Last month we discussed the history of WPF, .NET and what it means for the future. I just scratched the surface of getting into some of the code and details on how to develop Windows 10 Universal apps. I also introduced an Open Source project called Template 10 that provides helpers and templates for building Windows 10 apps. Well, I’m coming back to show more. Even if you don’t plan on developing Windows 10 Universal apps right now. Join us to learn some great C# patterns and who knows you just might leave ready to build the next great app. Please feel free to check out Template 10 on GitHub and bring any comments, questions or suggestions to the meeting.

Bio: Daren May [website] [twitter] [linkedin]

Daren May is the President and co-founder of Crank211 — a company that specializes in designing and building next-level digital experiences. Prior to starting Crank211, Daren was the CTO and VP of Operations for a software consultancy and a practice lead for EMC Consulting. Daren has leveraged Microsoft technologies since the beta versions of Visual Studio .NET and has been developing XAML-based solutions since the heady days of “Avalon” (the early name for WPF).

Meeting Details: The meeting will start promptly at 6:00 PM. Food and prizes are provided.
MEETING LOCATION: Epicentral (Downtown Colorado Springs). View location details (link).

Windows 10 is upon us. In this introduction to Windows 10 for developers, we discuss changes in lifecycle, background tasks, tiles, toast, and the enhancements to XAML and the tooling. We will also review some new aspects of C# and improvements around .NET Native.

Bio: Jerry Nixon [e-mail] [blog] [twitter] [linkedin]

Jerry Nixon is a Developer Evangelist for Microsoft, teaching and speaking on Windows, Phone, and Desktop. Seasoned in Colorado, his career launched with Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 — he was delivering data-centric solutions while "database developer" was a novel term. He received a civilian Naval Commendation for security work, preceding his work for the Start Up that become Microsoft CRM. The bulk of Jerry's work targeted insurance and finance, especially not-for-profits. For 15 years, he built Microsoft-centric solutions and mobile apps. Today, Jerry speaks on XAML, mobility and Kinect at events, communities, and schools — influencing another generation of excellent, Microsoft developers. To that end, most of Jerry's free time is spent teaching his three daughters Star Trek character backstories and episode plots.

Meeting Details: The meeting will start promptly at 6:00 PM. Food and prizes are provided.
MEETING LOCATION: Epicentral (Downtown Colorado Springs). View location details (link).

This presentation will look at using AppDynamics to monitor and troubleshoot your application performance. Find out how you can deploy and use AppDynamics to monitor Application and Database performance.

Bio: Jeremy Simmons [twitter] [linkedin]

Jeremy Simmons is currently a Lead .Net Developer at Consolidated Grain & Barge Enterprises, Inc. He has 10 years experience developing desktop and web software using Microsoft technologies. He has also worked as a Windows System Administrator, SharePoint Admin and trainer, and unofficially as a Microsoft Technology Evangelist. He has been programming ever since he could reach the keyboard, and coding in the .Net Framework since 2001 when it was in beta.
He has been an active member in the Colorado front range .Net community and member of the South Colorado .Net User Group for the past 5 years.
Jeremy spends his free time with his wife, new son Jesse, and at his Christian church. He resides in Colorado Springs, where he has lived his entire life.

Meeting Details: The meeting will start promptly at 6:00 PM. Food and prizes are provided.
MEETING LOCATION: Epicentral (Downtown Colorado Springs). View location details (link).

Most of us have some experience with full on ORMs like EF and NHibernate. If you've ever worked with these ORMs and found yourself thinking "This would be so easy if I was just using straight SQL" then you might like Dapper. Dapper was developed by the StackOverflow guys to handle situations where fine grained control over the SQL and performance were an issue. It's an example of a style of data access known as MicroORM and it's kind of awesome.
We'll go over how to use Dapper, talk about the architectural decisions it encourages, and then take a look at how I'm using Dapper is in a real world application.

Bio: Rudy Lacovara [blog] [twitter] [linkedin] [e-mail]

Rudy Lacovara is an opinionated developer who gets fired up over the most efficient techniques to write and maintain code. Rudy is the Technical Cofounder of Well Data Labs (http://welldatalabs.com) and spends his days creating software for oil and gas companies.

Meeting Details: The meeting will start promptly at 6:00 PM. Food and prizes are provided.
MEETING LOCATION: Epicentral (Downtown Colorado Springs). View location details (link).

Due to scheduling conflicts, this month's meeting will be held on Thursday instead of Tuesday.

C# 101: for those who want to develop in the C# language. All interested will get a chance to learn the basics of the language, how it interacts with .Net and will be given a working knowledge of the editor Visual Studio 2013. Bring your laptop downloaded with the free fully working version of Visual Studio Community Edition which targets everyone (except those in corporate settings) and follow along with the examples and learning. Explore a new language and tap into features such as Windows Azure, SQL Server and Visual Studio Online all through the power of C#. All examples will be online and accessible during and after the presentation to help you continue your learning experience.
(Optional) Download the Visual Studio Community Edition (before the meeting only please because Wi-Fi is limited)

Bio: William Wegerson [blog] [twitter] [linkedin]

William has been recognized by Microsoft as a community volunteer in promoting Microsoft technologies for the past six years as a C# MVP. He as a .Net related blog of OmegaCoder.com and does other such learning events to help developers be productive in Microsoft technologies. He also has helped organize the past two and upcoming Denver Dev Days events (May and October and one June 6th) for programmers looking to learn new technologies.

Meeting Details: The meeting will start promptly at 6:00 PM. Food and prizes are provided.
MEETING LOCATION: Epicentral (Downtown Colorado Springs). View location details (link).

Find out how you can create Cross-platform apps using XAML as the UI for all platforms!
This session will dive into Xamarin.Forms, a new addition to Xamarin that allows developers to create Cross-platform applications using C# and XAML across all platforms.

Bio: Shawn Kendrot [blog] [twitter] [linkedin]

Shawn Kendrot is a Microsoft MVP in Windows Platform Development with a love for all things XAML. Shawn has been building mobile apps for three years and started using Xamarin.Forms when it was released.

Meeting Details: The meeting will start promptly at 6:00 PM. Food and prizes are provided.
MEETING LOCATION: Epicentral (Downtown Colorado Springs). View location details (link).

ASP.Net 5 is coming soon and with it are some major changes. It has been redesigned from the ground up and is now completely open sourced, cross platform, and highly modular. We will take a look at the new .Net Core CLR, the K runtime, and how MVC6 combines both MVC and Web API into a unified API. Come join us and see how ASP.Net 5 is bringing the .Net stack into the modern web world.

Bio: Ely Lucas [blog] [twitter] [linkedin]

Ely Lucas is a web and mobile developer that works at Aspenware and helps clients create amazing software. Ely has been developing web applications for over 15 years, and is a former Microsoft MVP for ASP.Net. He loves to share his knowledge and is active in the local developer community.

Meeting Details: The meeting will start promptly at 6:00 PM. Food and prizes are provided.
MEETING LOCATION: Epicentral (Downtown Colorado Springs). View location details (link).

Please stay tuned for information regarding March's meeting.

Since this is the last meeting of the year, Ben Hoelting will lead a group discussion related to the biggest developer-related stories of 2014. Once we put the lid on 2014, we will take a look into the crystal ball and try to define what is going to be big in 2015. Ben will prepare some slides to lead the discussion. He will also have some demos of ASP.NET vNext to share with the group and spark some discussion. This is the Holiday meeting so we will get some better food and celebrate another great year for software developers. Don’t miss it!

Bio: Ben Hoelting [blog] [twitter] [linkedin]

Ben Hoelting is Director of Technology at Aspenware, C# MVP and a Telerik Insider. He graduated from Colorado State University in 1997 with a BS in Computer Information Systems and a Minor in Computer Science. Ben joined the IT industry in 1996 as an intern and has worked with .NET since its inception back in 2001. Ben is a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) for Web and Windows .NET 4.0. Finally, Ben is very involved in the local .NET community and is the leader of the South Colorado .NET User Group.

Meeting Details: The meeting will start promptly at 6:00 PM. Food and prizes are provided.
MEETING LOCATION: Epicentral (Downtown Colorado Springs). View location details (link).