July 8, 2010 at Pepper's
This meeting is a round table style meeting; where we chat about various programming topics. This is a great opportunity to discuss architechure or new tools that you find interesting.
May 13, 2010 at Pepper's
This meeting is a round table style meeting; where we chat about various programming topics. This is a great opportunity to discuss architechure or new tools that you find interesting.
April 8, 2010 at Microsoft (Vision Building)
- Agile Database Development by Nathan Voxland of Intelligent InSites
- Value Stream Mapping by James Walsh of NDSU
How do you keep your database up to date as your application is changing? If you are on a team, how do you keep track of db changes from other devs? Nathan will speak about different ways to accomplish these and other problems devs face with keeping a database current.
We often scour code looking for efficiencies but many times the largest gains can be seen outside the computer. James will discuss the mechanics of building a paper and pencil representation of how work actually gets done in your organization. Once visible, it can be analyzed, improved and changed. Secondarily, James will discuss facilitation of the value stream mapping group sessions and the organizational concerns and pitfalls based on his personal experience and learning from others.
Artifacts
AgileDatabaseDevelopment.pptx
http://www.liquibase.org/dotnetport
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471202835/ambysoftinc
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321293533/ambysoftinc
http://www.poppendieck.com/pdfs/Mapping_the_Value_Stream.pdf
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0321150783
March 11, 2010 at Pepper's
This meeting is a round table style meeting; where we chat about various programming topics. This is a great opportunity to discuss architechure or new tools that you find interesting.
February 11, 2010 at Microsoft (Vision Building)
What's New in Visual Studio 2010 by Mike Benkovich of MicrosoftYou've heard about it and now you want to see it for yourself: Visual Studio 2010. Take a ride with us as we learn about new features like Highlighting References and Generate From Usage. Marvel at the new multi-line editing features! Help make your apps faster with the Parallel windows. Generate a database from your conceptual model by using the Create Database Wizard. Check out the new VB.NET Auto-Implemented Properties and C# Call Hierarchy features.
January 14, 2010 at Pepper's
This meeting is a round table style meeting; where we chat about various programming topics. This is a great opportunity to discuss architechure or new tools that you find interesting.
December 10, 2009 at Microsoft (Vision Building)
- The Fundamentals of Unit Testing by Max Pool of Digital Squids
- Tour of Microsoft Vision building by Chris Garty of Microsoft
We talk about Unit Testing and various tools to aide in unit testing quite frequently. Taking a step back, Max is going to give us the whole picture of
what unit testing is about. Why should a dev invest the time? How do you make your code more testable? How do you make your tests durable to changes?
If you have doubts about unit testing, hopefully Max will show you the light.
During our normal second presentation, Chris Garty of Microsoft will give us a tour of the new Vision building at the Fargo Microsoft Campus.
November 12, 2009 at Pepper's
This meeting is a round table style meeting; where we chat about various programming topics. This is a great opportunity to discuss architechure or new tools that you find interesting.
October 8, 2009 at Intelligent InSites (102 Broadway)
- Build Server - Team City by Jason LaFlair of State Bank & Trust
- Efficiently Storing Trees in a Database by Dave Gorman of Intelligent InSites
We have a great meeting planned.
First off, Jason is going to show off some of the cool stuff he has been doing with build servers.
Most build servers just compile code and exercise unit tests but State Bank & Trust has been doing more advanced processes like
code signing and making installers automatically.
In the second presentation, I will show how we changed some of our self-referencing tables to make them more efficient.
I've never been a big fan of self-referencing tables but sometimes they are a necessary evil.
Some simple practices can make them more efficient and safer to use.
Artifacts
September 10, 2009 CANCELLED
August 13, 2009 at Pepper's
This meeting is a round table style meeting; where we chat about various programming topics. This is a great opportunity to discuss architechure or new tools that you find interesting.
July 9, 2009 at Microsoft
- Developing on the Google App Engine by Nathan Voxland of Intelligent InSites
- Developing with F# by Nathaniel Neitzke of LightHouse1
Google provides cloud hosting but requires you to develop under numerous conditions. Voxland created an application hosted with the Google App Engine and was featured on Apple's App store. Written in Python, he will explain what programming for Google's App Engine is like.
Neitzke has been working with F# for a long time and will show why this .Net language is very popular.
F# is a programming language that provides the much sought-after combination of type safety, performance and scripting, with all the advantages of running on a high-quality, well-supported modern runtime system.
Artifacts
Google App Engine Presentation
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/fsharp/default.aspx
June 11, 2009 at Pepper's
This meeting is a round table style meeting; where we chat about various programming topics. This is a great opportunity to discuss architechure or new tools that you find interesting.
May 14, 2009 at Microsoft
- Clean Code: Introduction to the SOLID Principles by Jason Pettys of Nexus Innovations
- Introduction to Lean Software Development by Max Pool of Digital Squids
This meeting is focused on quality software practices. Jason will discuss Uncle Bob's S.O.L.I.D principles that every modern developer should know. Lean revolutionized manufacturing, Max will show how some practices can be applied to software development.
Artifacts
IntroToSolid-JasonPettys.zip (7.23M including presentation audio)
IntroToLean-MaxPool.zip (15.7M including presentation audio)
April 9, 2009 CANCELLED due to flood
March 12, 2009 at Microsoft
- Introduction to Scrum by Jeremy Neuharth of State Bank & Trust
- Behavior Driven Development w/ Scrum by Nathaniel Neitzke of Lighthouse1
This meeting is focused on software process. Process is something that needs to be worked on by every team to make sure it is running as efficiently as possible. Scrum is a type of Agile process which has grown in popularity over the last five years.
Behavior Driven Development (BDD) is not a common household term, so I asked Nathaniel to give me a description of his topic:
This talk is intended to introduce the user to Behavior Driven Development and how to drive the software design process from User Stories developed as part of the Scrum process. Behavior Driven Development is a rethinking of the Test Driven Development methodology that places the emphasis on behavior rather than identity. Utilizing BDD can result in a much cleaner code base that directly reflects the domain and is more adaptable to change. It also forces the developer to focus on implementing only the minimal code necessary to achieve the desired result and deliver business value as fast as possible.
Artifacts
Introduction_to_Scrum.pptx
BDD.pptx
Older Meetings
We have been meeting monthly since July 2005. Since our website redesign, the older meetings have not been imported. As time allows, I'll pull in the old meetings.