MNUG News

First Meeting of the Memphis PASS Chapter

James Hanauer — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:45:00 GMT

It’s official. Memphis now has a SQL Server User’s Group.

Please join us for our first meeting

When:   Thursday, March 19th, at 6:00 PM
Where: New Horizons
   4775 American Way
               Memphis, TN, 38118

Topic: SQL 2008 T-SQL Enhancements

SQL Server 2008 offers a host of new and enhanced features, many of which are targeted towards developers. This makes SQL Server development more interesting than ever before. New capabilities include support for Spatial Data, Sparse Data, and Filtered Indexes. Enhancements include new T-SQL items such as new DATE/TIME data types and the long-awaited MERGE statement. In addition, many existing subsystems, such as Service Broker and the SQL CLR, have been improved as well. (Wait until you see what has been done to SQL Reporting Services!)   Come see Jerry give an overview of a handful of these new features, as well as a deep-dive into the T-SQL enhancements.

Speaker: Jerry Dixon

Jerry Dixon is an Application Development Consultant with Microsoft. He works as part of their Premier Support organization in Memphis, Tennessee, helping clients get the most out of the Microsoft development platform. Over the past 20 years he has led development projects for a number of enterprise, mid-level, and small business organizations. While he has fulfilled multiple roles as an infrastructure designer, database administrator, and software developer, he specializes in XML, SQL and ASP.NET. He is a past President of the Memphis .NET User Group, and is a frequent presenter at developer events around the region. Jerry holds the following Microsoft certifications: MCSD (VB 6.0 and .NET), MCDBA (SQL 2000), MCSA (Windows 2000 and 2003), MCSE (Windows 2000), MCAD (.NET), and MCT.
In his spare time, Jerry works with stained glass and takes Martial Arts classes. (He has a Blue Sash in Kung Fu, and a Brown/White Belt in Karate.) He also enjoys wood-working and computer gaming.

For more information, Contact:
Dan Evans: Dan.Evans@mem-pass.org
Alvin Ramard: Alvin.Ramard@mem-pass.org

If you wish to attend, please register for the event on the CodeZone website and use the following "Access Code": MEM-PASS-Member

Attendance is free and pizza is provided.

Next Meeting: Monday, February 16, 2009 @ 6:00 PM

Colin Neller — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:48:58 GMT

Topic: NHibernate
Tired of writing CRUD? Codegen or not, there's got to be a better way! NHibernate is the most excellent port of Java's Hibernate to the .NET platform offering flexibility and versatility to give you time to solve the problems you are paid to solve. We looking into extending the framework, configuration, mapping, concurrency, and solutions to the most common CRUD scenarios.

Speaker: Phil Japikse
Phil has been working with .Net since the early days, and developing software for over 20 years. Specializing in application architect and agile methodologies, Phil helps clients with eCommerce sites, shrink-wrapped and/or internal Smart Client/WPF applications, coaching teams in their transition to agile, and also teaches classes on Test Driven Development, Patterns and Practices, and various additional topics. Phil is an active member of the .Net community, serving as a director for the Cincinnati .Net User's Group and Software Architecture SIG, speaking throughout the Heartland for Code Camps and User Groups, and nationally at conferences such as VSLive. A Principal Consultant with Pinnacle Solutions Group, Inc. (www.pinnsg.com - a Senior level firm specializing in Custom Software, BI, and eCommerce solutions located in Cincinnati, OH), Phil is an avid .Net Application Architect, Developer, Speaker, and Trainer. Phil is also a contributing author for www.NPlus1.org, a site by architects, for architects. Phil currently holds MCSD.Net, MCDBA, and Certified Scrum Master certifications. Phil also serves as a Firefighter/Paramedic/Instructor for the local fire department and volunteers for the National Ski Patrol. You can follow Phil on twitter via www.twitter.com/skimedic and read his blog at www.japikse.blogspot.com.

Next Meeting: Thursday, January 22, 2009 @ 6:00 PM

Colin Neller — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:33:23 GMT

Topic: Introduction to DotNetNuke, and enhancements in version 5
DotNetNuke is an open-source Web Application Framework/Content Management System idea for creating and deploying projects such as commercial websites, corporate intranets and extranets, online publishing portals, and custom vertical applications. As the leading open source web application framework based on Microsoft ASP.NET (VB.Net) platform, it has been downloaded and installed hundreds of thousands of times. In this presentation, we will go through the basic features and functionality of DotNetNuke, and then discuss the enhancements in the recent release of version 5.0.

Speaker: Brian Swanson
Brian Swanson is the founder of Purple Ant Software, a software and website development firm based in Memphis, TN. Starting off programming in Turbo Pascal, progressing through Clipper, Delphi, and then into .Net development, he's been developing software for fun or as a profession for 15+ years. Brian has been focused exclusively on .Net development for the past 7 years working on projects either as an employee or a consultant for small start-up Internet companies up to Fortune 500 companies. He holds the Microsoft Certified Database Administrator for SQL Server, and Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer for .Net certifications. Brian has recently been added to several of the DotNetNuke module projects as a team member. Check his blog out at http://www.purpleant.com/Blogs/BrianSwanson/tabid/64/Default.aspx

Next Meeting: Thursday, November 20, 2008 @ 6:00 PM

James Hanauer — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:50:00 GMT

Topic: Rosario - The Next Version of Visual Studio Team System
The phrase "drive quality upstream" has been abused so badly by ALM software vendors that it has to be relegated to the platitude junk pile along with such all time favorites as "work smarter not harder," "think outside the box," and "synergistic leveraging of code reuse." Before we drive quality anywhere, we need to give quality a seat at the table. VSTS Rosario release will do this by automatically gathering critical information about the project and code and making that data available when, where and to whom it is needed. During this discussion we will examine how Rosario impacts quality across the application lifecycle by:

Allowing testers to provide developers with details about what the code did instead of just providing the details about what the tester did.
Allowing development leads and architects to visualize and understand their current code (not the code they wish they had, but the code they really have) so that they can minimize the impact of changes; and
Allowing developers to understand the impact of their changes in terms of affected tests, concurrency and bounds checking.

The Rosario release of VSTS will bring all project stakeholders together to allow richer information to be shared across every role to make software quality accessible and achievable.

Speaker: Mark Mydland
Mark Mydland is a Group Manager for the Visual Studio Team Edition for Software Testers product at Microsoft. In the past 12 years, Mark has worked as a developer and consultant across a wide variety of applications and industries. Mark first joined Microsoft in 2001 working as a member of the Natural Interactive Services Division (NISD). During his time in that group, Mark was the development manager for a team focused on analytics for assessing the efficacy of natural language interpreters with a particular emphasis on driving authoring simplification and relevance quality for user assistance. Based on this work, Mark filed numerous patents and coauthored a paper for the SIGIR journal. In 2004, Mark left Microsoft to work as a Director of Development at Getty Images where he led a change in process from a traditional waterfall methodology to a scrum-based agile approach which brought the release frequency from 12-18 months down to 1 month. Since Getty made extensive use of VSTS, it seemed a natural fit for Mark to join VSTS on his return to Microsoft in 2006. Mark received his B.S. from West Point in 1991. He has also held positions with USWeb/marchFirst and Andersen Consulting/Accenture.

Member Savings for Upcoming New Horizons Classes

James Hanauer — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 21:22:00 GMT

New Horizons is offering Special Savings to .Net User Group Members for these upcoming classes….

Course 6464A: Visual Studio 2008: ADO.NET 3.5 (Oct 29)
$200 Off .NET User Group Members!

ASP.NET Using Visual Basic 2005 (Nov 3)
$200 Off .NET User Group Members!

Course 4994A: Introduction to Programming Microsoft .NET Framework Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Nov 10)
$500 Off .NET User Group Members!

For More information call…

Tenelle Jones
(Sales Manager)
901-328-2151
tjones@nhmemphis.com
www.nhmemphis.com

Next Meeting: Thursday, October 23, 2008 @ 6:00 PM

Colin Neller — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:07:36 GMT

Topic: Introduction to Silverlight 2
Silverlight 2 brings the power of .NET to the browser by combining a powerful UI rendering engine with a programming model that Microsoft developers are already familiar with. In this presentation, we will explore the capabilities of Silverlight along with an overview of how Silverlight applications are developed.

Speaker: Colin Neller
Colin Neller is a Software Engineer with Memphis-based ServiceU Corporation. He has a wide variety of development experience including hosting Internet Explorer, P/Invoke & COM Interop, business application design and implementation, and various client-side technologies. Colin is an enthusiastic supporter of the .NET community, a frequent presenter at regional events, and president of the Memphis .NET User Group. Check out his blog at http://colinneller.com/blog/.

New Horizons of Memphis - Visual Studio 2008 Training

Colin Neller — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:56:19 GMT

New Horizons of Memphis has some Visual Studio 2008 training classes coming up. Mention this blog or the .NET User Group and receive a special discount. Below are the classes:

For more information on these classes please contact Tenelle Jones, 901-328-2151, or tjones@nhmemphis.com. Thank you.

Next Meeting: Thursday, September 25, 2008 @ 6:00 PM

James Hanauer — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:45:00 GMT

Topic: Windows PowerShell
Windows PowerShell is a command-line shell with associated scripting language that brings the power of the .NET Framework to the command line. It provides features that can benefit both system administrators and developers. We'll introduce PowerShell and go over why developers should be interested in the command line and we'll also cover the benefits that scripting can provide, whether that be through efficiency or automating repetitive tasks.

Speaker: David Mohundro
David Mohundro is a software developer at Data-Tronics, Corp. in Fort Smith, AR and a of the co-founder/leader of the Fort Smith, AR .NET User Group (at http://www.fsdnug.org). He has over 5 years of experience developing software using technologies ranging from classic ASP and JavaScript to Windows Forms and WPF. David is enthusiastic about building decoupled and maintainable applications using practices such as Test Driven Development and he strives to be a lifelong learner. You can contact David through his blog at http://www.mohundro.com/blog/.

Next Meeting: Thursday, August 28, 2008 @ 6:00 PM

James Hanauer — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:31:00 GMT

Topic: Microsoft Business Intelligence - What's new in SQL 2008
The ultimate goal of business intelligence (BI) is to provide people with access to the information they need in the tools they use every day. This enables them to make better decisions, share insights with others, collaborate throughout the organization, and, ultimately, improve its bottom line.

Come hear how Business Intelligence (BI) is becoming the number one IT initiative and how Microsoft is responding to this need. The session will highlight the Microsoft BI 'stack' and related components, with an emphasis on the new features in SQL 2008 that support this approach. Leave with a better understanding on what BI is, how it will impact your future projects, and what you can do to prepare.

Speaker: Dan Evans
Dan Evans benefits from more than 15 years in information technology management in data analysis, design, development, testing, deployment, strategy, and consulting. Daniel's key interests are in business intelligence, data warehousing, executive information strategy, and IT governance/compliance. His work crosses several industries such as retail, insurance, health services, manufacturing, marketing, logistics, telecommunications, and professional services. Daniel promotes technology for business use through various channels by sponsoring user groups like The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) Mid-South Chapter and the Mid-South Data Management Association (DAMA) chapter.

First Meeting of the Memphis SharePoint User’s Group

James Hanauer — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:14:00 GMT

The newly forming Memphis SharePoint Users' Group is encouraging all interested parties to attend the first meeting on September 9, 2008.
This is a first, and organizational meeting for Memphis.

Topic: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server as a Development Platform.
Speaker: Matt Smith
Matt is Microsoft's SharePoint Technical Solution Specialist for Tennessee and was formerly a Program Manager for Microsoft's Office Live Platform working with a team in Redmond.

Date: SEPTEMBER 9, 2008
Time: 4PM to 6PM CST
Venue: New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Memphis
4775 American Way • Memphis, TN • 38118

Agenda:
4:00 Introductions
4:10 Open Discussion of User Group Organization
4:30 Matt Smith – MOSS as a Development Platform
5:30 Survey of the Group's Interest in Future Meeting Topics

Registration:
There is no cost to join or attend.
Click to register for this meeting and register for the Memphis SharePoint Users Group.

Directions:
If you have not been to New Horizons, Take I-240 to Exit 18; South on Perkins, Left on American Way; New Horizons is on the right. 4775 American Way.

Information and updates:
Please visit http://www.sharepointusersgroup.net/.

Next Meeting: Thursday, July 24, 2008 @ 6:00 PM

James Hanauer — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:58:00 GMT

Topic: Care About Your Craft – Adventures in the art of software development
Whether you are writing your application in C# or Javascript, we are always looking for continuous improvement and to take a more pragmatic approach to our craft. These are lessons learned from past applications and projects, with an influence from the Pragmatic Programmer and many mentors, that will help build a positive culture around your projects.

Speaker: Tim Wingfield
Tim has been involved in web design and development for over 10 years. For the last three years Tim has been a developer with the Business Solutions Group at Quick Solutions Inc. in Columbus, OH. Tim has a wide range of knowledge in .Net but focuses on the user interface and the user experience in ASP.Net applications. He has been involved with many successful projects for clients in health care, government, and consumer services, among others. In what time is left over, Tim enjoys coaching his sons' hockey teams, playing a little hockey himself, and traveling with his family.

devLink 2008 – Are you going?

Colin Neller — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:22:38 GMT

If you're not already planning to attend devLink in Nashville, I would HIGHLY recommend that you consider it. It's a two day conference in Nashville (August 22 – 23) and the cost is incredibly low: $50 before July 4 and $75 after. In order to cut costs further, some of our fellow .NETters in Arkansas are considering getting a bus together and picking some of us up on the way to the conference, so if you're interested in riding that bus, let me know at cneller@mnug.net

I hope to see you there!

$1,000 Discount for Local .NET Training

Colin Neller — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:38:21 GMT

From Tenelle Jones at New Horizons:

I have the following .NET class coming next Monday, July 7^th, and we need more registrations for this class. We are having a "fire sell" on this particular date in order to try and get more folks. I know this is an older technology but if you have anyone interested I will sell it to them for $2500-$1000= $1499! For questions regarding this class you can connect with Tenelle Jones, Sales Manager for New Horizons, 901-328-2151 or tjones@nhmemphis.com. Thanks!

Course 2555: Developing Microsoft .NET Applications for Windows (Visual C# .NET)

Published on: 1/20/2006, Classroom Training

This five-day, instructor-led course provides students with the skills required to build Microsoft Windows Forms applications by using the Microsoft .NET Framework. This course is a part of the Microsoft Visual C# .NET curriculum and is intended to provide C# programmers with the skills required to create Windows Forms applications by using the .NET Framework. The course will cover the major topics for Windows client application programming on the .NET Framework. These topics include: Windows Forms, GDI+, simple data access, interoperating with unmanaged code, threading and asynchronous programming issues, simple remoting, Web access, Web Services consumption, debugging, security, and deployment issues for desktop applications.

Next Meeting: Thursday, June 26, 2008 @ 6:00 PM

Colin Neller — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:55:04 GMT

Topic: Discovering C# 3.0 and LINQ
Gain an understanding of some of the many features C# 3.0 has to offer. Learn how you can leverage Language Integrated Query (LINQ) in your applications. This presentation will demonstrate practical uses of the new C# 3.0 features along with overviews of LINQ to Objects, LINQ to SQL and LINQ to XML

Speaker: John Kellar
John Kellar is the Founder and Chairman of the devLink Technical Conference. He is a Technical Consultant with Compuware Corporation and owner of Anvil Systems in Nashville, TN. John is also a member of the Nashville .NET User Group Board of Directors and an occasional speaker at technical events. John has developed solutions in several markets including healthcare, government, financial services and manufacturing.

Next Meeting: Thursday, May 22, 2008 @ 6:00 PM

Colin Neller — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:31:52 GMT

Topic: Windows Workflow Foundation
Mark will cover a brief introduction to workflow to explain where it fits and why you would interested in this new toy as a developer.

Windows Workflow Foundation also includes the ability to define rule driven workflows with a powerful rules engine. Mark will dig into the rules engine and explain how forward chaining works, how you can take control of rule evaluation yourself and how to use the various attributes that control how the rules engine makes its decisions. You'll also learn the secret of making dynamic changes to rules for a running workflow.

Speaker: Mark Dunn
Mark has over 20 years of experience in the disciplines of software engineering, database administration, and project management. Software that Mark developed for the radio industry is still in use today. He was a lead developer on the team that created Tapscan, a well-known Arbritron ratings analysis package that has dominated that industry for many years. He is the president of DUNN Training and Consulting, Inc. a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner based in Atlanta, GA.

For the past four years, Mark has been awarded MVP status for his contributions to the Visual Studio .Net community and he serves as Microsoft's Regional Director covering the Southeast United States. Mark also co-founded .Net Rocks, an Internet radio program for .Net developers recognized in over 80 countries and now hosted by Microsoft on the MSDN site. He is a popular speaker at conferences such as TechEd and DevConnections as well as a member of the INETA speakers bureau.

Mark is also a Microsoft Certified Trainer, Application Developer, Solution Developer for .Net, and Database Administrator.