I mentioned in my last newsletter that time just seems to get faster. Technology is pulling forward at a relentless pace. Windows 1.0 had an API of just 450 functions. That is an achievable amount to remember for many developers. .NET 3.5 has well over a quarter million members on over 11000 types (classes, structs, enums, etc.). Then there all the third party components and open source frameworks that are available. The key to managing all this without filling your head to the point it explodes is to know where to find the information when it is needed. Just as well that in March we have an evening of Grok talks to give you pointers towards all this information.
But before that we have an event from TechEd and DevWeek speaker Oliver Sturm. He is talking about what WPF can give to business applications. That is something that has always intrigued me. When I first saw WPF I thought it was wonderful and fantastic and colourful and flashy, but what use would it be to me when I write business applications for an insurance company all day? It seems there is a use and Oliver will be explaining it.
Now, I was doing a little checking the other day and I worked out that to see a speaker like Oliver at TechEd it would cost somewhere in the region of €80 for a single presentation (well, that’s the cost if you could see TechEd in such bite sized chunks, but it is an all or nothing proposition and I don’t have a spare €2000 + tax + flights and accommodation). Oliver’s session is a double length presentation (don’t worry there is a comfort break in the middle) so that is €160 worth of information. And how much are we charging for this? Well, at the moment we are charging £25 if you go on to our website, which you have to admit is excellent value for money. But we are running a promotion so you can see this for as little as £10!
Business Applications with WPF – The Full Monty
Edinburgh, 5th March 2008 @ 127 George Street (Microsoft’s Office)
Lots of demonstrations of WPF show flashy User Interfaces 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.
Biography
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.
Cost: £25 before March 1st or £30 thereafter or if turning up on the day.
Promotion rate: You can get the promotional rate of £10 if you quote promotion code “SDGW82” when registering for the event. The promotion rate is valid until 23:59 on Friday 29th February.
For more details visit: http://www.scottishdevelopers.com/modules/extcal/event.php?event=40
The Grok Talks
Glasgow, 11th March 2008 @ CPD Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University.
A Grok Talk is a short 5 to 15 minute presentation on a specific subject aimed at giving a broad overview to the audience. Or it may be a way to explain a smaller concept that does not require a full length presentation.
For the audience it acts as a taster allowing you get to know a little about a subject you may not already have known much about.
For the speaker it gives a chance to folks who may not have had the opportunity to speak before, or for those that would like to speak but are unsure about it. (If you would like to speak then please get in touch by emailing me at colin@scottishdevelopers.com)
The evening will be a smorgasbord of subjects packaged in to short 5 to 15 minutes talks with lots of interaction as well. The subject area of software development is too large for everyone to know everything, so this is a fantastic taster for learning a little bit about stuff you don’t know much about already.
For more detail (and an update on the topics that are going to be covered) please visit:
http://www.scottishdevelopers.com/modules/extcal/event.php?event=47
Visual Studio 2008 Community Launch
Glasgow, 8th April 2008 @ CPD Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University
The world wide launch of Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 will happen on 27th February. On the 19th of March in Birmingham the UK launch will take place. And on the 8th April Scottish Developers will be doing its own launch event.
For more details visit: http://www.scottishdevelopers.com/modules/extcal/event.php?event=48
Developer Day Scotland
Glasgow 10th May 2008 @ CPD Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University
The session voting is currently open. Please register on the website and help shape the day if you have not already done so. The voting will close on the 8th March. The delegate registration will open sometime on the week commencing 10th March.
For more details: http://developerdayscotland.com/main/Default.aspx
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