July Meeting Announcement

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this meeting is courtesy of Pillar Technology

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We also would like to thank our yearly sponsor The Sophic Group and our In-Kind sponsor Microsoft

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Opportunities to sponsor CONDG are available. For more information please email contact@condg.org

Topic

IronRubying your C#

Abstract

Dynamic languages are gaining some momentum, and for good reason. What better way to learn a new language than to use it to test your every day language? In this session we’ll look into testing your C# production code using IronRuby. We’ll take a good look at RSpec and how a dynamic language will make testing more expressive. After looking through a few tests, we'll take a peek at IronRuby on Rails.

Speaker

Tim Wingfield has been involved in web design and development for over 12 years and is a Software Craftsman with Pillar Technology, a consultancy focused on agile software development and business transformation in Ohio, Michigan, and the Southeast. Tim has a wide range of knowledge in .Net but focuses on the user interface and the user experience in ASP.Net applications. Recently he has put more time into practicing lean development processes and how to more efficiently create quality software. He also has a budding love affair with Ruby, and has done a cannonball into the Rails pool. In what time is left over, Tim enjoys coaching his sons’ hockey teams, playing a little hockey himself, and traveling with his family.

Grok Talk Topic

Productivity Boosters for .NET Developers

Abstract

Athletes are always trying to get better at their sport, musicians are always trying to become better musicians, and developers should always try to improve and become better and faster at software development.  We'll talk about what steps you can take to make that you are continuously improving and I'll share some productivity tips that have helped me become a better and faster software developer.

Speaker

Jon Kruger is an independent consultant in Columbus, OH where he provides technical leadership for software development projects.  Jon has over 10 years experience in various different programming languages (mostly C#/.NET) and is always looking for ways to create better quality software and speed up the software development process.  Jon is the creator of TDD Boot Camp, a comprehensive test-driven development training course in .NET (tddbootcamp.com).  You can follow Jon on his blog (jonkruger.com) or on Twitter (twitter.com/jonkruger).

Code and CONDG

Starting this month the conference room behind the receptionist desk will be open and available for members who would like to spend their time at CONDG pair coding with other attendees. This will be a self-organizing session among the attendees; feel free to use the comments section to make arraignments to meet up and discuss things to work on before hand. Or, just show up and code! Whatever you feel comfortable with. This is YOUR time.

Please be advised that Internet access will not be available.

Pizza/Geek Dinner

Pizza will be provided as a snack during the meeting.

As always our meeting will be followed by a Geek Dinner. Traditionally we’ve had this dinner at Hoggy’s. Some members have expressed a desire to try a new place. What do you think?

When

Thursday, 7/22/2010, 6:00 - ??

Where
Microsoft Office - Columbus

June Meeting Announcement

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this meeting is courtesy of Brooksource & Technical Youth.

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We also like to thank our yearly sponsor The Sophic Group and our In-Kind sponsor Microsoft

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Opportunities to sponsor CONDG are available. For more information please emailcontact@condg.org

Topic

A Tall Glass of Cold Milk (washing down NHibernate with Fluent Nhibernate)

Abstract

If NHibernate is the cookies, then Fluent is the tall glass of cold milk. You just wouldn’t do one without the other, right? You don’t want to spend your time writing XML…you want Fluent. You want to have compile time checking of your repository classes…you need Fluent. You want to have testable mappings (for your mocking framework), you’re going to want to get to know Fluent NHibernate.

Speaker

Brian Sherwin is an independent consultant in Columbus, OH. He has been a consultant and trainer for over 15 years. Trying to get companies to go back to making decisions based on value and not a particular technology is one of his core passions. When he's not trying to figure out some new technology, he spends time reading, Scouting, and drinking enough coffee to keep up with his five kids.

Grok Talk Topic

What is Rx?

Abstract

Reactive Extensions for .NET (Rx) is a .NET Library for composing asynchronous and event-based programs using observable collections.  The Rx API provides the ability to create observable collections from a number of sources, including standard .NET events, making it easier to integrate into existing codebases.  Rx allows programmers to glue together complex event processing and asynchronous computations using clean, declarative code. 

Speakers

James Hansen is a professional .NET developer with 5 years of experience building software in a variety of industries.  He has worked for Cardinal Health, Huntington National Bank, State Auto, and is presently a Brooksource .NET Consultant at Safe Auto.  His primary interests have been ASP.Net, SQL Server, and Silverlight.

Pizza/Geek Dinner

Pizza will be provided as a snack during the meeting.

As always our meeting will be followed by a Geek Dinner at Hoggy’s.

When

Thursday, 6/24/2010, 6:00 - ??

Where
Microsoft Office - Columbus

Announcement: June 22-23: Team Foundation Server 2010, Application Lifecycle Management Overview

This Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) session will led by two community leads. This 2 day briefing will discuss ALM, from initial conception through requirements gathering, design, development, testing, build & review processes.  We also integrate the SCRUM framework, integration with non-Microsoft development and offerings for Visual Studio 2010 Team System. There is no charge for this event.

Targeted Audience: Project Managers, Developers, Architects, DBAs and Business Analysts looking for ALM and researching Team Foundation Server 2010.

Speakers:

· Alexei Govorine, Quick Solutions is a co-founder of the Central Ohio ALM Group

· Ryan Cromwell, SDS Consulting, Team Foundation Server Technical Specialist

Agenda:  We will have a more complete agenda in a PDF at both of the speaker’s blog as the event nears.

Where:

· 8800 Lyra Dr, Suite 400, Columbus, OH 43240

When:

· June 22-23, 2010 from 9-4:30 PM, both days..

Registration Link: https://www.microsoftusevents.com/TFS/Default.aspx  - Registration Code – TFS

May Meeting Announcement

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this meeting is currently available. If interested in sponsoring please email contact@condg.org

Topic

Windows Azure Boot Camp Express

Abstract

Windows Azure is Microsoft’s cloud services operating system that serves as a development, service hosting and service management environment.  Windows Azure provides developers with on-demand compute and storage capabilities to host, scale, and manage web applications on the internet through Microsoft® datacenters.  In this session, we will explore all the major features that Windows Azure has to offer.  We will also see how easy it is to leverage existing .NET skills and familiar tools to develop solutions that run in the cloud with Windows Azure.

Speaker

Michael Collier is an Architect with Centric Consulting in their Columbus, OH office. He has nearly 10 years of experience building Microsoft based applications for a wide range of clients. Michael spends his days serving as a developer or architect – helping clients succeed with the Microsoft development platform. He gets very “geeked up” about any new technology, tool, or technique that makes his development life easier. Currently he is working with a major national automobile insurance provider where he is helping to build out many new e-commerce offerings. Michael spends most of his spare time reading technology blogs and exploring new development technologies. He is also an avid golfer and attempts to be good at shooters on the Xbox 360.

Grok Talk Topic

Columbus Give Camp

Abstract

Give Camp is a weekend-long event where software developers, designers, and database administrators donate their time to create custom software for non-profit organizations. This custom software could be a new website for the nonprofit organization, a small data-collection application to keep track of members, or a application for the Red Cross that automatically emails a blood donor three months after they’ve donated blood to remind them that they are now eligible to donate again. The point is, Give Camp is a great way to give back to the local community by helping local non-profits while working with and learning from other developers, designers, architects and IT professionals that you might not otherwise get a chance to.

Give Camp committee members Bramha Ghosh and James Bender will tell you more about Give Camp, how it works, how much fun it is and how when a few determined, passionate geeks get together, they can accomplish amazing things in the span of a couple of days. You will hear stories from the previous two Columbus Give Camps, see examples of the work that has been done find out how you can get involved.

Speakers

Bramha Ghosh and James Bender are experienced Give Campers who also serve on the Central Ohio Give Camp committee along with Alexei Govorin under the benevolent and fearless leadership of Carey Payette.

When

Thursday, 5/27/2010, 6:00 - ??

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

April Meeting Announcement

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT MEETING DATE!

Aprils meeting will be on a special night: Wednesday, April 28th. The time and place will be the same: The Microsoft Office at 6:00. We will be co-hosting this meeting with the Central Ohio Application Lifecycle Management Group (www.coalmg.org)

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this meeting is courtesy of Microsoft.

Topic

Visual Studio 2010 Architecture Tools

Abstract

Have you ever had to work with a legacy codebase? Designing new functionality on existing applications can be daunting. There are always differences between the original design and the current implementation. The new Architecture tools within Visual Studio 2010 help you to understand the application you have, design new functionality you need, and validate that your design and your implementation do not deviate. Join us for a look at the new code visualization, UML, and architectural validation tools which allow you to model domain-specific problem domains and maintain proper control and visibility of your software systems.

Speaker

Cameron Skinner joined Microsoft in 2005 and is currently a product unit manager on the Visual Studio team. He is responsible for overseeing the Visualization and Architecture capabilities found in Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate. Prior to Microsoft, Mr. Skinner was the CTO and chief architect of application development tools for Embarcadero Technologies. Earlier in his career, he served as CTO for Advanced Software Technologies. In his limited spare time, Mr. Skinner enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, Crossfit, and playing his acoustic bass. Find out what Cameron is doing by following him on Twitter and his blog.

When

Wednesday, 4/28/2010, 6:00 - ??

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

March Meeting Announcement

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this meeting is courtesy of TechSmith.

Topic

Be a Better Developer

Abstract

As a developer, you end up wearing a lot of different hats: researcher, designer, janitor, mediator, teacher, student… the list can go on. Likely, you juggle these hats almost every day... and we haven't even mentioned writing a line of code yet. If you want to become a better developer you'll have to learn how to switch these hats easily and what it means to wear each one well. Most talks focus on a given technology or tool: some resource that you can use. This talks focuses on how to improve the best resource you have: YOU. This talk will focus on tips you can learn and habits you can adopt to help make you stand out among developers.

Speaker

Michael Wood is a Microsoft Practice Director for Strategic Data Systems in Centerville, OH, but lives across the river in Kentucky. He describes himself as a problem solving, outdoorsy, user group leading, dog-loving, blog writing, solution creating, event planning, married, technology speaking, father of one kind of guy. When he's not living up to that title he's an avid reader, (horrible) violinist and gamer. Michael is a Founding Director of the Cincinnati .NET User Group as well as the founder of the Cincinnati Software Architecture Special Interest Group.  He is also a founding member of the software architecture web resource nPlus1 (http://nplus1.org), instigator of the informal code pairing Bitslinger events in Cincinnati and a Microsoft MVP in Client App Dev. You can catch up with Mike on his blog at http://mvwood.com/blog and on twitter under the handle @mikewo.

Grok Talk Topic

Working with SnagIt.

Abstract

Teams need to communicate visually, and Snagit is TechSmith's simple and effective tool for working with a snapshot of anything on the screen.  We will walk through a scenario between a developer and a stakeholder trying to express and understand what the system should do.  Rather than sending emails about "moving that dropdown next to the blue widget", the stakeholder shows the developer exactly what he expects.

Speaker

Bramha Ghosh is a software developer with Grange Insurance in Columbus, Ohio.  He's been writing progressively better software for 10 years.  When he's not complicating the simple, or simplifying the complex, he spends him time enjoying the Columbus food scene and being generally obsessed with soccer.

When

Thursday, 3/25/2010, 6:00 - ??

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

February Meeting Announcement

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this meeting is currently available, if interested in sponsoring please email contact@condg.org

Topic

Introduction to Context Specification – Behavior Driven Development

Abstract

Improved Quality. Better Design. SOLID Code. These are all benefits of driving your design with tests.  But where Test Driven Development falls short is in retaining the User's Voice.  User Stories are a great tool, but not a natural way of speaking for non-geeks. In this session, we will examine the power of writing Context Specifications in the User's voice, and then use Machine.Specifications (MSpec) to turn those specs into test driven code that all parties can understand!

Speaker

Phil Japikse has been working with .Net since the first betas, and developing software for over 20 years. Phil is a Microsoft MVP and holds MCSD, MCDBA, CSM, and CSP certifications.  Phil’s experience includes Smart Client/WPF, ASP.NET/MVC, and eCommerce as well as mentoring teams in .Net, SQL Server, and Agile. Phil is a contributing author to www.nPlus1.org, teaches custom classes, speaks at national and regional events, and is a passionate member of the developer community (serving as a director for the Cincinnati .Net User’s Group and Software Architecture SIG).  Phil works as a Principal Consultant with Pinnacle Solutions Group, Inc. (www.pinnsg.com), is a Firefighter/Paramedic, and a volunteer for the Ski Patrol. You can follow Phil on twitter via www.twitter.com/skimedic.

Grok Talk Topic

Balamiq and Napkee

Abstract

As developers, we are constantly looking for a good way to communicate with the end user how they will interact with our program. This talk will show you how you can get started on Friday morning creating a wireframe mockup that will help you get to agreement earlier, focus on functionality, and get the feedback you need before you start to code. And because the wireframe is “rough” looking, it’s easier to throw away…instead of trying to infinitely tweak (like you know you have to with those Photoshop wireframes). Also, we will be giving away a copy of Balsamiq Mockups and Napkee to one individual so they can design interactive wireframes being connected to the internet.

Speaker

Brian Sherwin is an Independent Consultant in Columbus, OH. He has been in consultant and trainer for over 15 years. Trying to get companies to go back to making decisions based on value and not a particular technology is one of his core passions. When he's not trying to figure out some new technology, he spends time reading, Scouting, and drinking enough coffee to keep up with his five kids.

When

Thursday, 2/25/2010, 6:00 - ??

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

January Meeting Announcement

Note

This month we are starting a new format; There will be a longer (approximately one hour) “featured” talk followed by a brief intermission which will be followed by a 15-20 minute “grok” talk. If you would like to speak at an upcoming CONDG meeting or have any feedback on the new format please email contact@condg.org

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this meeting is currently available, if interested in sponsoring please email contact@condg.org

Topic

Extending your Application with the Managed Extensibility Framework

Abstract

Microsoft Managed Extensibility (MEF) framework allows developers to create applications consisting of composable parts. Composable parts provide the flexibility to change and add parts at runtime. You can use MEF to create more flexible and extensible applications. In this session, we will review the MEF tool set, build an extensible application and extend that application using MEF.

Speakers

David Giard has been developing solutions using Microsoft technologies since 1993. In the past, he has spoken at Day of .Net, CodeStock, Microsoft DevCares, Microsoft ArcReady, Dot Net University, X Conference and numerous user groups around the Midwest. He is a recovering certification addict and holds an MCTS, MCSD, MCSE, and MCDBA, as well as a BS and an MBA. He is the host and producer of the moderately popular online TV show Technology and Friends, which you can find at www.TechnologyAndFriends.com. He is an officer of the Great Lakes Area .Net User Group. You can read his latest thoughts at www.DavidGiard.com.

Grok Talk Topic

Change

Abstract

The only constant in life is change. How do we prepare for change? Should we? In this session, I will go over changes relating to the smallest unit in our code base up into our careers. What does DRY really mean? When is too much YAGNI too much? When is it not enough? Should I change where I work or change _where_ I work? The intention of this session is to open ourselves to change, understand how to make the change we would like to see and how to be the change we want to see in the world. This session is a frank and open discussion of software craftsmanship, career building and the nature of existing in the world of software development.

Speakers

Leon Gersing aka fallenrogue is a Software Artisan at EdgeCase. He wears a plaid hat and sports a manly beard. Many attribute the invention of indoor laser gun sporting arenas to a dream that he had in a field during a 3 day open air music festival in Ithaca, NY. While he refuses to take credit for that he has confirmed that he is, indeed, funding an aggressive humanitarian aid program to feed the world's hungry called: "bytes of bacon... for the kids." He was rejected to work for the good people of Twitter in 2006 but holds no grudge and continues to support their product at Twitter.com/fallenrogue


When

Thursday, 1/28/2010, 6:00 - ??

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

December Meeting Announcement

NOTE:

The normal meeting schedule has changed for this month due to the holiday season.  The meeting will be taking place on Monday, December 14th, 2009. 

 Elections will take place at this meeting.

An end-of-year social will occur at the end of this meeting which includes video games, food and time to socialize

Sponsorship

 Sponsorship for this meeting is currently available, if interested in sponsoring please email contact@condg.org

Topic

Gadget Showcase

Abstract

Let's have some fun with our favorite devices. You'll see cool features and even some code.  Come on out to enjoy 20 minute presentations and see what these gadgets are capable of!

Speakers

Jeff Blankenburg - ZuneHD

Charles Husemann - XBox

Marc Peabody - iPhone

Nino Benvenuti - Windows Mobile

When

Monday, 12/14/2009, 6:00 - ??

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

Registration Open for Dog Food II Conference

Please join us for the 2nd Annual Dog Food Conference; sponsored by the partner community. We will have MS speakers, MS partners, ISVs, MS MVPs and community leads presenting over 40 topics. Around half of the speakers are community leads; and half are MS specialists. As seating is limited, we encourage you to knowledge share with your peers, see overviews and chat one on one at the “Ask the Expert” area.

Register Here!

November Meeting Announcement

NOTE:

The normal meeting schedule has changed for this month due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  The meeting will be taking place on Wednesday, November 18th.  A reminder will be sent a week prior to the meeting.

Sponsorship

 Sponsorship for this meeting is currently available, if interested in sponsoring please email contact@condg.org

Click here to sign up for your ASP.Net PRO subscription

Topic

Making A Name For Yourself

Abstract

It's a new game out there. It's harder than ever to differentiate yourself from every other resume. So how do you do it? How do you find success in an industry wrought with competition? How do you prove to a company that they should hire you over everybody else? At the end of the day, it IS NOT all about who you know. This talk covers 7 tips to follow to make sure the right people know you.

Speaker

Jeff Blankenburg

Jeff Blankenburg is a Developer Evangelist for the Microsoft Corporation. Over the past 10 years, Jeff has successfully implemented his technology expertise in numerous industries including retail, education, and healthcare. Jeff has exceptional proficiency in user-interface design, Web Standards, and web application development. He is a contributor to the O'Reilly title Windows Developer Power Tools on the subject of code validation services. Jeff is also an organizer of the CodeMash conference. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.

When

Wednesday, 11/18/2009, 6:00 - 8:00pm

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

October Meeting Accouncement

Sponsorship

Food and beverages for the meeting are being sponsored by CONDG

Click here to sign up for your ASP.Net PRO subscription

Lightning Talks

6:00-6:15 Brian Sherwin Auto Hot Key
6:15-6:30 Brian Prince Windows 7: How to make it fasterer
6:30-6:45 Greg Malcom TBA
6:45-7:00 Mel Grubb TBA
7:00-7:15 Matt Yoho 3 Ideas from the other side of the fence
7:15-7:30 Andrew Halowaty TBA

When

Thursday October 22nd, 2009 6-8pm

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

September Meeting Announcement

Sponsorship

 Food and beverages for the meeting are being sponsored by CONDG

Click here to sign up for your ASP.Net PRO subscription

Topic

Implementing MVVM for WPF

Abstract

Now you are writing WPF applications, and wondering – what is all this code in the code behind?  Shouldn’t we be doing something different?  Our cousins working with ASP.NET MVC don’t even have a code behind!  The answer is YES – you should indeed be doing it differently.  The MVVM pattern is the WPF adaptation of the Presentation Model pattern first documented by Martin Fowler. In this session we will build an app that shows how the MVVM pattern is utilized for building SOLID WPF applications that are also testable.

Speaker

Phil Japikse

Phil has been working with .Net since the first betas, and developing software for over 20 years. Phil is a Microsoft MVP and holds MCSD, MCDBA, CSM, and CSP certifications.  Phil’s experience includes Smart Client/WPF, ASP.NET/MVC, and eCommerce as well as mentoring teams in .Net, SQL Server, and Agile. Phil is a contributing author to www.nPlus1.org, teaches custom classes, speaks at national and regional events, and is a passionate member of the developer community (serving as a director for the Cincinnati .Net User’s Group and Software Architecture SIG).  Phil works as a Principal Consultant with Pinnacle Solutions Group, Inc. (www.pinnsg.com), is a Firefighter/Paramedic, and a volunteer for the Ski Patrol. You can follow Phil on twitter via www.twitter.com/skimedic.

When

Thursday, 09/24/2009, 6:00 - 8:00pm

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

August Meeting Announcement

Sponsorship

 Food and beverages for the meeting are being sponsored by ICC.

Click here to sign up for your ASP.Net PRO subscription

Topic

C# 4.0

Abstract

C# 4.0, currently in beta and due out this winter, has a set of very exciting new features.  Wishing you were programming in Ruby like the cool kids?  You won't any more after you see the dynamic language features built into the new C# language.  Wish C# had the flexibility of VB.NET in class design?  Bang, done.  Optional parameters and other features that have been in VB forever are coming soon.  We will use a selection of the new features to solve some interesting classic programming problems, and write a few server environment management scripts.

Speaker

Bill Sempf

Bill Sempf is an Enterprise Architect whose 17 years of experience includes business and technical analysis, software design, development, testing, server management and maintenance and security for a wide range of companies large and small.  Solutions include line of business applications, sofware infrastructure for ISPs, and even a solution to make mainframes talk to cellular phones.  He is author of Visual Basic 2008 and 2005 for Dummies and the upcoming C# 4.0 All In One; a coauthor of Effective Visual Studio.NET, Professional ASP.NET Web Services and Professional VB.NET; a frequent contributor to MSDN, Builder.com, Hardcore Web Services, Cloud Computing Journal, Inside Web Development Journal and Intranet Journal; and has recently been an invited speaker for the ACM and IEEE, DevEssentials, the International XML Web Services Expo and the Association of Information Technology Professionals.  He is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration, a Microsoft Certified Professional, a Certified Internet Business Strategist and Certified Internet Webmaster.

When

Thursday, 08/27/2009, 6:00 - 8:00pm

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus

July Meeting Announcement

Sponsorship

 Food and beverages for the meeting are being sponsored by HMB Consulting.

Click here to sign up for your ASP.Net PRO subscription

Topic

From Tables to Object: Making Your Database With With You

Abstract

A database is far more than a persistent object store for your application; it is capable of data validation en masse, aggregations, and creating different projections of data. By working with your database, rather than against it, it is possible to leverage all of the capabilities of a relational database to provide rich, high performance interaction with your application through an ORM. This presentation will discuss the finer points of building a full-featured data access layer using an ORM and the features of a relational database..

Speaker

Jeremiah Peschka

Jeremiah Peschka is a SQL Server developer in the Columbus, OH area with HMB Information System Developers. Jeremiah has broad IT experience in systems administration, web design, application development, and database development spread across diverse platforms. In his current role, Jeremiah specializes in developing solutions based on the SQL Server platform. Jeremiah is currently the Group Leader for CBusPASS, the Columbus chapter of PASS, and the Group Leader for the PASS Application Development Virtual Chapter.


When

Thursday, 07/23/2009, 6:00 - 8:00pm

Where

Microsoft Office - Columbus