Anticipation from afar

I’m writing this from the second CocoaConf conference in Yosemite National Park. The conference is here because Apple’s code name for OS X 10.10 inspired the organizers, and when version 10.11 was just named for a huge granite cliff within the park (El Capitan), it seemed inevitable that we’d come back here.

I grew up not too far from Yosemite (pronounced yo-SEM-uh-tee, more or less), so coming here is a bit like coming home. I take the same route to Yosemite that I’d take to my hometown of Sonora—you just have to take a hard right at Yosemite Junction or you’ll end up in my hometown by mistake (as Yosemite-bound travelers would often do every summer).

If you only know Yosemite National Park from the Apple code names, you’re missing out. Unlike Mavericks, which is apparently a surf break I had never heard of even as a lifelong Californian, Yosemite is a place that should be known worldwide.…