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  1. April Meeting – Set-based String Manipulation in SQL Server

    April 10, 2011 by John Clayton

    Split, parse, concatenate and more fun with strings in SQL. Learn more about how to turn those procedural string manipulations into powerful set-based declarative statements.

    We will have pizza and refreshments at the meeting, and have a fresh supply of prizes. If you plan to attend please leave a comment or drop a note on the contact form. Please note the time – we’re starting at 6:00 this month!

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

    Date (Updated!): Thursday April 14, 6:00pm

    Speaker: Michael Smith


  2. March Meeting – Windows Workflow

    March 14, 2011 by John Clayton

    Applying Windows Workflow to Long-running Interactive Processes

    The combination of Windows Workflow, WF4, with Window Communication Foundations, WCF4, promises a powerful new model for the interaction of people, applications, and data stores in complex, long-running activities. Workflow services can manage and track the state of complex processes involving multiple agents. They can express workflow structures in process flow diagrams familiar to business users. Windows Workflow can replace program flow logic embedded in programs with editable declarative flow logic, freeing programmers to concentrate on design activities.

    This presentation will present the basics to working with these new tools.

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

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

    Date: Thursday March 17, 5:30pm

    Speaker: Tim Bailey


  3. Only 4 days until mvcConf

    February 3, 2011 by John Clayton

    If you are an ASP.NET developer, and especially if you are an MVC developer, you should stop reading now, click the image above, and go register for mvcConf!

    What…you’re still here?

    MvcConf is a virtual conference focused on one thing: writing awesome applications on top of the ASP.Net MVC framework. Your brain will explode from taking in so much hard core technical sessions. Sounds fun eh?

    This is a community event and we want the best and brightest sharing what they know.

    We intend to record each session and make them available online for viewing. We intend to make the videos available free of charge, depending on conference sponsorships.

    And it’s totally free.

    Still not convinced it’s worth asking your boss to attend on work time, or even if it’s worth a day of PTO? Check out sessions on the schedule – there’s something for everyone!


  4. February Meeting – Windows Communication Foundation 4 Basics

    February 3, 2011 by John Clayton

    Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) provides a unified programming model for rapidly building service-oriented applications that communicate across the web and the enterprise. Come learn how to create a simple client & server system, improvements made in WCF 4, how WCF error handling works, and other tips and tricks that will come in handy when tackling WCF projects.

    Pizza and refreshments will be provided. If you are unable to make it, we’ll be live streaming the meeting as well – click here to join!

    Location: 214 North Broadway

    Date: Thursday February 10, 5:30pm

    Speaker: Jason Unruh


  5. January Meeting – Aspect Oriented Programming

    January 8, 2011 by John Clayton

    AOP is emerging as an OO concept for implementing cross cutting concerns in a reusable and maintainable way. Learn the power of removing boiler-plate code and replacing it with aspects.

    Pizza and refreshments will be provided. If you are unable to make it, we’ll be live streaming the meeting as well – click here to join!

    Location: 214 North Broadway

    Date: Thursday January 13, 5:30pm

    Speaker: Adam Dockter


  6. Free Silverlight Firestarter

    November 15, 2010 by John Clayton

     

    Silverlight Firestarter - December 2, 2010 - Click to Register!

    Free Silverlight firestarter.

    Let me say that again so it sinks in…free Silverlight firestarter.

    Silverlight has been growing at a pace that is unmatched from Redmond – it wasn’t all that long ago that the first version was released, at the time not much more than a video player. Today it is used to deliver powerful applications on the web, the desktop (both Windows and Mac), and even on smart phones. All in little more than 3 years. If you are a Microsoft developer and haven’t yet jumped on the Silverlight bus you are rapidly getting left behind. Silverlight 4 was released just months ago and already they will be talking about the next version!

    To benefit developers everywhere, Microsoft if hosting the Silverlight Firestarter event. You can attend this one-day event live in Redmond or streaming over the web. They have a number of Silverlight heavyweights presenting – including The Gu himself, Scott Guthrie, Jesse Liberty, John Papa, and Tim Heuer. There are also a number of hand’s on labs.

    And it’s all free!

    Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity. Go to http://www.silverlight.net/news/events/firestarter/ to register now.


  7. November Meeting – DevConnections Recap

    November 9, 2010 by John Clayton

    Find out about the latest trends in the industry as Adrien recaps his recent trip to DevConnections.

    Pizza and refreshments will be provided. If you are unable to make it, we’ll be live streaming the meeting as well – click here to join!

    Location: 214 North Broadway

    Date: Thursday November 11, 5:30pm

    Speaker: Adrien Talbot


  8. October Meeting – MongoDB: Built For Web Scale

    October 12, 2010 by John Clayton

    When you think about your data storage needs, a relational database is probably the first thing that comes to mind. They’ve been around forever, are battle tested, and we all know how to work with them. But what if you need to take your application to the next level? At some point any RDMS becomes a bottleneck. Not just in raw performance, but also in maintainability.

    MongoDB is one of the more popular NoSql databases that has emerged lately, and it offers features and functionality that can be used by projects ranging from tiny to massive. Come find out what makes MongoDB stand out and how you can use it in your next project.

    Pizza and refreshments will be provided. If you are unable to make it, we’ll be live streaming the meeting as well – click here to join!

    Prizes

    Location: 214 North Broadway

    Date: Thursday October 14, 5:30pm

    Speaker: John Clayton


  9. September Meeting – All About OData

    September 14, 2010 by John Clayton

    I hope everybody had a great summer! We’re having our first post-break meeting this week. The topic: Open Data Protocol (OData). Find out how this exciting new protocol enables you to easily expose your data to nearly any platform!

    Pizza and refreshments will be provided. If you are unable to make it, we’ll be live streaming the meeting as well – click here to join!

    Prizes

    Location: 214 North Broadway

    Date: Thursday September 16, 5:30pm

    Speaker: John Clayton


  10. June Meeting – What’s New in ASP.NET 4.0

    June 14, 2010 by John Clayton

    To say that the .NET 4.0 & Visual Studio 2010 was a big release would qualify if for the understatement of the year – the latest release of our favorite technology stack was absolutely enormous! Tim gave us a high-level overview of what’s new two months ago and this month we’ll be taking a closer look at what’s new in ASP.NET 4.0.

    We will have pizza and refreshments at the meeting, so come hungry!

    If you are unable to attend the meeting in person, feel free to stop by the Live Meeting!

    Prizes

    Location: 214 North Broadway

    Date: Thursday June 17, 5:30pm

    Speaker: John Clayton