Welcome to TechEd

Scott Wiley

• Head of Developer Stuff
• This is the Windows 7 TechEd
• His second to lead
• New Zealand’s 14th

What does TechEd mean to you?

• He showed several tweets
• He gave some housekeeping
• He introduced first speaker

Honourable Steven Joyce

• Minister for Communications & Information Technology
• So-called “CIO for the Government”

Speech Contents

• “Need to deliver fibre to the home”
• From a discussion I (James) had last night after Code Camp, the Geek perspective is that both Labour and National have missed the point.  It’s not fibre to the home that matters.  It’s the pipe to the outside world.
• “Government has partnered with others (such as Microsoft) to improve computer literacy.  Outside of this audience, the average kiwi doesn’t have sufficient skill to make use of ICT”
• “Be encouraged.  Your country needs you to succeed.”
• Keep up the fine work.  Enjoy it. 

Chris Liddell

• Microsoft’s CFO
• Kiwi!

Innovating for the Future

• We’re a small country, but we have access to everything that’s good in the world.
• 2000 out of 4 million, per capita, is the biggest Tech Ed in the world

Comparison to Previous Bears

• Here he descended to finance-speak
• I’ll post this now and pick up again later

TechEd NZ 2009 Keynote

Monday 14 September 9AM

Excitement is mounting; I estimate there are 2000 geeks surrounding me.  The light is dimming (except for the hundreds of HP Mini notebooks and others that are open).  A green man drumming on bongo/percussion just walked in from back.  Very avant guard.

Gonna enjoy the show.  Catch you later.

Tweets from Code Camp

5:47 PM	listening to Sky Sigal #ccnz08 #codecampnz
5:47 PM	just registered and picked up HP Mini - woo hoo #tenz09
2:46 PM	just gave 30min presentation on Certification #ccnz06 #codecampnz
2:46 PM	just gave 5min lightening talk about Data Dude #ccnz05 #codecampnz
2:46 PM	c#4.0 with Ivan #ccnz03 #codecampnz
2:46 PM	RSpec? Cucumber? more buzzwords to Google, @blackmael #ccnz02 #codecampnz
2:46 PM	Given...when...then... conceptually brilliant #ccnz02 #codecampnz
11:46 AM	started Behaviour Driven Devt with @buildmaster #ccnz02 #codecampnz
11:46 AM	score! he did! yes @blackmael there will be slides. i don't see a camera #codecampnz
11:46 AM	functional languages can do your head in, i wonder if Ivan will do his dance today? #codecampnz
10:30 AM	listening to Ivan Towlson #codecampnz
09:30 AM	touchdown! #codecampnz

How I Choose To Use Data Dude

Data Dude was the old name for Microsoft Visual Studio Database Professional Edition, now also known as the GDR version. It allows you to add Server and Database projects to your Solution, which help synchronize your various environments. It can be tricky to get your head around. Here’s how I choose to use it.

1. I make my database modifications using the visual designers as much as possible, because I’m lazy and like it that way. So, I maintain a local copy of my new database, with edits.
2. I run a schema compare between my local database and the Solution’s database project. This generates all necessary CREATE scripts.
3. I maintain a Post Deployment script which populates the newly dropped and recreated tables.
4. I deploy the database updates from the Database project to the DEV (and/or TEST) server.

This has the added benefit of not-dropping and recreating my local database copy, so I don’t keep losing my lovely Database Diagram!

Code Camp Auckland 2009 - Development | SQL | Security

I’m speaking at Code Camp, presenting on Microsoft Certifications during lunch. Here is the blurb from Kirk Jackson:

Code Camp is less than two weeks away!

If you want to catch some free sessions on the state-of-the-art in .NET development, SQL Server and developer security then sign up for Code Camp Auckland 2009 now.

Code Camps are non-profit, and organised by members of the local developer community. This year the Auckland Code Camp is the day before TechEd (Sunday 13 September), so we've managed to nab a few great speakers on their day off to present to us.

It's the biggest Code Camp ever - over 14 hours of sessions across 3 streams from 10am till 5pm:

Development...

• What's Happening in C# 4.0 and .NET Languages and Why Should You Care?
• Behaviour Driven Development
• Domain Specific Languages
• Silverlight with Prism
• .NET on the iPhone
• Becoming Certified
• Lightning Talks
• and more!

The latest and greatest in development topics, by the people that know!

SQL Server?

• SQL Server Virtualisation Best Practices and Recommendations
• SQL Server Analysis Services and Gemini
• Query Optimization and Query Tuning
• Understanding SQL Server Indexing
• SQL Server Maintenance

Training and guidance from the best SQL trainers in the industry!

Security!

• Secure Development Lifecycle and Threat Modelling workshop
• Secure Coding Practices

We are lucky to have Michael Howard, author of Writing Secure Code and 24 Deadly Sins of Software Security giving a free workshop for developers, architects and team leads on Threat Modelling and the Secure Development Lifecycle. This will be followed by a session on how to write secure .NET code.

Auckland has never seen such an awesome free event!

Presenters that are offering their time include Greg Low, Nicholas Dritsas and Auckland's Alex Henderson of Architecture Chat fame.

To cover the costs of the event, we have the help of our generous sponsors: Microsoft, Datacom, Intergen, INETA and Xero.

All that's left for you to do is to visit the website for more details, and sign up now!

See you there on Sunday 13 September,

What on Earth have I been up to?

I’ve been busy:

Date	Title	Venue
02-Apr-09	WebCast: Intro to ORM for DBAs	PASS USA
16-Apr-09	What’s New in Microsoft SQL Services	Wellington SQL Users
30-Apr-09	Microsoft Certifications	Auckland SQL Users
14-May-09	How To: Design and Develop Applications to Ensure Quality	VUW
26-May-09	How To: Design and Develop Applications to Ensure Quality	Ellerslie .NET Users
14-Jun-09	Microsoft Sync Framework	NZ .NET Code Camp, Porirua
18-Jun-09	Microsoft Sync Framework	Wellington SQL Users
15-Jul-09	How To: Design and Develop Applications to Ensure Quality	Wellington .NET Users
30-Jul-09	Microsoft Sync Framework	Auckland SQL Users & Ellerslie .NET Users
04-Aug-09	Creation: Why I Believe	Malakai’s Care Group, Wellington Elim
20-Aug-09	How To: Design and Develop Applications to Ensure Quality	Software Quality NZ
13-Sep-09	Microsoft Certifications	NZ .NET Code Camp, Auckland
29-Sep-09	Creation: Why I Believe	Jeannie’s Care Group, Wellington Elim

I’m available for bookings!

I have moved my Blog!

Old Site: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/JamesHip/

New Site: http://JamesHip.blogspot.com/

Reason: I can now use Windows Live Writer to write my blogs, instead of manually creating an html page in Microsoft Visual Studio!  Also, the formatting was being automatically changed, thus rendering my final output almost illegible.

Method: I had to move each item manually!  I discovered how to make my past blogs appear as though they were written on their original post date, but I couldn’t make the comments appear that way.  It took me 7 days to do it, because there was 7 pages of blogs to move over; each page was about 20 blogs.

Result: This will be my final entry at GeekZone.  Thanks, Mauricio, for being a great service when I needed you.