June 26, 2013, 6PM – The future is Futures -
Michael Levy
Location: IDCAST/UDRI, TechTown, 711 East Monument Avenue, Suite 101 in downtown Dayton. Google Map
Description: If you're a [web] developer, the next couple of years will prove to be interesting times. A November 2012 survey [1] confirms that Internet users, at least shoppers, are expecting instant gratification in their online experiences. The survey reports that 61% of the surveyed shoppers abandoned a web page after waiting at least 30 seconds [2].
What is a [web] developer to do? After all, we have multiple sources of data that must be accessed to render a page: profiles, catalogs, metrics, comments, and histories just to name a few. Accessing all these data sources takes time. Let's also not forget about the latency of making the round-trip from the browser to the server.
Now be honest. As developers we always have a solution even before we completely understand the problem. Weren't you thinking "obviously asynchronous processing" as you read the above paragraphs? Asynchronous processing would be my first thought and in this presentation, I'd like to look at using a technique called Futures and explore how using them allows us to write asynchronous code that parallels the synchronous solution [3].
[1]
Survey finds more than half of frequent online shoppers have cancelled an order due to slow response time
[2] I'll admit that, in general, 30 seconds it really a long time so, maybe, picture all this happening on a mobile browser and play along for the moment.
[3] With some caveats of course.
Bio: Michael Levy is the Microsoft Practice Director for Strategic Data Systems (SDS). Mike has been delivering software solutions to clients, in a variety of industries, for over 20 years. He is an active participate in the software community and, through the years, has spoken on a variety of topics at multiple conferences and user groups. As you read this, Mike is probably in front of a computer practicing the ancient art of Sleeping with Your Eyes Open when he should be working on the presentation.
Grok Talk: To be determined
July 24, 2013, 6PM – Keep Software Weird -
Leon Gersing
Location: IDCAST/UDRI, TechTown, 711 East Monument Avenue, Suite 101 in downtown Dayton. Google Map
Description: How much code coverage does it take it ship a minimal viable product? How many Scrum Certifications does it take to make your team agile? How many languages learned make a journeyman a master? Currently, in software, there is an expressed desire to be taken seriously as craftspeople. To this end, we've introduced process, metrics and quantifiable boundaries as goal posts to hold up to those who may not understand what is involved in shipping quality software. As this practice becomes normal, developers are faced with an ever-expanding landscape of techniques, practices and pressure from thought leaders to take extra course work or certifications to validate the assertion that you are, in fact, a software developer. While some may see this as a necessary evolution of our field, I see it as a albatross round the neck of the creative developer looking to explore the depths of what is possible. While the safety of a well worn path may provide solace to the uninitiated, I find dogmatic implementation oppressive and exclusionary to those interested in exploring alternative approaches to solving problems with technology. Join me in an exploration of what I believe makes us unique as a subculture in this business world; examples of how we came to be by challenging the established idioms of the past in order to move forward into something exciting and new. To be our best we must be willing to dive into the unknown, to loose the binds of convention and explore the vast expanse of the unfamiliar. We must dare to be wrong, to be new, to be foolish, to be amazing and keep software weird. (For mature, or immature, audiences.)
Bio: Leon Gersing tends digital zen gardens.
Grok Talk: To be determined
October 23, 2013, 6PM – Building Composite XAML Applications with Prism -
Brian Lagunas
Location: IDCAST/UDRI, TechTown, 711 East Monument Avenue, Suite 101 in downtown Dayton. Google Map
Description: In this session you will learn how to design and build Windows Phone, Silverlight, and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) desktop applications using loosely coupled components that can evolve independently but which can be easily and seamlessly integrated into the overall application. This session concentrates on the basic concepts required to build a composite application with the Microsoft Patterns and Practices Prism framework which includes the boostrapper, regions, modules, view composition, and different techniques for communicating between loosely couple components. Various development patterns and technologies will also be discussed including Inversion of Control (IoC), Dependency Injection (DI), Unity, MEF (Managed Extensibility Framework), commanding, event aggregation, and MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel).
Bio: Brian Lagunas is an INETA Community Speaker, co-leader of the Boise .Net Developers User Group (NETDUG), and original author of the Extended WPF Toolkit. He is a multi-recipient of the Microsoft Community Contributor Award and can be found speaking at a variety of user groups and code camps around the nation. His talks always involve some form of XAML, such as WPF or Silverlight, and how to build modular applications with Prism.
Brian currently works at Infragistics as a Product Manager for the award winning NetAdvantage for WPF and Silverlight components. This is where he helps build tools that empower developers to quickly and easily build and style dynamic applications with immersive UX and vibrant data visualization in line of business applications, across all XAML platforms. Prior to working at Infragistics he worked in the construction and engineering industry as a senior software engineer and software solution architect where he specialized in enterprise application development. Before geeking out, Brian served his country in the United States Army as an infantryman and later served his local community as a deputy sheriff.
In his spare time he authors courses for Pluralsight, blogs about XAML technologies, and hosts XAML TV. The easiest way to find Brian is on twitter at @BrianLagunas.
Grok Talk: To be determined