NZ MSDN Flash: Codemania returns in 2013

Ian Randall

Guest Editor

Codemania

Codemania returns in 2013!

As some of you will doubtless be aware, last year Ben Gracewood (off the telly) and I launched Codemania! A conference aimed squarely at software developers. We invited well-respected speakers from around the globe to talk on a wide range of platforms, languages and technologies. The day was a great success - so much so that we are running it again this year in Auckland on the 12 of April, and have arranged a larger venue (The Langham). Once again we’ve reached out to thought-leaders from around the world to come and speak for us. For our opening keynote, we are absolutely delighted to have secured the services of Glenn Block . His track record speaks for itself - he has been instrumental in Microsoft delivering MEF and Web API in recent times, and is currently doing amazing things with node.js and Windows Azure. Codemania is not for the faint-hearted and there are no sales pitch sessions or drag 'n drop demos - it's a full day of deep dives into various corners of development. We have Ivan Towlson returning to speak on language type systems (those of you that are regulars to TechEd will know Ivan as the chap that fills every room he speaks in, and turns complexity into clarity with apparent ease). We are also privileged to have former NDC speaker and Dot Net Rocks guest Philip Laureano picking apart the internals of System.Reflection. You should listen to that show. Seriously, go do it now. I'll wait. We know you love Microsoft, but maybe you love other technologies, too? We have talks on Ruby, web frameworks, HTML/CSS and more. We promise that you will come away educated and inspired. Also, this year, in addition to the main conference, we are offering two 1/2 day workshops: Glenn is running one on node, and GitHubbers Paul Betts and Brandon Keepers will be doing one all about Git. We only have 40 spaces for each, so register early to avoid disappointment! Tickets are available here - I encourage you to grab the early-bird pricing - ends Feb 13th!

Behind the curtain

Last year, the ludicrously talented Shaun and Su Yin (of Lee ter Wal) built codemania for which we will be forever grateful! This year we made the easy decision to put the site onto Windows Azure Websites. I have to say, the experience was really painless from beginning to end - but as a geek, the real joy came with the automatic deployment from Git. I won't bore you with the 'how-to' guide to set up publishing to Azure from a Git repository - these are just a Google search… ahem, *Bing* search away, anyway - suffice to say that pressing the button marked "Set up Git publishing" and following the simple instructions had me up and running in no time. It was one of those serendipitous moments where Stuff Just Worked(™). Colour me impressed. We're absolutely delighted to have Microsoft back on board as a Gold Sponsor of Codemania - and welcome you all to come along to Auckland's premier software developer conference.