There's been a lot of talk lately about new languages for the .NET platform.
One of these languages, IronPython, a port of the Python programming
language, started out as an experiment to see how dynamic languages would
perform on the CLR. The experiment proved enough of a success that it
eventually gave birth to the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), the basis not
only of IronPython, but also IronRuby and VBx. In this talk, we'll talk
about the basics of IronPython and some of its features before coding-up
some examples.

To help celebrate the launch of VS.NET, a few lucky winners will get a copy of Visual Studio .NET 2008.  If we have more than 20 people we will also be raffling off Windows Vista Ultimate! Be sure to bring a friend along.

Darrell Hawley is a C# developer working with both web and windows applications. Currently, he is working in the automotive sector with a team of engineers and software developers solving complex engineering problems using the .NET Framework. During a four year stay at a Farmington Hills, MI advertising company, he streamlined business processes and acted as the company SQL Server administrator. He has also worked with WCF, WSE, Web Services, VB6, VBA, VBScript and ASP. He recently has been researching Python and IronPython and is actively involved in the Ann Arbor .NET Developers Group.

As Brian transitions into his new role at Microsoft, he looks back at 15 years of being a developer, consultant, and business leader. He will talk about the skills and wisdom that you need to be happy and successful.

Brian H. Prince is an Architect Evangelist with Microsoft focused on building and educating the architect community in his district. Prior to joining Microsoft in March 2008, he was a Senior Director, Technology Strategy for a major mid-west partner.

Further, he is a co-founder of the non-profit organization CodeMash (www.codemash.org). He speaks at various regional and national technology events including TechEd.

Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science and Physics from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. He is also an avid gamer.

The regular meeting night for March falls on March 18, which is the same day as the Launch Event in Detroit for Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008.  Consequently, our scheduled speaker (Joe Wirtley) will be attending the launch event in Detroit on that day.

Since several attempts to line up a replacement speaker on a different night have not been fruitful, Greg and Jason have decided to cancel the March meeting.  We'll see you in April!

Microsoft is launching three exciting products this year (Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008).  To celebrate, there are launch events scheduled across the nation as part of the "Heroes Happen {here}" campaign.

One such event is taking place on March 18 in Detroit.  It's free to attend, but you must register before the event becomes fully booked:

http://www.microsoft.com/heroeshappenhere/events/Detroit/default.mspx

Take a test drive

Meet the experts

Bring the products home

No, you don't need to bring a covered dish to this meeting.  We're just trying to find a name for meetings that consist of two or more short (and unrelated) sessions rather than one longer one.

In this meeting, Jason Follas will highlight some of the new features that developers will find useful in the upcoming SQL Server 2008. 

Also, it seems that all of the cool kids are using "Agile" methodologies these days, but what does that really mean?  Greg Huber will discuss his experience with Agile Development.

Beyond that, feel free to bring your questions and problems involving .NET (and SQL Server): We'll close the meeting with some group discussion and conversation.

The second annual CodeMash Conference will be held on January 9-11 at the Kalahari Resort (indoor waterpark!) in Sandusky Ohio.

Session List: http://codemash.org/SessionList.aspx

Keynotes: Scott Hanselman, Brian Goetz, and one more in the works!

Register today!  An incredible rate on the hotel room/waterpark access for $88/night is only guaranteed for a few more weeks.

https://www.codemash.org/register.aspx

Just to confirm: There is no December meeting.  Happy Holidays!

NOTE: This meeting will be slightly different than our normal meetings. In addition to a brief topic presentation, we will also be discussing upcoming business items for the user group.

Greg Huber will be presenting on Windows XNA.  This presentation will be an introduction to developing games on the Xbox 360, using Visual Studio 2005 C# Express.  If you've ever heard about XNA and thought "wow, that's neat!" this will be a good presentation for you.  Greg will also be discussing plans for XNA Game Studio 2.0.

About the Speaker

Greg Huber is the founder and chairman of the Northwest Ohio .NET User Group, and a Microsoft MVP.  Greg has presented in the past at NWNUG and area user groups, conferences, etc. on several topics, including ASP.NET Ajax, XML, and Media Center Development.  He considers himself a "jack-of-all-trades" technologist and is passionate about learning, having fun, and enjoying technology.

NOTE: Due to a venue conflict, this month's meeting is one week later than the regularly scheduled meeting.

In recent years, many features have been added to the C# language that make it possible to write programs using techniques from other programming paradigms. Chief among these is functional programming. Often regarded as only being academically useful, functional programming has many practical uses, some of which appear within the .NET Framework itself. In this session, we'll examine some ideas taken from functional programming and see how they might be implemented using language features that already exist within C#. In addition, we'll highlight ways in which the .NET Framework APIs borrow from functional programming. Throughout, we will focus on how to use these techniques in practical ways.

Dustin Campbell is a lead developer for the IDE tools division at Developer Express Inc. His responsibilities at Developer Express include much of the low-level plumbing of the award-winning CodeRush and Refactor! products. A regular speaker, Dustin is a noted authority in many advanced areas of the .NET Framework and tends to get “under the hood” in any area that he is learning. For his contributions to the community, Dustin was awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status by Microsoft in 2007.

When: Saturday, October 20, 2007
Where: Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, MI
Who: You!  .NET Developers and Architects, and anyone else interested
Cost: FREE

Details and registration: http://www.dayofdotnet.org

Note: The registration cap has been met.  If you have registered and cannot attend, please cancel your registration so that others may take your spot.

See you there!