We’re in to February already! Time seems to get faster, and so does the pace at which technology changes. But never fear because we have some excellent events coming to help you keep up.
In just over a week Richard Fennell will be talking about continuous integration with Team Foundation Server in Glasgow. The very next day I’ll be talking about Spatial Queries in SQL Server 2008 in Edinburgh, and if you can’t make it then I’ll be repeating it in Dundee later in the month. Early in March we have Oliver Sturm taking an entire afternoon to tell you about writing business applications with WPF. April brings us back to SQL Server again, and in May we have Developer Day Scotland – our first conference.
Continuous Integration with Team Foundation Server
Glasgow: 12-Feb-2008
Speaker: Richard Fennell
URL: http://www.scottishdevelopers.com/modules/extcal/event.php?event=39
How many times have you heard the developer say ‘but it works on my PC ’? How much time have you wasted trying to get a complex solution to build on a new PC? In this session I will show how continuous integration, the automated building and testing of projects whenever files are checked in, can be used to improve the quality of any software development project. Helping to catch and resolve problems as soon as possible in the development cycle; not waiting until to delivery phase of a project to find there are integration problems. The session will include demos of continuous integration using Visual Studio Team Server, as well as discussions of integration with other system such as MSTest and Virtual Server.
Richard Fennell is a founding Director of Black Marble, a Microsoft Gold partner based in Yorkshire. He is a regular speaker at community events, speaking at SQLBits, DDD3, 4, 5 & 6 as well as variety of user groups and free events run by his company. He has a degree in Computer Science, is a Member of the BCS, a Chartered IT professional and Chartered Engineer as well as holding MCSD.NET and MCAD accreditations.
Venue: The venue is Glasgow Caledonian University’s Continuing Professional Development Centre. For directions to the university see Google Maps and the campus map (We’re in building 2 on the map, marked CPD Centre)
JetBrains have kindly given us a license for ReSharper (worth $199) to give away at this event.
Registration:
The event is FREE. If you want to attend please just turn up and feel free to bring a guest. The doors open at 18:30 for a 19:00 start.
SQL Server User Group Meeting
Edinburgh: 13-Feb-2008
Speakers: Colin Angus Mackay and Martin Bell
URL: http://www.sqlserverfaq.com/?eid=104
Colin Angus Mackay: Where’s my data? An introduction to Spatial Queries in SQL Server 2008
Colin Angus Mackay is a software developer specialising in Microsoft technologies located in Glasgow, Scotland. He is a Member of the British Computer Society, a Microsoft MVP (C#), a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer, a Core Member of Scottish Developers, Code Project MVP for three years running and while not involved in software related pursuits is an amateur photographer, cyclist, map maker and is also the Vice President of Education for South Side Speakers, the Glasgow South Side Branch of Toastmasters International. And if all that wasn’t enough he is also organising Developer Day Scotland
It is reckoned that 80-90% of data has a spatial component to it. But what do we do with it now? At best, we constrain it to postcodes. Well, that would be great if we were delivering letters, but the majority of us aren’t. In this session we look at Spatial Queries in SQL Server to see how it works and what can be done with it.
Martin Bell: SELECT TOP(@x) Name FROM MyFavouriteDMVs ORDER BY MyRanking
Martin has been a freelance computer consultant in the UK for over 23 years. He has worked on many relational database systems and since the 1998 has specialized in SQL Server. He was first awarded Microsoft MVP (SQL Server) status in June 2003. Currently he organises the Scottish Area Meetings and is a founding organizer of the SQLBits Community Conferences.
Dynamic Management views were introduced in SQL Server 2005 and have made management and troubleshooting of SQL Server significantly easier than in previous versions. Even if you do not write your own queries against these DMVs you may be using them in Performance Dashboard Reports or other performance reporting applications. In this talk I will go through my TOP favorite DMVs and show how and when they can be used and why I like them!
This event will be held at the HBOS’s Sighthill office. For security reasons we need to submit a list of delegates in advance. If you wish to attend you MUST email Martin Bell before 12:00 on 11/12.
The event will start at 18:30 and go on till 21:00. Sandwiches and refreshments will be provided for attendees.
Where’s My Data? An introduction to Spatial Queries in SQL Server 2008
Dundee: 20-Feb-2008
Speaker: Colin Angus Mackay
URL: http://www.scottishdevelopers.com/modules/extcal/event.php?event=45
It is reckoned that 80-90% of data has a spatial component to it. But what do we do with it now? At best, we constrain it to postcodes. Well, that would be great if we were delivering letters, but the majority of us aren’t. In this session we look at Spatial Queries in SQL Server to see how it works and what can be done with it.
This event will be held in the Queen Mother building at Dundee University from 19:00.
SQLBits II
Birmingham: 1-Mar-2008
Registration is now open for this community conference dedicated to SQL Server.
20 technical Sessions broken up into 4 tracks covering all areas a SQL Pro is interested in and on top of that a recruitment panel and new product demonstrations – something for everybody – Development, DBA, Business Intelligence and of course SQL Server 2008.
Technical Sessions end at 5pm but the day continues first with a Recruitment panel and New production demos and then into an informal networking and social evening at our Group By drinks reception – a great opportunity to relax and chat about our holidays, hobbies, ok – get real – more SQL!
Register quickly; we ran out of places in 8 days at the October 2007 event.
Business Applications with WPF – the Full Monty
Edinburgh: 5-Mar-2008
Speaker: Oliver Sturm
URL: http://www.scottishdevelopers.com/modules/extcal/event.php?event=40
Lots of demos of WPF show flashy UIs with animations and videos and trickery worthy of a Hollywood production worked over by ILM. Is that what your next business app is going to look like? Probably not. Nevertheless, WPF can do a lot for you, because it’s the most powerful and most productive UI platform out there. Full stop. This double session walks you through the whole process of creating a business application with WPF, focusing on how it saves you development time.
Oliver Sturm is an experienced software architect, developer, trainer and author, with a strong background in various different fields including system and framework architecture and design, process modeling
and user interface design. He is a C# MVP and he works for Developer Express as a Technical Evangelist and Lead Program Manager for the Frameworks Division.
This event requires a modest payment of just £10, with the early bird discount, to attend.
Developer Day Scotland
Glasgow: 10-May-2008
URL: http://developerdayscotland.com/main/Default.aspx
Developer Day Scotland (DDS) is a community event, run by community for community, which is based upon the highly successful Developer! Developer! Developer! (DDD) community conference events.
[This is a copy of the Scottish Developers events newsletter that I just sent out]
The Blog of Colin Mackay 