The Curtain Raiser

Another one for PE :-)

The community event touches on a few .NET specific design and development patterns and practices.  Please join your fellow developers for a great afternoon/evening - 25 June, 15:00.

Topics:

• Singelton Design Pattern
• CAS (Code Access Security) - What, When, How
• Interop - Using unmanaged code in .NET development

CodeRush Xpress for C# and VB

Don't we just love productivity add-ons to Visual Studio.  Here's one I've picked up from Devexpress.  It's impressive and it's free.

FREE Telerik WPF Controls

It's almost too good to be true.  It's impossible to look at these controls and not start salivating :-)  They're gorgeous, but, so is the price for us South Africans.

Now, until end of July, if you're an MSDN subscriber you can get these controls for FREE.

Included controls.

Calendar, Carousel, Chart, DatePicker, Gauge, GridView, NumericUpDown, PanelBar, ProgressBar, Scheduler Slider, TabControl, TreeView.

License details.

The Developer License is perpetual and has no deployment limitations – it allows the use of the controls for an unlimited number of applications spanning various servers and domains. The applications you develop with the Telerik WPF controls can be distributed royalty free. The license comes with community support only.

LLBLGen Pro Workshop - Port Elizabeth

ORM has always been a very popular topic.  Come and join in on the workshop - it's going to be hands-on!

This hands-on workshop will cover the theory of how ORM products work and will provide dozens of real world scenarios and best practices for LLBLGen Pro.

Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit

Windows Mobile developers that want to stay ahead of the curve, go download and start exploring.  Rob Cameron provides a quick overview of the new features.

It's time.

We're lining up an exciting list of presenters for developers attending TechEd Africa 2009.  Let me share with you who you can expect to see at TechEd.

• Bart De Smet - http://community.bartdesmet.net/blogs/bart
  • Senior Developer Evangelist at Microsoft
  • Specializes in .NET Framework, CLR and languages
• Brian Noyes - http://briannoyes.net/
  • Chief Architect with IDesign, Microsoft Regional Director & MVP
  • Authored and taught master classes on WPF, WF and WCF
• Chris Menegay - http://teamsystemrocks.com/blogs/chris_menegays_weblog/default.aspx
  • VP of Consulting for Notion Solutions
  • Specializes in software development process and Visual Studio Team System
  • Microsoft MVP (Team System) and Microsoft Regional Director
• Jaime Rodriguez - http://blogs.msdn.com/jaimer/ CANCELLED due to family commitments :-(
  • WPF Technical Evangelist at Microsoft
  • Specializes on .NET Client
• Luke Hoban - http://blogs.msdn.com/lukeh/
  • Senior Program Manager at Microsoft
  • Specializes in Managed Languages, specifically F#
• Mike Palermo - http://weblogs.asp.net/palermo4/
  • Works for the development team at Interface Technical Training
  • Microsoft Regional Director, MVP, ASP Insider
• Nikhil Kothari - http://www.nikhilk.net/
  • Principle Architect at Microsoft
  • Specializes in ASP.NET and Silverlight
• Shyam Pather
  • Principle Development Manager at Microsoft
  • Specializes in Microsoft data access technologies, like Entity Framework and ADO.NET Data Services
• Stephen Forte - http://www.stephenforte.net/ 
  • Chief Strategy Officer of Telerik, a leading vendor in .NET components
  • He has written several books on application and database development
  • Microsoft Regional Director, MVP, INETA presenter and Certified Scrum Master
• Tony Whitter - http://www.whittertechnology.com/
  • Microsoft MVP on Windows Mobile
• John deVadoss - http://blogs.msdn.com/jdevados/
  • Principle Product Unit Manager on the Patterns & Practices Team at Microsoft
  • Specializes in Application Architecture Guidance & Azure Guidance
• David Hill - http://blogs.msdn.com/dphill/archive/2007/06/12/acropolis-team-blog.aspx
  • Principle Architect on the Patterns & Practices Team at Microsoft
  • Specializes in architecture, design patterns, best practices and guidance for .NET development
• Jonathan Carter - http://lostintangent.com/
  • Technical Evangelist for the .NET Framework and Visual Studio at Microsoft
  • Specializes in ASP.NET, MEF, ADO.NET Data Services, MVC and AJAX

As you can see, you simply have to make a plan to get there.  Go register at http://www.teched.co.za.  See you at TechEd!

JCSE Architecture Forum

The forum is planning their second event, this time on "how 'enterprise thinking' must drive 'solution thinking' to enable true business agility".  Come and join us on 11 June at the IBM Offices in Rivonia.  You will find all the details on http://www.jcse.org.za.

TechEd MVC: Yes/No?

We're planning another exiting TechEd for developers.  I need your input on the following.

In our draft planning we allocated two of about 60 breakout sessions to MVC: one introductory session and one more advanced.  In the meantime we got feedback from on of the TechEd US presenters, "The feedback I keep getting is that the TechEd type audience isn’t necessarily ready for ASP.NET MVC."  Do you agree with his comment?  Is the South African developer audience ready for MVC sessions?

V2010 Beta 1 is here!

While the bits have been available to MSDN subscribers since Monday, the general public will have access from sometime today.  So, keep an eye on http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010/default.mspx

Check out Jason Zander's blog if you want a quick run through the new features.

When does X release?

Roadmaps for Major Products Announced at TechEd is an interesting blog detailing the current status of various products announced at TechEd US last week.

"Scott Guthrie talks shop with developers"

LinkedIn DNUG regularly presents online events with high profile devs, like this blog title.  Go join the group and be notified of some really great opportunities to talk to the guys that make the decisions that matter.

Office 2007 SP2

Office 2007 SP2 includes major performance enhancements for Office applications and servers, most notably Outlook and SharePoint. One big benefit is SP2’s boost to interoperability — with this release, Office natively supports additional file formats such as PDF and ODF.

Download and install.

TechEd Africa 2009 Developer Sessions

Durban, 2-5 August.  You can already add yourself to the TechEd mailing list so we can notify you when registration opens.  The deep technical sessions that our contingent of international presenters brought to TechEd, was a big hit last year.  This year we're doing the same.  You can also follow the progress on the TechEd Facebook group.

Topic selection is always a challenge.  This year we would like to spend the majority of sessions on providing deep technical sessions on existing technologies, but also allocate introductory sessions to future technologies.  Our goal is 60% existing technologies, and 40% future technologies.

Here is our first draft of topics for the breakout and lunchbox sessions that we plan on doing at TechEd for the developer audience.  Let me know if there are any critical content areas that we're missing.  The topic titles will still be finalized.

Developer Track Sessions

Data Access

1. A Strategic Comparison of Data Access Technologies from Microsoft
2. Applied Entity Framework
3. The ADO.NET Entity Framework: Tips and Tricks

.NET Framework

1. A Whirlwind Tour of the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
2. The Manycore Shift: Making Parallel Computing Mainstream

Interoperability

1. Embrace Open Source on CodePlex
2. The State of Dynamic Languages on the Microsoft .NET Framework
3. Windows Server & FastCGI technologies for PHP

Languages

1. Essential LINQ with C#
2. Future Directions for Visual Basic
3. How LINQ Works: A Deep Dive into the Microsoft Visual Basic and C# Implementations
4. The Future of C#

Patterns and Practices

1. An Introduction to the Application Architecture Guide 2.0
2. Patterns for the Rest of Us

TFS/VSTS

1. A Lap Around Team System 2010 Architecture Edition
2. Team System 2010 Development Essentials
3. VSTS Test and Lab Editions
4. VSTS Team Build
5. Lean Practices, Agile Techniques
6. Source Control Best Practices
7. What's new in TFS

Tools

1. Lighting Up the New Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Editor with Rich Extensions
2. Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Overview for the Business Application Developer
3. Microsoft Visual Studio Tips and Tricks

User Experience

1. Microsoft Expression Blend from a Developer's Point of View (2 sessions)
2. Building Data-Driven RIAs with Microsoft ASP.NET and Microsoft Silverlight
3. Building Offline Applications Using Microsoft Silverlight 3
4. What's New in Microsoft Silverlight 3
5. Silverlight Advanced
6. Building Rich Business Clients in WPF: New Tools and Controls for Windows Presentation Foundation
7. WPF Advanced Topic 1
8. WPF Advanced Topic 2
9. Model-View-View-Model

Web

1. Taking AJAX to the Next Level
2. A Lap around Microsoft ASP.NET 4.0 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
3. Understanding Microsoft ASP.NET Under the Covers
4. Microsoft ASP.NET Data Access Patterns for Success
5. Integrating Your Site with Windows Internet Explorer 8 Using Activities and Web Slices
6. Introducing ASP.NET MVC
7. SOLIDify Your Microsoft ASP.NET Model View Controller (MVC) Applications
8. Building Scalable and Available Web Applications with the Microsoft Code Name "Velocity"
9. Practical Web Testing
10. Top Ten Web Mistakes, and How To Avoid Them
11. Sharing Code between Your Microsoft .NET Framework Applications and Microsoft Silverlight

Azure

1. An Overview of the Azure Services Platform
2. What’s new in Microsoft SQL Data Services
3. Building Applications with Microsoft SQL Data Services and Windows Azure
4. Roles and responsibilities managing a Microsoft SQL Data Services database
5. Programming Microsoft .NET Services

Developer Sessions in non-Developer Tracks

Service Oriented Architecture

1. A First Look at WCF and WF in the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
2. Radio Frequency Identification: Affecting End Users, Online, ERP to Plant Floor
3. Achieving Success with Integration in the Enterprise Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009
4. Building RESTful Services Using WCF
5. Busy Microsoft .NET Developer's Guide to WCF, SOA, and Success
6. Introducing the Microsoft Integration Server: BizTalk Server 2009
7. Load Balancing and Scaling Your WCF Services Today and Tomorrow
8. Programming Microsoft .NET Services
9. Dynamic Messaging with Microsoft BizTalk Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Guidance v2
10. A Lap around Microsoft Code Name "Oslo"
11. Developing Service Oriented Workflows

Business Intelligence

1. Creating the Right Cubes for Microsoft Office Excel and Excel Services
2. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services: Tips and Tricks, How-to, and Beyond
3. Upgrading DTS Packages to Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services
4. Taking Your Application Design to the Next Level with Data Mining
5. Connectivity Options for Data Integration with Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)
6. Using MDX for Enhanced Scorecards and Dashboards

Data Platform

1. Guiding Your Query Plans in Microsoft SQL Server for Improved Query Performance
2. Inside T-SQL: Enhancements, Techniques, Tips & Tricks
3. Taking Your Database beyond Relations with Microsoft SQL Server 2008
4. Microsoft SQL Server 2008: Performance Profiling and Troubleshooting with Extended Events
5. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Nine Months Post-Release: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
6. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Data Warehousing by Demonstration
7. Microsoft SQL Server Code Name "Kilimanjaro" Application and Multi-Server Management
8. Upgrading to Microsoft SQL Server 2008: Testing Tools, Methodology, and Best Practices
9. Building Location-Aware Services with Microsoft SQL Server
10. Data Access Hacks and Shortcuts

Mobility

1. Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition Ultimate Performance Tuning
2. Windows Mobile 6 SDK Tools
3. Windows Mobile 6.5

Office and SharePoint

1. Advanced Microsoft Office Word and Excel 2007 Development in Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 with Visual Studio Tools for Office
2. Building Custom Applications in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
3. Building a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Site: Real World in Action
4. Easy SharePoint Development with the Visual Studio Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.3
5. Microsoft Silverlight on SharePoint: Architectural and Development Patterns
6. SharePoint Web Part Development Best Practices
7. Creating Rich Business Applications Using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Microsoft Office Excel, and Excel Services

Security

1. Inside the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle
2. Introduction to Claims-Based Programming and the Microsoft Code Name "Geneva" Framework
3. The Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL): What Developers Can Do Today to Better Protect Their Applications from Malicious Attack
4. Uncovering Two Least-Understood Security Stars in Windows: UAC and WIL

Windows Client

1. Developing for Windows 7
2. Optimizing Your Application for the Windows 7 User Experience
3. Windows Application Readiness for Developers

Windows Server

1. Adding Communication to Your Applications with Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2
2. Building Rich Calendaring Experiences with Exchange Web Services
3. Windows Workflows Activities That Talk and IM with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2
4. What's New in Server Core for Windows Server 2008 R2
5. What's New in the Microsoft Web Platform

Devs4Devs - JHB - Audience

The concept is simple.

The topics will grow as speakers sign up for topics.  I'll keep the topic list updated.

• Aspect Oriented Programming with C# and PostSharp - Simon Stewart
• Pushing data to Silverlight over HTTP - Dario Mratovich
• Building RESTful data sources for Web 2.0 development - Robert MacLean
• Parallel programming for Multi-core CPU’s with .Net - Martin Cronje
• Team Development using MOSS 2007 and TFS 2008 - David Russell
• What’s new and cool in C# 4.0 - Rein Hillmann
• Building loosely coupled components with Unity - Janco Wolmarans
• Code Contracts - George Lubbe
• Policy-Based Management in SQL Server 2008 - Greg Fibiger
• Building Custom Activities for Windows Workflow Foundation - Brent Samodien

The registration site is live!  Go register.

Devs4Devs - JHB - Presenters

Back in Oct '08 we did a Devs4Devs.  It's become so popular, we're doing it again.  With TechEd fast approaching, I may need more local presenters this year than in the past.  So, if you want to have a shot at being sponsored to present at TechEd this year, this is your opportunity.

When: Saturday 9 May, 09:00-12:00

Where: Microsoft, Bryanston.  (If you're from another city, but still would like a shot at TechEd presentation, let me know, and I'll try and make a plan to get to you.)

What do I need from you: Name/Surname, Mobile, Company, Position/Role at Company, Developer Session Title, Session Description

What will I give you: 20 minutes to present at Devs4Devs.  We have maximum 10 presentation slots.

If you have presented before at Devs4Devs but were not selected to speak at a major event, I am available to spend some time with you on your presentation before Devs4Devs, to give some advice - free of charge :-).

I'll publish event registration details later on, for those that don't want to speak at the event, but simply want to attend.