Yesterday was the excellent DDD8. Thank you to all who attended. I gave a grok talk and a full presentation. The grok talk was on Albacore,  while the full presentation on Testing ASP.net Web Applications using Ruby. The slides are below. If you have any questions\feedback then do please let me know.

Don’t forget, if you are interested in learning more about Testing ASP.net then my book has recently been released.

Download demo from http://github.com/BenHall/Kona/zipball/DDD8

Labels: DDD, DDD8, TestingASPnet

This weekend I attended and presented two sessions at DDD South West.  Thank you to everyone who attended my sessions and the organisers for hosting the event, if you have any questions then please let me know. Slides and code for the two sessions can be found on the posts below.

Creating Extensible applications using MEF

http://blog.benhall.me.uk/2009/05/nxtgenug-cambridge-creating-extendable.html

Dynamic Languages and .NET

http://blog.benhall.me.uk/2009/05/dynamic-languages-and-net-developer-day.html

Labels: Community, DDD, DDDSW

This weekend I was in Glasgow presenting my ‘dynamic languages and .NET’ presentation at DeveloperDay Scotland. I demonstrated how you can take advantage of IronRuby as a language, but also how you could host the DLR within your own application to enhance your feature set. I had a great time and the conference was a great success. A massive thank you to Colin Mackay and the others for organising the event, as well as everyone who attended my session.

Slides can be found below, hosted via SlideShare. Code samples can be downloaded here. Photos can be found here.

I was also involved in the Database Testing panel. Very interesting discussion on how to test databases, thank you to everyone who attend the discussion.

One slight disappointment, Gary Short left before giving his IronSmalltalk grok talk - http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinangusmackay/3496808871/

Next up, DDD South West.

Labels: DDD, DDS, DLR, IronRuby

This weekend I was lucky enough to present ‘Creating extensible application using MEF’ at the DDD Belfast conference in, well, Belfast.  The conference itself we really well and I was happy with my session. Slides can be found on Slideshare any embedded below.

Feel free to download the Finished Demos from the presentation. 

Photos can be found on Barry’s blog, who I have to say did a great job of organising the conference, as did Craig and Phil.

Labels: Community, DDD, DDDBelfast, MEF

The conference season is upon us and we have some amazing events coming up over the next few months. All of these conferences are free and organised by the community. They are a great opportunity to learn a wealth of information and meet new people at the same time.

SQL Bits

28th March 2009
Geoffrey Manton Building
Oxford Road
Manchester
M15 6BH

Website: http://sqlbits.com/

Agenda:  http://sqlbits.com/information/NewAgenda.aspx

Registration: http://sqlbits.com/information/Registration.aspx

I will be presenting on NHibernate

DDD Belfast

Saturday, 4th April 2009
Belfast Metropolitan College
Gerald Moag Campus
Millfield
Belfast
BT1 1HS

Website: http://www.developerdeveloperdeveloper.com/belfast/

Agenda: http://www.developerdeveloperdeveloper.com/belfast/Schedule.aspx

Registration: http://www.developerdeveloperdeveloper.com/belfast/Register.aspx

I will be presenting Creating extendable applications using MEF

WebDD

Saturday, 18th April 2009
Microsoft Campus,
Reading,
England.

Website: http://developerdeveloperdeveloper.com/webdd09/ViewNews.aspx

Sadly I won’t be speaking at this one.

Alt.Net North

Saturday, 18th April 2009

Velocity,
Angel Way, Listerhills
Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1BX
United Kingdom

Website: http://www.altdotnetuknorth.info

DDD Scotland

Saturday 2nd May 2009
The Continuing Professional Development Centre,
Glasgow Caledonian University,
Cowcaddens Road,
Glasgow
G4 0BA

Website: http://developerdayscotland.com/main/Default.aspx

Agenda: http://developerdayscotland.com/main/Agenda/tabid/84/Default.aspx

Registration: http://developerdayscotland.com/main/Registration/tabid/82/Default.aspx

I will be presenting Embracing a new world – dynamic languages and .Net

DDD South West

Saturday 23rd May 2009
Queen's College
Trull Road,
Taunton,
Somerset
TA1  4QS

Website: http://www.dddsouthwest.com/

Agenda: http://www.dddsouthwest.com/Agenda/tabid/55/Default.aspx

Registration: http://www.dddsouthwest.com/EventRegistration/tabid/64/ctl/Login/Default.aspx?returnurl=%2fEventRegistration%2ftabid%2f64%2fDefault.aspx

I will be presenting Creating extendable applications using MEF and Embracing a new world – dynamic languages and .Net

I look forward to meeting everyone. Keep an eye on twitter as well as I’m sure various comments will be made…

Labels: Community, DDD, SQLBits

Yesterday, Developer Day (DDD) 7 was held at Microsoft UK. I delivered a presentation on Pex, a new project from Microsoft Research. I provided an introduction into Pex, the problem it attempts to solve, how Pex works in the real world and finally where I think the future of unit testing and Pex is heading.

I had a great day and I was very happy with my session – the demo gods where with me. Based on tweets via twitter and other comments, it was generally well received.  Thank you to everyone who attended, when feedback opens on the website please be sure to leave your comments as they are all taken into account.

Code Samples: http://blog.benhall.me.uk/downloads/DDD7/Code.zip

Slides: http://blog.benhall.me.uk/downloads/DDD7/Slides.zip

DDD7 also had Channel 9 recording all the sessions, if you couldn’t attend – don’t worry, hopefully the videos will be online in the new year!

Labels: DDD, DDD7, Pex

This weekend I was up in Glasgow for Developer Day Scotland! I was their presenting my Red, Green, Refactor session which covers TDD and Test Doubles, very similar session to the one I did last weekend at DDD Ireland - this one just had a few tweaks...

As for the conference, I think Colin Mackay and team did a great job, everything seemed to happen seamlessly and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Everyone who attendee were very excited and passionate about the event which really improved the atmosphere and made it a lot easier for everyone involved.

As for my session, I was very happy with it. I discussed everything I wanted, all the demo's worked, and finished on time. It could have been better, but overall I was very happy with the outcome.

Slides: BenHall_RedGreenRefactor_Slides.zip

Code: BenHall_RedGreenRefactor_Code.zip

At lunch, I did a grok talk on Red Gate's SQL Data Generator. Red Gate were one of the sponsors, but I just wanted to give a good honest demo of the product - not any marketing! Everyone I spoke to afterwards was really impressed with the application which is always good.

Next up, NxtGenUG Coventry where I will be presenting the same session, if you are in the area why not come along.

Labels: DDD, DDS

This weekend was the DDD Ireland conference in Galway. I was there presenting my Red, Green, Refactor presentation which outlines the concepts of Test Driven Development (TDD) and demonstrates some of the techniques via code. I think the session went down well, but it's always difficult to tell.

The conference itself was great! Based on the same idea as DDD in Reading, some of the leading presenters in the UK (and Germany) community where on display discussing the latest Microsoft technology. We also had Barry, Dave and John from NxtGenUG doing swaggily fortunes, which was interesting.... Big thank you to everyone involved for organising the event, and for actually inviting me to speak :)

As promised, my slide deck and the completed solution for the application can be found here:

Slides - Ben Hall_Red_Green_Refactor.zip

Code - BenHall_RedGreenRefactor_CompletedSolution.zip

Labels: DDD, DDDIreland

For DDDIreland, all of the speakers where asked to do a teaser about their session. This is the session I will be running at DeveloperDayScotland and NxtGenUG Coventry.

The teaser is just a short 4 min demo of writing your first test and what else to expect from my session.

Session abstract:

"Starting to unit test your first project is difficult, where to start? What to test? How do you even get started? In this session, Ben starts from scratch and implements an ASP.net 2.0 application using test driven development techniques. The application will have to deal with real world situations such as databases, web services and even some users! Ben will demonstrate how to design the application for testability and how unit testing and mock frameworks can make your life easier and your tests less fragile. At the end, will the tests go green?"

If you have any questions about the session, then please contact me.

View it online - SPEAKING @ DDDIreland.com - BEN HALL - May 3rd 2008 Galway

Download from http://blog.benhall.me.uk/downloads/Screencasts/DDDIreland/DDDIrelandTeaser.wmv

As a side note, the registration for DDDIreland is now open! You can register here

Labels: DDD, DDDIreland, DDS

  Just to let everyone know, I will be speaking at DDD Scotland (May 10th). I will be doing my Red, Green, Refactor session!

Session Abstract:

Red, Green, Refactor!
Speaker: Ben Hall
Starting to unit test your first project is difficult, where to start? What to test? How do you even get started? In this session, Ben starts from scratch and implements an ASP.net 2.0 application using test driven development techniques. The application will have to deal with real world situations such as databases, web services and even some users! Ben will demonstrate how to design the application for testability and how unit testing and mock frameworks can make your life easier and your tests less fragile. At the end, will the tests go green?

For the agenda visit http://developerdayscotland.com/main/Agenda/tabid/68/Default.aspx

You can register at the registration page

I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Labels: DDD, DDS

If you haven't heard, there is going to be a DDD Style event in Ireland called - wait for it - DDD Ireland.  Most of the agenda is now on the site, I will be going over to do my Red Green Refactor! session.

Abstract:

"Starting to unit test your first project is difficult, where to start? What to test? How do you even get started? In this session, Ben starts from scratch and implements an ASP.net 2.0 application using test driven development techniques. The application will have to deal with real world situations such as databases, web services and even some users! Ben will demonstrate how to design the application for testability and how unit testing and mock frameworks can make your life easier and your tests less fragile. At the end, will the tests go green?"

Should be a great weekend, can't wait! Hmm, will this class me as an international conference speaker? :)

Site - http://www.dddireland.com/

Labels: DDD, DDDIreland

What an amazing day!! Having enjoyed DDD3, DDD4 and DDD5 yesterday I was given the chance to speak at DDD6! I felt honoured that I was given the chance and really enjoyed walking around in my green DDD t-shirt. My session was one of the last in the day but I managed to pull in a room full of attendees (about 50) which was amazing and thank you to everyone who attended. The day goes so much quicker when your speaking!

My session kind of went to plan, words came out my mouth and I finished on time but I did forget some points and think I could have explained things better (I think my demo scenario could have been better). But it was great experience and I will take the improvements onboard for when I do a similar session at NxtGenUG Cambridge. Paul Lockwood who did a CCNet talk also attended my session - Read his thoughts @ http://dotnetworkaholic.com/ddd6-uk-code-camp/

As for the rest of the day, I attended some great sessions. My favourite session of the day (apart from mine) was Why do I need an Inversion of Control Container? by Mike Hadlow, good content and well presented. After the day, I went for one or two well deserved beers and the geek dinner which was great and spoke to some really nice people. Cheers to Zi for organising that.

Demo: TestingApplicationsWithMbUnit.zip

Slides: TestingYourApplicationsWith Mbunit.pptx.zip (UPDATE: Download link now works. Sorry)

Finally, don't forget to fill out your feedback - http://www.developerday.co.uk/ddd/feedback.asp. Can't wait for the next conference!

Labels: DDD, DDD6, MbUnit

DDD6 agenda has now been posted online as well.  I've got one of the last session blocks of the day up against Swaggily Fortunes - great!  But it looks to be a good mix across the 4 rooms to keep everyone happy.

http://www.developerday.co.uk/ddd/agendaddd6lineup.asp

Labels: DDD, DDD6

DDD6 Registration is now open!

You can now register for DDD6 on Saturday 24th November 2007: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032357828&Culture=en-GB. The agenda will be posted on the DDD6 site shortly.

Don't miss it. It gets booked up REAL quick so register now!

Labels: DDD, DDD6

Two bits of DDD news today.  Firstly, a DDD in Scotland has been requested for a long time and today Colin announced some details.

It will be in May 2008 at Glasgow Caledonian University.

More information on his blog.

The second bit of news relates to DDD6 and voting has now opened. Cast your votes for which sessions you want to see at http://www.developerday.co.uk/ddd/votesessions.asp.

I've submitted a talk on MbUnit, with a look at MbUnit Gallio.  Your votes are most welcome!  The abstract is:

Testing Your Applications With MbUnit Gallio

Everyone seems to be talking about TDD, Unit Testing and Integration Testing, but how do you get started using these techniques on a real project? How do they affect the way we design and develop software?  In this talk, I will cover how to begin unit testing and factors which should be taken into account when designing and developing applications. I will then demonstrate how the new MbUnit Gallio framework can revolutionise the way you write your tests.

Other interesting sessions I spotted are:

Many hands make life work (Gary Short)

N-tier applications with Linq (Ian Cooper)

Why IronRuby (Dave Verwer)

Why do I need an Inversion of Control Container (Mike Hadlow)

All aboard the MonoRail (Ian Cooper)

Oh and mine ;).  There are sessions to meet everyone's taste. Get voting!!

Labels: DDD, DDD6

These events seem to be coming around quicker than ever, or maybe the organisers are just better at planning now :)

Guy Smith-Ferrier just posted the date for DDD6 - 24th November 2007 @ TVP, Reading.

Session submission opens end of September, keep an eye out for a session from me.

Also, if you visit the site you can vote on where you want DDD7 to be held. 

Labels: DDD, DDD6

Yesterday I attended DDD5.  This was my third DDD and was definitely the best.  The agenda had some ideal sessions, both thought provoking and informative and I could easily have picked two sessions per slot so had to make some difficult choices.

I've submitted by feedback, which I hope all attendees do, but here is a quick overview of the day:

An introduction to Unit Testing with Mock Objects was good, Colin used Rhino Mocks for the demo and NUnit (why aren't you using MbUnit Colin?) and it was a good introduction.   Pleased he didn't spend too much time talking about TDD, instead focusing on what the talk was actually about.  Need to look at Mocks some more, expect one or two posts on the subject over the next month.

Being lazy is an art form (or: Making your computer work for you) was very cool.  It was Zi's first session and he came across well. The content was also very good, firstly he discussed CodeRush and Refactor! then moved on to discuss DXCore and creating addins for Visual Studio.  I have DXCore installed, but never used it to develop so was really interesting to see how easy and powerful it was to use.

An Appraisal of "Object Thinking" was another really good session.  I haven't read the Object Thinking book, but the talk was still really good and made some good points.  I need to go buy the book now, read it, then re-read his slides.

Do Design Patterns Make Sense in ASP.NET? discusses all the patterns which are used within ASP.net and broken it down in a very understandable way.  However, he didn't answer the question of if they make sense...

Next Generation Data Access with LINQ discussed how to use Linq for data access, with a bit of TDD and DDD thrown in.  Interesting, but covered most of the stuff I have already read - that reminds me I need to finish reading the Linq in Action book.

Grok Talks where held at lunch, they where much better than previous years with help from a Mic and big screen. The Imagine Cup winners did their presentation, which was 'interesting'. I only managed to catch the second half but it was interesting to see how they came across and what they where talking about.

Geek Dinner - After the event I attended the Geek dinner which was held at a different location this year, on the side of the River.  Really nice location, shame about the weather, but it was good, very easy to talk to people but also move around and talk to other people which is not possible at Pizza Express. Plus the beer was following so it was all good.  The food was nice, there wasn't a lot but the beer, atmosphere and venue made up for this.  While it wasn't in the town centre it was still easy to get to so staying at the Novotel wasn't a problem, where I had one or two more beers before heading to bed. I also find the dinner to be a great way to end the day, makes the day more of a event and more fun.

So onto DDD6 (in about 6 months time) which hopefully I will be attending, I might finally submit a session after talking about doing it for so long.  If you haven't been to DDD before, or you have but not gone to the dinner afterwards I really recommend both. Great day, great night, great fun!

Labels: DDD, DDD5