Test Driven Development For Starters: Why, What and How

Test Driven Development is an excellent methodology to help us develop better software with less bugs. We are going to discuss the first steps towards TDD and which tools would make our testing effortless.

Amir Barylko is an IT consultant with 14 years of experience working as an architect and developer. He is very passionate about service oriented architectures (SOA), testing and model-driven applications.

Where: One Lombard Place, 17th Floor
When: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 5:45 PM

Please register for this free event: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=135331

Dylan Smith Presents
Visual Studio Team System 2010 Preview

Location:
1700 Richardson Building
17th Floor, One Lombard Place
(If you arrive after 6pm you must speak with the front desk guard to obtain access)

Date/Time:
Tuesday June 23, 2009 - 5:30 pm welcome time                  

Do you ever deal with bugs that you can't reproduce? Do you use a lot of manual testing? You won't want to miss this chance to see how the new features in Visual Studio Team System 2010 Tester Edition can help your team. VSTS Architecture edition has also been undergoing a drastic change, replacing what was a mostly lackluster feature set with some phenomenally useful tools. See how the new Architecture Explorer can help you navigate and understand large codebases. The new diagramming features make it simple to auto-generate diagrams to communicate your application architecture to others. Even seemingly simple code editor improvements make the experience of doing TDD in Visual Studio much smoother. Come join us and learn about some of the new features in VSTS 2010 and how you can use them to benefit your team.

Dylan Smith is a team lead at Anvil Digital where he works with a team of talented developers and designers building a wide-range of impressive applications. Dylan is passionate about Application Lifecycle Management tooling and specifically how to apply those tools within an Agile team. Dylan was actively engaged with the VSTS 2010 product team throughout it's development, and loves to discuss with others how to use ALM tooling to improve their teams.

Please register for this free event:
http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=139082

We will explore the Microsoft Business Intelligence stack of products, focusing on SQL Server Analysis Services and Performance Point Server.

Mike Diehl is a senior consultant at Imaginet Resources Corp, a Winnipeg-based Microsoft Gold Partner. Mike has been building and designing enterprise applications for over a decade, and specializes in database and business intelligence technologies as well as software architecture and team processes.

Windows Workflow Foundation Fundamentals

by Kathleen Dollard

Tuesday October 21st

This talk combines the big picture of Windows Workflow with pragmatic details that will get you started. You’ll see sequential and state machine workflows and be ready to decide which fits your application. Sequential and state machine workflows can work together and each can choreograph a dance between application activities and human activities. You’ll learn the roles of hosts and services and how to select the right ones for your application. You’ll also learn how easy it is to create custom activities and the benefits they offer. You’ll see the importance of local and remote services in building robust building blocks for WF to protect the investment in business logic over the long term. This talk wraps theory and details up in good workflow design principles--particularly separation of workflow, application logic, and business rules where appropriate.

Kathleen Dollard is a consultant, author, trainer, and speaker. She’s been a Microsoft MVP for over ten years and has spoken about .NET in 28 states and 5 countries. She’s written dozens of articles including the “Ask Kathleen” column in Visual Studio Magazine. She also wrote “Code Generation in Microsoft .NET” (Apress). Her passion is helping programmers be smarter in how they develop by learning to better use .NET languages, libraries and platforms. She works with WPF, WF, as well as core technologies including System.AddIn. She’s currently creating template infrastructure for code generation using VB XML literals. After working on the problem of capturing business intent in metadata and test definitions for years, she’s working with industry improvements in these areas. She’s also working on full life cycle improvements, such as unit testing, better debugging and static analysis (FxCop). When not working, she enjoys woodworking, snowshoeing, and kayaking depending on the outdoor temperature.

Web Application Development Using the MVC Framework

If you were at the Winnipeg Code Camp, you saw an introduction to the Microsoft MVC framework and what it was about. In this talk we’ll look at the new features in the latest release of the MVC framework and show you how to create a data enabled application from start to finish. We’ll also discuss the changing views of ASP.NET development in light of the new framework as it approaches production maturity.

Presented by D’Arcy Lussier of D’Arcy Lussier Consulting

D’Arcy Lussier is an independent consultant in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A Microsoft MVP in ASP.NET, D’Arcy has been involved with .NET development since the beta days. In addition to his consulting work he sits on the board of the Winnipeg .NET User Group, is an INETA Membership Mentor, and is a speaker at conferences and code camps across North America

From Movies To The Real World: SilverLight is here!

Join us on a tour of one of the most exciting, graphic intensive application development platforms to come out of Microsoft in years.  Don’t expect to see hello world or death by PowerPoint during this world wind tour through Visual Studio.net 2008, WPF, SilverLight, Expression Blend, Expression Design, Expression Media, and XAML.  This presentation will have you energized and pumped to expand your horizons. Closing the night, users will be allowed to try the application built during the presentation, and believe me, you will want to try this!  If you watched in awe as Tom Cruise navigated a futuristic 3D interface in Minority Report, you will leave this session running home (or driving in this cold) and loading up your development weapons of choice.

Speaker Bio:
Miguel Carrasco is Co-Founder and Vice President of Technology at Anvil Digital (www.anvildigital.com), runs Software Development in the Real World (www.realsoftwaredevelopment.com), and Director of Software Development and Innovation at The Price Group of Companies (www.price-hvac.com).  Anvil Digital is software development and creative marketing company that specializes in rich user interfaces, and software application development. From RFID Manufacturing Tracking, Web 2.0 Sites, to Custom Built Tablet PC Software and USB Devices, Anvil Digital develops on the cutting edge.  Develop with Passion!

Jumping into a Brownfield Project?

More often than not, developers are working on projects that already have existing code.  As a result we inherit the problems, tendencies and deficiencies of our predecessors.  Just because this is what get’s dropped in your lap, nothing says that you have to hold onto it with both hands as you move forward.  This presentation will talk about techniques and tool that you can use to improve the quality of the code you inherit as well as improving your confidence in the existing system.  Some of the techniques and tools covered will be Inversion of Control, refactoring to Single Responsibility and patterns, unit testing, nUnit, ReSharper, nDepend and more.

Donald Belcham is an independent contractor in Edmonton. He has worked with .NET for the last 5 years and currently works with both web and smart client applications. A newly minted Microsoft MVP in C#, Donald is active in the community as the President of the Edmonton .NET User Group and an organizer of the Edmonton Code Camp. Catch up with what's running through his head by visiting blog at www.igloocoder.com.

Don't create data access layers because they're too much work, or are you just tired of writing the same code over and over again?

See how Subsonic ("The Zero Code DAL") can help you plug your data into your applications easier than ever before, without burying yourself in angle brackets.

The talk will show how/where Subsonic fits in your application, common (and a few uncommon) uses, and how it compares to a few competing products.

Kent Sharkey is an MCSD, MCSE, MCT, and MCP+SB. He is currently working at Apptius, and has previously worked at Microsoft as a Technical Evangelist within their Developer Relations Group. Before joining Microsoft, Kent had built up many years experience as a trainer and consultant, concentrating on architecting and writing n-tier applications using Visual Basic. He has written and collaborated on a number of books on Visual Basic, including MCSD Fast Track: Visual Basic Exam 70 -17, MCSD Fast Track: Visual Basic Exam 70 -176, MCSD Fast Track 4 in 1, and Beginning Visual Basic 6.0 Application Development. He is a regular speaker at various developer conferences focused on Microsoft development.

Download the survey results here!

For the past few years, you’ve heard a lot about the .NET Framework and the development platform it provides to foster innovation. Meanwhile, you’re still managing applications written with thousands of line of VB 6.0 code and you’d give anything to move to a more modern development environment and platform.  In this event, we’ll walk you through real-world tips & tricks that you can use to bring your solution to the .NET Framework. Specifically, you’ll learn how to tackle the issues of integration and migration when dealing with legacy applications. We’ll also feature folks from the Canadian developer community to provide you their experiences and insights.

John Bristowe (Developer Advisor, Microsoft Canada)

John Bristowe is a Developer Advisor with Microsoft Canada based in Calgary, Alberta. John is an experienced speaker and frequently presents Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) events across Canada. Prior to joining Microsoft, John was a member of the Microsoft Regional Director (RD) and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) programs.

Moving beyond Visual Source Safe with Team Foundation Server

Still using Visual Source Safe? Enjoying the experience? No...?

Join Steve Porter as he discusses advanced source control topics and teaches you how to manage your source in an efficient and effective manner.  Even if you're not planning to migrate to Team Foundation Server, you will learn proven techniques that will assist you regardless of what tool you use to manage your source code.

Steve Porter (Imaginet Academy)

Steve Porter is the technical program manager of the Imaginet Academy.  Learn more about Steve through his blog.

Download the survey results here!

BizTalk Server 2006 - Building an Integration Solution from Scratch

Are you sick of writing the "same-old-but-slightly-different" systems integration code over and over again?

After being asked to add yet another trace to a complex system, have you ever wished you could just say "No problem! We'll use BAM and kick it up a notch!"

Would you rather vacuum your closet than write one more file parsing routine?

Well put away that vacuum and come out to this month's meeting! You'll learn how Microsoft BizTalk Server can help you design reliable and robust integration solutions, and see how it is often faster doing so using Biztalk than by hand coding a solution using standard development languages and tools. In this session Dale Cantafio will walkthrough the building of an integration solution from scratch using BizTalk, and will demonstrate how the built-in tools can be used to solve integration problems in an efficient, and dare I say fun way. He’ll also be going over the Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) features in BizTalk Sever 2006: the BizTalk Server BAM Portal, and Alerts and Notification Support.

Dale Cantafio, EDS Canada (http://www.eds.com/)

Dale Cantafio is a Senior Information Specialist with EDS Canada specializing in Microsoft Integration Technologies. Dale has spent the last 3 years developing enterprise application integration using BizTalk server for various clients and is currently leading the BizTalk capability team out of EDS’s Winnipeg .NET Centre. Dale has been a computer consultant for the past 10 years. He has also been involved with several large BizTalk initiatives throughout the city. Dale began working with BizTalk Server 2004 when in beta and has since focused his career on understanding the “ins and outs” of this powerful tool to solve real world integration problems for his clients.

Download the presentation here!

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Agile Development Techniques and Methodologies

Ever knew on your first day on the project that you’re going to miss the deadline? Ever been “surprised” that the customer changed their mind? Ever had long nights trying to fit your latest changes into code that just keeps on breaking? You’re not alone. Wondering where you should start if you want to go Agile? In this talk we'll explore the Whys and hows of Agile development – what does it mean, and what is it trying to solve in our day to day projects? Why do most software projects fail and what are the main differences between Agile and traditional methodologies? We'l also compare two leading methodologies: Scrum and eXtreme programming, and see why it makes the most sense to combine them rather than choose one over the other. We'll also discuss what it takes to be a successful team lead, regardless of the process your team works with today

Roy Osherove, Sela Group (www.SelaCanada.ca)

Roy is the Agile Development and Team System Group lead at the Sela Group in Israel, doing training, consulting and mentoring on Agile development and Team System topics. Roy has spent the past decade developing and architecting software solutions for various companies in Israel and Europe. He's a Microsoft MVP and writes regularly on .NET, Agile Development Techniques and other geeky stuff on his blog and various other places such as MSDN Magazine. Roy is also a regular presenter at Microsoft Conferences such as TechEd Europe and Israel, DevDays and user groups in Israel and Europe. Roy is one of the leading voices for Agile development in Israel and is the Founder of the Agile Israel user's group - Israel’s First and only Agile-Dedicated User’s group. You can find Roy's blog at www.ISerializable.com

Download the presentation here!

Download the survey results here!

John Bristowe
presented
The Exciting Adventures of the Microsoft Application Platform Developer

The purpose of this event is to demonstrate how the Microsoft Application Platform provides a robust and secure foundation for building data-driven applications and Web sites. Specifically, this session will examine some of the tools and technologies available for developers including Visual Studio Team System for Database Professionals and examine some of the exciting new features of ADO.NET.

D'Arcy Lussier of Imaginet
presented
ASP.NET – State of the Union Today, Future State of Tomorrow

In this session we’ll be looking at the current state of web development using Microsoft technologies. We’ll discuss proper architecture of an ASP.NET website, platform selection between pure ASP.NET and frameworks like Community Server, DNN, and Sharepoint 2007, and delve into code-level discussions on AJAX, advanced ASP.NET features, and available add-ins that can boost your productivity.

We’ll also look at the future of web development with WPF/E and the next version of Visual Studio (code named Orcas).

D’Arcy Lussier is a solution developer with Imaginet Resources Corp., and has worked with ASP.NET since the 1.0 beta. He has been active within the community for many years, both with the Winnipeg .NET User Group and with the International .NET Association (INETA) as a Membership Manager for Central Canada.

David Maynard of Imaginet
presented
SQL 2005 Reporting Services

Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services is a comprehensive, server-based reporting solution designed to help you author, manage, and deliver both paper-based and interactive Web-based reports. In this session, we'll be covering the following topics:

Dylan Smith of Westeel
presented
Test-Driven Development

Test-Driven Development (TDD), also known as Test-Driven Design, is an evolutionary approach to development which combines test-first development and a strong focus on constant refactoring. TDD is a technique used to ensure a high level of code coverage, and a focus on producing easily testable code. But more important is the focus on evolutionary design, and the ability to progress in small verifiable tests. Just doing the "simplest thing that works", or more accurately the simplest thing that passes the tests. As Ron Jeffries likes to say, "the goal of TDD is to write clean code that works". We will cover the basics of TDD, and the advantages it can provide. Then we will dive right in and develop some code using TDD techniques to give a hands-on view of how it works.

Download the survey results here!

Download the PowerPoint Deck here!

Jean-Paul Boodhoo
presented
Design Patterns - an Introduction
(or Design Patterns - an Eye Opening Experience! ;-)

Are you looking to provide a way to build highly cohesive, loosely coupled applications? Getting a handle on design patterns can give you different (tried and proven) perspectives on how to tackle different software problems in your applications. In this session developers will be walked through some of the core foundational patterns that any developer wanting to get to grips with patterns should be familiar with. Each pattern will be presented in a context that will clearly demonstrate the problem that the pattern tries to solve. This is a very PowerPoint light presentation, with the main focus being on putting the patterns into practice!!

Jean-Paul S. Boodhoo is an agile .NET delivery expert who has been working with the .NET Framework since beta 1 of .NET 1.0. He spends his days working as an independent consultant; helping teams realize success through agile practices and applied Test Driven Development techniques. He has a passion for sharing information on applied test driven development with .NET, and has written articles for Visual Studio magazine, DevX, and MSDN that utilize TDD to pragmatically apply .NET. Jean-Paul has done two episodes of Dot Net Rocks TV talking about TDD (Part 1 and Part 2) and one episode on the Model-View-Presenter pattern. He has also had the opportunity to deliver webcasts for Microsoft on the topic of design patterns in the real world. In the last year he has been getting active in local user groups presenting ways that developers can harness the power of .NET and .NET 2.0 utilizing test driven principles. Jean-Paul can be reached at bitwisejp@gmail.com, and can also be found dispelling bits and pieces of programming information at his blog.

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Mike Culver of Amazon
presents 
Bleeding Edge Web Services 

What’s possible in a post Web 2.0 world? Innovation continues at a mind-bending pace, and this presentation will showcase some thought-provoking new directions that Web Services are headed in. The presentation will provide an overview of Amazon Web Services, and feature a code demonstration showing how .NET developers are able to easily build managed clients for these services

Mike Culver joined Amazon Web Services after almost eight years in evangelism at Microsoft, where he saw .NET move from a provocative idea to the preeminent development platform for serious development. During that time, Mike managed a team of evangelists in Microsoft’s Developer Division (and later in Developer and Platform Evangelism) that were responsible for a number of high-profile implementations of .NET, ranging from innovative Compact Framework applications for devices to complex mission-critical applications such as the City of London’s Traffic Congestion Project.
As an Amazon Evangelist, Mike works in the Developer Relations Group of Amazon Web Services. In that capacity he once again helps developers take advantage of cutting-edge technologies that are going to change the way we think about computer applications.