Goto 100 - Development with Visual Basic : Events/Training

Anybody for some free (and clever!) Visual Basic 2008 training?

Eric Nelson — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:00:59 GMT

In the UK we are working with InnerWorkings to create a great offer of training to UK developers. We still have some stuff to sort out but I am hopeful that we will be able to share the details of this very early in 2009. In my previous depth role we used InnerWorking successfully to help early adopters get up to speed with the core technologies which we then built on with our own labs, briefings and workshops. We were very impressed with the inventive format they use and the quality of the training.

Essentially the training is broken down into a number of coding challenges which you must perform inside Visual Studio on supplied skeleton projects with the help of relevant information. Once you think you have it right, their program checks your solution for correctness. Very sweet. Above that there is also reporting - making it easy for an organisation to role it out and understand how developers are progressing through the training, opening up the possibility of prizes etc.

The great news is my colleagues in the US have already created a worldwide offer which allows you to try out this format for free. You can select from three samples:

New Features in C# 3.0 (1 hour)
New Features in VB 9.0 (1 hour)
LINQ to SQL (1 hour)

Even better news - check out their online catalog and use the coupon code IWDEFY to claim a 10% discount on all items in your shopping cart.

NB: For the UK we are aiming to put together a larger offering - albeit for a limited number of folks. Watch this space.

My low tech polls: show of hands at the UK MSDN events

Eric Nelson — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:29:45 GMT

I have been asking a few “raise your hand” questions at the MSDN events we are currently delivering in various parts of the UK. I thought they would be worth sharing.

What language do you code in?
- C# – around 60%
- VB – around 40% Good stuff!
- Something else (normally C++) – one or two folks
Do you subscribe to the MSDN Flash?
- Yes – around 60% Good stuff – but 100% should be about right :-)
Do you listen to podcasts?
- Yes – around 40% Wow. We all commute too much!
Do you use an ORM currently in your project
- Yes – around 5% This is low. This is very low. This will change significantly over the coming years….

A very good showing of VB developers

Eric Nelson — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:35:11 GMT

As folks should know, as of July I stopped doing any demos in C# (pretty much) and switched to Visual Basic .NET – the simple reason being I know at every event we attend we have a large contingent of VB developers that we make sit through C# demo after demo – for which I apologise. I think last Wednesday was a great example. Mike and I were delivering a session to customers of QBS. Mike went with C# and I with VB. I asked for a show of hands at the start of my session and…50% were VB developers which gave me a warm feeling inside :-)

FYI I was covering “all things data” in my session – Entity Framework, LINQ, Sync Services, Data Services, SSDS etc. Plenty of links to choose from if you would like to find out more.

Another new find for me – MyVBProf.com

Eric Nelson — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:03:04 GMT

Just stumbled across this great resource of very nicely done screencasts on developing with Visual Basic 2008. Each topic area is split into a number of 10minute screencasts which are very professionally done. Great work by Bill Burrows who is a faculty member in Information Systems in the Business School at the University of Washington in Seattle. Thanks Bill.

Updated the list of events I will be attending/delivering sessions

Eric Nelson — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:36:07 GMT

Just a quick note to say I have updated my “Eric will be appearing” page. October is looking busy :-)

2nd MSDN Event Reading http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/bb905504.aspx for all MSDN events
7th MSDN Event Manchester
14th MSDN Event Birmingham
16th MSDN Event Edinburgh
22nd MSDN Event Bristol
23rd MSDN Event Exeter
24th MSDN Event London
8th, 9th, 10th Future of Web Apps in London http://london2008.futureofwebapps.com/ (likely)

Oh – and expect me to be using Visual Basic in every one of them (with a drop of C# now and then)

UK MSDN events now scheduled

Eric Nelson — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:21:24 GMT

Topics have been chosen, venues confirmed and details posted on our events site. We will be showing up at 6 cities through Sept and October with a lot of the content focused on Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1. Me – I will be delivering the “data bit” – in Visual Basic :-) I liked the tag line we went for:

“Service Pack? We’re calling it a Service Pack? Are you kidding??!?!”

P.S. We do also hope to get up to Scotland in October.

MSDN Event - Rich Internet Applications with Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1
- Location: Reading
- Date: 2 September 2008
MSDN Event: Rich Internet Applications with Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1
- Location: London
- Date: 4 September 2008
MSDN Event: What’s New in Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1?
- Location: Reading
- Date: 2 October 2008
MSDN: What’s New in Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1?
- Location: Manchester
- Date: 7 October 2008
MSDN: What’s New in Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1?
- Location: Birmingham
- Date: 14 October 2008
MSDN: What’s New in Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1?
- Location: Bristol
- Date: 22 October 2008
MSDN: What’s New in Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1?
- Location: Exeter
- Date: 23 October
MSDN Roadshow Re-Run

Location: London
Date: 24 October 2008

40% off Visual Basic .NET and C# Books ... (UK)

Eric Nelson — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:56:54 GMT

Visual Basic 6 developer moving to .NET - you need a good book! http://www.microsoft-press.co.uk/hellodotnet

I have been looking for ways to help the Visual Basic 6 folks transition to .NET. Paul in my old ISV team suggested a discount of Microsoft Press VB books. He kicked off a conversation with MS Press in the UK who were extremely keen to help and I have been working with them to get a new landing page in place. We have arranged for 40% off two Visual Basic 2008 books and a C# book (well...some will move to C#).

The books are:

Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Step by Step

Microsoft Visual C# 2008 Step by Step 3rd Edition

Programming Windows Services with Microsoft Visual Basic 2008

Head over to http://www.microsoft-press.co.uk/hellodotnet if you would like to find out more.

P.S. I will write up a short review of the first two books. NOTE - the two Step by Step books are very different. The Visual Basic book is for someone brand new to .NET and aims to teach the basics. The C# is much more detailed.

P.P.S. I am hoping to have some free copies to give out - should know very soon how many etc.

Maybe see you at NxtGenUG Fest08 in Reading on Thursday 12th?

Eric Nelson — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:24:01 GMT

I love to put faces to names (not least because I am terrible with names but pretty decent with faces!). I am doing a short 10minute intro as part of the keynote of Fest08 tomorrow and hope to work in the back of the room as much as possible during the day and hang out with the attendees during the breaks. This is my hope - but more and more internal meetings keep appearing in my calendar :-(

Please do say hello if you see me there and you read either http://blogs.msdn.com/ericnel or http://blogs.msdn.com/goto100 - especially if you happen to be a Visual Basic developer (but I do talk to folks doing C# and Java and C++ and Lisp and... although to be fair I don't really understand what the Lisp folks tell me).

Fest08 is shaping up to be great fun (which is what I expect from Richard et al). Enjoy!