.NET

Make Money On XNA Games!!

Chris Williams — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:22:20 GMT

Big announcement today:

http://creators.xna.com/en-us/XboxLIVECommunityGames

NINE Questions with Rachel Appel

Chris Williams — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:26:36 GMT

I first met Rachel at TechEd 2008 and have been following her Twitter feed ever since. She's a newly awarded ASP.NET MVP, ASPInsider, Microsoft Certified Trainer and one seriously cool geeky chick. You can find her blog at www.RachelAppel.com. Fortunately for you, dear reader, she was able to squeeze these NINE Questions into her busy schedule. Enjoy...

1. Where are you from?
I’m from Northeastern Pennsylvania. I was born, raised and remain here, only to escape during my frequent travels.

2. Who do you work for? Give me the 10 second pitch on them. Why would I want to work there, or why would I want to hire them?
I work for myself. I’ve been around the app development block a few times and by now I know how to get things done. I create software that the customer wants, and is useful to the customer wants, not some version of software that some developer thinks the customer wants.

3. What brought you to independent consulting?
I worked for a small consulting company that went under, after working for a slightly larger company that went under and I was not about to test the “three times the charm” theory. That was around 2004 and I’ve never looked back - now I am the company and I like it much better.

4. I know you're an ASP.NET MVP, but I'm curious what else you do. What other areas of technical expertise do you have?
I started out on non Microsoft platforms (read: Borland C, Perl, COBOL) and I’ve coded everything from Win32 desktop apps to enterprise transaction processing systems so I have a well rounded knowledge of what’s out there. I currently focus on pragmatic software development using Microsoft technologies, particularly ASP.NET w/ C# or VB.NET, take your pick. I’ve also done my fair share of SQL DBA work over the years as well.

5. You worked part of TechEd 2008 (Developers) this year. What area did you cover, and what did you think? Would you do it again?
I worked the ADO.NET product booth. It was a great experience being able to help customers solve their problems, especially those who had the problems or questions that are off the beaten path. I learned a lot from the DP team and I’d definitely do it again.

6. It seems a lot of TechEd attendees see greater value in the networking, rather than the sessions. Mostly, I just go for the parties (ed: Just kidding boss.) What's your take on the whole Tech Ed experience?
Between working the booth and other activities, I was only able to get to one session, which was a BOF and I enjoyed participating. I really tried to get to some other sessions but kept getting caught up elsewhere. I’d say the networking, interpersonal connections and technical discussions with people like yourself made it well worth the experience, despite my poor session attendance. There’s definitely as great a value in networking as in the sessions.

On a side note, I do believe if you’re one of our twitter tribe, the rules state that conference party attendance is mandatory.

7. Speaking of Twitter, I rely pretty heavily on Twitter when traveling. What's your take on it and do you think it will survive its own success?
Aside from Twitter’s technical issues, I find the concept simple but useful, as I can keep in touch with many friends at once and see what’s going with them. Friends don’t have to constantly ask where I’m at and what I’m doing anymore which is nice; it cuts down on the number of texts and emails I get. There’s a hefty of noise to signal ratio with twitter, which will cause some issues with many users when they hit their saturation point. I’m on twitter as @RachelAppel.

8. Any non-technical hobbies?
There is such a thing as non technical hobbies? Ok then, I golf. I also used to garden but haven’t had time lately for much more than killing houseplants.

9. Last of all, any tattoos?
I never ink and tell.

Schizoid - First XNA Title for XBOX Live Arcade

Chris Williams — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:51:01 GMT

http://www.torpexgames.com

Microsoft and Torpex Games announced today the release of Schizoid for Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Billed as "the most co-op game ever", Schizoid creates a new category of action gaming where teamwork equals survival and players must protect each other from waves of glowing enemies.

Available for download now, Schizoid is the first-ever Xbox LIVE Arcade title built using Microsoft's XNA Game Studio.

Microsoft's Schizoid page: click me

I am really really excited about this. It's great seeing XNA games showing up on Xbox Live Arcade.

Twin Cities Developers Guild kickoff wrapup

Chris Williams — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:01:00 GMT

The Twin Cities Developers Guild had our kickoff/cookout this evening. We had an excellent turnout and served up a bunch of burgers and hot dogs.

Afterwards, Jason Bock gave his talk on "Writing Better Code" which went really well. Lots of good questions from the audience. Jason and I tossed a few VB vs C# barbs back and forth, which was fun.

Everyone seemed to have a good time, and we wrapped up with some giveaways and announced the speakers for the next two months (August: Rocky Lhotka - CSLA Light, September: Kirstin Juhl - Team Foundation Server)

We also solicited feedback on what topics everyone would like to see and got enough suggestions to cover us for nearly a year. Now we just have to find speakers for them all.

Developer Groups in the Twin Cities

Chris Williams — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:57:46 GMT

This month is kind of a big deal (to me) here in the Twin Cities. We're launching not one, but TWO developer related groups.

The first one is my own project, the Twin Cities Developers Guild. (www.twincitiesdevelopersguild.com) Our kickoff meeting is on Tuesday, July 8 at 6pm (with our Kickoff Cookout starting at 5pm) at New Horizons of Minnesota (in Edina) and features Jason Bock (Magenic) speaking on "Writing Better Code."

Later in the week, on Thursday, July 10 at 5:30pm, the Twin Cities Languages User Group (www.twincitieslanguagesusergroup.com) is having their first meeting too. This one is at Magenic (in Golden Valley) The featured speaker for this event is Charles Nutter (Sun Microsystems) who will be speaking on JRuby.

If you're in the Twin Cities (or relatively close) you don't want to miss these events. If you are planning on attending either or both events, please take a moment and RSVP via the appropriate website. Thank you.

Also, later this month, there won't be a Twin Cities XNA User Group (www.twincitiesxnausergroup.com) meeting because we're having a joint cookout with the local IGDA chapter. Details to follow.

Happy 4th of July to everyone. Whether you celebrate Independence Day or not, there's still a 4th of July on most of your calendars, so I hope it's a good one. I plan to celebrate my freedom by having a few beers and making stuff explode. Good times.

Spaghetti Code Podcast w/ Jeff Brand

Chris Williams — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:48:05 GMT

A couple weeks ago, Jeff Brand and I sat down and talked about XNA on his Spaghetti Code podcast. We had a good time, as usual, and discussed various aspects of the XNA experience, and what's new in the XNA 3.0 CTP.

Here's the link: XNA Podcast

Announcing the Twin Cities Developers Guild

Chris Williams — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:40:34 GMT

Do the Twin Cities really need ANOTHER .Net User Group?

There are two answers to that question. The first is YES, we think so. The second is that we aren't a typical .net user group, even though we focus on Microsoft Technologies. We use the term Developers Guild to imply more than just a roomful of folks sitting around listening to someone talk.

Our objective is to bring the various special interest groups of the Twin Cities together and also provide our own events. We think you'll be pretty happy with the results.

July 8, 2008 - Guild Kickoff Meeting and Cookout

When: Cookout at 5:00 PM, Meeting at 6:00 PM.

Where: New Horizons of Minnesota (4510 West 77th Street - Edina, MN 55435) MAP

Cookout Details: Show up at 5pm for our kickoff cookout. We'll be serving burgers, brats and hot dogs for an hour prior to the meeting beginning at 6pm.

Jason
Bock

Topic: Writing Better Code
It's one thing to write code that will do the job in the short-term; it's another challenge to write code that can stand the test of time. In this session I'll show you how you can use tools and features in VS 2008 (e.g. unit testing, Code Analysis, Code Coverage, etc.) to assist you in making your code maintainable over time, easy to understand, and resilient to defects.

Speaker Bio:
Jason Bock is a Principal Consultant for Magenic, and is also a Microsoft MVP. He has worked on a number of business applications using a diverse set of substrates and languages such as C#, .NET, and Java. He is the author of "Applied .NET Attributes", "CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET", ".NET Security", and "Visual Basic 6 Win32 API Tutorial". He has written numerous articles on software development issues and has presented at a number of conferences and user groups. Jason holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University.

I'm looking for a sign...

Chris Williams — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:05:31 GMT

How would you like to win a prize that doesn't suck? A really big, expensive prize...

I mean it. This prize doesn't suck at all. In fact, it's the opposite of suck. This prize rocks. Totally rocks. I've got a 1 Year MSDN Premium Subscription sitting on my desk, staring at me... just daring me to give it away. (I actually have more than one of them, cause that's how I roll, but I'm only giving one away right now.)

Take a moment, catch your breath... yes it's true. I am giving you a magnificent* gift and I ask for little, so very very little, in return. I ask only for a sign.

I can hear you now... "a sign, you say? What kind of sign? a stop sign? a slippery when wet sign? a peace sign?"

No. Nothing like that. Something far less illegal, and far more interesting. I want you to make a Blogus Maximus fansign. The more creative, the better. Bonus points if you're in the picture somehow. Double bonus points if someone famous is too.

Put it on a tshirt, re-arrange the sign letters at your local McDonalds, dye it in Alpaca fur, tattoo it on your rump, spray paint it on a nun**, or get really creative and do something totally unexpected. Just keep it clean and (mostly) legal. I'm not bailing anyone out of jail... although you might be able to trade your prize for cigarettes if you win.

Here are a few examples of what my creative friends have come up with in the past:

Once I get some entries, I'll post the best and contact the winner. (So yeah, send me contact info with your submission.)

update: the entries are rolling in. Here's one I really enjoyed:

See if you can spot the guy who sent this...

*when I say this is a magnificent gift, I'm not screwing around... this sucker is worth about $10k.

Oh, and seriously, I'm not responsible for anything other than handing over a prize. Stay out of jail. Jail sucks.
**Spray painting a nun could result in eternal damnation, but a pic of YOU spray painting said nun, well that would be a potential winner.

Announcing the Twin Cities Languages Group

Chris Williams — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:16:25 GMT

Twin Cities Languages User Group

My colleague, language geek and Twin Cities Code Camp leader, Jason Bock has recently formed a new Dev Languages focused user group. As leader of the Twin Cities Developers Guild, I have already extended him an invitation to join as one of our first affiliate groups.

Here is Jason's description of the group:

As developers, we use a number of languages throughout the lifecycle of a project and our careers in general. Learning core aspects and features from other langauges can help a developer apply new techniques and designs to their own projects. This group is open to anyone who has a deep appreciation for programming languages and all of their related topics (compilation, parsing, execution, syntax, etc.). Talks are not limited to any OS or VM (or lack thereof). If you want to talk about Ruby, F#, Lisp, etc., stop on by!

http://www.twincitieslanguagesusergroup.com

Upcoming Meeting: July 10, 2008

Featured Speaker: Charles Nutter (http://headius.blogspot.com)

(Future meetings will be on the Second Thursday of each month at 5:30pm...)

Magenic Technology Summit - Session 1- Writing Better Code (Jason Bock)

Chris Williams — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:14:34 GMT

Session 1: Writing Better Code by Jason Bock (Magenic)

Jason spent the first few minutes going over what makes good code and what makes bad code before jumping into (in my opinion) the best part of the talk, where he shows bad code on screen and has the audience discuss why it's bad. Most of the time, he gets the expected answer, but there are the occasional curveballs.

After spending some time on the code examples, Jason covers our motivation for writing good code (productivity, maintenance, being able to sleep at night, etc...) and then discusses how to write better code, along with offering some tips and techniques for doing so. Excellent session.

If you haven't seen Jason give this talk before, and you happen to be in or near the Twin Cities area, he will also be presenting the same talk (with slightly less time constraints) at the first Twin Cities Developers Guild Meeting on July 8th.