Yesterday I spent the day attending the CMD-D: Masters of Automation conference in San Jose.

It was a great deal of fun. The content covered both current scripting techniques along with several up-and-coming methods to automate your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Highlights included:

• Multiple talks from Sal Soghoian. My favorite was all about the new push at the Omni Group to implement JavaScript automation that works across all Apple devices and even from the web.
• Many excellent speakers talking about all forms of automation on macOS and iOS.
• Learning about the origins are of AppleScript from Jon Pugh, one of its original developers.
• An automation shoot-out where several attendees took the stage to share their favorite automation workflows.

The content ran into the evening and capped off with a podcast recording among the various speakers talking about where automation currently stands and where it is going.

The entire experience was a good one for me. I feel like I have a better idea where automation technologies are headed and I learned a trick or two. Best of all, there was an overwhelming sense of love in the air. Attendees ranged from people with no experience (but a lot of enthusiasm) to automation veterans and the content was broad enough to offer something for everyone. The sense of community between everyone was awesome and reminded me of the old days at Macworld Expo.