JavaLand Top-Speaker Check: Stefan Toth

Stefan, at JavaLand you will be giving a talk entitled “Architecture Games - improving systems through play”. Why did you choose this topic?

Recently, many people have approached me about LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews), ordered the risk cards or given me feedback on them. This has resulted in exciting projects in which we have also transferred the gamification approach of LASR to other activities in the field of architecture. I would like to present some of these ideas in this talk. They make architectural work more vivid and accessible. It's a good change from more technical topics.

What developments or trends are you currently following in the Java world?

I follow a few things on the side. I find LangChain4j really exciting as a smaller project – I also have some private use cases there. If we count Spring as part of the Java world (which I do), I find Spring Modulith super exciting from an architecture perspective. There are many use cases in my practice and the topic is also constantly developing in the right direction.

Where do you live and how are you traveling to JavaLand? How long will your trip take? 

I live in Vienna and I am traveling by plane and rental car. In total, it will probably take me a little over 5 hours – if everything works out.

How do you pass the time on the journey? Do you have any recommendations for books or podcasts?

I'm listening to a lot of podcasts at the moment. “60 Songs That Explain the '90s” combines music and nostalgia in incredibly good storytelling. I find it exciting on various levels – there's now also a “...calling the 2000s” release, which is also worth listening to. “Geschichten aus der Geschichte”, a German history podcast, is another perennial favorite. The two hosts deal with topics that are completely unrelated to work for me but make developments and historical events incredibly easy to understand.

What are you most looking forward to at this JavaLand?

I'm looking forward to some presentations and the exchange with other speakers and participants. Live events are simply good in this respect, and I hope the exchange will be as lively as last year. JavaLand at the Nürburgring last year was also much more atmospheric than I expected – I'm really looking forward to the location and the track. Maybe a karting duel or two – there were signs of some good rivalries last time...