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‘Meetings’ Category

  1. May Meeting – iOS Development using C# & MonoTouch

    May 10, 2012 by John Clayton

    iOS is a wildly popular mobile platform, but getting started developing apps can be a bit intimidating. Picking up Objective-C, iOS APIs and idiomatic development practices is a lot to bite off all at once. In this session, I will demonstrate the fundamentals needed to develop iOS applications using Xamarin’s MonoTouch platform.

    After this session, you will understand what is needed to get started, how to use popular .NET OSS libraries in iOS and how to use Interface Builder to create lovely UIs for your app.

    If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: McCormick Conference Center, 2419 Montana Ave (Please use the side entrance).

    Date: Thursday May 17th, 5:30pm

    Speaker: Bobby Johnson

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  2. March Meeting – RavenDB

    March 4, 2012 by John Clayton

    Are you a .NET developer who’s thinking about using a NoSQL database for your next project? Tired of maintaining delicate schemas? Looking for something easier to install & administer (and a whole lot more affordable) than SQL Server? Want a rich, full-featured, yet still easy to use client? Need full-text search?

    Look no further than RavenDB! This month we’ll be taking a closer look at RavenDB, its features, and what makes it unique from the other players in the NoSQL game.

    If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: McCormick Conference Center, 2419 Montana Ave (Please use the side entrance).

    Date: Thursday March 8th, 5:30pm

    Speaker: John Clayton

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  3. February Meeting – Introduction to Windows 8

    February 2, 2012 by John Clayton

    This month’s presentation will cover some introductory concepts coming in Window 8 and .net 4.5. Windows 8 was debuted last September at the MSBuild conference, and the consumer preview will be available towards the end of February. Windows 8 represents a major paradigm shift for Windows both in the desktop experience, and in how applications will be created and delivered. At this session we will cover concepts such as:

    • What is a metro app?
    • What is the driving force behind a metro app?  Why would I create a metro app?  Why wouldn’t I create a metro app?
    • What is  WinRT?
    • What is the new await and async keywords coming in .net 4.5.  How do they improve asynchronous programming?
    • Demos of Windows 8 devices

    The presenter for this talk will be Larry Miller of Computers Unlimited.  Larry attended the MSBuild conference last September where many of these topics were introduced.

    Recommended Audience:

    • .Net developers wanting a sneak peak at what is coming for both Windows 8 and .net 4.5
    • Individuals curious about what Windows 8 is, why it was created, and why you would want it

    All examples will be done using Visual Studio 11 and .net 4.5. This is due to this being the only environment that supports Metro development. So if you wish to follow along, you will need to download and install Visual Studio 11 from Microsoft.

    If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: McCormick Conference Center, 2419 Montana Ave (Please use the side entrance).

    Date: Thursday February 9th, 5:30pm

    Speaker: Larry Miller

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  4. January Meeting – MSBuild

    January 6, 2012 by John Clayton

    This month’s presentation highlights Microsoft’s Build Platform known as MSBuild. MSBuild, introduced with Visual Studio 2005, is an XML-Based Scripting Language similar to Apache’s Ant (or its .NET equivalent NAnt) that is used throughout the Visual Studio ecosystem including Team Foundation Server. MSBuild also has support in continuous integration suites such as CruiseControl.NET and limited Mono Support.  Join us as Ace Olszowka (Computers Unlimited) presents an introduction to MSBuild scripting covering the basics of the language, including simple batching and interoperability with the .NET Framework via Custom Task Programming.

    Recommended Audience:

    • .NET Developers wanting to understand VS Build System Under the Hood
    • Build Maters/Developers Interested in Scripting their build system.
    • Those looking to learn another Scripting Language that comes as a free rider with most .NET Framework installations.

    It is recommended that you bring a laptop to follow along in the fun as we’ll have interactive demos. Requirements include installation of the .NET Framework (preferably 4.0, but I’ll strive to make the examples 2.0 compatible). Visual Studio is recommended because of its excellent XML code completion capabilities, but any text editor that can edit XML files can be used.

    If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: McCormick Conference Center, 2419 Montana Ave (Please use the side entrance).

    Date: Thursday January 12th, 5:30pm

    Speaker: Ace Olszowka

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  5. December Meeting – All about SQL 2012 and Azure

    December 5, 2011 by John Clayton

    SQL 2012 (formerly code named Denali) introduces hundreds of enhancements to provide better performance, reduced storage, easier security, and many more features.

    It is widely known that the Cloud can ease your data storage problems, but it also contains a wealth of information that you can use with your proprietary data.

    If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: McCormick Conference Center, 2419 Montana Ave (Please use the side entrance).

    Date: Thursday December 8th, 5:30pm

    Speaker: Andrew Baker

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  6. November Meeting – Introduction to Parallel Programming

    November 4, 2011 by John Clayton

    Parallel Programming is a great way to write programs that scale as processors add more cores. In the past these types of programs were very hard to write, requiring programmers to explicitly manage threads and locks. Microsoft’s Parallel Task Library provides many powerful abstractions that allow you to write your programs at a higher level.

    We will examine the fundamentals of Parallel Programming, including the difference between Parallel and Concurrent or Asynchronous Programming, expected speedup from parallelism (Amndahl’s Law), and common parallel patterns and techniques.

    Lastly we will look at some real world examples of Parallelism, and discuss tips and ideas for incorporating parallelism in to existing code.

    If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: McCormick Conference Center, 2419 Montana Ave (Please use the side entrance).

    Date: Thursday November 10th, 5:30pm

    Speaker: John Atwood

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  7. October Meeting – Bleeding Edge Web

    October 14, 2011 by John Clayton

    It wasn’t long ago that a desktop application was the de facto way to get your software in front of users. Then you got to repeat the process to reach users on different platforms. The rise of smart phones added even more platforms to develop for. Why do we go through all this trouble to reach users? There is a better way  - the web!

    Built into every modern browser (yes, even IE) are powerful capabilities that allow you write your application once and instantly reach every user, on every platform, and on nearly any device. This month we’ll be taking a look at some of the features of HTML5 that allow you to build the next generation applications that simply run in your browser!

    We’ll be playing a hilarious, real-time multiplayer game as part of the presentation. If you have a laptop please bring it along to join in the fun!

    If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: McCormick Conference Center, 2419 Montana Ave (Please use the side entrance).

    Date: Thursday October 20th, 6:00pm

    Speaker: Justin Bozonier (@darkxanthos) & Matt Mirande (@b_sted)

    Update (10/21/2011)

    Slides from the presentation can be found here.

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  8. September Meeting – All About Search

    September 12, 2011 by John Clayton

    How do users find content in your application? Do they have to know exactly what they’re looking for in order to find it? Adding full-text searching to your application is easier than you might think, and that is the topic of this month’s meeting. We’ll take a look at the basics of indexing and searching content, and look at a few different technology choices you can implement.

    If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: McCormick Conference Center, 2419 Montana Ave (Please use the side entrance).

    Date: Thursday September 15th, 5:30pm

    Speaker: John Clayton

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  9. August Meeting – Fluent APIs

    August 10, 2011 by John Clayton

    Learn to create fluent APIs.  I have been searching for techniques for creating fluent APIs over the last couple years. We will review some successful fluent APIs. Learn popular techniques for creating your own fluent APIs. Learn when fluent APIs are appropriate and what makes a good API.

    If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: McCormick Conference Center, 2419 Montana Ave.

    Date: Thursday August 18th, 5:30pm

    Speaker: Adam Dockter

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  10. July Meeting – An Introduction to F#

    July 8, 2011 by John Clayton

    This month we will have a gentle introduction to F# for object oriented programmers. Starting with a basic overview of functional programming, continuing to highlight some of the differences between object oriented, and finally functional approaches to solving problems. We will look at cases where functional programming techniques are potentially simpler than or more productive than object oriented approaches.

    Specifically we will be looking at:
    - F# scripting, and REPL based development
    - Basic functional data structures and patterns
    - Some examples of asynchronous programming in F#

    We will have pizza and refreshments at the meeting. If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form.

    Location: College of Education, Room 122, MSU Billings (Map)

    Date: Thursday July 14th, 5:30pm

    Speaker: John Atwood

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