DevWeek 2012 Pre-Conference Workshops
Monday 26 March 2012
The following workshops run for a full day (from 09.30 to 17.30), with a short break in the morning and afternoon, and a lunch break at 13.00.
Unless otherwise noted in the descriptions, they are presentation-based rather than “hands-on” labs.
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A day of Metro
WORKSHOP REF: M1
Dave Wheeler
Metro.
With Windows 8, Microsoft has introduced a whole new paradigm for creating compelling and immersive applications.
With great support for touch; easy access to Windows services such as sensors and devices; a rich new runtime in WinRT; and support for a host of different programming languages, Metro offers you an opportunity to deliver great new applications across a diverse range of platforms.
This workshop will provide a fantastic insight into how to build Metro applications using both managed code, C++ and HTML/CSS/JavaScript.
You’ll see how to work with contracts, write and consume WinRT components, and of course create fantastic UIs.
This workshop is a must for anyone planning to develop for Metro. |
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A day of writing asynchronous code with C#5
WORKSHOP REF: M2
Andrew Clymer & Richard Blewett
Asynchronous programming is being pushed further into the norm with the introduction of the new async and awaits keywords. It is therefore becoming more and more important that we write async libraries for our own application stack. During this day we will do a deep dive into how these new features work, and into the mechanics of how best to deliver asynchronous functionality into your applications, focusing not only on asynchronous compute but also on asynchronous IO, and how you adapt existing old style APIs to work with the new coolness. |
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HTML5 workshop
WORKSHOP REF: M3
Jeff Prosise
HTML5 is the newest version of HTML, and it is taking the programming world by storm. It combines new markup elements with a host of new JavaScript APIs to bring HTML into the 21st century and to enable developers to build rich, feature-filled Web applications without relying on browser plug-ins such as Silverlight and Flash.
In this full-day pre-conference tutorial, we’ll take a deep dive into HTML5 and show all the bells and whistles, including new markup elements, browser support, audio and video, the canvas API, local storage, web workers, geolocation, and much, much more. |
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One day of mobile application development
WORKSHOP REF: M4
Dino Esposito
Mobile today refers to a number of radically different platforms requiring radically different skills. There are differences in development approach, languages, API and it even requires different computers. A mobile application is also simpler than a desktop application for the logic, but more complex for resource management and life cycle.
Based on four modules, this workshop offers a summary of the issues you face in a mobile project. The first module attempts to identify the most common patterns of mobile development. The remaining three cover each one of the most popular platforms – iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7 – and the same application will be discussed for the three platforms. |
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Agile primer
WORKSHOP REF: M5
Kevlin Henney
The word Agile has passed into the wider buzzwordsphere familiar to developers. But that does not mean its concepts, culture, associated processes and practices or implications are as widely understood. Agile development involves more than a passing familiarity with Scrum terminology, more than the occasional use of an automated testing framework and more than simply rebranding either a chaotic or bureaucratic in-house process and proclaiming “We’re Agile!”.
This one-day session will take a look at the thinking and motivation behind Agile development. Different approaches will be explored, from XP to Lean, from Scrum to Kanban. Various techniques and practices will be presented, from user stories to TDD, from estimation to visualisation.
This session is targeted at all roles in software development, whether developer or manager, architect or UI designer. |
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Design patterns in depth
WORKSHOP REF: M6
Allen Holub
Without good OO structure, Agile development, which mandates constant refactoring, fails. Design Patterns help by providing classes of solutions to common programming problems. Patterns, however, are usually presented in a catalog format that gives you no feeling for how the patterns are actually applied in the real world, where the patterns interact in complex ways.
This class discusses both good object-oriented structure and the most commonly used design patterns, using an in-depth analysis real code that demonstrates how the patterns work in context. We’ll also cover interface-based design and the make up of a well-structured object and class hierarchy.
The extensive code examples are in Java, but they should present no problem to C++ or C# programmers. |
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Designing and building ASP.NET MVC applications
WORKSHOP REF: M7
Kevin Jones
MVC as a style of web development has been around forever, but ASP.NET MVC only for a relatively short time. Creating your first MVC application is easy, but how do you ensure that the application is maintainable and extensible? How do you use the latest .NET tools and frameworks within MVC? How do you make sure the application is testable? How do you use routes and route constraints? What external tools are there to help you test and debug the application? How do you manage database access from within an MVC application? What’s the difference between a model and a view model?
During the day we will start from scratch and build a testable ASP.NET MVC application. The talks will cover MVC; testing; using IoC to create a more testable application; Entity Framework 4 and the Repository pattern. At the end of the day you will come away with a solid understanding of how to use various patterns and techniques to create a working ASP.NET MVC application. |
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Windows Azure workshop
WORKSHOP REF: M8
Matt Milner
This pre-conference seminar will expose developers to the tools, technologies and techniques required for developing “cloud” applications. All the major pillars of developing for Windows Azure will be covered including Web roles, SQL Azure, Service Bus, Access Control. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how to develop cloud applications for Windows Azure as well as some best practices and pitfalls to avoid. |
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New features in SQL Server 2012 for developers
WORKSHOP REF: M9
Bob Beauchemin
SQL Server 2012 includes many features to improve performance, make querying easier, and make using SQL Server possible with new scenarios. This day-long offering will cover not only the technical aspects of new and improved features, but also the use cases that SQL Server 2012 features will improve.
I’ll be covering:
• T-SQL improvements – new functions including paging, windowing, analysis, metadata, and improved error handling
• Performance improvements – including new query hints and columnstore indexes. Also includes new memory management that improves SQLCLR stability
• Full-text and semantic search – full-text search has been around for a while, but there are some useful new features like property lists and custom proximity queries. Semantic search is brand new and allows you to search into the meaning of documents
• FileTable – this allows you to store and query data on the file system within SQL Server, using all of the features for documents in SQL Server.
• Other features as time permits |
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Download code samples from DevWeek 2011
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