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Pre-Conference Workshops, June 8th, 2009

• Building Business Applications with Silverlight 2.0.

  Make plans to stay an extra day after the conference to take advantage of this opportunity to join veteran software developers Rod Paddock and Jim Duffy as they give you a head start down the road to developing business-oriented Rich Internet Applications (RIA) with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0. In case you just crawled out from under a rock, Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in positioned to revolutionize the way next generation Rich Internet Applications are developed. Microsoft’s commitment to providing an extensive platform for developers and designers to collaborate on creating the next generation of RIAs is very clear and its name is Silverlight 2.0. In this intensive, full-day workshop, Rod and Jim will share their insight and experience building business applications with Silverlight 2.0 including a review of some of the Internet’s more visible Silverlight web applications. Make it a priority to not let yourself or your organization get left behind. Come join Rod and Jim as they provide an in-depth look at the future of Rich Internet Application development with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0.

• Building Better .NET Applications with F# with Ted Neward and Amanda Laucher

  With the release of Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft will introduce a new programming language, Visual F#, to the mainstream .NET development community for the first time in close to a decade. Visual F# represents a new style of programming, a functional approach to programming, historically characterized by "academic" languages like Haskell and ML. In this pre-conference tutorial, we'll examine the 'why's of F#, including the benefits and drawbacks of a functional programming style, and how it can be combined with object-oriented programming to take best advantage of both approaches. Along the way, we will write some F# code, giving the attendee a strong basis of F# syntax that they can use to learn more about F# back home. By the end of the pre-con, in fact, attendees who bring their own laptops and attack the exercises provided will have enough skill at F# to begin writing F# code that can be called from C# in a variety of different contexts.

• Agile Development with IoC and ORM by James Kovacs

  As developers we now have powerful tools in our toolbox, such inversion of control containers and object-relational mappers. But how can we use these tools to rapidly build maintainable and flexible applications? In this pre-con, we will look at advanced techniques such as convention-over-configuration in IoC containers and automapping ORMs to quickly build applications that can evolve over time. We will use test-driven development (TDD) to design and evolve a complete working application with supporting infrastructure during this one-day workshop.

  By James Kovacs

Includes three days of training , Keynote, continental breakfasts, lunches, evening activities as well as the selected Pre-Con on Monday June 8th, 2009.

Rod Paddock, Dash Point Software, Inc.     Rod is president and founder of Dash Point Software, Inc. DPSI is an award winning software company based in Seattle, WA, specializing in application development and software training. Dash Point specializes in Visual Studio .NET, VB 6, Visual FoxPro, and SQL Server development. Dash Point Software was the winner of the 1999 Visual FoxPro Excellence Award and a finalist in 1998. Dash Point was also a finalist in 1996 at Windows World Open. Rod has been a very popular speaker at a wide variety of developer conferences in North America and Europe since 1995. His most recent speaking appearance was at the XML Connections conference in October 2002. Rod is the editor for CoDe Magazine and his writing credits include articles for database publications such as Data Based Advisor, FoxTalk and Dbase Advisor. He has also authored a number of books including Visual Basic 5 for Web Development, Visual Basic 6 for Web Development, and Visual FoxPro 6.0 Enterprise Development. Rod is also the V.P. of Technology for Red Matrix Technologies and the architectural visionary behind the DataClas middle-tier component and SQLAudit product lines.

Jim Duffy, TakeNote Technologies      Jim Duffy is founder and president of . TakeNote, a Developer's Choice Award winner for hands-on training, specializes in .NET software developer training and helping clients create business solutions with Microsoft enterprise technologies. Jim is a , a award recipient since 2003, and an speaker. Since starting TakeNote in 1992, he has conducted hundreds of software developer training seminars and is an energetic and entertaining speaker at regional user groups and international developer conferences. Jim's expertise is with VB, ASP.NET, SQL Server and Visual FoxPro-to-.Net conversions. He has a BS degree in Computer and Information Systems and over 25 years of programming and training experience. He is an active blogger and has been published in leading developer-oriented publications including CoDe Magazine. He also served as the technical editor for . On Sunday mornings you will find him behind the microphone as a co-host of Computers 2K8, a call in radio show on WRBZ (AM 850), 850 The Buzz, in Raleigh, NC.

Monday June 8th, 2009, 9:00 - 17:00
Location: Marriott chateau Champlain
Room: Salon Viger B
Cost: 399.00$ CDN

Make plans to stay an extra day after the conference to take advantage of this opportunity to join veteran software developers Rod Paddock and Jim Duffy as they give you a head start down the road to developing business-oriented Rich Internet Applications (RIA) with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0. In case you just crawled out from under a rock, Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in positioned to revolutionize the way next generation Rich Internet Applications are developed. Microsoft’s commitment to providing an extensive platform for developers and designers to collaborate on creating the next generation of RIAs is very clear and its name is Silverlight 2.0. In this intensive, full-day workshop, Rod and Jim will share their insight and experience building business applications with Silverlight 2.0 including a review of some of the Internet’s more visible Silverlight web applications.

Attendees will walk away from this focused, day-long session having learned the latest essentials of Silverlight 2.0 development. Topics will include how to create and deploy a Silverlight 2.0 application, how to create a UI with XAML, how to work with Silverlight 2.0 controls, how to access and integrate data within your Silverlight 2.0 applications via LINQ, WCF, and web services, how to apply visual design and styling features, how to integrate design changes in Expression Blend with code changes in Visual Studio 2008, how to use the control to create islands of richness on your ASP.NET pages, how to create your own custom Silverlight 2.0 controls, and a review of architectural considerations for your application.

Silverlight 2.0 Fundamentals

• What is Silverlight 2.0?
• Where do you get it?
• How does it work?
• What are the different architectural approaches to using Silverlight 2.0?

The Expression Blend / Visual Studio Connection

• What is XAML?
• How are the very different roles of Designer and Developer integrated on a project to foster enhanced collaboration and project success?

Exploring the Silverlight 2.0 Control Toolbox

• Button
• TextBox
• WatermarkedTextBox
• CheckBox
• Radio Buttons
• ItemsControl
• ListBox
• DataGrid
• Calendar
• DatePicker
• Slider
• Popup
• ScrollViewer
• Tooltip

Data Integration

• Integrating Silverlight 2.0 with Web Services
• Integrating Silverlight 2.0 with LINQ
• Integrating Silverlight 2.0 with WCF
• Data Binding Syntax
• List Binding
• Data Templates
• Master/Detail Binding
• Security considerations

Manipulating the DOM in Silverlight 2.0

Visual Design

• Styling Your Controls
• Skinning Your Controls

3rd Party Controls Review

If you would like to follow along and experiment with some of the samples demonstrated in this session you will need the following loaded onto your computer:

Visual Studio 2008
Silverlight 2.0

Make it a priority to not let you or your organization get left behind. Come join Rod and Jim as they provide an in-depth look at the future of Rich Internet Application development with Microsoft Silverlight 2.0.

Register for one day Silverlight 2.0 Post-conference on June 8th, 2009
Includes the Post-conferences presented on Monday June 8th, 2009.

Note: Registration for the main conference is not required to attend the sessions. You can register for the pre-conference and post-conference workshop individually from the registration page.

Monday June 8th, 2009, 09:00 - 17:00
Location: Four Season
Room: Salon Viger B
Cost: 399.00$ CDN

Amanda Laucher, Sophic Group   Amanda Laucher is a software developer/architect focusing on Microsoft technologies. She is currently based in Columbus, OH and working with The Sophic Group. She has been speaking at code camps and user groups all over the United States, and spreading her love of some of the lesser known programming languages.

With the release of Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft will introduce a new programming language, Visual F#, to the mainstream .NET development community for the first time in close to a decade. Visual F# represents a new style of programming, a functional approach to programming, historically characterized by "academic" languages like Haskell and ML. In this pre-conference tutorial, we'll examine the 'why's of F#, including the benefits and drawbacks of a functional programming style, and how it can be combined with object-oriented programming to take best advantage of both approaches. Along the way, we will write some F# code, giving the attendee a strong basis of F# syntax that they can use to learn more about F# back home. By the end of the pre-con, in fact, attendees who bring their own laptops and attack the exercises provided will have enough skill at F# to begin writing F# code that can be called from C# in a variety of different contexts.

Get more informations on F# with .

This pre-con covers:

• Why F#
  • What is F#, and what is it good for Binding Values and Control Flow
  • Syntax Basics
  • Identifiers and Values
  • Type Inference
  • Type System
  • White Space
  • Ifs and Loops
  • Pattern Matching
• Collections
  • Lists
  • Tuples
  • Arrays
  • Sequences
  • User Defined Types
• Functions and Function Application
  • Higher Order Functions
  • Currying/Partial Application
  • Combinators
• Functional Design Concepts
  • Composition over inheritance
  • Lazy Evaluation
  • Asynchronous Workflows
  • Units of Measure
• Packaging/Interop
  • Modules
  • Namespaces
  • Caveats

Attendees can bring their own computers to this workshop and work through samples that demonstrate.

Agenda:
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM
Welcome and Registration
9:00 AM – 12:00 AM
...
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Lunch (Not included)
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
...

Register for one day pre-conference on June 8th, 2009 with Ted and Amanda
Includes the pre-conferences presented on Monday June 8th, 2009 by Ted and Amanda.

Note: Registration for the main conference is not required to attend the sessions. You can register for the pre-conference and post-conference workshop individually from the registration page.

Monday June 8th, 2009, 09:00 - 17:00
Location: Marriott chateau Champlain
Room: T/A c
  Cost: 399.00$ CDN

James Kovacs, Jameskovacs.Com Consulting Inc.     James Kovacs is an independent architect, developer, trainer, and jack-of-all-trades, specializing in agile development using the .NET Framework. He is passionate about helping developers create flexible software using test-driven development (TDD), unit testing, object-relational mapping, dependency injection, refactoring, continuous integration, and related techniques. He is a founding member of the Plumbers @ Work podcast, which is syndicated by MSDN Canada Community Radio. His article, "Debug Leaky Apps: Identify And Prevent Memory Leaks In Managed Code", appeared in the January 2007 issue of MSDN Magazine. James is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) - Solutions Architect and card-carrying member of ALT.NET, a group of software professionals continually looking for more effective ways to develop applications. He received his Masters degree from Harvard University.

As developers we now have powerful tools in our toolbox, such inversion of control containers and object-relational mappers. But how can we use these tools to rapidly build maintainable and flexible applications? In this pre-con, we will look at advanced techniques such as convention-over-configuration in IoC containers and automapping ORMs to quickly build applications that can evolve over time. We will use test-driven development (TDD) to design and evolve a complete working application with supporting infrastructure during this one-day workshop.

Pre-requirements: 300-level;

Agenda:
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM
Welcome and Registration
9:00 AM – 10:45 AM

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Note: Registration for the main conference is not required to attend the sessions. You can register for the pre-conference and post-conference workshop individually from the registration page.