RJ Dudley

Five great sessions this time (#1 is sure to be the best, though).  This will be my first talk as a Technical Evangelist for ComponentOne.  And, I'm bringing C1 swag.  

 August PGHDOTNET Meeting - 5 Guys with Code (plus Swag-a-palooza)

  John Sterrett 

Pay attention here--the meeting is moved to Monday because of a Pirates game.

Please join us on Monday, June 14th, at 5:30 PM at the Microsoft Offices on the North Shore for a deep dive into the new C# and VB.NET language features with two Microsoft engineers (Adrian 'Spotty' Bowles for VB.NET and David Sterling for C#) who are part of the language teams at Microsoft!  There will be two sessions, one for each C# and VB.NET.  And while there will be prepared materials for these sessions, please take this opportunity to ask the engineers who work on the language teams why the languages behave the way they do.  This is your opportunity to directly ask Microsoft about C# and VB.NET!!
 
Please RSVP early for this meeting as we expect a full crowd.  Please note that due to traveling schedules and a Pirates home game on Tuesday 6/15, this meeting is next Monday, 6/14.
 
If you have any questions, please reply to pghdotnet@gmail.com
 
Thank you!
Your PGHDOTNET Team
 
 
June PGHDOTNET Meeting - Microsoft .NET 4 Language Tour
 Monday, June 14th, 2010
 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
 Microsoft Offices, 30 Isabella St., Pittsburgh, PA 15212
 Registration details : http://www.pghdotnet.com/201006.aspx
 
Session 1: VB 2008/2010 New Language Features
Visual Basic has always been about developing applications to get the job done quickly.  During the 2008 and 2010 product cycles many new language features have been added to provide enhanced functionality and productivity.  Come learn about many of these new features and how these can help you “code like the wind“.
 
About Adrian 'Spotty' Bowles
Spotty is Software Engineer in Test on the VB Compiler team. He has worked on the team for 5 years testing features like extension methods, collection and array initializers.   Spotty earned a Bachelor of science in Computer Studies from the Leicester University in the UK.

Session 2: C# 4.0 - New Language Features (Level 300)
From simpler Office development to interaction with dynamic languages, C# 4.0 makes many programming tasks just plain easier. There are lots of new features both big and small that we’d like to introduce to you!  Come learn about dynamic, named arguments and all the other language gems in C# in Visual Studio 2010.
 
About David Sterling
David is Software Engineer in Test on the C# Compiler team. He has worked on the team for 3 years testing features like covariance and named arguments. David earned a Bachelor of Software Engineering from the University of Waterloo. You can follow David on twitter at http://twitter.com/dsterling.
 
 
This meeting is sponsored by DiscountASP.NET.  DiscountASP.NET is the global leader in ASP.NET Web Hosting Services.

Regional events include a full day of sessionson topics such as MVC 2, Dynamic Data, Azure, Team System, etc.

Full story at http://www.microsoft.com/business/2010events/DevEvents.aspx.

Local events include a half day "highlights"  Pittsburgh is a local event, on June 2.

Full details at http://www.microsoft.com/business/2010events/Highlights.aspx.

Registration Open - Code Camp Pittsburgh, April 17th, 2010
Our Spring Code Camp will be here in about 5 weeks (Saturday, April 17th).  Registration is open and we have plenty of topics to interest you.  We will finalize the session schedule over the next few days, but the site has all of the session titles and abstracts for camp posted.  For session or schedule changes, either check the site or please follow us on Twitter (@pghdotnet) or join the PGHDOTNET LinkedIn group for late breaking news.
The URL for Code Camp is here:  http://codecamppgh.com/CodeCamp2010_1_info.aspx.  Please follow the registration link to register for the event.  Registration is FREE.

Also, download the Pittsburgh Code Camp iPhone App (written by camp speaker Jason Agostoni).  Here's the URL: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pittsburgh-code-camp/id359789229?mt=8

If you have any questions about Code Camp, please email us either at codecamppgh@gmail.com or pghdotnet@gmail.com.
Code Camp is sponsored by ProTech Professional Technical Services, ComponentOne, e-Staff Consulting Group and Microsoft.

 Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
 Microsoft Offices, 30 Isabella St., Pittsburgh, PA 15212
 Registration details: http://www.pghdotnet.com/201003.aspx

At this month's meeting we'll discuss not only the core ideas and concepts that make ALT.NET what it is, but we'll also discuss how you can apply some of these very same concepts to your own day to day development using frameworks like ASP.NET MVC.  Some concepts we'll be discussing our Test-Driven Development, Inversion of Control, and the SOLID principles.

Scott Guthrie announced ASP.NET MVC to the world at the first ALT.NET Conference in October of 2007.  Since then, 
this new framework has made impressive inroads into the mainstream .NET community.  The flexibility inherent in this 
lightweight framework has made many of the ideas which first inspired the ALT.NET mindset achievable in every day .NET development.

Speakers

Jeremy Jarrell (ALT.NET), Matt Otto (ALT.NET), Craig E. Oaks (Pgh.NET)

This month, Joe Smith will present on SQL Server and .NET Common Language Runtime Integration and Programming.  With the release of SQL Server 2005, and subsequently SQL Server 2008, the ability to develop using the .Net Runtime has become an intrinsic capability available to SQL developers.  

This talk will explore:

·         Basics of the .Net architecture and its integration with SQL Server

·         Creation of artifacts built on .Net for use in SQL Server (user defined functions, stored procedures, etc.)

·         Security and Access (how the integration

·         Deployment and use of .Net artifacts to SQL Server

·         Best Practices in utilizing the .Net integration, one size does not fit all.

Joe is a Solutions Architecture Consultant with Dell Computer, Inc.  He has numerous years of consulting experience working with customers across the landscape of small, medium and large enterprises associated with varying industries.  His past focus was primarily with middle tier and backend .Net development.  Recent efforts with Dell focus on solutions built using .Net, SQL Server on or associated with SharePoint.  Prior to joining Dell, Joe worked for Microsoft Services in a similar role with a focus on both Enterprise and application integration and .Net technologies such as Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow.

Date: Wednesday, February 24

Time:  12:00 PM – 2:00 p.m.

Venue: Pittsburgh Technology Council, 2000 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Cost: No charge, but you must RSVP. Space is limited!

RSVP: Online

Update: Cancelled due to snow!  Next meeting in March. 

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Microsoft Offices, 30 Isabella St., Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Registration details: http://www.pghdotnet.com/201002.aspx (we have a new online registration form!)

Join us on February 9^th for two sessions as David Hoerster first describes how you can quickly create web UI unit tests using Visual Studio 2010's new CodedUI Tests feature.  Afterwards, we'll talk about how to improve the overall performance of your ASP.NET web sites by going over a few tips and tricks.  This is a session that will be beneficial to developers, testers and architects alike!

Session 1: Creating Automated Web Unit Tests Using Visual Studio 2010's Coded UI Tests

Quickly create UI unit tests using Visual Studio 2010's new feature called CodedUI Tests.  They're very easy to create, give the developer/tester a lot of control, and allow you to data drive your tests.  This feature is great for developers and testers alike.

Session 2: Improving the Performance of Your ASP.NET Web Sites

There's a lot of tips and tricks to improve the performance of your web sites, and we'll take a tour of a few of them in this session.  We'll look at: CSS Sprites, Using WCF Services for AJAX Calls, Tools for Minifying Your JavaScript and CSS Files (and how to integrate them into a build tool), and a few more!

Tuesday, December 8 | 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
This event is free, please RSVP.

Join us for our next PGHDOTNET meeting on December 8, 2009, at 5:30 p.m. at the Microsoft Offices on the North Shore. Steve Andrews will present on Dissecting DevEvents.com: A Look at a Real World .NET MVC Implementation.

The ASP.NET MVC Framework provides a powerful Model View Controller (MVC) approach to building web applications, and provides separation of concerns, increased testability, control over HTML output, and intuitive URLs. We will start by looking at building a model framework with LINQ to SQL, including validation and model binding. Then, we'll explore a custom generics-based repository and services implementation. Finally, we'll tie it all together with a look at Views and jQuery.

Sponsored by:
DiscountASP.NET

Please note that our October PGHDOTNET meeting will NOT be on Tuesday, October 13th.  It will be on Thursday, October 22nd.

October PGHDOTNET Meeting - An Introduction to .NET RIA Services
 Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
 Microsoft Offices, 30 Isabella St., Pittsburgh, PA 15212
 Registration details: http://www.pghdotnet.com/200910.aspx
 
This session is an introduction on how Microsoft is simplifying the traditional n-tier application pattern by bringing together ASP.NET and Silverlight.  Join Dani Diaz and learn about patterns for working with data, implementing reusable and independently testable application logic and application services that readily scale with growing requirements.
 
Danilo Diaz, aka Dani, is a Developer Evangelist for Microsoft's Mid-Atlantic State district. In this role, he helps developers understand Microsoft's product offerings and strategy. Prior to joining Microsoft, he worked at Perficient Philadelphia where he helped establish their Mobility Practice. Dani has over 8 years of experience in the IT industry. His ability to identify and utilize the right blend of technologies to solve business needs has been an asset on all projects he has worked on. Dani's first .NET project was a Web-based eLearning application which was built on ASP.NET 1.0 Beta 2. As a consultant he has served the roles of system architect, technical lead, developer and mentor on various large and small projects. He has worked on SOA-based applications, Web applications, Windows applications and mobile systems.

This event is sponsored by DiscountASP.NET, a global leader in ASP.NET Web Hosting Services.

The first of several hands-on talks, this one looks to be awesome.  This is two days before the G20, and the location is on the North side, not too far from the stadiums, so we should be clear of traffic issues.

Join us on September 22nd for a Hands On Lab using jQuery and WCF to build RESTful applications.  This will be the first of several upcoming hands on labs.

This hands-on-lab will explore how to use Microsoft's Windows Communcation Foundation (WCF) 3.5 along with client-side technologies, such as jQuery, to create RESTful applications that will improve the performance of your .NET applications.

This session will start with building several simple WCF services; then we'll build a client-side application using some jQuery functions; then we'll hook the jQuery browser app up with the WCF services.

This hands-on-lab will be the first of several hands-on-labs covering using WCF and jQuery to build high-performing RESTful applications.

Full story at http://codecamppgh.com/jquery_hol1.aspx

Couple of great talks at PGH.NET this month.  Here's the first:

The session begins with some CSS3 basics and moves onto how to create the ultimate presentation. Chris will demonstrate how to build rich themes without graphics, graceful degradation, and how to use simple graphics to enhance style. You’ll become familiar with support for legacy browsers, Web 2.0, and walk away with an overview of ASP.NET framework themes.

Chris' bio has one of the best statements EVER.  Emphasis mine:

Chris Bannon is familiar with many acronyms: UX, ASP.NET, AJAX, C#, SQL & jQuery.  As the lead Web Developer at ComponentOne, he has mastered techniques such as CSS Layout, Unobtrusive JavaScript, Semantic Markup, and Progressive Enhancement.  Chris manages the product line for many ComponentOne's Microsoft Visual Studio products and is trained in Notepad, SQL Management Studio and Expression Blend.

Full story and registration at http://codecamppgh.com/200909.aspx.

I've been wondering how all the new product launches were going to happen, and it looks like MS is going to split them up.  First up, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010.

There are two tracks of training--Developer and IT Pro.  Tracks are AM and PM, so you can attend both.

Full details at http://www.microsoft.com/business/thenewefficiency/

And oh yeah, there's this:

Attend the free event, take home Windows 7

These are the new innovations that can help you be part of the new efficiency. And at our free live events, you can learn, network, and get your copy of Windows 7!

Join the Pgh.NET User Group on June 9 as Vijay Koneru gives an overview of programming Silverlight applications using the Azure Cloud Services API. Also, Craig Oaks will provide an introduction to using Silverlight with ArcGIS.

Date:     Tuesday, June 9
Time:     5:30 - 8 p.m.    
Venue:    Microsoft Offices, 30 Isabella Street, 15212

Register: http://webportal.pghtech.org/Events/CalendarEventsListView.aspx

Join the Pittsburgh .NET User Group on May 19th for two presentations by INETA speaker Pete Brown on what to expect from Silverlight 3.

1. What's New In Silverlight 3
A tour of all of the new features in Silverlight 3. Topics covered include features geared towards RIA/Business Application development, Media, Graphics, etc.

2. Silverlight 3 Adores My Commodore 64
In this entertaining talk, Pete discusses building a Commodore 64 emulator and a software-based music synthesizer in Silverlight 3. This is more of a coding for fun session. Definitely a lot of fun!

Date: Tuesday, May 19

Time: 5:30 - 8 p.m.

Venue: Microsoft Offices, 30 Isabella Street, 15212

Cost: No Charge, please register

Register: Online