Events This Week – April 12th, 2010

Here are the events listed in Community Megaphone for the next week (or so) for the Mid-Atlantic area, as well as webcasts of interest…this list includes events imported from the UGSS event calendar, and all events entered in Community Megaphone are also automatically synced to the UGSS event calendar:

Hampton Roads .NET Users Group : April Meeting
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 6:00 PM, Chesapeake, VA
Software developers are writers. Our medium is text. What can we learn about writing code by studying the principles of good story writing? Frequently in software development, we solve a problem, check in the code and release it. Unfortunately, this means we have released a first draft of the solution. One of the main lessons of wrtiting workshops and classes is to write in small chunks and revise ruthlessly. By releasing our first drafts, we increase the maintenance cast of our applicqation because it is harder to understand the initial intent of the solution. In this session, we will explore concepts from writing such as small assignments, bad first drafts, and telling the truth as they apply to the craft of software development.
Join us after the meeting at TGI Friday's near the meeting for an after-meeting get together with Alan.
Alan Stevens is a father, geek, vegan and software artisan living in Knoxville, TN. Alan regularly speaks at industry conferences and user groups. Alan is an Open Space Technology facilitator. Alan is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in C#. Alan is a member of ASP Insiders. When Alan is not playing with his kids, enjoying a fine cigar, singing or playing his acoustic guitar, he occasionally updates his blog at https://netcave.org.
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RockNUG Release 3.10
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 6:30 PM, Rockville, MD
Sliverlight 4.0 Highlights from PDC
by David Makogon
David will take us through some of the exciting new features for Silverlight 4.0 that were announced at the PDC, including improved out of browser functionality, drag and drop and Visual Studio enhancements. He'll also demonstrate the Silverlight Toolkit. If time allows, he'll demonstrate how to host Silverlight in Azure.
David is a Senior Consultant at RDA (www.rdacorp.com), and the technical lead on RDA's Architectural Guidance Practice Group (blog at rdaarchitecture.blogspot.com). He's also a Microsoft Solutions Advocate. You can also follow him on twitter: https://www.twitter.com/dmakogon .
n00b Presentation 6:30 - 7:00 Debugging in Windows 7 and XP at the same time!-- Kevin Jones
Pizza/Announcements 7:00 - 7:30
Featured Presentation 7:30 - 9:00 Silverlight 4.0 Highlights - David Makogon
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Code Camp Pittsburgh 2010.1
Saturday, April 17, 2010 8:00 AM, Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh's annual Spring Code Camp is back and better than ever! It's at the University of Pittsburgh at Sennott Square (the Computer Science building). Hope to see you there!
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Frederick .NET User Group Monthly Meeting
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 6:30 PM, Frederick, MD
Agenda:
6:30 PM - 7:00 PM - Pizza/Social Networking/Announcements
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM - Main Topic: Getting Started with Entity Framework 4 with Dane Morgridge
Main Topic Description:
Getting Started with Entity Framework 4
With .Net 3.5 Microsoft release Linq to Sql and with .Net 3.5 SP1 came the Entity Framework, both powerful ORM tools leveraging Linq technology. Entity Framework v1, while usable, was definitely lacking some important features and the Entity Framework team delivered with version 4 coming with Visual Studio 2010. In this session we will look at Entity Framework 4 from the ground level and you will get a solid understanding of it basic principles. We will also go through all of the new features in Entity Framework 4 and see how far it’s come since the initial release. If you’ve never taken a look at Entity Framework, now is the time as version 4 is the real deal.
Speaker Bio: Dane Morgridge has been a developer for 9+ years and has worked with .Net & C# since the first public beta. His current passions are Entity Framework, WPF, WCF, Silverlight and LINQ. He works mostly with C#, but is also a big fan of whatever new technology he happens to come across. In addition to software development, he is the host of the Community Megaphone Podcast and also enjoys dabbling in graphic design, video special effects and hockey. When not with his family he is usually learning some new technology or working on some side projects. He is currently working as the Development Manager & Architect at Roska Direct in Montgomeryville, PA. He can be reached through is blog https://geekswithblogs.net/danemorgridge or on Twitter @danemorgridge.
8:30 PM - 8:45 PM – RAFFLE!
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Microsoft Developer Dinner Series for Partners: Overview of the Windows Phone 7 Series Application Platform
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 5:30 PM, Reston, VA
Speaker for tonight's presentation:
Marc Schweigert, Principal Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation, US Public Sector Developer and Platform Evangelism Team
Background:
The new Windows Phone is coming! We’ll start with a high-level overview of the new application platform and a complete picture of the developer story. Learn about the developer tools, the application frameworks, the support for Silverlight, and the support for XNA. Next, we will dive into the functionality for Silverlight applications covering new input paradigms including multi-touch, software keyboard, accelerometer and microphone, as well as the APIs to leverage phone applications like email, phone dialer, contact list and more. We will also cover the new application model, updated control templates, themes, and services available to applications, including new Windows Phone web services.
What you will learn:
Join Marc Schweigert in this session over dinner for a comprehensive, developer focused overview of:
• Developer tools, the application frameworks, the application frameworks, the support for Silverlight and the support for XNA.
• Functionality for Silverlight applications.
• New application model, updated control templates, themes and services – including new Windows Phone web services!
Who Should Attend:
Developers, Architects, Web Designers and technical managers who wish to get an early look at the next advancement in Software Development.
Notice to all Public Sector Employees: Zune HD will be raffled at the conclusion of the dinner. Due to government gift and ethics laws and Microsoft policy, government employees (including military and employees of public education institutions) are not eligible to participate in the raffle.
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