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Tracks 1–6
DevWeek |
Track 7 & Track 8
SQL Server DevCon |
09.30 |
Technical Keynote – Cloud Computing: a New Era of Software Development
Aaron Skonnard
A new platform is emerging – one that promises to simplify the processes around deploying, hosting, and managing your applications using low-cost shared infrastructure that is widely accessible using open Web protocols – and this platform is commonly referred to as “the cloud”. This movement is producing a great deal of energy and excitement throughout the industry because of the business and technical benefits inherent in the model. This session introduces the key cloud computing concepts, what Microsoft is doing in this space, and how you’ll be able to start taking advantage of it today. |
11.00 |
Coffee Break |
11.30 |
TRACK 1
Visual Studio 2010 – what’s new in the managed languages?
Mike Taulty
Changes to the languages have an impact on every .NET developer. Visual Studio 2010 will ship with C# version 4.0 and Visual Basic 10.0. In this session, we’ll split our time and take a look at what’s coming in the two languages for developers working on managed applications. We’ll see whether C# has forged ahead or whether VB has caught up and is now leaping ahead. Expect the session to major on code and spend less time with PowerPoint.
TRACK 2
Microsoft Source Analysis (or how to start a fight)
Guy Smith-Ferrier
In May 2008 Microsoft finally released Source Analysis (aka StyleCop). Source Analysis does for C# source code what FxCop does for assemblies – it applies ‘good practice’ rules to your source code. This means all those controversial code beauty issues like spaces, where to put curly braces, how and when to use blank lines and over 200 similar rules. This session gets you started using Source Analysis, investigates a selection of rules, shows how to integrate Source Analysis into Visual Studio and your build process and finally shows how to write your own custom rules. This is a low tech session on an essential tool that all C# developers should be using.
Prerequisites: Knowledge of C#.
TRACK 3
Introduction to the Windows Workflow Foundation
Richard Blewett
There are many challenges to writing software. Not least of these are lack of transparency of code and creating software that can execute correctly in the face of process or machine restart. Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) introduces a new way of writing software that solves these problems and more. This session explains what WF brings to your applications, and how it works. Along the way we will see the major features of WF that make it a very powerful tool in your toolkit, removing the need for you to write a lot of complex plumbing.
TRACK 4
A lap around Silverlight 2
Dave Wheeler
Silverlight 2 is one of the hottest technologies around. Get in on the ground floor with this session, which will provide a solid grounding in all aspects of Silverlight 2. Learn what it is; how it integrates into your existing ASP.NET or other Web applications; how to use controls and layout panels to create effective user interfaces; and how to apply animation and styling for visual interest. This is a critical session for anyone planning to use Silverlight 2 in the near future.
TRACK 5
ASP.NET roadmap
Mike Ormond
This session is focused on the next release of ASP.NET. We’ll take a look at new controls, enhancements to existing controls, and improvements to the level of control you have over your controls! We’ll also examine the latest AJAX enhancements, as well as what we’re up to with MVC and Dynamic Data.
TRACK 6
Objects of desire
Kevlin Henney
Given that object orientation underpins modern programming languages, it would be expected that anyone using languages such as C# would also know about OO. In one sense this is true, but there is more to effective modern object-oriented development than just creating a few objects and calling a few methods. Many developers working in C# and related languages have not had the opportunity or exposure to effective object-oriented practice that would allow them to avoid common design pitfalls and to make more effective use of the language.
Although object orientation is far from being a new approach (think Sergeant Pepper), and it’s also far from being obscure, its mainstream adoption by programmers and programming languages alike is not always as effective as it could be, and sometimes the results can be less than desirable (to put it politely). This session aims to put a number of
concepts many developers may be unsure of on a firmer footing, highlighting common pitfalls in OO practice – such as abuse of inheritance, simplistic getter/setter interfaces, patternitis, use of singleton objects – and emphasising techniques that promote an easier life, such as loose coupling, unit testability, pattern-based design thinking, incremental and sufficient design. |
TRACK 7
SQL Server 2008 for developers
Niels Berglund
SQL Server 2008 introduces some new and exciting features that should get developers very excited and make their lives easier. In this session we will take an in-depth look at some of the features that SQL Server 2008 offers; tables as parameters, the MERGE keyword, new data types, etc.
TRACK 8
Dealing with SQL queries that users actually want to ask
Greg Low
IT Professionals tend to like everything neat and well-defined. Users, however, love applications that deal efficiently and effectively with their imprecise requests. The full-text search capabilities in SQL Server 2008 provide your application with the power to effectively deal with these requests. In this session, Greg will provide coverage of the full-text search system in SQL Server 2008, including configuration, querying and ongoing management. This talk is aimed at existing SQL Server developers with at least a year’s experience. |
13.00 |
Lunch |
14.00 |
TRACK 1
Visual Studio 2010 – overview of the Parallel Extensions to .NET
Mike Taulty
Concurrency is everywhere. Even modern laptops ship with a minimum of two processor cores, so avoiding concurrent programming isn’t really an option for a modern application. In this session we’ll take a lap around the forthcoming Parallel Extensions to the .NET Framework, which provide a set of classes to help with concurrent programming tasks ranging from the relatively low-level thread and data synchronisation API’s through to the higher-level task-based APIs and the implementation of LINQ (Parallel LINQ – PLINQ) which provides for some declarative parallelisation of your LINQ queries.
TRACK 2
IronRuby
Tim Ewald
Ruby is a dynamically-typed, object-oriented language that’s incredibly productive to work in. IronRuby is an implementation of the Ruby language that runs on the .NET CLR. This talk explores the Ruby language, its integration with .NET, and the benefits that both offer to developers working hard to get more done in less time. IronRuby is one of the most important projects Microsoft is working on, come see why.
TRACK 3
The ABCs of programming WCF
Aaron Skonnard
WCF provides a unified communications framework for the .NET framework, which improves the overall developer experience, messaging flexibility, and interoperability with other communication frameworks. Learning how to program WCF is as simple as learning your ABC’s: addresses, bindings, and contracts. This session shows you how to get started today.
TRACK 4
Advanced Silverlight 2: Communications with the big bad world
Dave Wheeler
Silverlight 2 applications are not isolated islands: they communicate with page content; support features such as isolated storage; and make use of WCF, sockets and other communications mechanisms to integrate with their site of origin and other servers. Come to this session and learn how to make your Silverlight applications talk to the world; and also learn how to make your Web applications allow communications (securely) with other Silverlight applications.
TRACK 5
ASP.NET AJAX 4.0
Fritz Onion
This talk looks at the next version of ASP.NET AJAX (4.0) and how it improves your client-side development experience. Specifically, it will cover the new client-side template and data binding model, declarative control instantiation, the new DataView control, markup extensions, and bindings.
TRACK 6
Automating testing with Virtual Server
Guy Smith-Ferrier
Virtual Server is a free virtualization download from Microsoft. It allows you to run and maintain multiple virtual machines running different Microsoft operating systems in different configurations. Virtual Machines allow you to test your software in different configurations without the need for buying and maintaining separate physical machines. Virtual Server includes an API for programmatically controlling these virtual machines. This session describes this API and shows you how to use it to run automated tests on multiple platforms.
Prequisites: Basic understanding of unit testing. |
TRACK 7
SQL Server worst (and best) practices
Peter DeBetta
Time and again, you will hear people speak about “best practices” and “preferred practices” in SQL Server 2005, but nobody ever warns you about the things you shouldn’t be doing. Learn how to make your SQL server prone to SQL Injection, how to use the CLR for all data access, how to use cursors instead of DML, and so on. Come and learn from the master of worst practices!
TRACK 8
A SQL Server developer’s guide to CLR integration
Greg Low
CLR Integration is one of the most widely discussed aspects of SQL Server. In this session, Greg will explain in detail why adding support for the .NET framework is important for SQL Server, show in detail how to utilize this feature, discuss important development techniques (in particular the correct use of attributes) and provide guidelines for both using the technology. This talk is aimed at existing SQL Server developers with at least a year’s experience. |
15.30 |
Coffee Break |
16.00 |
TRACK 1
What’s new in WPF
Dave Wheeler
WPF has received several updates since its initial release. This session will bring your knowledge bang up to date as it covers all of the new features that have been released in WPF 3.5, .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and beyond. We’ll explore the variety of features ranging from support for the System.AddIn functionality through to the new controls and changes to data binding and validation. This session is a must for any developer that’s been using WPF and wants to know what’s hot and new. Please note that this session assumes that you have existing WPF experience.
TRACK 2
An introduction to C# 3 and LINQ
Tim Ewald
One of the most interesting technologies Microsoft has shipped recently is Language-Integrated Query: LINQ. LINQ builds on several new language features in C# 3, including lambdas, extension methods, anonymous types, property-based construction and more. This talk examines these features in detail, building LINQ from the bottom up. In addition to explaining how each of these features can be used on their own, this talk provides an excellent foundation for understanding how LINQ really works.
TRACK 3
WCF tips & tricks
Christian Weyer
WCF is hip. But: the more generic a framework is, the more complex it gets. The more features a framework offers, the more likely it is we miss important and powerful options. Christian Weyer tries to present his personal favourite list of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) tips and tricks – all gathered from experiences in real-world customer projects. If you need to apply WCF in your projects, you may not want to miss this session. Be sure to know your WCF basics, though.
TRACK 4
Introduction to the Entity Framework
Niels Berglund
Most .NET database applications out there use ADO.NET to access and manipulate data, and most of them have a data-access layer built on top of ADO.NET to abstract out many of the details related to data-access that can get in the way of business logic.
In this session we'll introduce the ADO.NET Entity Framework, a high-level data library that pushes up the level of abstraction application developers need to work at when dealing with data in databases. We look the support for conceptual modeling, the use of the object services layer to do object-relational mapping, and the integration of LINQ (Language Integrated Query).
Attendees should have some knowledge/experience of .NET and ADO.NET.
TRACK 5
ASP.NET MVC introduction
Fritz Onion
This talk is designed to introduce practicing ASP.NET developers to the new MVC (Model-View-Controller) framework available for ASP.NET. We will look at the differences between a typical ASP.NET application and an ASP.NET MVC application, and try to answer the most common questions that come up as developers migrate to this model, including: How do models, views, and controllers relate to pages? What advantages does this model offer over the standard Webforms model? Can I still build pages with designers and controls using MVC? Can I still use AJAX with ASP.NET MVC? …and many others.
TRACK 6
Lean code
Kevlin Henney
Ideally, code should be sufficient, comprehensible and modifiable, doing the right thing in the right way. In practice, code often falls short of this ideal. Unquestioned habits, misunderstood APIs, wizard-generated code and the inevitable march of time all contribute to an accumulation of accidental complexity that makes current and future work on a code base increasingly difficult and decreasingly agile.
The lessons of Lean Product Development and Lean Manufacturing have been applied to software development process, but the implications of Lean Software Development run deeper, affecting the day-to-day practices around code as well as the style of code. |
TRACK 7
XML in SQL Server
Peter DeBetta
XML has been a native type since SQL Server 2005. This session will explore this type, XML methods, new features for shredding and composing XML, indexing, XQuery, XPath, preferred practices for implementing XML, and other XML related topics, including the latest changes implemented for SQL Server 2008.
TRACK 8
Maximizing concurrency in applications
Greg Low
Maximizing concurrent use of applications is vital for SQL Server development. In this session, Greg will explain SQL Server isolation levels in detail, show the impact of changing isolation levels and provide techniques for maximizing concurrency while maintaining the validity and consistency of data. This talk is aimed at existing SQL Server developers with at least a year’s experience. |
17.30 |
Drinks Reception in the Exhibition Hall |
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