Monday, December 12, 2011

December 2011 Meeting - Practical Test Driven Development

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held December 13th, 2011 at 6:00 PM at the University of Phoenix in Rogers (note the new location and time).

Get your Ticket for the meeting here! Remember his is how we figure out how much food to get so please help us make sure we have enough for everyone. Please RSVP before noon on December 13th so we can order enough food for everyone.

Meeting Information

Title: Practical Test Driven Development

So you've listened to the great minds of Agile development, and agree that Test Driven Development sounds awesome ... but your code base isn't even remotely setup for dependency injection, or interface, or any of that. So you gave up. Well fear not my friends, I'm here to help you understand how to do TDD, without starting from a blank slate. It is perfectly possible to make TDD happen, but you just need to learn to use a couple of tricks that make refactoring your existing code less painful.

About the Presenter: Tim Rayburn

Tim Rayburn is a Principal Consultant with Improving Enterprises and a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for Connected Systems Development. He is President of the Dallas Connected Systems User Group, and he commonly speaks at user groups throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, as well as at conferences such as the Tulsa TechFest, Houston TechFest, VSLive! Austin, Microsoft TechEd and the Microsoft SOA & Business Process Conference.

Tim can be reached on Twitter at @trayburn

Agenda
6:00 PM - 6:15 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
6:15 PM - 8:10 PM - Main Presentation
8:10 PM - 8:30 PM - Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where
University of Phoenix - Pinnacle Hills Learning Center
1800 S. 52nd St, Suite 100
Rogers, AR 72758

Sunday, November 13, 2011

November 2011 Meeting - Enterprise Development with MVC3

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held November 15th, 2011 at 6:00 PM at the University of Phoenix in Rogers (note the new location and time).

Get your Ticket for the meeting here! Remember his is how we figure out how much food to get so please help us make sure we have enough for everyone. Please RSVP before noon on November 15th so we can order enough food for everyone.

Meeting Information

Title: Enterprise development with MVC3 - Time to Put on Your Architectural Hats

When it comes to Enterprise development, best patterns and practices are more a necessity than something good to have. This talk would go through some of those best practices with focus on some of the tools quintessential for success on MVC applications. It will also incorporate some real world scenarios and different ways to solve them as well as building modular solutions with separation of concerns leading to scalable apps.

About the Presenter: Chander Dhall

Chander Dhall is a Microsoft MVP, professional software architect/lead developer, trainer, INETA speaker, open source contributor, community leader and organizer with more than eight 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 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 the world. Chander can be reached on Twitter at @csdhall

Agenda
6:00 PM - 6:15 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
6:15 PM - 8:10 PM - Main Presentation
8:10 PM - 8:30 PM - Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where
University of Phoenix - Pinnacle Hills Learning Center
1800 S. 52nd St, Suite 100
Rogers, AR 72758

Thursday, September 29, 2011

October 2011 Meeting - Model-View-Presenter in ASP.NET Web Forms

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held October 11th, 2011 at 6:00 PM at the University of Phoenix in Rogers (note the new location). Jay Smith will discuss the Model-View-Presenter (MVP) design pattern as it relates to development using ASP.NET Web Forms.

Get your Ticket for the meeting here! Remember his is how we figure out how much food to get so please help us make sure we have enough for everyone.

Meeting Information

Title: Model-View-Presenter in ASP.NET Web Forms

In today's world of rapidly changing UI's it is very important to isolate application business logic into a separate layer to avoid having to re-write it every time the UI technology changes. In this session, I will cover some ways to extract your business logic from the UI layer and encapsulate it in the Presentation layer making upgrading the UI clean and straight forward by implementing the Model-View-Presenter design pattern in ASP.NET Web Forms.

About the Presenter: Jay Smith, Lead Programmer Analyst for Tyson Foods, Inc.

Jay Smith is a Lead Programmer Analyst for Tyson Foods, Inc. and Microsoft ASP.NET/IIS MVP. Prior to joining Tyson Foods in April 2, 2001, Jay worked as a Windows Server Engineer for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Jay has worked on a variety of web based applications for internal use, as well as, worked with internal teams to improve team efficiency and developer practice adoption. Jay focuses on building, growing, and enhancing the developer community in the Northwest Arkansas area while specializing in Software Architecture, Agile Practices (Scrum and Extreme Programming), and ASP.NET MVC.

Agenda

6:00 PM - 6:15 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
6:15 PM - 8:10 PM - Main Presentation
8:10 PM - 8:30 PM - Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where

University of Phoenix - Pinnacle Hills Learning Center
1800 S. 52nd St, Suite 100
Rogers, AR 72758

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Digging Deeper: Documentation Sites and Projects

At this month's meeting, we discussed where we go to learn about new topics or dive deeper into the tools we use every day. Here's a listing of the documentation sites or projects that we came up with to help:

Digging Deeper: Video Presentations

At this month's meeting, we discussed where we go to learn about new topics or dive deeper into the tools we use every day. Here's a listing of sites with informational videos that we came up with to help:

Digging Deeper: Tools

At this month's meeting, we discussed where we go to learn about new topics or dive deeper into the tools we use every day. Here's a listing of the tools that we came up with to help:

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Digging Deeper: Blogs

At this month's meeting, we discussed where we go to learn about new topics or dive deeper into the tools we use every day. Here's a listing of the blogs that we came up with to help:

Digging Deeper: Podcasts

At this month's meeting, we discussed where we go to learn about new topics or dive deeper into the tools we use every day. Here's a listing of the podcasts that we came up with to help:

Diving Deeper: Book Suggestions

At this month's meeting, we discussed where we go to learn about new topics or dive deeper into the tools we use every day. Here's a listing of the books that we came up with to help:

Monday, September 12, 2011

September 2011 Meeting - Blogs and Books

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held September 13th, 2011 at 6:00 PM at 8th & Walton in Bentonville (note the new location).

Get your Ticket for the meeting here! Remember his is how we figure out how much food to get so please help us make sure we have enough for everyone.

Meeting Information

Title: Books and Blogs

As professionals, we all have different sources that we use to expand our knowledge about our fields. Some of us read blogs about development or ways to manage a project. Others read books about how to better manage their relationships with teammates or interact with managers.

This month's meeting offers you a chance to hear about books and blogs that other members of the group use to "sharpen their saws" and the opportunity to share your own sources of inspiration.

Anyone wishing to present can share a brief (1-5 minutes) presentation about a book or blog that he or she finds useful. If you have a copy of your book to pass around, please bring it with you. No one will be required to share, and everyone is free to contribute.

Agenda

6:00 PM - 6:15 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
6:15 PM - 8:10 PM - Main Presentation
8:10 PM - 8:30 PM - Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where
8th & Walton
902B South Walton Blvd, Suite 18
Bentonville, AR 72712

Monday, August 8, 2011

NWADNUG: Agile Code

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held August 9th, 2011 at 6:00 PM at 8th & Walton in Bentonville (note the new location). Rob Tennyson will talk about writing agile code and work through examples of agile development.

Please RSVP before noon on August 9th so we can order enough food for everyone.

Meeting Information

Title: Agile Code

From the Agile Manifesto: Responding to change over following a plan. From the manifesto’s 12 principles:Welcome changing requirements, even late in development and Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

Code that works to enable those three statements is code that I refer to as agile code. We’ll talk about writing that kind of code by working through a simple example pulled from the book Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C# by Robert Martin.

About the Presenter: Rob Tennyson, Application Development Manager, Microsoft

Rob is an Application Development Manager at Microsoft working with Premier customers in the Central Region. He has over 10 years of application development experience on the Microsoft platform and focuses on helping developers build more maintainable and higher quality applications. Keeping this the driving focus has the awesome side effect of creating applications faster, cheaper, and defect free.

Agenda

6:00 PM - 6:15 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
6:15 PM - 8:10 PM - Main Presentation
8:10 PM - 8:30 PM - Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where
8th & Walton
902B South Walton Blvd, Suite 18
Bentonville, AR 72712

Register for NWADNUG: Agile Code in Bentonville, AR  on Eventbrite

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

July 2011 Meeting - Brian Sullivan on Building a More Maintainable Model with Entity Framework Code-First

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held July 12th, 2011 at 6:00 PM at 8th & Walton in Bentonville (note the new location). Brian Sullivan will guide you through building a true POCO model, basic mapping techniques, and leveraging conventions to keep your mappings DRY using EF "Code-First".

Please RSVP before noon on July 12th so we can order enough food for everyone.

Meeting Information

Title: Ditch the Designer - Building a More Maintainable Model with Entity Framework Code-First

The whiz-bang visual designer features of the Entity Framework demo well, and may even work for small projects, but anyone who's worked with EF knows that on larger projects, the design surface quickly becomes unusable and a bottleneck to your development process. Thankfully, the Entity Framework team has heard our anguished cries and introduced a new API for defining your EF models, dubbed "Code-First". In this presentation, Brian will guide you through building a true POCO model, basic mapping techniques, and leveraging conventions to keep your mappings DRY.

About the Presenter: Brian Sullivan

Brian Sullivan is a developer analyst for Falcon Applications, LLC in Shreveport, LA. He got his start in programming maintaining legacy mainframe applications in COBOL at a large trucking company, but quickly realized he needed to find a more productive environment in order to stay sane. He jumped at the opportunity to help transition some of those COBOL applications to .NET, and he hasn’t looked back since. He has been working with Microsoft technologies for about 6 years, and is interested in increasing the exposure of agile techniques and methodologies in the Microsoft developer community. He currently runs the Shreveport .NET User Group and speaks frequently at local user groups and regional conferences. Brian is a graduate of Harding University in Searcy, AR.

Agenda

6:00 PM - 6:15 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
6:15 PM - 8:10 PM - Main Presentation
8:10 PM - 8:30 PM - Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where (NEW LOCATION)
8th & Walton
902B South Walton Blvd, Suite 18
Bentonville, AR 72712

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

June 2011 Meeting - Pete Davis on Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held on June 14, 2011 at 6:00 PM. Pete Davis will be show everyone how to use Microsoft's new plugin-style framework MEF.

Get your Ticket for the meeting here! Remember his is how we figure out how much food to get so please help us make sure we have enough for everyone.

This Month's Meeting Information

Title: Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) is Microsoft's solution for easily creating a plugin-style framework for your application. By handling the assembly management and reflection to find parts, MEF makes it virtually effortless to create an application that's extensible at run-time and, if you publish your API, allows 3rd parties to add extensions to your applications. Because MEF enforces a vertical separation of concerns and can only interact with your application through a limited API, application maintainability and stability are generally easier to achieve.

Presenter:
Pete Davis is the co-author of the ancient text, Windows Undocumented File Formats. In another life, he wrote for the now defunct Windows/DOS Developers Journal, Dr. Dobbs Journal and PC Magazine. These days he keeps a pretty low profile but still likes to play with new technology. In a tribute to his nerdy side, his daughter was born on 10/11/10 at 1:01pm (or 373 decimal).

Agenda
6:00 PM - 6:15 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
6:15 PM - 8:10 PM - Main Presentation
8:10 PM - 8:30 PM - Closing and Prize give-a-ways

Where
Technology 101
105 SE 22nd St, Suite #7
Bentonville, AR 72712

Hope to see you there!

Friday, March 4, 2011

NWA DNUG: Windows Phone 7 Launch Event







You have been hearing a lot about the new Window Phone 7 lately. Did you miss the bubble with iPhone development because you didn’t want to learn a whole new language and framework? Then you're invited to a hands-on event for Windows Phone 7.

Get some help getting your Windows Phone 7 app into the marketplace. You’ll receive everything you need to develop an app—including some good community fun, sample code and templates. You can work individually or collaborate with others as a team.

Chris Koenig, Senior Developer Evangelist with Microsoft will be joining me for this fun, fact filled, dare I say Lab filled event.

Attendees will also receive a special entry card for a chance to win a Windows Phone 7, after your app has been submitted to the marketplace.

Be there!

Get started

Download the Toolkit
Register at the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace
Download the Windows Phone Mobile Advertising SDK to monetize their app

Date: March, 8th, 2011
Time: 6:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.
Place:

Technology 101
105 SE 22nd St, Suite #7
Bentonville, AR 72712

Please RSVP: nwadnug032011.eventbrite.com

Monday, February 7, 2011

NWADNUG: 2011 Kick Off and Code Karoake

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held on February 8, 2011.



Announcements:

Northwest Arkansas TechFest - Friday, March 25th, 2011 - Call for Speakers

Meeting Information:

Title: 2011 Kick Off and Code Karaoke

In this meeting we will have an open discussion about what the group wants to do in 2011 and any remaining time will be Code Karaoke.

What is Code Karaoke?

Code Karaoke is for everyone in the group that has something they want to discuss or present. If you desire please come ready to show or discuss a topic for 5-10 minutes. This can be anything development related that you have been doing, working on, or trying to learn.

Agenda

6:00 PM - 6:15 PM - Welcome and News, Sign-in and Food
6:15 PM - 6:30 PM - 2011 Planning
6:30 PM - 6:40 PM - Intermission
6:40 PM - 8:10 PM - Code Karaoke
8:10 PM - 8:30 PM - Closing

Where
Technology 101
105 SE 22nd St, Suite #7
Bentonville, AR 72712

Please come with ideas of what you would like to accomplish for 2011 for the group and your fun short informational or code presentation.


Hope to see you there!