PDC Birds of a Feather Posted...
One of the things I love most about the PDC is hearing from developers using our platform… and there is nearly no better place to do that than the Bofs… these are all attendee driven and run. I love going to these, sitting in the back and listening.
The fill list can be found on ComNet… https://commnet1.microsoftpdc.com/Sessions.aspx
But here are a few of the ones that interested me personally… Hope to see you there!
.NET and Java Integration
Day/Time: Monday, September 12 7:00 PM- 8:00 PM Room: 511 ABC
Session Level(s): 300
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
Do you need to integrate your .NET application with Java or vice versa? There are a number of ways to do this, and several have been discussed in articles and presentations. But which ones are best for you? Come and discuss your own experiences with .NET and Java integration, share your favorite techniques, and listen to your peers across the industry.
High Performance and Scalability ASP.NET 1.1 Application with SQL Server 2000
Day/Time: Monday, September 12 7:00 PM- 8:00 PM Room: 501 ABC
Session Level(s): 400
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
Let's talk about best practices for deploying .NET solutions of transactional systems, that are both scalable (i.e., in a clustered environment,) and high performance (e.g., capable of processing over 2000 web connections and over 1000 database transactions per second.) The BOF explores an integrated approach of development patterns on .NET Framework and SQL Server to minimize CPU, memory, and network bandwidth. It also explains a software development life cycle that involves architecture, design, development, functional testing, and performance testing. Join us and share your experience.
Using Enterprise Library in the Real World
Day/Time: Monday, September 12 8:15 PM- 9:15 PM Room: 518
Session Level(s): 300
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
The patterns & practices Enterprise Library is a library of application blocks designed to assist developers with common enterprise development challenges. This is an open session in which you are invited to share your experiences using Enterprise Library, as well as learn about how your peers are using Enterprise Library. Tim will be accompanied by Enterprise Library experts and enthusiasts to join in on the discussion.
Components and Services and Metadata, Oh My!
Day/Time: Monday, September 12 8:15 PM- 9:15 PM Room: 501 ABC
Session Level(s): 300
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
Your company is starting to realize that its mainstay 1997-era COM/ATL/MFC desktop app is looking a little long in the tooth. Ditto the enterprise web offering. Time to re-architect: bring services to the desktop, and smart client capabilities to the enterprise on a common architecture. Maybe we could even get rid of some of those COM layers. A man can dream, can't he? If your present or near future includes Indigo, Avalon, domain specific languages, C++/CLI
and lots of legacy C++ and COM, you will find kindred spirits here
Passing the Joel Test
Day/Time: Monday, September 12 9:30 PM- 10:30 PM Room: 501 ABC
Session Level(s): 300
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
Daily builds. Testers. Written specs. Joel Spolsky's famous (infamous?) list of best practices for software teams (https://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html) is great advice - and often hard to implement in the real world. We all need some help to get those daily builds humming, convincing the boss to hire testers, and keeping the schedule in line with reality. If you're trying to move your team from a 1 or 2 to a perfect 12 on the Joel Test -- or even a 5 or 6! -- this BoF session is for you. If your team is a 12, this BoF session is for you too -- the rest of us need to know what you know!
Debugging -- Tools, Tricks, Techniques
Day/Time: Monday, September 12 9:30 PM- 10:30 PM Room: 501 ABC
Session Level(s): 400
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
Debugging the .NET framework is easier than most environments thanks to the wonders of Visual Studio and reflection. However, when you get into more complex situations requiring that you debug native and managed interop, things can get messy very quickly. This talk would be geared at people openly sharing their debugging expertise: how to best perform interop debugging (both native-managed and even kernel-native-managed), the best tools, how to deal with obfuscated modules, whether round-tripping, etc.
Writing Secure Code
Day/Time: Tuesday, September 13 9:00 PM- 10:00 PM Room: 501 ABC
Session Level(s): 300
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
Bring your questions as well as your experiences to this interactive discussion. Participants share what techniques they are using to ensure bulletproof implementations, including third party tools. Also on the agenda are the top threats that developers need to worry about when writing code. Remember, it's not just the guys calling security APIs that need to worry about this! Anyone writing code to access valuable assets should care about this topic, so let's have a big turnout!
.NET vs. Java
Day/Time: Tuesday, September 13 9:00 PM- 10:00 PM Room: 511 ABC
Session Level(s): 300
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
All zealots are welcome! Let the religious wars begin! What's better, .NET or Java? Is one stealing ideas from another? Both platforms have recently released new versions, which one provides better strategic vision and foundation for development? Join our friendly debate.
.NET Code Protection
Day/Time: Tuesday, September 13 10:15 PM- 11:15 PM Room: 511 ABC
Session Level(s): 300
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
If your current project is closed-source, you probably have good reasons for that choice. Whether your company's future depends on the success of your next software product, or you're simply trying to protect your licensing scheme, or you're hoping to thwart competitors from seeing your secrets, protecting your code is a real problem. Let's discuss some simple active steps to protect your program. This BoF will explore ways to protect your .NET application from reverse engineering and simple steps you can make to make it more secure.
Writing Partially Trusted Code
Day/Time: Tuesday, September 13 10:15 PM- 11:15 PM Room: 501 ABC
Session Level(s): 300
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
Writing partially trusted code can be tricky. But a lot of people feel that it's an important tool in our security arsenal: by running with only the permissions we need, the CLR puts walls around our apps to help ensure we can't be tricked into doing something we didn't intend to do. Come discuss the pros and cons of running under partial trust. There are a lot of gotchas, so if you've had experiences, we'd love to hear about them. And if you're just considering taking on the challenge of writing partially trusted code, you'll get a great head start by joining us.
Mort's guide to the PDC
Day/Time: Thursday, September 15 9:00 PM- 10:00 PM Room: 501 ABC
Session Level(s): 400
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
What does this PDC mean for Mort? Is it a .NET PDC (i.e., will it change your world) or is it a Hailstorm PDC (i.e., much sound and fury, signifying nothing)? Come discuss the impact of Microsoft's latest technology with other Morts. You can bring your Elvis and Einstein friends, if they promise to behave themselves.
So Many Tools... But Which to Choose?
Day/Time: Thursday, September 15 9:00 PM- 10:00 PM Room: 501 ABC
Session Level(s): 300
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
Microsoft supports a huge set of varying, and often overlapping technologies. There are vast resources available for helping developers solve certain problems using certain tools, but very little help with choosing the right technology to begin with. For example, a developer wishing to start a new database application could use Access, FoxPro, InfoPath, VB, C#, etc.; not to mention the many sub-choices to be made within each of these. This session will objectively survey these technologies and attempt to make some key recommendations.
Getting Maximum ROI on .NET 2.0
Day/Time: Thursday, September 15 10:15 PM- 11:15 PM Room: 511 ABC
Session Level(s): 200
Session Type(s): Birds of a Feather
So, your company committed to .NET in 2003 and has a product written in v1.1 that works great. BAM! .NET 2.0 comes along with all sorts of new features available to make development easier and improve the user experience. Let's discuss which areas are ripe for your company to make an initial investment and see huge benefits, while being consistent with a long-term plan for overall migration. Performance, user interface, data access, and developing with Visual Studio 2005 are a few areas that come to mind.