Dallas CSharp SIG http://dallas-csharp-sig.com Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:21:13 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 Dallas C# SIG Feb meeting: Introduction to Git http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2012/01/12/dallas-c-sig-feb-meeting-introduction-to-git/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2012/01/12/dallas-c-sig-feb-meeting-introduction-to-git/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:21:13 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=125 Abstract
Always checking out the newest shiny thing?? Distributed version control (DVCS) is spreading like wildfire across the .NET ecosystem but is really all that beneficial or is it just hype?? Having worn a tarnish into this tool using it for the past couple of year, I’m going to discuss the benefits and battles of using it in your everyday developer life. We will be taking a look at how Git achieves it’s “magic” as well as run thru some standard practices to hopefully help you determine if Git would be right for and your environment.
Bio
Like every geek who grew up in the 80’s, David O’Hara distinctly remembers getting his first computer – an Atari 800XL. It absorbed every ounce of free time, especially late at night, but taught him BASIC. After many years and several languages, he now spends most of his days working in .NET but still has a special place for late night coding sessions.
Since having an “agile awakening” a few years ago, he has a distinct need to grow in new directions and surround himself with smart people who will help him to shape this knowledge and practices. He has found Improving Enterprises to be a place filled with people who share similar ideas and values as well as his passion for learning and passing on that knowledge.
David is passionate about software craftsmanship, startups, and personal productivity. He was given the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for ASP.NET  in 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Schedule
Date: Feb 02, 2012
6:00 – 6:30 p.m : Networking/Pizza
6:30 – 8:30 p.m : Main Presentation
8:30 p.m         : Door Prizes

Register for the meeting here.

]]> http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2012/01/12/dallas-c-sig-feb-meeting-introduction-to-git/feed/ 0 Dallas C# SIG Jan meeting: What Client-Side MV* Frameworks Can Do For You http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/12/16/dallas-c-sig-jan-meeting-what-client-side-mv-frameworks-can-do-for-you/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/12/16/dallas-c-sig-jan-meeting-what-client-side-mv-frameworks-can-do-for-you/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:42:45 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=122 Abstract

Client-side MVC frameworks like Spine.js, Backbone.js, Knockout.js and Ember.js are there to help you write richer client-side web experiences and give you solid patterns to follow. Come learn why they can help, how these frameworks work and what some of the existing options are.
Bio
Eric Sowell is an avid .NET developer who gets into as many technologies as he can though with a focus on the web. He is the development lead for Match.com  on the international platform and enjoys writing code which serves up Html millions of times on a daily basis. Eric is the father of three children and the husband of one wife. He also has fish. When not being a geek or hanging with the family, he enjoys reading, writing and doing research primarily in the realms of technical things, ancient Greek, biblical studies and early Christianity. You can see Eric’s activities online by visiting http://ericsowell.com  or by following him on Twitter (@mallioch).
Schedule
Date:  Jan 05, 2012
6:00 – 6:30 p.m : Networking/Pizza
6:30 – 8:30 p.m : Main Presentation
8:30 p.m         : Door Prizes
Register for the meeting here.
]]> http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/12/16/dallas-c-sig-jan-meeting-what-client-side-mv-frameworks-can-do-for-you/feed/ 0 Dallas C# SIG Dec meeting: Code First Development with Entity Framework http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/11/22/dallas-c-sig-dec-meeting-code-first-development-with-entity-framework/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/11/22/dallas-c-sig-dec-meeting-code-first-development-with-entity-framework/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:03:01 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=115 Abstract
In this talk we dive into the code first approach using Entity Framework and specifically how to develop test first and architecturally sound EF code. This talk will morph and twist, so bring your questions and plenty of geek points.

Bio
Devlin Liles is a Principal Consultant at Improving Enterprises. Since 2007 he has been presenting on software development practices and tools to audiences around the Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. He is a regular regional presenter at user groups and events. He founded an internal Corporate Software Craftsmanship conference in Northwest Arkansas as well as led the Tyson User group for a year and a half. He is an avid soccer player and hobbyist gamer.

Schedule

6:00 – 6:30 p.m : Networking/Pizza
6:30 – 8:30 p.m : Main Presentation
8:30 p.m: Door prizes

Register for the meeting here.

]]> http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/11/22/dallas-c-sig-dec-meeting-code-first-development-with-entity-framework/feed/ 0 Dallas C# SIG Nov meeting: Cancelled due to Improving Company retreat http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/10/26/dallas-c-sig-nov-meeting-cancelled-due-to-improving-company-retreat/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/10/26/dallas-c-sig-nov-meeting-cancelled-due-to-improving-company-retreat/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:43:28 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=112 There will be no meeting in November, as most Improving folks will be in Vegas for the company retreat on Nov 3. See you in December.

]]> http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/10/26/dallas-c-sig-nov-meeting-cancelled-due-to-improving-company-retreat/feed/ 0 Dallas C# SIG Oct meeting: Envision. Explore. Evolve – Ideas to Prototypes in minutes using SketchFlow http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/09/21/dallas-c-sig-oct-meeting-envision-explore-evolve-ideas-to-prototypes-in-minutes-using-sketchflow/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/09/21/dallas-c-sig-oct-meeting-envision-explore-evolve-ideas-to-prototypes-in-minutes-using-sketchflow/#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:35:40 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=106 Abstract
SketchFlow (included with Expression Blend) is a great tool to build rapid click-through prototypes of your ideas before they bloom into powerful applications. Explore different variations of the ideas without investing too much of your time. Get instant feedback from your clients who can play with your high-fidelity prototypes using the free Sketchflow Player. And best of all, you don’t have to throw away your work. Grab the reusable assets and use them in your production application.
In this session, we’ll take an idea and check out a live demonstration on how quickly we can build a prototype out of it. This will be fun.

Bio
Girish Gangadharan is about to be a dad and is super excited about it. He’s also excited about writing awesome code (read: code built on S.O.L.I.D principles), to solve business problems.
He has about 7 years of experience building software for clients ranging all the way from small mom & pop shops to multi billion dollar corporations. And for people that believe in certifications, well, he has a bunch of those too (Transcript ID: 802296 Access code: 15963282).
He spends a lot of time thinking, studying and researching about building better UX for software applications. He loves to write clean, concise, well-commented, beautiful code that not only solves the problem in hand but also is a pleasure to support & maintain.
He wrote Sass For Visual Studio, Select Search and also the man behind the huge UX initiative at his  company (uxd.absg.com).
He blogs at giri.sh. You should follow him on Twitter - @appoosa.

Schedule

6:00 – 6:30 p.m : Networking/Pizza
6:30 – 8:30 p.m : Main Presentation
8:30 p.m: Door prizes

Register for the meeting here.

]]> http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/09/21/dallas-c-sig-oct-meeting-envision-explore-evolve-ideas-to-prototypes-in-minutes-using-sketchflow/feed/ 0 Dallas C# SIG Sep meeting: Connect with your Kinect http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/08/17/dallas-c-sig-sep-meeting-connect-with-your-kinect/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/08/17/dallas-c-sig-sep-meeting-connect-with-your-kinect/#comments Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:05:40 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=102 Abstract
The Microsoft Kinect peripheral is the fastest selling gadget of all time, selling more than 9,000,000 units in its first 60 days. With the release of the Windows SDK beta for Kinect, there has never been a better time to learn about this new and innovative peripheral and explore where your imagination takes you.
This C# code focused session will dive into how to use the API to do some wicked cool things. We’ll start by exploring the RGB and depth streams and then explore the skeletal tracking API.  Next we’ll combine the different camera facets of the Kinect into a single demo.  Next we’ll turn our focus to the Kinect’s audio features and take a look at Kinect’s high quality audio capabilities.  To wrap up, we’ll combine all of these different features into one awesome demo.
Bio
Justin Weinberg is a manager consultant with the Microsoft Enterprise practice at Sogeti and a cofounder of the North Texas Silverlight User Group. Justin brings over 10 years of development experience to bear with a focus on .NET, C#,and XAML. He is also a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD). Justin obtained Bachelor degrees in Information Decision Systems and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University where the school colors are indeed plaid. When not writing code or engaging with other user groups in the community, Justin spends time with his wonderful wife and three rambunctious boys. You can read his blog at www.codeconfessions.com
Schedule
6:00 – 6:30 p.m : Networking/Pizza
6:30 – 8:30 p.m : Main Presentation
8:30 p.m         : Door Prizes
Register for the meeting here.
]]> http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/08/17/dallas-c-sig-sep-meeting-connect-with-your-kinect/feed/ 0 Dallas C# SIG Aug meeting- From Delegates, to Lambdas and Expression Trees: Your guide to writing elegant code in C# .NET 4.0 http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/07/18/dallas-c-sig-aug-meeting-from-delegates-to-lambdas-and-expression-trees-your-guide-to-writing-elegant-code-in-c-net-4-0/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/07/18/dallas-c-sig-aug-meeting-from-delegates-to-lambdas-and-expression-trees-your-guide-to-writing-elegant-code-in-c-net-4-0/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:43:35 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=99 Abstract

This talk takes you from the delegate syntax from .net 2.0 to actions and funcs. Then it dives deep into creating elegant code using lambdas. Gives you an understanding as to how to implement expression trees for some cool and quick framework development inside your organization. This talk does not require any understanding of delegates and goes from the beginner to intermediate level.

Bio

Chander Dhall is a professional software architect/lead developer, Microsoft MVP, trainer, INETA speaker, open source contributor, community leader and organizer with more than seven years of experience in enterprise Software Development. He works in a goal oriented, technologically driven, fast paced AGILE (SCRUM) environment. He is the founder of Dallas day of dot net. He has a Master’s Degree in computer science with specialization in algorithms, principles and patterns and is focused on building high performing modular software. Chander leads the UT Dallas .NET user group and co-leads the Dallas dot net user group. Chander recently got recognized as “One of the top organizers by Eventbrite. Chander has been a featured speaker in numerous conferences and code camps all over US. He shall be presenting in UK and India this year. He has been instrumental in mentoring and training several UTD students over the period of last 2 years.

Schedule

6:00 – 6:30 p.m : Networking/Pizza
6:30 – 8:30 p.m : Main Presentation
8:30 p.m         : Door Prizes

Register for the meeting here.

]]> http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/07/18/dallas-c-sig-aug-meeting-from-delegates-to-lambdas-and-expression-trees-your-guide-to-writing-elegant-code-in-c-net-4-0/feed/ 0 Dallas C# SIG July meeting: Simplifying Package Management with NuGet http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/06/09/dallas-c-sig-july-meeting-simplifying-package-management-with-nuget/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/06/09/dallas-c-sig-july-meeting-simplifying-package-management-with-nuget/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:21:53 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=92

Abstract
It’s one of those headaches that you knew you had but, until now, never had a name for. It’s package management. If you’re a .NET developer and you’d like to take control of how you and your organization maintains, shares and uses application libraries, you owe it to yourself to take a look at NuGet, Microsoft’s answer to Ruby Gems. NuGet goes beyond simply adding references to your project and allows for fully automated configuration and setup of third-party libraries directly from within Visual Studio using either the GUI or Powershell. NuGet allows you to not only search through an ever-expanding catalog of application packages but also to discover new ones that can help you and your team be more productive. In this session, we’ll start by discussing package management from a high level, move on to installing, configuring and using NuGet form within the IDE and finally we’ll discuss how you can build your very own NuGet packages and distribute them either through the official NuGet stream or your own private repository. By the end of the session, you should know all that you need to know to start taking advantage of this powerful and long overdue tool.
Bio
Casey Watson is a Partner at Konverge Labs (http://konvergelabs.com/ ), Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, hopeless mobile development geek and proud father. For the last six years, Casey has been focused on helping customers realize business value through the development of quality software products, primarily on the Microsoft .NET platform. As a Certified Scrum Master, Casey is a firm proponent of agile practices and deeply believes in the value of product over process. Recently his focus has been on helping companies build solid mobile presences through the use of cross-platform development tools like Konnector. While not blogging, coding, or updating his Twitter status, Casey enjoys spending time with his family and never turns down an ice cold bottle of Blue Moon.
Schedule
6:00 – 6:30 p.m : Networking/Pizza
6:30 – 8:30 p.m : Main Presentation
8:30 p.m         : Door Prizes
Register for the meeting here.
]]> http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/06/09/dallas-c-sig-july-meeting-simplifying-package-management-with-nuget/feed/ 0 Dallas C# SIG June meeting: EntityFramework 360 – CodeOnly 4.1 http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/05/09/dallas-c-sig-june-meeting-entityframework-360-codeonly-4-1/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/05/09/dallas-c-sig-june-meeting-entityframework-360-codeonly-4-1/#comments Mon, 09 May 2011 19:09:02 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=88 Abstract

While most enterprise applications are object-oriented, the data upon which they depend is not. Unfortunately, binding these two platforms together can result in significant amounts of lost productivity and a less than optimal solution. Come see how you can resolve this recurring theme with the newest release of the Microsoft ADO.NET Entity Framework.  In this session, we’ll

  • Explore the Entity Framework 4.1, its components and see how it all works
  • Define an object model and implement persistence from POCO classes, including customizing persistence mapping via the fluent API
  • Walk through a variety of code examples that show how to interact with the model
  • Show how the Entity Framework automatically tracks data changes and generates updates

You’ll walk-away with a clear understanding of how the new “code only” extensions allows the developer to implement a much more code-centric approach to store persistence

Bio

Rob Vettor is a C# MVP, INETA Regional Speaker and senior .NET Technologist for SOLARC, a leading, global provider of commodity and trading system software. Rob has built systems for a number of corporations, including Avanade, Raytheon, American Express and Jack Henry and Associates. Rob lives in Dallas, TX, with his wife, twin sons and three dogs, and is the founder of Hands-On-Coding (http://www.hands-on-coding.net/), a user group in which attendees bring their laptops and learn .NET coding by doing.  You can contact Rob at robvettor@hotmail.com, and check out Rob’s blog atwww.robvettor.com .

Schedule
6:00 – 6:30 p.m : Networking/Pizza
6:30 – 8:30 p.m : Main Presentation
8:30 p.m         : Door Prizes

Register for the meeting here.

]]> http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/05/09/dallas-c-sig-june-meeting-entityframework-360-codeonly-4-1/feed/ 0 Dallas C# SIG May meeting: Building a Testable Data Access Layer http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/04/18/dallas-c-sig-may-meeting-building-a-testable-data-access-layer/ http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/2011/04/18/dallas-c-sig-may-meeting-building-a-testable-data-access-layer/#comments Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:49:54 +0000 admin http://dallas-csharp-sig.com/?p=79 Update: The resources from Todd’s talk can be downloaded below
Abstract:
All developers understand the theoretical value of unit testing, but with data driven applications, figuring out how to create tests can be hard. In this session, you will learn how to design and build a data layer that can be tested. We will introduce data layer architecture practices and methodologies that make testing possible, and cover the basics of unit test mocking. You will also be guided through various types of testing, including unit, integration, and functional testing. Leave this session with the basics needed to start creating tests for application data layers, including those powered by LinqToSQL and Entity Framework.
Bio:
Todd Anglin is Chief Evangelist for Telerik, a leading vendor of development, team productivity, and automated testing tools, as well as UI components and content management solutions for Microsoft .NET. Before joining Telerik, he worked for a large Fortune 200 financial services company IT shop where he learned the way of the “Enterprise” – big budgets, big projects, legacy systems, and incessant measurement. He now leverages this Enterprise experience at Telerik to create tools that help software development teams every day to be more productive and to deliver reliable applications on time and under budget. Todd is an active author and speaker in the .NET community, focusing on web development technologies, a Microsoft MVP, ASP Insider, founder and President of the North Houston .NET Users Group, and an O’Reilly author.
Schedule:
6:00 – 6:30 p.m : Networking/Pizza
6:30 – 8:30 p.m : Main Presentation
8:30 p.m         : Door Prizes
Register for the meeting here.
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