Sorry for the late notice on this one!! I have been blessed with the honor of presenting at the Bonn-to-Code.Net user group in Bonn tonight!!

I am going to be doing a fairly relaxed session describing behaviour driven development.

The presentation starts at 7:00PM. If you happen to be in the area please stop by. I am sure a great time will be had by all!!

Develop With Passion.

On the 17th of July I will be giving one of my last public speaking presentations for the foreseeable future. I will be presenting a Generics session at the Orlando .Net User Group.

Expect to see some practical and pragmatic uses of generics in the realm of application development.

If you happen to be in and around the area that evening stop by, I am sure a fun time will be had by all!!

Develop With Passion

In case you did not know DevTeach will be coming to Toronto for the first time this year!!

Are you familiar with DevTeach? If you are, then you know that you have to prepare yourself for excellent content filled presentations; most of all, get ready to spend a great week chatting with some amazing presenters and attendees who are passionate about growing as people and professionals.

If you are curious to see if there are people you may want to chat with (from the speaker perspective) then check out the following page: Speakers

If you register and you see me at DevTeach, please take the time to introduce yourself!!

Develop With Passion!!

I was just reviewing some of the feedback that I got from my presentation last week and the following comment was particularly important:

"I think that creating the code on the fly during the presentations (even if you can type really fast) distracts from the central message being communicated. I think that 50% code, 50% powerpoint, with more fully pre-built examples could better achieve educational objectives"

I have always struggled with this issue and if anyone has ever seen one of my presentation as of late they are familiar with what the equation is:

Powerpoint - 0%

On the fly coding with commentary - 85%

Talking - 15%

I am still on the fence with the above formula as it is a definite 50/50 split. You either love it or hate it.

How do you learn best when you attend a presentation?

Last week I had the honor of presenting at the Calgary .Net User group on the topic of Generics in .Net. In retrospect, I think the fact that I was leveraging vs2008, and C# 3.5 potentially clouded focus on raw generics.

Nonetheless, there was lots of good discussion, and a lot of concepts were able to get demonstrated. Among the nuggets that were started:

• Generic Ranges
• Specification based querying
• Strongly typed dto mappers
• Generic dto mappers
• Type safe query objects

All code was created on the fly during the presentation, and 3 blesses attendees were able to walk away with a copy of ReSharper.

As a side note, my speaking schedule is starting to fill up for the year, if you think your user group would be interested in having me out to do a presentation; please do not hesitate to contact me at: jp@jpboodhoo.com.

The code for the presentation is available here. None of the 3rd party libraries are present in the download, if you actually want to run the code you will have to go and download the tools specified in the following folders:

• build\tools
• thirdparty\tools

To extract the rar file you can use WinRar or 7Zip (I am sure there are lots of others).

Develop With Passion!!

Back on the 17th of September, the good folks at the NxtGenUG in Oxford, England were kind enough to extend me an invitation to speak.

The presentation went well and I promised to make the code available as soon as I could. Looks like it took me a little bit longer than I planned!!

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to come and share. It was awesome to be back in England!!

You can download the source for the presentation here.

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to present a talk on Generics to the Austin .Net user group. The session was a whirlwind of code and questions. I was honored to be received by such a large group of people. And I would like to thank Jeff and the Austin .Net user group for allowing me to give my first formal talk in the United States!! Seeing as how I am going to be giving several talks in the states this year, it was fitting that the first one would leave me with such a positive feeling.

I made a mistake and did not check in the code that I developed over the course of the presentation, so the code base that you can download is not representative of all of the information  that was covered over the 2 hour session.

Once again, thanks Austin .Net for allowing me to opportunity to come and share an awesome time with you.

Materials:

• Source Code

James Kovacs and I are presenting at the Calgary .Net User Group Thursday, July 19th 2007. The session is called : “Simple Patterns for Simple Problems”. Here is the abstract:

Everyone has that little (or not so little) class called Utility that holds all kinds of intersting bits of business logic. It is a hodge-podge of code that you're not sure where to put. This session will examine some common types of methods found in utility classes and how to refactor your design using simple patterns to eliminate these troublesome kitchen-sink classes.

Location:
330 - 5th Avenue SW, T2P 0L4
Calgary AB Canada
Conference Room CP1-1106
(the elevator will be open to the floor between 11:30 and 12:00 so no security pass will be required)

I think that the presentation should be a lot of fun, and I think there will be lots of information that people will be able to glean from the patterns and techniques presented.

If you in Calgary on that day, register for what promises to be an interesting topic.

Develop With Passion!!

Dave Laribee and I will be giving a talk titled – You Got Served : Ping Pong Pairing, at the Oklahoma code camp on July 28^th. I am pretty pumped about this session, and you can expect that Dave and I will be bustin out some ReSharper madness and Domain Driven Design goodness right before your very eyes!!

There are lots of good speakers who are going to be speaking at the code camp, so the event promises to be very interesting. If you happen to be in the area, come check out what promises to be a great day of coding.

I’ve been to a lot of conferences. Last week I got the opportunity to both speak and attend DevTeach 2007, in Montreal. I spoke on both refactoring and applying patterns of enterprise application architecture.

Along with presenting, I got to attend and watch awesome content presented by other speakers in the Agile track of the conference. I have to applaud JR and Scott for implementing the addition of an agile track to the conference. Every single one of the sessions was packed, an indication that the topics that were presented are obviously relevant and meaningful to lots of the people attending.

As cool as some of the presentations were, it was the networking that made this event absolutely stellar. Getting to hang out with Roy, Oren, Jeremy, Scott, Udi, Wendy, Oksana, Rod, Donald, Dave, Adam, Greg, Matthew and a whole host of others!! The conversation, arguments, debates, and just mindless chatter was the most fun I have had at a conference, ever!!

There was one evening in particular where the general concensus was that we had all been hit by a bus and were lounging in what must have been programmer heaven (complete with Carl Franklin and company in the background providing the ambient music)!!

Seeing as how the links to the presentation material are not currently working here is the rar file (download WinRar to extract) that contains the material for both of the presentations. I did not get a chance to finish getting through either presentation in both of the sessions, so the code you see is where I left off. I am hoping to screencast both presentations in their entirety so that people can see the end goal for both sessions.

Looking forward to DevTeach Vancouver…that right, its coming!!

I had a blast presenting at the Edmonton .Net User Group last week. With the presentation and finishing the course I neglected to upload the source code for the presentation.

It is a little rough around the edges, but the cool part was that almost all of the code was churned out during the course of the session. It was a frenzy, but I feel confident that a lot of awesome concepts got disseminated to the crowd.

Thanks Edmonton for having me, I look forward to the next time.

You can download the source code from here (you will need WinRar to extract it).

Thanks again to everyone who attended my talks last Saturday. The following are the links to the source code (and slides) that were produced during the presentations. Enjoy.

• Applied Patterns Of Enterprise Application Architecture - A Primer
• Generics

I have the amazing honor of being able to speak at DevTeach 2007 in Montreal this spring.  I'll be giving talks on:

1. Refactoring - A Primer
2. Applied Patterns Of Enterprise Application Architecture

The lineup looks amazing, and I am truly honored to be a part of it all.

This past weekend (January 27th) I presented at the Victoria Code Camp. It was a blast. The people were awesome and the questions were great.

My family and I flew up and arrived Thursday morning. We did the tourist thing for Thursday,Friday, and Sunday.

The turnout was impressive (close to 100 if I remember correctly). With 3 tracks going on there was lots of good information to be snapped up by attendees. It was great to also hang out with fellow friends and bloggers James Kovacs, Justice Gray, and the Igloo Coder.

Great thanks to Nolan Zak and the rest of the code camp organizers for giving myself and others the opportunity to present!!

Also, for our first time in Victoria, we were blessed with great weather (according to locals).

I look forward to having an opportunity to go back and do some other work with the folks in Victoria!!

As most of you can probably tell, to the suffering of this blog, I am spending more time lately doing the presentation / mentoring thing!! For me it is a lot more fun (than blogging) as it allows me to cover topics at a greater level of detail, plus it has the bonus of allowing me to meet some really great developers. And because my wife and I home school our kids, we all travel together which gives us great opportunities to see new places.

What's next in the presentation pipeline:

• Victoria Code Camp - January 27th (this coming Saturday) - Along with a host of great speakers who are lined up, I will be giving 2 presentations
• Applied Patterns Of Enterprise Applicaton Architecture - 11:00AM - 12:00PM
• Generic - Theyr'e not just for collections - 1:00PM - 2:00PM

If you happen to be in Victoria this weekend try and make it out to the code camp. With the speakers who are presenting, and the material that will be covered it will be a great investment of time.

Just in case my last post was not clear enough (as you had to read to the bottom to see that there was a link to the source code!!) I am reposting a link to the source code for the presentation I gave to the Calgary .Net User Group on Enterprise Design Patterns. The talk quickly turned into a primer on the concepts of Dependency Inversion and Dependency Injection, which in my opinion are great concepts to be familiar with when wanting to tackle enterprise patterns properly.

During the course of the presentation I demonstrated how to first create a lightweight interface for an IOC container. I then developed a simple implementation that was then replaced with an implementation bound to the Windsor container which also utilized Binsor (great little tool developed by Oren Eini) for the container configuration.

If anyone has any questions about the source please do not hesitate to contact me.

One last time the source code is here!!

This past Wednesday (10th January) I gave my first talk of the year to the Calgary .Net User Group. It was the first of the lunch and learn formats that the group is starting up for the new year. What did this mean? It meant that the usual 1.5 hrs that I am used to was decreased to 1hr. As you can imagine, the pace at which I zipped around was faster than normal.

All in all I was pleased with the turnout (almost 70) and felt that lots of good information was shared. The evaluations also showed that ,all in all, most people were pleased with the level and content of the presentation.

If you are a member of a Canadian user group (or non-Canadian user group for that matter) and would like to have me give a talk, please contact me at bitwisejp@gmail.com and we can see what can be worked out. Being a member of the MSDN Canada speakers bureau means that Microsoft can offer support in the event that a Canadian user group wants me to give a presentation. I love getting out there, meeting new people, and fielding all sorts of interesting questions.

The source code for the presentation is available here (make sure to read the readme file in the root directory if you have questions as to how to get the app running).

Ever since I posted the course announcement yesterday, I have had a couple of requests for presenting the course out of the country (Europe, Africa, US).

My answer for anyone requesting this is simple. If I can generate enough interest to have 8-10 people register, then consider me there!!

I have been pretty quiet on the blogging front as of late and I am glad that I can finally announce the reason!

I have just finished finalizing (updated) material, and a location, for a course that I will be delivering in February 2007. The course will be a one week, intense bootcamp for .Net developers. The following overview outlines (at a very high level) what will be covered.

Overview

Nothin’ But .Net is a five day boot camp that will focus on pragmatically applying .Net within the context of developing a working N-Tiered application. Registrants will learn about advanced features of .Net (2.0/3.0) as they are applied to the task of building a complete application from the UI layer all the way down to the mapping layer.

WARNING!!!!

If you are expecting to come to this course to learn about how to have VS.Net automatically generate an “application” for you, then this course is NOT for you.

This course is all about taking control of the .Net framework and having it work the way you want. This course will place a heavy emphasis on getting back to the basics and making .Net do things the way you want it to, in a predictable and testable way.

This course will focus on a code centric view of application development vs. the typical databinding/designer magic covered by many typical .Net courses. You will walk away with a deep understanding of fundamental aspects of .Net and how these pieces can be used to develop and deliver enterprise scale applications.

Core Concepts Overview

• Expanding the capabilities of developing with VS.Net - Enter ReSharper (a productivity add-in for Visual Studio .Net)
• There’s more to life than generated code
• Automation for the developer
• Generics ( they’re not just for collections )
• Back to basics - Rules Of Good Object Oriented Design
• Dependency Injection
• Object Relational Mapping in .Net
• Applying the dependency inversion principle
• Domain Driven Design
• Passive View/Supervising Controller (Model View Presenter)
• Creating layered architectures
• Driving out functionality and design through testing
• Taking Control Of Databinding
• Behavior (Test) Driven Development
• Core design patterns applied
• Pragmatic Productivity Tools For Developers

Although the list may look rather daunting, the majority of the bullet points will be covered during the evolutionary design and construction of the sample project.

One of the main goals of the course is to show how to effectively use behavior (test) driven development, design patterns and a solid toolset to develop a portion of a non-trivial application.

The course will allow students to pragmatically apply BDD practices as well as teach people how to utilize fundamental OO concepts and techniques that will allow for them to have cleaner, more loosely coupled architectures. It will also be an opportunity for students to see what is involved in creating applications that utilize a Rich Domain Model,and the supporting infrastructure that is required to use "Plain Old Objects".

I have successfully delivered this course several times in Canada over the past year with great success. I anticipate that people who are interested will find that this is a very unique course offering, not typical of what is being delivered in the mainstream.

There are only spots for 12 people to register. The course costs $2500/CAD for a full 5 days. The fee covers:

• 5 (8 - 12 hour days, depending on the audience availability) of bootcamp style instruction
• Book - Patterns Of Application Architecture
• ReSharper 2.0 License
• Breakfast, lunch(and Supper if people opt for the 12 hour day)

The course is going to be hosted at DevStudios in Edmonton, Canada, and will run for the week of February 26 - March 2, 2007.

This is an initial informational message. If you are interested in finding out more about the course feel free to contact me at bitwisejp@gmail.com. A link to the registration page will follow shortly!!

Lots of people ask why I don't usually post my powerpoints and code that I deliver at presentations that I give. For the most part, because of my dynamic and on the fly presentation style, I often show up with no code and build out scenarios on the fly. The resulting code often only makes sense to look at in the context of being an attendee of the presentation.

The same can be equally said for my powerpoints. When I actually have slides prepared, they are used as mere launchpads into either conversation or demonstrations of a new concept.

That aside, I have had a lot of requests for the content from my first mini tour I conducted as part of the MSDN Canada Speakers bureau. I spoke in Regina, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon on three consecutive nights. The code that resulted from each session was quite different, so I decide to post the code that came out of the last session.

The presentation was focused on introducing people to the concept of design patterns. While meant to be a 100 level talk, I definitely threw one 400-500 level example into the mix to spice things up.

Here are the links to the content:

• Slide Deck
• Source Code

Feel free to use the slide deck and accompanying source code if you want to deliver your own presentations built on the material. If you do so, I would definitely appreciate being recognized for the work.

If you have any questions I will definitely try to get them answered.

As you can probably tell by the amount of posts I am making today, I have a bit more spare time on my hands than normal!! I am currently in the Saskatoon Inn (in Saskatoon) killing time before I give my last presentation on this small mini tour I have taken part in. I have definitely been relaxing in the down time between presentations. I spent a small bit of time catching up on some blog skimming and I noticed that James Kovacs has been added to the MSDN Canada Speakers bureau.

All I have to say is, "what the heck took so long"""!!! Seriously, this has been a long time coming. James has been presenting in and around Calgary and surrounding areas for quite a while now. His depth of technical knowledge is amazing; and he is a very accomplished eloquent public speaker.

Watch for James as he inevitably makes his way around the conference circuit in the future. And if you really want to see what he's made of contact your local user group and have them bring him in for a presentation.

Congratulations James.

Last night I had the awesome honor of presenting at the Winnipeg .Net User Group. The presentation was an introduction to design patterns, with the final example stetching into a 400 - 500 level implementation.

There were awesome questions generated, and I got to meet and hand out with some awesome people.

Next and final stop on the mini tour, Saskatoon.

The other day I had the wonderful honor of providing a tailored session on test driven development, interfaced based programming, and OO design principles.

I am first and foremost a developer and I love to be in the trenches driving out complex business solutions that deliver value into the hands of clients.

I did , however, start off in the world of computers in a part time Comp Sci teaching position. One thing I learned during that brief period is how much I enjoyed helping other developers improve their own skillsets. I have been blessed to work with many talented people over the years, along the way I have managed to accumulate an extensive knowledge base that I try to share with others as time permits.

One of the main reasons I have been getting active in the developer community in the last year is to share on a larger scale with the developer community. It is an extremely refreshing experience when you can see the light go on in the eyes of a developer who realizes the value in a concept you are trying to convey.

Do I think I know it all? Absolutely not. Learning is a continuing journey. I love when I read something/ meet someone who shares a new idea with me that I was previously unaware of. I love having those humbling experiences that help keep the pride level in check!!

I wanted to share with some of my readers some comments from the developers that provided anonymous feedback to the course that I gave. Again, the biggest reason I am actively trying to share is that in a small way this is how I can give back for the blessings that I have received over the course of both my personal and professional life. Reading these comments is continual encouragement and inspiration that prompts me to push the envelope everyday, and in my small way take part in helping developers realize more satisfaction from their own jobs:

There is no better way to appreciate the effectiveness of Test Driven Development, that seeing it done real time. Today I spent a couple of hours with the good people at Focu