What we’re about
If you don't live near an active Java User Group, or just yearn for more high quality technical sessions, The Virtual JUG is for you! If you live on planet Earth you can join. Actually even if you don't you can still join! Our aim is to get the greatest minds and speakers of the Java industry giving talks and presentations for this community, in the form of webinars and JUG session streaming from JUG f2f meetups. If you're a Java enthusiast and you want to learn more about Java and surrounding technologies, join and see what we have to offer!
Upcoming events (2)
See all- GraalVM for JDK 25: New Features and Practical TipsNeeds location
Ready to unlock the full power of GraalVM?
Whether you're already running blazing-fast Java apps with GraalVM or just Graal-curious, this session is for you.Join us for a high-energy, deep-dive session with Alina Yurenko, Developer Advocate for GraalVM at Oracle, as she explores what’s new in GraalVM for JDK 25 and how to actually make the most of it.
📅 Date: 23rd Sep 2025
📡 Virtual: https://youtube.com/live/1P5P9gMLTTc
🕒 Timing:
10:00 AM (PT) | 5:00 PM (UTC) | 6:00 PM (BST): Live stream kicks off
10:10 AM (PT) | 5:10 PM (UTC) | 6:10 PM (BST): Session by Alina Yurenko
11:00 AM (PT) | 6:00 PM (UTC) | 7:00 PM (BST): That’s a wrap, live stream endsGraalVM for JDK 25: New Features and Practical Tips
GraalVM is now well recognised as the best way to run Java applications faster, with lower memory overhead, and great startup times. While many organisations have already adopted it, some might still wonder about the best strategies to use it in practice.
In this session, we'll go through strategies for optimising performance and builds, working with libraries and configuration, and deploying production-ready native applications.
We’ll also cover what’s new in GraalVM for JDK 25 (going live in September—stay tuned!) and take a look at some advanced and forward-looking projects, such as:
– ML-based profile inference
– Project Crema
– Native Image Layers
– New `-H:Preserve` modeSpeaker:
Alina Yurenko
Alina is a developer advocate for GraalVM at Oracle Labs, a research & development organisation at Oracle. Loves both programming and natural languages, compilers, and open source.Host:
Andres Almiray
Andres is a Java/Groovy developer and a Java Champion with more than 20 years of experience in software design and development. He has been involved in web and desktop application development since the early days of Java. Andres is a true believer in open source and has participated on popular projects like Groovy, Griffon, and DbUnit, as well as starting his own projects. Founding member of the Griffon framework and Hackergarten community event. Creator of JReleaser.***
Join the Community!
If you haven't joined the Slack community, what are you waiting for? It's the ultimate spot to throw in your questions during our live sessions and mingle with fellow Java enthusiasts from all around the world.
Simply click here to join us: https://bit.ly/vJUG-Slack - [vJUG CONNECT] AI & Java: From Structured Prompts to Smarter AppsLink visible for attendees
🎉 We’re excited to announce our next vJUG Connect event, teaming up with the London Java Community (LJC)!
This hybrid event brings together the global vJUG audience with the vibrant London Java Community for an evening of world-class Java learning, community, and connection.
We’ll kick things off with Simon Maple exploring Spec Driven Development, showing why structured prompts are the key to scaling AI coding. Then, Holly Cummins will dive into Using LangChain4j to Make Your Java Apps Smarter, demonstrating how to harness AI frameworks to level up your Java applications.
Whether you’re tuning in from around the world on YouTube or joining us in person at Tessl HQ with the LJC, expect insightful talks, lively discussion, and of course, pizza and beer for those in London!
Huge thanks to our friends at Tessl for sponsoring this event and supporting our community.
Location:
- Virtual: https://www.youtube.com/live/8l1obGG_6jQ
- IRL: Sign up on the LJC meetup page, link coming soon
Agenda:
6:00pm – Doors open
6:30pm - Kick off and message from our partners
6:45pm – Session kicks off (live stream begins on YouTube with vJUG)- Session 1: Spec Driven Development Why your prompt chaos won’t scale with Simon Maple
- Session 2: Using LangChain4j to Make Your Java Apps Smarter with Holly Cummins
(live stream ends)
8pm – Networking
9pm – Wrap-up***
Session 1: Spec Driven Development Why your prompt chaos won’t scale
This session introduces Spec Driven Development (SDD) for AI coding, replacing ad-hoc prompts with human-readable specifications to improve code reliability, collaboration, and adaptability. We'll show this with a real-world Spring PetClinic example to show how SDD enables scalable, testable AI development, addresses challenges like spec drift, and supports smoother iteration and teamwork beyond freestyle prompting.Simon Maple - Head of Developer Relations
Simon Maple is the Founding Developer Advocate at Tessl, previously the Field CTO, and VP Developer Relations at Snyk, ZeroTurnaround, and IBM. He has been a Java Champion since 2014, JavaOne Rockstar speaker in 2014 and 2017, Duke’s Choice award winner, Virtual JUG founder and organiser, and London Java Community co-leader. He is an experienced speaker, having presented at most large conferences in the Java and Security spaces.Session 2: Using LangChain4j to Make Your Java Apps Smarter
Details coming soonHolly Cummins, Senior Technical Staff Member, Quarkus at IBM
Holly Cummins is a Senior Principal Software Engineer on the Red Hat Quarkus team and a Java Champion. Over her career, Holly has been a full-stack javascript developer, a build architect, a client-facing consultant, a JVM performance engineer, and an innovation leader. Holly has led projects to understand climate risks, count fish, help a blind athlete run ultra-marathons in the desert solo, and invent stories (although not at all the same time). She gets worked up about sustainability, technical empathy, extreme programming, the importance of proper testing, and automating all the things. You can find her at http://hollycummins.com, or follow her on socials at @holly_cummins.***
Whether you're attending in person or joining us online, don't miss this opportunity to learn about the latest Java advancements and connect with the global Java community!
***
Join the Community!
If you haven't joined the Slack community, what are you waiting for? It's the ultimate spot to throw in your questions during our live sessions and mingle with fellow Java enthusiasts from all around the world.
Simply click here to join us: https://bit.ly/vJUG-Slack
![[vJUG CONNECT] AI & Java: From Structured Prompts to Smarter Apps cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/1/9/6/c/event_530106508.webp "[vJUG CONNECT] AI & Java: From Structured Prompts to Smarter Apps")
