Digital Thoughts @ Wesstyware

Microsoft unleashed Visual Studio 2010 upon the world earlier this month and they are changing the face of .NET development.  On May 11, 2010, Anvil Digital, ImagiNET, Protegra, and Microsoft are bringing to you with the Winnipeg Launch of Visual Studio 2010 event at the Imax Theatre.

If you have not had the chance to check out some of the new features for the latest Visual Studio, this is your chance to get a first-hand look at the software. Along with the introduction to Visual Studio 2010, there will be prizes, food, presentations from some of Winnipeg’s best .NET talent, and a chance to meet your local development community.

Seating is limited so register today to reserve your spot. Feel free to download and print the poster and pass it around the office. The more the merrier.

Here is what you can expect to see:

8:00 – 9:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 – 9:15 Welcome
9:15 – 10:30 VS.NET 2010 Team Foundation Testing Tools – Aaron Kowall
10:45 – 12:00 Architecting Applications with VS.NET 2010 – Miguel Carrasco & Dylan Smith
1:30 – 2:45 What’s New for Teams in Visual Studio 2010 – Steve Porter
3:00 – 4:15 Developing Web Applications Using ASP.NET with VS.NET 2010 – D’Arcy Lussier & Jason Klassen
4:15 – 4:30 Prize Giveaways

I will see you there Interneters. Catch you on the flip side.

Last night (January 28th, 2010) was the first meeting for the Winnipeg .NET User Group for 2010 and things are shaping up to be a great year of .NET awesomeness for us. That aside, this year is the where the Wessty (that’s me) officially becomes involved with the group. With that, I thought I would write a quick post about what we covered last night at the meeting.

The Headliner: Uwe Schmitz

Last night we were treated to a presentation from Uwe Schmitz, easily one of the most brilliant developers I have met (other than yours truly, of course). He demonstrated to the group a Microsoft project called Composite Client Application Guidance (formerly known as PRISM) using the Silverlight to build an example live on stage.

Uwe getting ready to bring the thunder...

Personally, I really enjoyed the presentation and it was not only because I was interested in learning about the technology and I have a secret relationship with Silverlight as a whole. Uwe went through the basics of CAG, from a high level, through the architecture and pieces that make up the software, right through to starting and finishing a simple example to see the tech in action.

His presentation style was dead on for the audience and the technology we were seeing. Although I understand Silverlight, for the most part, Silverlight does not have a huge piece of the pie in the Winnipeg .NET development community. Uwe walked us through the “gotchas” that many people would fight with who are starting out with the technology (that being XAML), and dove right into the implementation of our Silverlight CAG application.

The Point

You might be wondering the point of this post, and the point was to give you a quick explanation of what you can expect at Winnipeg .NET User Group meeting. A meeting consists of free delicious food, a fantastic presentation by an expert in the best of .NET related technology, an opportunity to network with your fellow developers, and learn about what is happening within the Winnipeg development community.

Winnipeg Software Development Events

In conclusion, if you are reading this and you weren’t sitting there with me, then consider coming out and checking out some of the upcoming events.  Here is a list of some of the upcoming events in the ‘Peg covered by Kelly last night while warming up the crowd:

• Geek Girl Dinner (February 9th, 2010)
  

  Kelly warming up the crowd before the big show

• 3rd Winnipeg .NET Code Camp (February 28th, 2010)
• Next Winnipeg .NET User Group (March 6th, 2010)

Check out the links. Bring your friends. Learn something. They are free and they give you the chance to see what is happening outside of your little development bubble. Plus, you get the chance to meet your peers in the industry and knowing who else is out there is never a bad thing.

Catch you on the flip side.

With the new year upon us I thought I would take a moment to discuss some of the plans for the upcoming year. Plus, it will be interesting to review this post a year from now to see what I had planned for 2010 and compare it to what I actually completed.

Enter 2010...

Project: ZVGQ.com

If you have been checking out the site in the later part of the year, you may have noticed that a project section appeared at the top. The main reason for this section is the fact that I have a project that I will be working on in the new year. If you want more details, check out the project page here.

Winnipeg .NET User Group

I have been part of the Winnipeg .NET User Group for a while, but playing primarily the role of an attendee. As of late, I have been given the opportunity to take a bigger role with the group by contributing to their events. So far there are a couple of items that have been brought to my attention, but so far nothing is completely solid nor has it been announced. As things develop, I will discuss them further via the blog.

In the meantime, you can learn more about the the group at their website here.

18 (or so) Original Posts + Updates

Last year I had a handful of original posts that actually stirred up some comments from people in the digital woods. Between the Expression Design discussion, Vancouver 2010 Virtual Waiting Room, and the review of Bing from a different perspective I managed to get some people reading and even commenting on my thoughts.

The problem was that I did not really have an idea of the amount of work that it was going to be to maintain the blog. For starters, spam became a serious problem thus responding to comments became exceptionally difficult. Plus, writing a decent post is not something that is simple. It requires some serious thought, and more importantly time.

This year I have a very good idea of the time I need to put into to keep the blog updated and get some digital lifeblood flowing through it. With that in mind, I figure it is possible for me to schedule time to post about one original post every three weeks or so, in combination with the quick updates about events and such.

Other Projects

On the projects page, you’ll notice that there are other projects that I have listed there. I always have ideas of work that I would like to do, but there is only so much time that I can dedicate to my personal projects. The most important thing I would like to see in 2010 is the actual completion of a project from Wesstyware. Considering that Wesstyware is just yours truly, it makes sense to focus my efforts on one thing at a time.

Still, you can probably expect to see other projects either appear or extend over the upcoming year. This stuff is fun for me, and it if it isn’t fun then why I am spending so much time on it?

Conclusion

This is what I predict for Wesstyware in the year 2010 as of December 31, 2009. We shall see how the year goes and meet back here in 365 days to see how I did.

Catch you on the flip side.

Mark your calendar everyone, because tonight marked the first meeting of the Winnipeg Silverlight User Group, and I must say that the night was an evening to remember. The group was started by D’Arcy Lussier, a well known member of the .NET community.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere for the evening is shat made the event different than others I have attended in the past. The plan wasn’t to have formal presentations followed by Q & A, but to have discussions led by real Silverlight developers followed up by conversations between the attendees. Tonight there were two discussions, the first lead by me and the second by D’Arcy.

Discussions

My discussion revolved around the work I have been doing with SketchFlow with a project I plan on formally announcing on my blog and website in the upcoming week. To give you a brief summary on what I spoke about, it concerns how I use the different features of SketchFlow to gather requirements, prototype, and receive feedback from stakeholders for ASP.NET 3.5 and jQuery web applications. (Thing to note: I don’t use Silverlight in my work projects).

D’Arcy picked up the group after me showing us how Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 was supporting Silverlight 3, including the brand new designer component for Silverlight (which was unavailable up until now). This also lead into a conversation with Dylan Smith about RIA Services and what they can do for Silverlight applications.

Conclusion

All in all, it was a fantastic evening with great conversations about conferences, technology, and all sorts of fun. I strongly suggest that more people come to the next meeting whether you are a Silverlight pro or you just know a bit about it. These meetings are your chance to take part in conversations and ask your questions one-on-one with real Silverlight people.

For more information, watch the user group websiteor drop me (david dot wesst at wesstyware.com) or D’Arcy a line and we’ll be sure to send you some info.

Catch you on the flip side.

SIDE NOTE: I realize that I haven’t posted in a long time, but I have been working on some new things and I assure you that some interesting content is coming your way in the next couple of weeks.

Stay tuned! It will be worth it, I promise!