Somehow, the Penguins staved off elimination in 3OT to play another
game.

Which is Wednesday night.  When your team plays in the finals for the
first time in 16 years, you have to go with it, so I'm out for the
meeting.

I'm disappointed for two reasons.  I've just uninstalled the
Resharper release candidate because it is still buggy.  I would have
liked to talk to people about their experiences.

Secondly, it has become clear to me that there is an element
of 'evangelism' cropping up in Alt.Net.  In the sense that there is
confirmation bias and an unwillingness to accept other opinions that
go against some standard alt.Net themes (not to pick names, but J.
Miller's 'argument' against some of my comments about the Entity
Framework basically resorting to calling me 'Mr.Phd' when he had
nothing else to say is a good example...I mean, it was sort of meant
as an insult, but it isn't really).

Not to pick names, but I will, I was looking forward to talking to
Sergio and Derik about this and getting a sense of what they thought
about it and maybe making it a topic for the 'open spaces' section of
this meeting.

Next time.

jdn

--- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira"
<sergioafp@...> wrote:
>
> Registration is open for June's meeting on Wednesday 6/11.
>
> CodeRush and Resharper comparisons and how they can enhance your
> Visual Studio experience.
> Facilitators: Ryan Rinaldi and Adam Tybor
>
> The meeting will be at a new location:
> ThoughtWorks
> 200 E Randolph St, 25th floor
> Chicago, IL
>
> Use the following link to register painlessly for the event. Please
> use your real name otherwise you'll have to call someone to let you
> in.
>
> http://altnetchicago.eventbrite.com/
>
> See you there!
> --
> ______________________________________
> Sergio Pereira
>

Jdn,

You do know the meeting is NEXT Wednesday, no this weekend right.



--- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "jdn3times" <jdn3times@...> wrote:
>
> Somehow, the Penguins staved off elimination in 3OT to play another
> game.
>
> Which is Wednesday night.  When your team plays in the finals for the
> first time in 16 years, you have to go with it, so I'm out for the
> meeting.
>
> I'm disappointed for two reasons.  I've just uninstalled the
> Resharper release candidate because it is still buggy.  I would have
> liked to talk to people about their experiences.
>
> Secondly, it has become clear to me that there is an element
> of 'evangelism' cropping up in Alt.Net.  In the sense that there is
> confirmation bias and an unwillingness to accept other opinions that
> go against some standard alt.Net themes (not to pick names, but J.
> Miller's 'argument' against some of my comments about the Entity
> Framework basically resorting to calling me 'Mr.Phd' when he had
> nothing else to say is a good example...I mean, it was sort of meant
> as an insult, but it isn't really).
>
> Not to pick names, but I will, I was looking forward to talking to
> Sergio and Derik about this and getting a sense of what they thought
> about it and maybe making it a topic for the 'open spaces' section of
> this meeting.
>
> Next time.
>
> jdn
>
> --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira"
> <sergioafp@> wrote:
> >
> > Registration is open for June's meeting on Wednesday 6/11.
> >
> > CodeRush and Resharper comparisons and how they can enhance your
> > Visual Studio experience.
> > Facilitators: Ryan Rinaldi and Adam Tybor
> >
> > The meeting will be at a new location:
> > ThoughtWorks
> > 200 E Randolph St, 25th floor
> > Chicago, IL
> >
> > Use the following link to register painlessly for the event. Please
> > use your real name otherwise you'll have to call someone to let you
> > in.
> >
> > http://altnetchicago.eventbrite.com/
> >
> > See you there!
> > --
> > ______________________________________
> > Sergio Pereira
> >
>

jdn,
In respect to your significance to our community, we will open the
exception and move the meeting to the next Wednesday, the 11th. Oh,
wait a second, no need to do that :)

Re: the bias and stuff, I'm with you. I believe that the only way to
be able to make good decisions is to keep an open mind and explore.
The day someone creates "The Church of alt.net" with the guy  at the
top releasing the encyclicals for us in lower ranks, that's the day
I'm off this boat.

Although I typically don't like having "meta" discussions about what
alt.net is or isn't, that may be an interesting topic for discussion
anyway.

On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 12:57 AM, jdn3times <jdn3times@...> wrote:
> Somehow, the Penguins staved off elimination in 3OT to play another
> game.
>
> Which is Wednesday night.  When your team plays in the finals for the
> first time in 16 years, you have to go with it, so I'm out for the
> meeting.
>
> I'm disappointed for two reasons.  I've just uninstalled the
> Resharper release candidate because it is still buggy.  I would have
> liked to talk to people about their experiences.
>
> Secondly, it has become clear to me that there is an element
> of 'evangelism' cropping up in Alt.Net.  In the sense that there is
> confirmation bias and an unwillingness to accept other opinions that
> go against some standard alt.Net themes (not to pick names, but J.
> Miller's 'argument' against some of my comments about the Entity
> Framework basically resorting to calling me 'Mr.Phd' when he had
> nothing else to say is a good example...I mean, it was sort of meant
> as an insult, but it isn't really).
>
> Not to pick names, but I will, I was looking forward to talking to
> Sergio and Derik about this and getting a sense of what they thought
> about it and maybe making it a topic for the 'open spaces' section of
> this meeting.
>
> Next time.
>
> jdn
>
> --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira"
> <sergioafp@...> wrote:
>>
>> Registration is open for June's meeting on Wednesday 6/11.
>>
>> CodeRush and Resharper comparisons and how they can enhance your
>> Visual Studio experience.
>> Facilitators: Ryan Rinaldi and Adam Tybor
>>
>> The meeting will be at a new location:
>> ThoughtWorks
>> 200 E Randolph St, 25th floor
>> Chicago, IL
>>
>> Use the following link to register painlessly for the event. Please
>> use your real name otherwise you'll have to call someone to let you
>> in.
>>
>> http://altnetchicago.eventbrite.com/
>>
>> See you there!
>> --
>> ______________________________________
>> Sergio Pereira
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>



--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

Awesome!

Apparently, whereas Sergio starts counting at 0, I start counting at -
1...LOL

jdn

--- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Derik Whittaker" <graudo@...>
wrote:
>
> Jdn,
>
> You do know the meeting is NEXT Wednesday, no this weekend right.
>
>
>
> --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "jdn3times" <jdn3times@>
wrote:
> >
> > Somehow, the Penguins staved off elimination in 3OT to play
another
> > game.
> >
> > Which is Wednesday night.  When your team plays in the finals for
the
> > first time in 16 years, you have to go with it, so I'm out for
the
> > meeting.
> >
> > I'm disappointed for two reasons.  I've just uninstalled the
> > Resharper release candidate because it is still buggy.  I would
have
> > liked to talk to people about their experiences.
> >
> > Secondly, it has become clear to me that there is an element
> > of 'evangelism' cropping up in Alt.Net.  In the sense that there
is
> > confirmation bias and an unwillingness to accept other opinions
that
> > go against some standard alt.Net themes (not to pick names, but
J.
> > Miller's 'argument' against some of my comments about the Entity
> > Framework basically resorting to calling me 'Mr.Phd' when he had
> > nothing else to say is a good example...I mean, it was sort of
meant
> > as an insult, but it isn't really).
> >
> > Not to pick names, but I will, I was looking forward to talking
to
> > Sergio and Derik about this and getting a sense of what they
thought
> > about it and maybe making it a topic for the 'open spaces'
section of
> > this meeting.
> >
> > Next time.
> >
> > jdn
> >
> > --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira"
> > <sergioafp@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Registration is open for June's meeting on Wednesday 6/11.
> > >
> > > CodeRush and Resharper comparisons and how they can enhance your
> > > Visual Studio experience.
> > > Facilitators: Ryan Rinaldi and Adam Tybor
> > >
> > > The meeting will be at a new location:
> > > ThoughtWorks
> > > 200 E Randolph St, 25th floor
> > > Chicago, IL
> > >
> > > Use the following link to register painlessly for the event.
Please
> > > use your real name otherwise you'll have to call someone to let
you
> > > in.
> > >
> > > http://altnetchicago.eventbrite.com/
> > >
> > > See you there!
> > > --
> > > ______________________________________
> > > Sergio Pereira
> > >
> >
>

All,

Sorry for the shameless plug, but it is what it is.

Last week I launched the site www.dimecasts.net.  The intent of the
site is to provide short, concise and meaningful screencasts about
.net topics.  I would love to get everyone's feed back on what they think.

Give it a spin and let me know.

Thanks,
Derik

I'll update the event page to include this info.

On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 9:13 PM, Ryan Rinaldi <ryan@...> wrote:
> I have been able to snag a free copy of CodeRush and Refactor! Pro for one
> lucky person who attends the next meeting.
>
> On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 7:50 AM, Nermin Dibek <ndibek@...> wrote:
>>
>> Can't code without R#!  I have seen only demos of CodeRush.
>>
>> On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 6:18 PM, Derik Whittaker <graudo@...>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> R#: daily
>>> CodeRush: Daily but mostly for UI Candy
>>>
>>> --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Adam Tybor" <adam.tybor@...>
>>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > So it looks like next meeting Ryan and I will be doing a Resharper vs
>>> > CodeRush demo. I just wanted to take a quick poll to find out how many
>>> > people use either of these tools regularly.
>>> >
>>> > Please just reply with the tool and the level of experience...
>>> Since it is
>>> > alt.net if there is another tool you use to make your coding experience
>>> > better feel free to list it and be prepared to talk / demo about it
>>> in an
>>> > openspace session.
>>> >
>>> > R#: All the time
>>> > CodeRush: Never even tried it
>>> >
>>> > Thanks,
>>> > Adam
>>> >
>>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Ryan Rinaldi
> msn: email@...
> blog: http://blogs.geekdojo.net/ryan



--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

All,

I was asked to post this on our list as the person (Paul) is looking
for talented developers that have the 'alt' mindset.

.Net C# Developer Skills Summary

* 4+ years development experience
* 3+ years of real delivery experience, and preferably winforms
(CAB-based smart client a bonus) development, with the .NET framework
using C# and SQL Server 2005
* Solid background in object oriented analysis/design and domain
driven design
* Strong knowledge of design patterns and agile practices such as
refactoring and test driven development (TDD) and behavior-driven
development (BDD)
* Experience with agile methodologies such as Extreme Programming (XP) &
Scrum
* Experience with NHibernate, Rhino Mocks, NUnit, CruiseControl.Net,
and Team Foundation Server
* Participated in full life-cycle development, preferably on large
projects (more than 15 people, longer than 6 months)
* Team player with excellent communication skills

Please contact me if you have any questions. Interested developers
should feel free to forward their resumes to me for consideration.

Thanks,

Paul.

Paul Rayner
Application Architect
The Warranty Group
303-228-6562 : office
Paul.Rayner-AT-us.thewg-DOT-com

Hi folks.
If anyone is the North burbs and is thinking about attending the
meeting this Wednesday, I'm driving to the event and back.
If you're anywhere in the path between Chicago and Grayslake, I can
probably offer you a ride home on my way back.

Email me directly to arrange.

--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

Sergio,

I will take u up on this.

--- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira" <sergioafp@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi folks.
> If anyone is the North burbs and is thinking about attending the
> meeting this Wednesday, I'm driving to the event and back.
> If you're anywhere in the path between Chicago and Grayslake, I can
> probably offer you a ride home on my way back.
>
> Email me directly to arrange.
>
> --
> ______________________________________
> Sergio Pereira
>

You didn't need to answer, neighbor ;)

  - sp

On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 8:23 AM, Derik Whittaker <graudo@...> wrote:
> Sergio,
>
> I will take u up on this.
>
> --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira" <sergioafp@...>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi folks.
>> If anyone is the North burbs and is thinking about attending the
>> meeting this Wednesday, I'm driving to the event and back.
>> If you're anywhere in the path between Chicago and Grayslake, I can
>> probably offer you a ride home on my way back.
>>
>> Email me directly to arrange.
>>
>> --
>> ______________________________________
>> Sergio Pereira
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>



--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

Just got confirmation today that ThoughtWorks will be providing pizza
and soda for our meeting. We will try to get the pizzas in by 6:00 or
6:15 to not disrupt the presentation.
So, get in a little earlier and enjoy some food and network around.
If you really can't RSVP at http://altnetchicago.eventbrite.com/ by
2PM you can still attend by calling my cell (224-627-8352) once you
get to the AON security desk.

See you there. Thanks TW for the food.

--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

I knew about the CodeRush + Refactor being given away at the meeting,
but I heard ReSharper and SqlPrompt as well, anything else I'm missing
:)

  - sp

On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 5:40 PM, Sergio Pereira <sergioafp@...> wrote:
> Just got confirmation today that ThoughtWorks will be providing pizza
> and soda for our meeting. We will try to get the pizzas in by 6:00 or
> 6:15 to not disrupt the presentation.
> So, get in a little earlier and enjoy some food and network around.
> If you really can't RSVP at http://altnetchicago.eventbrite.com/ by
> 2PM you can still attend by calling my cell (224-627-8352) once you
> get to the AON security desk.
>
> See you there. Thanks TW for the food.
>
> --
> ______________________________________
> Sergio Pereira
>



--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

Sergio,

I should have a copy of SqlPrompt to give away as well.  I am working
with Red-Gate on this and should have final word today.

Derik

--- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira" <sergioafp@...>
wrote:
>
> I knew about the CodeRush + Refactor being given away at the meeting,
> but I heard ReSharper and SqlPrompt as well, anything else I'm missing
> :)
>
>  - sp
>
> On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 5:40 PM, Sergio Pereira <sergioafp@...> wrote:
> > Just got confirmation today that ThoughtWorks will be providing pizza
> > and soda for our meeting. We will try to get the pizzas in by 6:00 or
> > 6:15 to not disrupt the presentation.
> > So, get in a little earlier and enjoy some food and network around.
> > If you really can't RSVP at http://altnetchicago.eventbrite.com/ by
> > 2PM you can still attend by calling my cell (224-627-8352) once you
> > get to the AON security desk.
> >
> > See you there. Thanks TW for the food.
> >
> > --
> > ______________________________________
> > Sergio Pereira
> >
>
>
>
> --
> ______________________________________
> Sergio Pereira
>

SqlPrompt is pretty cool. I was tried it during the beta cycle for
this latest version and it was pretty nice to have SQL Intellisense on
every text editor you want. One should factor out Visual Studio's
intellisense to operate that way and I could do all my development in
a lighter text editor :)

  - sp

On Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 5:32 AM, Derik Whittaker <graudo@...> wrote:
> Sergio,
>
> I should have a copy of SqlPrompt to give away as well.  I am working
> with Red-Gate on this and should have final word today.
>
> Derik
>
> --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira" <sergioafp@...>
> wrote:
>>
>> I knew about the CodeRush + Refactor being given away at the meeting,
>> but I heard ReSharper and SqlPrompt as well, anything else I'm missing
>> :)
>>
>>  - sp
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 5:40 PM, Sergio Pereira <sergioafp@...> wrote:
>> > Just got confirmation today that ThoughtWorks will be providing pizza
>> > and soda for our meeting. We will try to get the pizzas in by 6:00 or
>> > 6:15 to not disrupt the presentation.
>> > So, get in a little earlier and enjoy some food and network around.
>> > If you really can't RSVP at http://altnetchicago.eventbrite.com/ by
>> > 2PM you can still attend by calling my cell (224-627-8352) once you
>> > get to the AON security desk.
>> >
>> > See you there. Thanks TW for the food.
>> >
>> > --
>> > ______________________________________
>> > Sergio Pereira
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ______________________________________
>> Sergio Pereira
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>



--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

I'm just reposting this old message to help figure out our next topic. Now vote.

-----

We need to start planning the next meeting (and the ones after that if
possible).
Some topics previously suggested:
  - IoC containers (introductory)
  - MVC architecture (not necessarily ASP.NET MVC)
  - Monorail
  - Entity Framework
  - NHibernate
  - Derik's originally planned TDD/Mocks talk
  - Prototype.js (I swear  I was not the one that suggested that :)
  - Message-based distributed architectures (I hope I got that right Adam)
  - Good uses for functional languages (F#)
  - Developer tools (kind of: bring your laptop and demo a tool you
just can live without)
  - Developer tools more specifically: Resharper, CodeRush, CodeSmith,
Firebug, Wireshark, etc

Please add your suggestions.

My personal votes:
  Things I want to learn more about (in no particular order)
    - NHibernate
    - F#
    - Spec#
    - Gallio
    - Resharper
    - IronRuby
    - Boo, Binsor, Bake
    - Creating DSLs in .Net
    - Relevance of fluent APIs in .Net


  Things I'd be willing to present or lead discussions if there's
interest (June and July are probably not viable for me):

   - Prototype and Scriptaculous
   - Advanced JavaScript
   - Ruby for .Net devs

--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

Another topic that I heard suggested on the Dotnet Rocks podcast would
be to have a discussion around being a fulltime employee versus
consultant (with a consulting company)  versus going independent,
Talking about things like
   - What is best for you personality or attitude
   - What are the advantages/cons of each one
   - Issues like getting a healthcare plan (just got a friend that
needed to abort his "going solo" because his wife was denied
insurance)
   - Overhead
   - etc

Maybe with some non-tech guest that know law and stuff.

I just thought that this could be interesting because that's probably
a thought that runs by many developers that are dedicated enough to
attend user group meetings.

Just throwing it out there.

  - sp

On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 9:37 AM, Ryan Rinaldi <ryan@...> wrote:
> Prototype.js and writing OO javascript. :)
>
> Also, if you guys are interested, one of our Developer Technical Support
> engineers would be up for doing a quick overview of writing trading
> applications using our API.  Only reason I mention it is that a few people
> have expressed interest in it and learning more about financial
> applications.  If not at ALT.NET, I can probably get her to do a
> presentation after hours here at my office.
>
> On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 9:24 AM, Sergio Pereira <sergioafp@...> wrote:
>>
>> I'm just reposting this old message to help figure out our next topic. Now
>> vote.
>>
>> -----
>>
>> We need to start planning the next meeting (and the ones after that if
>> possible).
>> Some topics previously suggested:
>>  - IoC containers (introductory)
>>  - MVC architecture (not necessarily ASP.NET MVC)
>>  - Monorail
>>  - Entity Framework
>>  - NHibernate
>>  - Derik's originally planned TDD/Mocks talk
>>  - Prototype.js (I swear  I was not the one that suggested that :)
>>  - Message-based distributed architectures (I hope I got that right Adam)
>>  - Good uses for functional languages (F#)
>>  - Developer tools (kind of: bring your laptop and demo a tool you
>> just can live without)
>>  - Developer tools more specifically: Resharper, CodeRush, CodeSmith,
>> Firebug, Wireshark, etc
>>
>> Please add your suggestions.
>>
>> My personal votes:
>>  Things I want to learn more about (in no particular order)
>>   - NHibernate
>>   - F#
>>   - Spec#
>>   - Gallio
>>   - Resharper
>>   - IronRuby
>>   - Boo, Binsor, Bake
>>   - Creating DSLs in .Net
>>   - Relevance of fluent APIs in .Net
>>
>>
>>  Things I'd be willing to present or lead discussions if there's
>> interest (June and July are probably not viable for me):
>>
>>  - Prototype and Scriptaculous
>>  - Advanced JavaScript
>>  - Ruby for .Net devs
>>
>> --
>> ______________________________________
>> Sergio Pereira
>>
>> ------------------------------------
>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Ryan Rinaldi
> msn: email@...
> blog: http://blogs.geekdojo.net/ryan



--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

How to do mocking well, or, at least, how not to do it really poorly.

jdn

--- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira"
<sergioafp@...> wrote:
>
> I'm just reposting this old message to help figure out our next
topic. Now vote.
>
> -----
>
> We need to start planning the next meeting (and the ones after that
if
> possible).
> Some topics previously suggested:
>  - IoC containers (introductory)
>  - MVC architecture (not necessarily ASP.NET MVC)
>  - Monorail
>  - Entity Framework
>  - NHibernate
>  - Derik's originally planned TDD/Mocks talk
>  - Prototype.js (I swear  I was not the one that suggested that :)
>  - Message-based distributed architectures (I hope I got that right
Adam)
>  - Good uses for functional languages (F#)
>  - Developer tools (kind of: bring your laptop and demo a tool you
> just can live without)
>  - Developer tools more specifically: Resharper, CodeRush,
CodeSmith,
> Firebug, Wireshark, etc
>
> Please add your suggestions.
>
> My personal votes:
>  Things I want to learn more about (in no particular order)
>    - NHibernate
>    - F#
>    - Spec#
>    - Gallio
>    - Resharper
>    - IronRuby
>    - Boo, Binsor, Bake
>    - Creating DSLs in .Net
>    - Relevance of fluent APIs in .Net
>
>
>  Things I'd be willing to present or lead discussions if there's
> interest (June and July are probably not viable for me):
>
>   - Prototype and Scriptaculous
>   - Advanced JavaScript
>   - Ruby for .Net devs
>
> --
> ______________________________________
> Sergio Pereira
>

All,

I am adding our Member to CodeZone, MS's site for user groups and
events.  I thought I would send this as an FYI in case you get an
email from them.

Derik

I kind of feel that at some point we should try to have some topics
that are attractive to someone that is not already deep in these "alt"
things. It can be hard to walk that line between revealing the pain
and becoming preachy.

We are still in our group's infancy so I think it's OK that we have
some self-serving topics while we learn how to get the group rolling.
The mocking topic sounds great to me too.

- sp

On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 6:41 PM, jdn3times <jdn3times@...> wrote:
> How to do mocking well, or, at least, how not to do it really poorly.
>
> jdn
>
> --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira"
> <sergioafp@...> wrote:
>>
>> I'm just reposting this old message to help figure out our next
> topic. Now vote.
>>
>> -----
>>
>> We need to start planning the next meeting (and the ones after that
> if
>> possible).
>> Some topics previously suggested:
>>  - IoC containers (introductory)
>>  - MVC architecture (not necessarily ASP.NET MVC)
>>  - Monorail
>>  - Entity Framework
>>  - NHibernate
>>  - Derik's originally planned TDD/Mocks talk
>>  - Prototype.js (I swear  I was not the one that suggested that :)
>>  - Message-based distributed architectures (I hope I got that right
> Adam)
>>  - Good uses for functional languages (F#)
>>  - Developer tools (kind of: bring your laptop and demo a tool you
>> just can live without)
>>  - Developer tools more specifically: Resharper, CodeRush,
> CodeSmith,
>> Firebug, Wireshark, etc
>>
>> Please add your suggestions.
>>
>> My personal votes:
>>  Things I want to learn more about (in no particular order)
>>    - NHibernate
>>    - F#
>>    - Spec#
>>    - Gallio
>>    - Resharper
>>    - IronRuby
>>    - Boo, Binsor, Bake
>>    - Creating DSLs in .Net
>>    - Relevance of fluent APIs in .Net
>>
>>
>>  Things I'd be willing to present or lead discussions if there's
>> interest (June and July are probably not viable for me):
>>
>>   - Prototype and Scriptaculous
>>   - Advanced JavaScript
>>   - Ruby for .Net devs
>>
>> --
>> ______________________________________
>> Sergio Pereira
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>



--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

Sergio,

I see what you are saying, but remember we are not the NUG, we are
focused on 'Alt' topics.  And being that it is an Alt group, and doing
alt content should be expected.

Just my 2cents.

--- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira" <sergioafp@...>
wrote:
>
> I kind of feel that at some point we should try to have some topics
> that are attractive to someone that is not already deep in these "alt"
> things. It can be hard to walk that line between revealing the pain
> and becoming preachy.
>
> We are still in our group's infancy so I think it's OK that we have
> some self-serving topics while we learn how to get the group rolling.
> The mocking topic sounds great to me too.
>
> - sp
>
> On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 6:41 PM, jdn3times <jdn3times@...> wrote:
> > How to do mocking well, or, at least, how not to do it really poorly.
> >
> > jdn
> >
> > --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira"
> > <sergioafp@> wrote:
> >>
> >> I'm just reposting this old message to help figure out our next
> > topic. Now vote.
> >>
> >> -----
> >>
> >> We need to start planning the next meeting (and the ones after that
> > if
> >> possible).
> >> Some topics previously suggested:
> >>  - IoC containers (introductory)
> >>  - MVC architecture (not necessarily ASP.NET MVC)
> >>  - Monorail
> >>  - Entity Framework
> >>  - NHibernate
> >>  - Derik's originally planned TDD/Mocks talk
> >>  - Prototype.js (I swear  I was not the one that suggested that :)
> >>  - Message-based distributed architectures (I hope I got that right
> > Adam)
> >>  - Good uses for functional languages (F#)
> >>  - Developer tools (kind of: bring your laptop and demo a tool you
> >> just can live without)
> >>  - Developer tools more specifically: Resharper, CodeRush,
> > CodeSmith,
> >> Firebug, Wireshark, etc
> >>
> >> Please add your suggestions.
> >>
> >> My personal votes:
> >>  Things I want to learn more about (in no particular order)
> >>    - NHibernate
> >>    - F#
> >>    - Spec#
> >>    - Gallio
> >>    - Resharper
> >>    - IronRuby
> >>    - Boo, Binsor, Bake
> >>    - Creating DSLs in .Net
> >>    - Relevance of fluent APIs in .Net
> >>
> >>
> >>  Things I'd be willing to present or lead discussions if there's
> >> interest (June and July are probably not viable for me):
> >>
> >>   - Prototype and Scriptaculous
> >>   - Advanced JavaScript
> >>   - Ruby for .Net devs
> >>
> >> --
> >> ______________________________________
> >> Sergio Pereira
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> ______________________________________
> Sergio Pereira
>

I'm not suggesting diverting from the alt content. I'm just concerned
with the level of the content.
For example, one has to be familiar with Unit Testing and a Mocking
framework before he can discuss the nuances and patterns of mocking.
What I'm trying to suggest is that we should (in the future) plan to
have some How To sessions around Unit Testing and Mocking.
The same goes for other things like BDD tools which are only
interesting if you know what BDD is or Auto-mocking Containers without
grasping IoC.
I'd be happier with we could strike an acceptable balance between
level 100 and level 300+ topics over time to make the group more
welcoming.
I'm also sick of the level 100 stuff that are constant in the regular NUG.

But that's just my opinion, though. The group will go where the group
wants to be.

  - sp

On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 3:08 PM, Derik Whittaker <graudo@...> wrote:
> Sergio,
>
> I see what you are saying, but remember we are not the NUG, we are
> focused on 'Alt' topics.  And being that it is an Alt group, and doing
> alt content should be expected.
>
> Just my 2cents.
>
> --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira" <sergioafp@...>
> wrote:
>>
>> I kind of feel that at some point we should try to have some topics
>> that are attractive to someone that is not already deep in these "alt"
>> things. It can be hard to walk that line between revealing the pain
>> and becoming preachy.
>>
>> We are still in our group's infancy so I think it's OK that we have
>> some self-serving topics while we learn how to get the group rolling.
>> The mocking topic sounds great to me too.
>>
>> - sp
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 6:41 PM, jdn3times <jdn3times@...> wrote:
>> > How to do mocking well, or, at least, how not to do it really poorly.
>> >
>> > jdn
>> >
>> > --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Sergio Pereira"
>> > <sergioafp@> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I'm just reposting this old message to help figure out our next
>> > topic. Now vote.
>> >>
>> >> -----
>> >>
>> >> We need to start planning the next meeting (and the ones after that
>> > if
>> >> possible).
>> >> Some topics previously suggested:
>> >>  - IoC containers (introductory)
>> >>  - MVC architecture (not necessarily ASP.NET MVC)
>> >>  - Monorail
>> >>  - Entity Framework
>> >>  - NHibernate
>> >>  - Derik's originally planned TDD/Mocks talk
>> >>  - Prototype.js (I swear  I was not the one that suggested that :)
>> >>  - Message-based distributed architectures (I hope I got that right
>> > Adam)
>> >>  - Good uses for functional languages (F#)
>> >>  - Developer tools (kind of: bring your laptop and demo a tool you
>> >> just can live without)
>> >>  - Developer tools more specifically: Resharper, CodeRush,
>> > CodeSmith,
>> >> Firebug, Wireshark, etc
>> >>
>> >> Please add your suggestions.
>> >>
>> >> My personal votes:
>> >>  Things I want to learn more about (in no particular order)
>> >>    - NHibernate
>> >>    - F#
>> >>    - Spec#
>> >>    - Gallio
>> >>    - Resharper
>> >>    - IronRuby
>> >>    - Boo, Binsor, Bake
>> >>    - Creating DSLs in .Net
>> >>    - Relevance of fluent APIs in .Net
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>  Things I'd be willing to present or lead discussions if there's
>> >> interest (June and July are probably not viable for me):
>> >>
>> >>   - Prototype and Scriptaculous
>> >>   - Advanced JavaScript
>> >>   - Ruby for .Net devs
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> ______________________________________
>> >> Sergio Pereira
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------
>> >
>> > Yahoo! Groups Links
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ______________________________________
>> Sergio Pereira
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>



--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira

I apologize for such a late notice, but since few members of our Alt.net group expressed interest, I wanted to mention that my company is organizing an event called "Magenic Technology Summit".  It is this Friday.  We will have a number of sessions being presented on Software Development.

We will have a Jay Schmelzer from MS Visual Studio team and our own Rocky Lhotka as a keynote speakers and a number of Magenicons from across the country delivering a number of topics on software development.

Development Track Sessions

Writing Better Code

It's one thing to write code that will do the job in the short-term; it's another challenge to write code that can stand the test of time. In this session, Jason Bock will show you how you can use tools and features in VS 2008 (e.g. unit testing, CodeAnalysis, Code Coverage, etc.) to assist you in making your code maintainable over time, easy to understand, and resilient to defects.

Test Driven Development with ASP.NET MVC Framework - Building better AJAX web sites! In this session, Nermin Dibek will disprove two myths: 1) It is nearly impossible to build a Test Driven Web in ASP.NET, and 2) Building custom Ajax implementations is too hard in ASP.NET.

Super-Optimized Microsoft LINQ: Indexed Objects

In this session, Aaron Erickson will go into how developers can use indexing techniques to allow for "constant-time" queries using LINQ to Objects. The session will cover both case studies of where this technique is used in technolo­gies such as the i4o open source project and CSLA, as well as examples of how developers can implement the technique in their own custom collections.

User Experience and Better Designer Developer Collaboration

Anthony Handley will discuss the importance of good user experience design and how tool and technologies like WPF, Silverlight and Expression Blend are helping designers collaborate better with developers.

Server Track Sessions

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Branding

The first thing everyone wants to do to their SharePoint installation is make it not look like SharePoint. There are many levels to SharePoint branding and the deeper you go, the more work it is. In this session Michael Cummings will cover the various ways of branding SharePoint from the "I don't know HTML" level to the "I eat C# code for breakfast" level and also show you some areas to avoid when branding and better methods of accomplishing your goal.

Dynamic Management Views Will Save Your Life Do you ever wish you could get an X-Ray view of your sluggish SQL Server? Take the guesswork out of troubleshooting database issues by utilizing the data collected in Dynamic Management Views. In this session, Whitney Weaver will show you the tools implemented in SQL Server 2005 that give you extraordinary view into the health and well being of your database instance. Code samples will be presented around query performance, I/O utilization, index usage, and more.

Really…what is Team Foundation Server?Team Foundation Server (TFS) has been out on the market for a couple years and there is still more confusion about it, what it does and who can benefit from it. In this session Scott Wylie will show how each member of your team, project and company can use and benefit from TFS and how it can make life much simpler when it comes to all application lifecycle tasks.

RFID: The future is now

In the movie Minority Report, we were shown a glimpse of what the future might bring. Well that future is now. With the release of BizTalk 2006 R2, we were given a powerful new tool and technology. In this session, Shawn Doty will give an overview of what RFID is, how to implement it, and how it is used.

So, anyone seen or heard from Jordan in a while? Should we send out a
search party to find him?  If so I can bring the beer.

Jordan...... Jordan..... where are you......Ollie, Ollie oxen free.....

--- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Derik Whittaker" <graudo@...>
wrote:
>...... Jordan..... where are you......Ollie, Ollie oxen free.....
>

It's over by Israel and Syria.

<ducking>

jdn

That is great..... would have never thought of getting that answer.

--- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "jdn3times" <jdn3times@...> wrote:
>
> --- In ChicagoAltNet@yahoogroups.com, "Derik Whittaker" <graudo@>
> wrote:
> >...... Jordan..... where are you......Ollie, Ollie oxen free.....
> >
>
> It's over by Israel and Syria.
>
> <ducking>
>
> jdn
>

Let's have our meeting be all about mocking objects. Not just
introductory level (that too) but also discussions about problems,
tools, and patterns.


==> We still need your help to establish which aspects of mocking you
want to make sure we give some attention.

I'll start with my suggestions:

   - I want to see code, not just talk
   - What and how hard or easy to use mocks are?
   - Are they just for testing?
   - Aren't they just noise?
   - Tools
   - How to do mocking well (jdn)
   - Does the habit of using mocks lead to good design? Or the reverse?
   - Is TypeMock evil? Did Roy Osherove sell out? (jk)


I'll have the registration page ready tomorrow. Meeting will be the
same place as last time, which I thought went really well, at
ThoughtWorks (directions will be in the registration page). We will
have pizza, bring your friends too.


--
______________________________________
Sergio Pereira