As a co-founder of Netscape and co-author of Mosaic, Marc Andreessen has a unique view of the development of web programming. In his keynote address, he briefly reviews the history of the computer industry and how programming has moved from being machine dependent and complicated to become a dynamic and easy-to-learn process.

Andreeesen discusses the problems with programming languages prior to 1995 and how things changed with the development of Java, followed by JavaScript and PHP. These languages were easier to learn and allowed for easier cross platform use and quick deployment. In addition, with the meteoric drop in hardware and network costs, more powerful applications will be much easier to develop and worldwide collaboration is possible.

Andreessen also spends more than 30 minutes on audience questions, many of which discuss the future of PHP and its uses in various configurations. For example, one participant asked about other devices, while another wondered about the use of PHP in education. Andreessen stated that the future should see a continued explosion in applications. He also indicated that new programmers should appear from all ages and all parts of the world.While the presentation is technical in nature, Andreessen does a good job making the information easy to understand. His enthusiasm for the future is obvious.