Last week was the (now) semi-annual TechEd Israel conference. This was my sixth time participating in this event - I have given presentations at all six TechEds here. The conference is an amazing experience and has come a long way from 2000/2001 when we had to lobby Microsoft Israel to put on such an event. There were about 3,500 participants - about half the amount of TechEd EMEA for all of Europe!
The attendees enjoyed most of the sessions/speakers and the speakers enjoyed the interactions and challenges of the attendees.
A particularly interesting observation for me was when I asked the attendees at my session (Sync Services for ADO.NET) how many of them were VB developers. At VSLive last month I got about 80% VB developers. Here I got only one (1) !! and even he was only after I promised SWAG to anyone who admitted to it. Wow...
An extra treat for me personally was getting/seeing some of my Redmond friends to come over for the conference, including Pablo Castro, Matt Winkler, Lisa Feigenbaum, and Shy Cohen. The attendees really enjoyed their great sessions as well. An extra thanks to Matt, for staying in Israel an extra day to be the guest speaker at a special joint VB/C#/Architects User Group meeting.
I recently (OK, 10 days ago) returned from my annual pilgrimage to San Francisco, to speak at the main VSLive conference. My presentations this year are described here.
I'd like to share with you two observations / surprises from this conference:
(1) It is well known that I am a pretty big fan of DataSets - but I realize that it is not necessarily the most popular position to take. At VSLive, I gave 2 sessions on DataSets (Intermediate and Advanced). Image my surprise (if not shock and horror) when I realized that there were at least 2 or 3 other sessions covering much of the same content on DataSets. Could DataSets be making a comeback...?
(2) In one of my DataSet sessions, I asked the audience how many of them were developing with VB vs. C#. While one would expect a high percentage of VB developers in a data-centric session, I was still surprised that the audience was easily at least 80% VB developers. Could VB be making a comeback...?
Note the special date of April’s meeting and the special registration requirements.
This month’s meeting will be a joint meeting for IVBUG, IVCUG, and .NET Architects User Groups, so that we can all take advantage of a special guest speaker – Matthew Winkler from Microosft Corp (Remond). Matt is a Workflow Foundation expert and will be sharing his expertise with these 2 sessions: WF+WCF IntegrationWCF and WF are like two siblings separated at birth. They are two powerful technologies, but until .NET 3.5, did not know about one another. We’ll talk about how and why these two technologies have come together, how to take advantage of both from your code, and walk through some basic patterns that highlight how these two technologies fit together. Creating Custom Composite ActivitiesOne of the benefits of WF is that it allows for the creation of new patterns of control flow, you don’t just have to use state machine and sequence. Working with customers, I’ve seen a lot of people do some pretty weird things to fit their process into a sequence. We’ll walk through the mechanisms required to build new types of control flows, and then implement a few. Do to the expected great demand and limited seating, you MUST register in advance for this event at http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032374675&Culture=he-IL
See you there !!
The April meeting of the Israel Visual Basic User Group
http://www.renaissance.co.il/ivbug:
April 9, 2008
Location: Microsoft Israel2 Hapnina St,
Ra'anana(09) 7625-100Floor 0 , Dekel Room It is the new building across from Amdocs.Turn right at the first traffic circle, there is a new area for Microsoft parking on the left. 17:30 - 18:00 Assembly
18:00 - 19:00 “WF+WCF Integration” Matthew Winkler, Microsoft Corp.19:00 - 19:15 Break19:15 - 20:15 “Creating Custom Composite ActivitiesMatthew Winkler, Microsoft Corp.
Well, spring is in the air, which for me means, among other things the renewal time for my Microsoft MVP award. I am proud to say that once again this year I have proven to be worthy of the award - thanks Microsoft !
Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the MVP Summit in Redmond later this month :-( But at least I had the chance to talk with some of the VB PMs at the VSLive Conference this week.
My article on this topic just went live on MSDN at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc440724.aspx
Since both VS 2005 and VS 2008 were released before SQL Server 2008, most of the designers and tools don't work with SQL 2008. To address this, MS has released CTP updates and will be releasing final versions of these updates in the future. This article discusses the various issues and summarizes what featues will be made available in the various releases and where to download he current CTP updates.
OK - I am not really a Rich-Client bigot and these are not really confessions.
However, until recently, my default choice for an applications UI was a rich-client (i.e. WinForms) interface. Of course, we had many cases where a client's requirements quickly changed my mind so that the right choice was a browser-based application. However, as Microsoft, as well as its partners and competitors, keep coming coming out with better tools and technologies for browser apps, the choice becomes "less obvious" than ever before.
AJAX toolkits and controls allow developers to easily develop web pages that are both "pretty" and responsive. While Silverlight 1.0 was cool and promising, it was still "less than easy" to develop with. Silverlight 2.0, however, with the power and simplicity of the .NET framework combined with the richness of WPF all inside the browser - is absolutely compelling ! I've now found myself often thinking about browser-based apps as my default choice, until proven otherwise by client requirements.
Of course, the Rich Client is not dead (it is just working offline) - but that is a topic for another post...
Yes, it is that time of year again (and I say that most happily!) to go out to San Francisco to speak at the VSLive Conference. This year I am focussing on real-world use of DataSets, both with VS 2005 and VS 2008. But don't attend just for that - there are many other great sessions and speakers that you will really enjoy and learn from.
In order to make it easier (i.e cheaper) for you to attend, you can receive a $695 discount on the Gold Passport if you register using priority code SPGOL. More at www.vslive.com/sf - be sure to ping me if you are going to be there!
Here are the descriptions for the sessions I am doing:
Using and Extending the Typed DataSet and TableAdapter
Are you using the VS 2005 DataSet designer to design your data access code usign Typed DataSets and Table Adapters? You should be - because doing so allows you to build better data access code much faster. This session will be mainly demos that cover both the basic uses of these tools and objects, as well as techniques to extend the standard classes to meet your own specific needs. We will also take a look at some of the improvements in Visual Studio 2008.
VS Tools and Techniques for Distributed Data Access in VS 2008
This session will discuss several challenges facing developers developing distributed data access applications. These issues include hierarchical updates, use of VS tools/wizards to generate truly N-tier applications, and separation of data entity and data access objects. We will demonstrate what tools and techniques can be used and take a look at what new solutions are offered in Visual Studio 2008.
Note that for both positions:
- The job is on-site in Israel
- High level of English verbal and written skills required
- Exceptional students or recent graduates will be considered.
Flex/Java Developer
- We are ideally looking for an experienced Flex Developer, but...
- ...are willing to consider an experienced Java developer with some flair for graphics and design
- Ability to quickly learn new technologies
- Ability to work as part of an interactive development team
.NET Developer
- 1-3 years of experience developing with VB.NET and/or C#
- Solid knowledge of .NET Framework and Visual Studio tools
- Understanding of common software design patterns
- Ability to quickly learn new technologies and application domains
- Ability to work as part of an interactive development team
If you think you fit the bill and want to work on some new projects, please email me at careers "at" renaissance.co.il
Sharepoint is big. Very big. It is actually made of two different downloads (WSS & MOSS), a large set of reusable components and an SDK to accompany it. And Dan Amiga, VP of R&D for Semantinet, is just the one to explain to us how to take advantage of it. This talk is about understanding - from a developer's perspective - the architecture, internals and usages of Sharepoint. It's not just for the Sharepoint developer. It's also for developers that want to integrate powerful components to their custom applications, including: search, single sign-on, workflows with office and InfoPath, connecting to legacy systems, implementing fast visual provisioning of sites and views, flexible authorization systems, change log, document management & much more. This will be a session with a lot of demos and plenty of real-world examples of architectures and how developers are basing their solutions on sharepoint both as a web front end and as an application server. As always, we'll have our special "Hatzilu" session at our meeting. So please come prepared to discuss your most frustrating problems (or at least some of them!) and to share some of your own techniques and solutions that you have found useful in your applications.
Please confirm your attendance.See you there !!
The March meeting of the Israel Visual Basic User Group
http://www.renaissance.co.il/ivbug:
March 5, 2008
Location: Microsoft Israel2 Hapnina St,
Ra'anana(09) 7625-100Floor 0 , Dekel Room It is the building across from Amdocs.Turn right at the first traffic circle and then there is an area for (free) parking on the left. 17:30 - 18:00 Assembly
18:00 - 19:15 “Creating cutting edge applications with Sharepoint 2007 – Part 1”
Dan Amiga, Semantinet
19:15 - 19:30 Break
19:30 – 20:30 “Creating cutting edge applications with Sharepoint 2007 – Part 2”
Dan Amiga, SemantinetAbout the Speaker:Dan Amiga, is currently the VP R&D for Semantinet, a young Israeli startup that will revolutionize and boost the way you experience the internet. Prior to joining SemantiNet, Mr. Amiga was a senior solution architect in the Microsoft Technology Center in Israel (MTC). During his work in the MTC, Mr. Amiga successfully held various positions as a CTO, solutions architect and development team leader for various organizations. Mr. Amiga has extensive and proven experience implementing and deploying technological solutions successfully in diverse environments; from startups to large government institutes, from ISV's to SMB's.
Mr. Amiga is also a leading instructor and speaker in Microsoft conferences for new .NET technologies, wokring with DevelopMentor an award winning developer training company. He has delivered numerous seminars and presentations all over the globe. Prior to his positions in the private sector, Mr. Amiga was a technology guru in an elite intelligence unit in the Israeli Defense Forces, specializing in developing state of the art security products. Dan holds a BA in computer science from the Interdisciplinary Center and is currently finishing his M.A. in Law in the Bar-Ilan University.
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