sfjava) and [East Bay JUG](https://www.meetup.com/eastbayjug). The meetup will be at the Elastic office. Please arrive before 6 PM for a smooth entrance. Elastic sponsors venue and beverages. OpenValue sponsors Pizza.

On this evening we will have up to 4 talks. The first one is a joint talk by **Brian and François.** The session is directly derived from **Gradle's** **DPE SUMMIT** (Developer Productivity Engineering, [https://dpe.org/dpe-summit](https://dpe.org/dpe-summit/speakers), September 23-24 in SF at the Midway, Tickets still available for 399 USD). The next talks are a fabulous session about IDE shortcuts by **Annelore**, a build tool engineers insider update on Gradle 9 features by **Louis and Sterling** and finally another testing talk with many demos by **François**.

François and Annelore visit us from Switzerland. They will be delighted to gather for some drinks together afterwards at the Local Edition. Make them feel right at home!

Join online:
[https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74924307260?pwd=myB0Y81wvrSPMoHwLWiwpsyUoDeX9F.1](https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74924307260?pwd=myB0Y81wvrSPMoHwLWiwpsyUoDeX9F.1)

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SCHEDULE

* 17:45 Doors Open
* 18:00 Intro + Talks
* 21:00 Doors Close
* 21:15 Drinks Gathering at the Local Edition

SESSIONS

* Testing on Thin Ice: Chipping Away at Test Unpredictability (45 min) **by Brian Demeres and François Martin**
* Taking Shortcuts Beyond Your IDE (45 min) **by Annelore Egger**
* What’s new in Gradle 9? (30-45 min) **by Louis Jacoment and Sterling Greene**
* From Bugs to Brilliance: Testing Toolbox in Action (up to 45 min, chain of demos till doors close) **by François Martin**

ABSTRACTS

**Testing on Thin Ice: Chipping Away at Test Unpredictability (45 min) by Brian Demeres and François Martin**

Ever tried to catch melting snowflakes? That’s the challenge of dealing with flaky tests – those annoying, unpredictable tests that fail randomly and pass when rerun. In this talk, we’ll slide down the slippery slope of why flaky tests are more than just a nuisance. They’re time-sinks, morale crushers, and silent code quality killers.

We’ll skate across real-life scenarios to understand how flaky tests can freeze your development in its tracks, and why sweeping them under the rug is like ignoring a crack in the ice. From delayed releases to lurking bugs, the stakes are high, and the costs are real.

But don’t pack your parkas just yet! We’re here to share expert strategies and insights on how to identify, analyze, and ultimately melt away these flaky tests. Through our combined experience, we’ll provide actionable techniques and tools to make sure snow is the only flakiness you experience, ensuring a smoother, more reliable journey in software development.

**Taking Shortcuts Beyond Your IDE (45 min) by Annelore Egger**

Taking shortcuts in software development is often perceived as risky, but it does not have to be. In this talk, I will show you how adopting smart shortcuts can enhance your productivity without sacrificing code quality. While IDE shortcuts are just the beginning, we will explore ways to streamline your workflow across the entire development process. From key combinations to advanced automation techniques like code generation, I will demonstrate how you can optimize your time and enjoy coding more. Whether you are a seasoned developer or just starting, this talk will help you identify areas where you can work faster and smarter. By the end, you will be equipped with practical strategies to always be on the lookout for opportunities to improve your workflow.

**What’s new in Gradle 9? (30-45 min) by Louis Jacoment and Sterling Greene**

Gradle 9.0.0 was released in August and is the first major version update in two and a half years. This release consolidates many new enhancements and features over that time and improves the development experience for everyone using Gradle.

During this presentation, we will explore several key areas. We will begin by showcasing the power of the Configuration Cache and how it leads to quicker build times and a more fluid workflow. Configuration Cache is the preferred mode of execution in Gradle 9.0.0. We'll talk more about other performance improvements we've made since Gradle 8.0, including faster Kotlin build script compilation performance and reduced memory usage.

Next, we'll talk about improvements to usability. For example, we've made it possible to declare which version of the JVM is required to run your build. Gradle can automatically find or provision the necessary JVM. We've also made smaller quality-of-life improvements to make it easier to update to the latest version of Gradle when using the wrapper–just request version "latest" and the wrapper will update to the latest released version.

Finally, we'll touch on some of the things to watch out for when upgrading to Gradle 9.0.0. In particular, Gradle 9 has removed a lot of old and deprecated APIs and updated to the latest version of Groovy and Kotlin. Each release of Gradle has a growing set of "Best Practices" contributed by people from Gradle, Google and JetBrains to help teams work with confidence and settle debates over the proper way to use Gradle.

At the end of the presentation, we will offer a glimpse into the future of Gradle. We will outline what's next on the horizon with a dual focus on performance and overall usability.

**From Bugs to Brilliance: Testing Toolbox in Action (up to 45 min, chain of demos till doors close) by François Martin**

What if I told you that there is an entire world of lesser-known, underutilized testing tools, libraries, and features waiting to elevate your testing game? You will see live demonstrations of a plethora of these hidden gems, carefully curated to empower you in unit, integration, and end-to-end testing. This includes both tools for Java backends as well as JavaScript / TypeScript frontends and some technology-independent tools.

As you absorb the knowledge and sharpen your skills, you will accumulate an impressive set of tools in your testing toolbox. However, a word of caution: your toolbox may grow heavy with all these new additions. You will leave this talk armed with newfound knowledge, but make sure you can still lift your toolbox by the end of it!

SPEAKERS

**Brian Demeres**

Brian Demers is a Developer Advocate at Gradle, a Java Champion, and an Apache Member who contributes to the Directory, Maven, and Shiro projects. He spends much of his day contributing to OSS projects by writing code, tutorials, blogs, and answering questions. In addition to typical software development, Brian also has a passion for fast builds, security, and automation. Away from the keyboard, Brian is a beekeeper and can likely be found playing board games.

**[http://linkedin.com/in/bdemers](http://linkedin.com/in/bdemers/)**
**[https://bsky.app/profile/bdemers.io](https://bsky.app/profile/bdemers.io)**

**François Martin**

François Martin is a senior full stack software engineer at Karakun AG, living in Switzerland. He is an active open source contributor and co-author of the two open source JavaFX frameworks WorkbenchFX and PreferencesFX, an active member of the Swiss Testing Board, and participates in the working group of Advanced and Expert level at ISTQB. He is also a co-author of the ISTQB Test Analyst v4.0 and the upcoming Security Test Analyst syllabus.

**[http://linkedin.com/in/fran%C3%A7oismartin](http://linkedin.com/in/fran%C3%A7oismartin)**
**[https://github.com/martinfrancois](https://github.com/martinfrancois)**

**Annelore Egger**

Annelore is a passionate software developer from Switzerland who values high-quality code, likes working in teams, and sharing her knowledge. She also likes to meet new people, so if you see her around, feel free to say hi! Currently she works at OpenValue.

**[https://www.linkedin.com/in/anneloredev/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anneloredev/)**
**[https://github.com/anneloreegger](https://github.com/anneloreegger)**

**Louis Jacoment**

Louis has been perfecting his knowledge of Java for more than 20 years. Always a developer at heart, his role evolved over the last years to include technical team leading, coaching and some management. In addition to the bits and bytes, Louis is interested in people management skills mandatory to create a productive project team. To complete the buzzword bingo, Louis is interested in agile practices for the visibility, communication and result orientation it promotes. After working remotely from Belgium for Terracotta, with a focus on Ehcache, Louis is now part of the Gradle build tool team.

**[https://www.linkedin.com/in/ljacomet/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ljacomet/**)**

**Sterling Greene**

Sterling Greene is a Lead Software Engineer for Gradle. He has helped lead transformative change in large organizations to improve software quality, delivery speed and development costs. Recently, he has been focused on making Gradle a go to build tool for native applications. When he’s not working on Gradle, he spends time with his wife and spoiled dog.

**[https://www.linkedin.com/in/sterlinggreene/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sterlinggreene/**)**

Benjamin Nothdurft

Pieter Humphrey

Claude Devarenne

Robert Lassila

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Testing on Thin Ice + IDE Shortcuts + Gradle 9 + Testing Toolbox in Action

Elastic, N.V. SF Office

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Testing on Thin Ice + IDE Shortcuts + Gradle 9 + Testing Toolbox in Action

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