Weird thought for today: if unit tests are just code, then shouldn’t you write tests before you write that code? Test-driven-test-driven-development (TDTDD) if you will. But then where would it stop. <resume normal thoughts>
The Silverlight 4 Training Course includes a whitepaper that explains all of the new Silverlight 4 features, several hands-on-labs that explain the features, and a 8 unit course for building business applications with Silverlight 4. The business applications course includes 8 modules with extensive hands on labs as well as 25 accompanying videos that walk you through key aspects of building a business application with Silverlight. Here’s a list of the modules: - Silverlight 4 Business Apps: Module 1 – Introduction
- Silverlight 4 Business Apps: Module 2 - Event Manager using WCF RIA Services
- Silverlight 4 Business Apps: Module 3 - User Registration with Authentication, Validation, Rich Text, Styling, and Commands
- Silverlight 4 Business Apps: Module 4 - User Profile with Drop Target, Webcam, Clipboard
- Silverlight 4 Business Apps: Module 5 - Schedule Planner with Grouping and Right Click
- Silverlight 4 Business Apps: Module 6 - Printing the Schedule
- Silverlight 4 Business Apps: Module 7 - Event Dashboard Running Out of Browser
- Silverlight 4 Business Apps: Module 8 - Advanced Out of Browser and MEF
Visit Channel 9 for more great Silverlight content.
I had the honor of meeting a couple of dedicated software developers from “up North” at the Boise Code Camp this last weekend. They’ve been coming to our ‘camp for a couple of years now and are ready to pull the trigger on running one of their own. This is awesome. The Palouse Code Camp will be held at the Washing State University in Pullman, WA. This is just over 300 miles from Boise State University where we held our event. The preliminary date is 18 September, 2010 but it could change based on events at the school, etc. Bookmark www.palousecodecamp.org and we’ll see you there!
I had a lot of fun this weekend hanging out with my fellow developers, speakers, and hungry-minds at the Boise Code Camp. 
Here are a few photos and a small video of the welcome session attendees.  |  |  |  |  | | Amit, Mithun, and Chris | David Starr
our happy host | Ole Dam discusses leadership | Elle runs a tight ship | Welcome session (.wmv) |
Also, for those of you who attended my presentations, here are links to the demo files:
- TDD in Visual Studio 2010
- Build It, Test It, Ship It
For those cities or countries that take photographs of your license plate, then looks up who to send the speed ticket to. 
Credit goes to the original hacker – whoever that may be.
According to the Scrum Guide, a Scrum Team consists of the ScrumMaster, the Product Owner, and the Team. This works great, until issues, impediments, and dysfunctions are identified and its time to do some serious housecleaning (read: fire or repurpose team members). Since this is dirty work nobody likes to do, I propose a new, fourth role be added to the Scrum Team for just such situations: The Cleaner. So if you are the schlubbish team member who holds the team record for number of impediments (caused), then beware when this guy comes to your cubicle: 
Harvey Keitel as “The Wolf” in Pulp Fiction
In Paris for a week and working at Microsoft’s new “Le Campus”. It’s very new and very cool. One of the coolest things about the building is the smart elevators. They are not a new thing, but you don’t see them very often in the USA. Here’s how they work. Step 1 – enter the floor you want to go to. 
Step 2 – it tells you which car to get in. 
Step 3 – ride the car to the floor (there are no controls inside the car). 
Why is this better? It groups people together in cars going to similar floors, which makes the trips shorter, faster, and more energy-efficient.
I was in Mobile Alabama for the week talking Team System and got invited to the Lower Alabama .NET User Group (LANUG) to speak on VS 2010 and TDD. This was a fun evening, good pizza, and test-first software development. Thanks to Ryan Duclos and Matthew Hughes for coordinating this. if you attended, the files are linked at the bottom.
 Attachment: LANUGDemo.zip (28k)
The Developing SharePoint Applications guidance helps architects and developers design and build applications that are both flexible and scalable. It shows developers how to provide IT professionals with the information they need to maintain those applications and diagnose problems when they arise. The guidance also discusses approaches for testing SharePoint applications, such as how to create unit tests, and how to stress and scale test. You can review the guidance project on CodePlex as well as on Microsoft’s site. You can download the guidance document (11 mb) here.
Join Microsoft and your fellow developers September 15, 2009 for an afternoon at the Overland Park Cinemas exploring the next generation of client experience from a developer’s point of view. Topics include Windows 7 for Developers, IE8 for Developers, and Building Business Applications with Silverlight 3. The event starts at 1pm. It should be a fun afternoon. You can register here.
Microsoft is hosting a Silverlight 3.0 Fire Starter event in Redmond, WA on the 17th of September. The event has a spectacular speaker line-up with Scott Guthrie keynoting the event followed by Tim Heuer, Adam Kinney, Karl Shifflett among many other rock stars. The entire event will also be broadcasted online via Live Meeting. 
Register for the Live Event | Register for the Live Webcast | Visit the site | or Call 1-877-MSEVENT
I wanted to make sure you were aware of the upcoming Community Choice Awards. Nominations opened last week and will close on August 10th. Here is the promotion that is being sent to through emails and in the magazines …
Welcome to the 2009 Community Choice Awards (CCA), as presented by Windows IT Pro and SQL Server Magazine! These awards allow YOU to decide what IT products get chosen for acclaim and recognition. We want to hear from IT pros, DBAs, and developers about what they think the best products are in a given category.
Click HERE to nominate your favorite IT products. Here are the award categories:
• Best Active Directory & Group Policy Product
• Best Antivirus/Malware Product
• Best Auditing and Compliance Product
• Best Backup and Recovery Software Product
• Best Business Intelligence and Reporting Product
• Best Cloud Computing Product or Service
• Best Database Management Product
• Best Database Monitoring and Performance Product
• Best Deployment Product
• Best Development Tools Product
• Best Hardware: Server
• Best Hardware: Workstation
• Best Hardware: Mobile device
• Best Hardware: Networking Product
• Best Hardware: Appliances Product
• Best Hardware: Storage Product
• Best Interoperability Product
• Best Messaging Product
• Best Microsoft Product
• Best Mobile and Wireless Software Product
• Best Network Management Product
• Best Patch Management Product
• Best Scripting Product
• Best Security Product
• Best SharePoint Product
• Best Systems Management Product
• Best System Utility
• Best Training and Certification Product or Service
• Best Virtualization Product
There are still openings for tonight’s Boise IEEE Career Building Workshop. RSVP if you are interested in attending. This workshop is for those that want to improve their resume. Workshop highlights: • Resume review
• Networking Opportunities
• IEEE Career Resources
• Free Food Tonight, August 5, 2009 7:00PM – 8:00PM
Library! At Hillcrest. Limhi Conference Room.
5246 W. Overland Road, Boise ID
Located in the Hillcrest Shipping Center at Overland and Orchard. The career building workshop is to help improve a participant's resume, offer an opportunity to network among peers, and to present the career building resources available through the IEEE. Bring three copies of your resume to the event to have it reviewed. Event is open to members and non-members. Space is limited. Reserve your place by emailing to boiseieee@gmail.com, and include the following in the email.
For questions, contact jrekiere@ieee.org.
It’s released, but not yet available for MSDN subscribers. That said, you can download the Trial Edition and get your hands on it. My understanding is that you can product key activate it later, when it shows up on MSDN. Click here For more information on Express Studio 3, including a top 10 list of features. I’m most excited about #7 … Team Foundation Server Integration – share your Expression Studio project files with those of your colleagues by using check in and check out functionality with Microsoft Team Foundation Server integration.
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