August 2012 Meeting–Entity Framework 5.0

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held  August  14, 2012 at 6:00 PM at Rockfish in Rogers. Brian Sullivan will be presenting on Entity Framework 5.0.

Please RSVP before noon on August 14th so we can order enough food for everyone.

New Location:

Rockfish
3100 MARKET ST. SUITE 101
ROGERS, AR 72758

Please use the main lobby doors in the center of the building. If entering from the front the cafeteria will be toward the back on the left.

The doors lock at 6:00 PM so if you have trouble getting in please call (479)274-8448

Meeting Information

Title: Entity Framework 5.0

Entity Framework 5.0 introduces some highly anticipated features, including Enums, SQL Server spatial data types, and table-valued functions, as well as across-the-board performance improvements. We'll take a look at each of these, as well as some other features in post-4.0 releases that you might not know about, such as validation and an improved change-tracking API.

About the Presenter: Brian Sullivan

Brian Sullivan is a senior consultant for Improving Enterprises in Dallas, TX. 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 7 years, and is interested in increasing the exposure of agile techniques and methodologies in the Microsoft developer community. He is the former leader of the Shreveport .NET User Group and speaks frequently at local user groups and regional conferences. Brian is a Microsoft MVP in Data Platform Development and 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

Rockfish
3100 MARKET ST. SUITE 101 
ROGERS, AR 72758

Please forward this announcement to anyone you think would be interested.

July 2012 Meeting - What’s New With Windows Azure?

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held July 10, 2012 at 6:00 PM at Rockfish in Rogers. Toi B. Wright will be presenting on Windows Azure.

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 January 10th so we can order enough food for everyone.

New Location:

Rockfish
3100 MARKET ST. SUITE 101
ROGERS, AR 72758

Please use the main lobby doors in the center of the building. If entering from the front the cafeteria will be toward the back on the left.

Meeting Information

Title: What’s New With Windows Azure?

A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced significant improvements to Windows Azure. Windows Azure now supports persistent VMs that can be updated and persisted to Windows Azure blob storage. This means that many existing on-premise applications can easily be migrated to Windows Azure. Also, Microsoft recently announced that they are extending Windows Azure’s reach into a PaaS platform with Windows Azure Web Sites. Windows Azure Web Sites is a simple and powerful hosting platform that allows developers to easily build and rapidly deploy web applications on Windows Azure using their favorite languages, frameworks, and tools. In this presentation, I will demonstrate how to quickly build and deploy applications using the new Windows Azure features and services including Virtual Machines and Windows Azure Web Sites.

About the Presenter: Toi B. Wright

Toi B. Wright is an independent consultant who has worked as a software developer for over 25 years. She has a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. She has been a Microsoft MVP in ASP.NET since 2005 and she is the author of the WROX book titled, 'ASP.NET 4 24-Hour Trainer'.

Ms Wright is the Founder and President of the Dallas ASP.NET User Group, www.dallasasp.net. She has been involved with various user groups around Dallas since 1994 and has been running one or more user groups since 2000. She most recently founded the new Geeks in Pink group,www.geeksinpink.org. This group is dedicated to supporting women in technology. Also, she was the organizer of the original We Are Microsoft - Charity Challenge Weekend, www.wearemicrosoft.com.

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

Rockfish
3100 MARKET ST. SUITE 101 
ROGERS, AR 72758

June 2012 Meeting–SignalR

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held June 12, 2012 at 6:00 PM at Rockfish in Rogers. Chris Patterson will be presenting on SignalR.

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 June 12th so we can order enough food for everyone.

New Location:

Rockfish
3100 MARKET ST. SUITE 101
ROGERS, AR 72758

Please use the main lobby doors in the center of the building. If entering from the front the cafeteria will be toward the back on the left.

Meeting Information

Title: SignalR

SignalR is a new component in the Microsoft ASP.NET stack, enabling asynchronous signaling from the server to the browser. By providing a channel for server-initiated conversations to the browser, an entirely new class of interactive, real-time applications can be created. In this session, we will go beyond the simple chat server example and demonstrate how to use SignalR to connect your browser-based applications to the events produced by your back-end systems (such as order updates, inventory changes, etc.), and explain how the server is able to execute Javascript methods in the browser.

About the Presenter: Chris Patterson

Chris is a senior architect for RelayHealth, the connectivity business of the nation's leading healthcare services company. There he is responsible for the architecture and development of applications and services that accelerate care delivery by connecting patients, providers, pharmacies, and financial institutions. Previously, he led the development of a new content delivery platform for TV Guide, enabling the launch of a new entertainment network seen on thousands of cable television systems.

In his spare time, Chris is an active open-source developer and a primary contributor to MassTransit, a distributed application framework for .NET. In 2009, he was awarded the Most Valuable Professional award by Microsoft for his technical community contributions.

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

Rockfish
3100 MARKET ST. SUITE 101
ROGERS, AR 72758

May 2012 Meeting–PowerShell for Developers

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held May 8, 2012 at 6:00 PM at Rockfish in Rogers. Jon Parker will be presenting on PowerShell for Developers.

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 January 10th so we can order enough food for everyone.

New Location:

Rockfish
3100 MARKET ST. SUITE 100
ROGERS, AR 72758

Meeting Information

Title: PowerShell for Developers

About the Presenter: Jon Parker

Jon has been programming since 2001 at BYU-Idaho. He discovered .Net in 2003 and hasn’t looked back since. While Jon started out with web programming, his current passion is tweaking applications for speed. Jon boasts taking a 30 min Unix C process to .Net that now runs in < 3 min.

Jon is currently employed at Walmart Stores Inc. He is married and has 1 child. In his spare time he codes (of course) and builds tree houses.

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

Rockfish
3100 MARKET ST. SUITE 100 
ROGERS, AR 72758

April 2012

 

There will NOT be a user group meeting tonight.

We have lost access to the room we were using at the University of Phoenix so we currently do not have a place to host the meeting. We are working to find another location and upon success we may reschedule this month's meeting.

If any of you have any ideas of where we may host future meetings please let us know. 

March 2012 - Party with TEK Systems

Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Time: 6:00pm until 8:30pm
Topic: TEK Systems is bringing the NWA/River Valley IT community together in order to have a great time bowling and networking!

They have bowling lanes and rooms reserved and will provide food and drinks.
Each group member can bring 1 guest.
http://www.facebook.com/events/268586503214908/

Location:
Cosmo Bowling Lanes @ Fast Lane Entertainment
1117 N. Dixieland St
Lowell, AR 72745
View Map | Get Directions

Febuary 2012 Meeting - Model-View Patterns: Making Sense of MVC, MVP and MVVM...

The next Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting will be held February 28th, 2012 at 6:00 PM at the University of Phoenix in Rogers. Rob Vettor will be presenting on Model-View Patterns.

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 January 10th so we can order enough food for everyone.

Meeting Information

Title: Model-View Patterns: Making Sense of MVC, MVP and MVVM...

The separation enforced by 'Model View' patterns can quickly transform your application into a maintainable, modular and rapidly developed package. New features are easily added, new screens are a snap, testing is enhanced and developers and designers can more easily work simultaneously.

Come compare the Model-View-Controller (MVC), Model-View-Presenter (MVP) and Model-View-View-Model (MVVM) patterns. In this session, we'll...

• Explore the foundation, benefits and drawbacks of each pattern at an architectural level
• Contrast differences between each pointing out applicable situations where each may apply
• Walk through a variety of examples on the Microsoft platform, including Microsoft MVC, ASP.Net, Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation

You'll walk away with a clear understanding of each pattern, with examples that you can implement in your projects.

About the Presenter: Rob Vettor

Rob Vettor is an Application Development Manager for Microsoft, providing reactive support and proactive guidance to development teams for Microsoft Enterprise customers. An INETA Regional Speaker, user group leader and former 3-time C# MVP, 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 at www.robvettor.com.

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