Announcements and Events

Creating a great online video experience with Microsoft Smooth streaming - with Ola Karlsson

In this presentation we'll look at how you can leverage tools like Microsoft Smooth Streaming, IIS, Silverlight and Expression Encoder to get a simple video player up and running in minutes and start delivering a great online video experience. We'll also look at ways of creating your own fully customised player, including using the Microsoft backed open source project, Silverlight Media Framework (SMF). 

Smooth Streaming and SMF use industry best practices and have been used for events such as the NBC 2010 Winter Olympics and the Tour de France on French Télévision. Smooth streaming provides features like near instant video start, very fast seeking and eliminating that irritating "buffering" we see all too often when watching online video.

Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)- with Mike Minutillo

Applications that can be reconfigured and extended after deployment often last longer and enjoy greater success. Enabling this powerful technique requires forethought and planning and can be difficult to implement.  With the .NET Framework 4.0 a new library, called the Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF), provides you with the tools you need to make highly customizable applications with very little additional effort. You will walk away from this session ready to extend existing MEF-based products and add MEF extensibility to your own applications.

TOPIC:    Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)- with Mike Minutillo

DATE:     Thursday, July 1st, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
COST:     Free. All welcome

Mike Minutillo is .NET software engineer with a BSc in computer science. He is a regular attendee at the Perth .NET Community of Practice where he has given presentations on new features of C#, ASP.NET MVC and Test-Driven Philosophy. Mike is half of the winning team in the 2008 Microsoft DevSta programming competition winning best overall application and best mobile application.  Mike is co-author of the upcoming Professional Visual Studio 2010. He maintains a technical blog at http://wolfbyte-net.blogspot.com/ and can be contacted at http://twitter.com/wolfbyte/

There will be a door prize of a choice of license from JetBrains (one of ReSharper , TeamCity Build Agent, dotTrace Profiler, RubyMine, IntelliJ IDEA), and several 30-day coupons to Tekpub's high-quality, online screencasts for programmers.

XNA Game Development - with Andrew Parsons

Join us at the Perth .NET User Group Thurs, May 27th where  Andrew Parsons will build a simple 2D shooter game for Windows and Xbox 360 in an hour from start to finish, and hear how you can do the same thing with the tools already at your disposal not just for Windows and Xbox but also the upcoming Windows Phone 7.

TOPIC:    XNA Game Development - with Andrew Parsons

DATE:     Thursday, May 27th, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
COST:     Free. All welcome

Andrew Parsons is the Academic Developer Evangelist for Microsoft Australia which means he gets to travel the country talking to students about cool technology - stuff like Xbox, Windows Phone, cool dev stuff, tips and tricks with Office, PhotoSynth, Pivot and more. Combining his 15 years as a professional developer and 8 years as a professional games journalist prior to joining Microsoft, his passion for video game development has seen an outlet through XNA.

There will be a door prize of a choice of license from JetBrains (one of ReSharper , TeamCity Build Agent, dotTrace Profiler, RubyMine, IntelliJ IDEA).

Code Contracts in Framework 4.0 - with Joe Albahari

Join us at the Perth .NET User Group Thurs, May 6th for a presentation on Code Contracts.  With Framework 4.0, Code Contracts are now a reality. In this session, we'll look first at what Code Contracts are, and then demonstrate how to use them in Framework 4.0 to write more robust, concise and better-documented code. We'll also look under the covers on how they work, and see how to tailor contract behaviour for development, deployment, legacy and unit testing environments.

TOPIC:    Code Contracts in Framework 4.0 - with Joe Albahari

DATE:     Thursday, May 6th, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
COST:     Free. All welcome

Joe Albahari is author of O'Reilly's C# 4.0 in a Nutshell. He's a regular user group speaker and has presented at TechEd and JAOO.

There will be door prizes of: 2 copies of 'C# 4.0 in a Nutshell' and a LINQPad license courtesy of Joe Albahari, plus a choice of license from JetBrains (one of ReSharper, TeamCity Build Agent, dotTrace Profiler, RubyMine, IntelliJ IDEA).

Goodcompany link

As mentioned at Thursday's meeting, here is the goodcompany link:

goodcompany is a not for profit organisation whose mission is to create a new generation of professionals who make a positive difference in the community. Our aim is to make skilled volunteering a normal part of Australian life.

If you are interested in donating your skills and some of your time, please follow the link and sign up.

Developing Office Add-Ins with VSTO in Visual Studio 2010 - with Jake Ginnivan

Updated: Please note, date has changed to Thurs April 8th, due to long weekend.  

TOPIC:    Developing Office Add-Ins with VSTO in Visual Studio 2010

DATE:     Thursday, April 8th, 5:30pm - 7:00pm

VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth

COST:     Free. All welcome

Jake Ginnivan is a Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist in WPF and has worked in roles that have spanned both software development and information technology since late 2006. He has worked on internal systems and utilities such as TimeCards (VSTO, WPF, LinqToSql, and SQL), data importers/exporters among others, as well as automating existing software deployments and server rollouts. Jake’s passion lies with WPF technology and designing good application architecture. Jake is also a member and contributor to the Perth .NET community of practice, ALT.Net Perth and the Perth Silverlight Designers and Developers Network. He maintains a blog at http://jake.ginnivan.net and can be contacted at http://twitter.com/JakeGinnivan

There will be a door prize of a choice of license from JetBrains (one of ReSharper , TeamCity Build Agent, dotTrace Profiler, RubyMine, IntelliJ IDEA).

What's New in Visual Studio 2010 - with Dave Gardner and Michael Minutillo

Join us at the Perth .NET User Group Thursday March 4th where Michael Minutillo and Dave Gardner will present a session on many of the new features in Visual Studio 2010, which is due to be released in April with a host of new and enhanced functionality. The improvements range from minor tweaks to major new features. In this hands-on session they will demonstrate the new code editor, better multi-monitor support, IntelliSense improvements, new debugging tools, ASP.NET v4 and Web deployment enhancements, and built-in support for MEF, T4 support, and MVC2

TOPIC:    What's New in Visual Studio 2010 

DATE:     Thursday, March 4th, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
COST:     Free. All welcome

Dave Gardner is a seasoned.NET developer and the Chief Software Architect at Intilecta Corporation. Dave has an ongoing passion to produce well-designed, high-quality software products that engage and delight users. Since the mid-90's, Dave has worked as a solutions architect, consultant and developer, and lent his expertise to organisations in Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia.  Dave is the co-author of Professional Visual Studio 2008 and the upcoming Professional Visual Studio 2010, and occasionally blogs about Visual Studio and .NET at http://www.professionalvisualstudio.com.

Mike Minutillo is .NET software engineer with a BSc in computer science. He is a regular attendee at the Perth .NET Community of Practice where he has given presentations on new features of C#, ASP.NET MVC and Test-Driven Philosophy. Mike is half of the winning team in the 2008 Microsoft DevSta programming competition winning best overall application and best mobile application.  Mike is co-author of the upcoming Professional Visual Studio 2010. He maintains a technical blog at http://wolfbyte-net.blogspot.com/ and can be contacted at http://twitter.com/wolfbyte/

There will be a door prize of a choice of license from JetBrains (one of: ReSharper, TeamCity Build Agent, dotTrace Profiler, RubyMine, IntelliJ IDEA).

DevJam Community Event: Topics

For our end of year meeting of the Perth .NET User Group (Thursday,  3rd December), we are running another DevJam event.

DATE:     Thursday, Dec 3rd, 5:30pm
VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
COST:     Free. All welcome. No need to RSVP.

The speaker line up is:

·         Piers Williams:            Windows 7 Touch

·         Jeremy Thake:             SharePoint 2010 toolbox in VS2010, resistance is futile!

·         Paul Cooper:               T4 templates in Visual Studio

·         Rhys Campbell:           AOP with Unity

·         Jake Ginnivan:             Introduction to VSTO Outlook Add-ins

·         Ying Low:                     Caliburn

·         Adrian McGrath:         Windows 7 Virtualisation

·         Mike Minutillo:           .NET on RAILS

There will be pizza and refreshments provided, as well as a few give aways.

December DevJam Community Event

For December's meeting of the Perth .NET User Group (Thursday,  3rd December), we are running another DevJam community event, where anyone can give a short talk about anything .NET software development related.

DATE:     Thursday, Dec 3rd, 5:30pm
VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
COST:     Free. All welcome

You can talk about any development topic but it must be between 5 – 10 minutes long.

·         Anything you’ve done.

·         Any new technology you’ve investigated.

·         Any tips and tricks, or tools that aid developers

·         Basically anything .NET software development related!

How do I enter? You must register by sending an email to mitch.wheat at gmail.com, no later than 23rd November, with the word  'DevJam’ in the subject, stating your talk topic in the body. Let me know whether you will be bringing your own laptop (preferable). Presenter places are limited, so it's first come, first served.

There are prizes for the three highest, audience voted talks (with the organisers’ decision as final in case of a tie break), including a first prize of a copy of Visual Studio 2008 Pro with MSDN Premium, worth approx. $18,000 (courtesy of Mitch Denny). There will several other prizes which will be announced shortly.

There will be pizza and refreshments provided. If you have any questions, please send Mitch an email.

What's new in C# 4.0 with Joe Albahari

Introduction to the SQL Server 2008 Data Collector - Brad McGehee

We are fortunate to have Brad McGehee present two sessions while he is in Perth. The second session is "Introduction to the SQL Server 2008 Data Collector". In previous versions of SQL Server, performance tuning was often difficult because the available tools weren't always easy to use or interpret. In SQL Server 2008, Microsoft is introducing the Performance Data Collector. This comprehensive new toolset has been designed to integrate the collection, analysis, troubleshooting, and persistence of SQL Server diagnostic information, making the jobs of DBAs much easier. In this session, you will learn:

·         What the Performance Data Collector Can Do

·         How to Implement the Performance Data Collector

·         Performance Data Collector Best Practices

• TOPIC:    Introduction to the SQL Server 2008 Data Collector - Brad McGehee
• DATE:     Friday, Oct 2nd, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
• VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
• COST:     Free. All welcome

Brad McGehee is a MCSE+I, MCSD, and MCT (former) with a Bachelors’ degree in Economics and a Masters in Business Administration. Currently the Director of DBA Education for Red Gate Software, Brad is an accomplished Microsoft SQL Server MVP with over 14 years’ SQL Server experience, over 6 years’ training experience, and has been involved in the industry since 1982. He is a frequent speaker at SQL PASS, European PASS, SQL Connections, SQLTeach, SQLBits, SQL Saturdays, TechFests, Code Camps, SQL Server user groups, and other industry seminars.

RedGate have generously donated a license to their excellent SQL Compare Pro.

Try to arrive early if you want a seat!

How to Interpret Graphical Execution Plans - Brad McGehee

Join us at the Perth .NET User Group in October for two talks with a SQL Server focus, aimed at both Developers and DBAs.  We are fortunate to have RedGate's Brad McGehee present two sessions while he is in Perth. Brad is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world.

The first talk is Thurs October 1st, where Brad will present on "How to Interpret Graphical Execution Plans".  One of the SQL Server black arts is how to read and interpret graphical Query Execution Plans. This is a key thing to understand as Execution Plans provide valuable clues as to why a particular query may be running slowly. In this session, you will learn how to read an Execution Plan, and learn what to do with the information you have gained from reading it.

• TOPIC:    How to Interpret Graphical Execution Plans - Brad McGehee
• DATE:     Thursday, Oct 1st, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
• VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
• COST:     Free. All welcome

Brad McGehee is a MCSE+I, MCSD, and MCT (former) with a Bachelors’ degree in Economics and a Masters in Business Administration. Currently the Director of DBA Education for Red Gate Software, Brad is an accomplished Microsoft SQL Server MVP with over 14 years’ SQL Server experience, over 6 years’ training experience, and has been involved in the industry since 1982. He is a frequent speaker at SQL PASS, European PASS, SQL Connections, SQLTeach, SQLBits, SQL Saturdays, TechFests, Code Camps, SQL Server user groups, and other industry seminars.

We will have pizza at this session courtesy of INETA.

RedGate have generously donated a license to their excellent ANTS Memory Profiler Pro. There is also a door prize of a choice of license from JetBrains (one of ReSharper , TeamCity Build Agent, dotTrace Profiler, RubyMine, IntelliJ IDEA).

Try to arrive early if you want a seat!

Continuous Integration: Improving Quality and Reducing Cost Through Constructive Laziness

Join us at the Perth .NET User Group, Thurs September 3rd to hear Colin Scott talk about Continuous Integration and why you should be doing it. Merging the work of multiple developers and producing reliable, deployable systems is a time consuming and tedious process that wastes developer effort that could be better spent on creating software. Continuous Integration (CI) allows us to automate these tasks and include automated testing and code analysis. This results in higher quality outputs at a lower cost. This presentation shows how to set up simple CI for .NET projects using readily available tools.

Pex: Automated White Box Testing

Join us at the Perth .NET User Group, Thurs August 6th to see Rhys Campbell demonstrate Pex,  a tool being developed by Microsoft Research which has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of software testing while requiring minimal effort on the part of the developer. Pex can automatically generate a set of inputs for a parameterized unit test which can effectively exercise most, if not all, possible code paths.

When should ASP.NET Developers leverage the SharePoint Platform?

Join us at the Perth .NET Community of Practice, Thurs July 2nd to hear  Jeremy Thake answer a common question: Is SharePoint is the correct choice as a base platform for a solution?  Jeremy Thake will present the advantages (and disadvantages) of leveraging the SharePoint Platform. Some lines in the sand will be drawn to make it easier to make the decision early on the project based on real world experience gathered by Jeremy from the SharePoint community.

TOPIC:    When should ASP.NET Developers leverage the SharePoint Platform?

DATE:     Thursday, July 2nd, 5:30pm
VENUE:  Excom, Ground Floor, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
COST:     Free. All welcome

Jeremy Thake has been in the Microsoft web development space since 1999. He has specialised in SharePoint since the beta release of SharePoint 2007. He facilitates the SharePointDevWIki.com which has become a open source resource for all things SharePoint Development. His blog focuses on SharePoint and Enterprise Content Management and is supplemented by his Tweet stream at @jthake. Jeremy has worked for Readify, a Technical Readiness company, since August 2008 and has implemented various SharePoint projects and trained both locally in Perth and the rest of Australia.

There will be a door prize of a ReSharper license (courtesy of JetBrains).

Try to arrive early if you want a seat!