Contagious Curiosity : PDC

Trying out Code Contracts from Microsoft Research

llangit — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:35:31 GMT

There are two sections that get added to VS 2008 after you install the add-in from MSR to test Code Contracts. The first one is simply called 'Contracts'.

The second tab is named 'Code Contracts'.

The MSR team did a presentation at PDC08 about Code Contracts and the Pex automated-testing tool.

In the area of contract-based coding at Microsoft, there is also Spec#. Sample shown below.

using System;
using Microsoft.Contracts;

public class Program
{
  static void Main(string![]! args) 
  {
    Console.WriteLine("Spec# says hello!");
  }
  
  public int Add(int i, int j)
  
    requires i > 5;
    requires j < 3; 
    {
        int r = i + j;
        return r;
    }
    
}

Have you had time to look at contract-based coding? What do you think about it?

What's in your Visual Studio?

llangit — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:11:16 GMT

As I continue my current language-exploring mode, I've noticed that Visual Studio 2008 is becoming a candy store for me. Is it just me, or do we have an incredible amount of new stuff to play with? I can't really remember the last time I watched TV, other than Slumdog Millionaire there hasn't been a movie to catch my interest for awhile and when I am done coding, I just want to read a technical book to 'go deeper' in this stuff. I going to need a geek-intervention soon if I keep it up at this rate! Now I am looking at the Visual Studio Extensibility Center, uh oh...

Here's my list of installed stuff- Azure SDK, Robotics SDK, Spec # CTP, IronPython Studio, F# CTP, Oslo and M CTP, Parallel Extension for .NET - I got the .NET 4.0 WCF / WF stuff from PDC (looked at in that VPC, don't even know if it's downloadable yet). I feel like I am 'losing it' on Silverlight 2.0, Silverlight toolkit, AJAX toolkit, AJAX futures - haven't looked at it since PDC. What am I missing?

How about you? What have you downloaded and installed into VS2008 that has delighted you?

CodeRush Xpress for C#

llangit — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:11:17 GMT

I'm all for free developer productivity tools. Check this one out.

CodeRush Xpress for C#

TechZulu asks 'What does ScottGu do for fun?'

llangit — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:58:05 GMT

Check out TechZulu's two interviews with Scott Gutherie at the PDC Underground party.

In the second video (linked), Scott talks PDC announcements, enhancements to the ASP.NET stack and more.

Scott Guthrie Talks about Microsofts Future Plans and what it takes to be the Gu in ASP.NET

I tell Geoff everything (again!)

llangit — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:07:34 GMT

Check out Geoffrey Emery's interview with me at PDC Underground.

Language Specialist Meets BI Expert Held together by Girl Geek power this and more with Lynn Langit

Screencasts on emerging .NET developers technologies

llangit — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:58:27 GMT

Hey check out these cool screencasts from the braniacs over at Pluralsight. They show you current and emerging technologies, such as AtomPub, Atom feed, implementing WCF, sequential workflows and much more. My personal favorite is Jon Flanders talking about the new 'M' (modeling) language introduced at PDC08.

Pluralsight - Screencasts

SERIOUS PLAY @PDC08 and more

llangit — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:41:49 GMT

I really love PDC - so many announcements (check out MSDN Ch9 videos from the event), seeing so many friends in person, geekdom and now WomenBuild with Serious Play from Lego - oh, and it's in my home town too!

The many funny T-shirts are cracking me up as well.

See more pictures from PDC08

LEGO SERIOUS PLAY - BUILD YOUR WAY TO BETTER BUSINESS

MS Surface in the real world ATT Retail Demo, and, at PDC08

llangit — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 08:00:46 GMT

Interesting to see 'real-world' use of Microsoft Surface. This video was taken an an ATT phone store California and it shows a store employee explaining how to use the MS-Surface application to help customers.

Since I am getting ready to head downtown LA for a week to attend PDC08. I can't help but think about what kind of applications the PDC attendees will develop on the Surface. Our MS Surface team announced on their blog that every attendee at PDC08 will be able to get the MS Surface SDK.

Considering the, ahem, festive nature of PDC, the MS Surface project (potential application) shown in the video below could really be put to some high volume usability tests by the attendees. :)

PDC, TechDays, CodeCamp, BarCamp - Oct / Nov Developer events in SoCal!

llangit — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:20:46 GMT

We'll we've got a raft of live events coming up in SoCal for developers in late October and early November. You may be thinking, hmm...which one(s) do I go to? how do I choose? I'll write a bit about all them here, maybe that will help you to choose.

If you can afford it, PDC08 is always inspirational, exciting and just plain old fun. Our tip, bring your boss with you. No, we don't mean actually hang around together at the event, just convince your boss that the content is so compelling (which, actually, it is) that they have to be there! Then, of course, so do you, right?

PDC runs Monday, Oct 27 through Thursday, Oct 30 - here's the schedule (with optional preCons on Sunday, Oct 26). Why PDC? Well, we (Microsoft) show nearly every new thing we are working on there. Stuff like Windows 7 and much more. Take a look at the sessions list to get a flavor. While there you also get direct access to the majority of our product group teams who are presenting there, so, really, what could be better than that? Oh, and there's keynotes from people like Scott Guthrie, etc...You can watch a bunch of videos on our own Channel 9 about PDC as well.

PrePDC you have some interesting choices. If you are registered for PDC, then you may want to attend a PDC preCon. My personal favorite, of course, is the one that I am facilitating - that is WomenBuild - SeriousPlay with Legos. If you plan to attend any of the PDC preCons, you must register separately for them. Oh, and WomenBuild is the only PDC preCon that is FREE for registered PDC attendees.

Alternatively pre-PDC you can attend the first-in-LA CodeCamp - by developers for developers on Saturday, Oct 25 and Sunday, Oct 26. Of course, you don't have to be registered for PDC to attend CodeCamp. Like most CodeCamps, it's FREE. Here's the session list for SoCalCodeCamp. SoCalCodeCamp is being held on the USC campus. Most presenters are working developers, most sessions (but not all) have information about current .NET technologies. There are sessions about non .NET developer technologies as well. I've attended (and spoken at) many CodeCamps (San Diego, Orange Country, SVC) and always find them to be informative and a great place for networking.

Very alternatively pre-PDC, you can attend LA BarCamp. It's being held Saturday, Oct 25 and Sunday, Oct 26 at the Mahalo offices in Santa Monica. It's also FREE. In case you aren't familiar with BarCamp-style events, there are kind of similar to CodeCamp, in that community members make, mostly technical, presentations. The big differences are that, even though there is a session schedule, the actual sessions aren't posted until the day of the event. Usually there is a paper grid with post-its, so that there is extreme flexibility in session topics and times. Also, presentation topics tend to be more varied - I've been at barCamps where there are deep technical presentations along side with presentations about crafting and metaphysics. BarCamps are quite alternative, more emphasis on fun, so if that's what you like, then go there!

After the PDC/Code Camp/BarCamp frenzy is over, there is still more for you. We are having our own local, little shin-dig in Irvine for our developers (and ITPros) from Tuesday, Nov 11 to Thursday, Nov 13. We're calling it TechDays and you can register (it's also FREE) already. We are working on finalizing speakers now and will be posting information about them on the TechDays website soon. You can see from the registration that we've got 'best of PDC' content and more for developers, along with topics of interest for ITPros. The event is modular, meaning you register (and attend) the parts that are interesting to you, that is you may choose to attend only Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon, etc... This is a new type of event for us and we'll be interested to see how you like it. Of course, there will be surprises and updates as we get closer to the actual event.

We're really interested in putting on and supporting live events that you find useful and fun. I welcome feedback on all of these events. Also, I'll actually be at most of these events (yes, you may wonder how I can actually be at three events at the same time), so you can just find me and TELL me in person!

Psst...wanna' meet some geekGirls at PDC08?

llangit — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:02:37 GMT

Then join us at WomenBuild. So, what the heck is this? It's a free session for developers who are registered for PDC08. Guess what - it's for both men and women! The pre-con session is centered around building your career as a developer. It will be held on Sunday, Oct 26 from 10 am to 5:45 pm at the LA Convention Center. Yes, the focus is on growing careers for women developers in particular, but we know from experience that some men are interested in this topic as well. Plus, you get to play with LEGOs all day. At this pre-con we are implementing Microsoft's first instance of the LEGO adult learning, SERIOUS PLAY program. If you are interested (and are already registered for PDC), then you must REGISTER specifically for this pre-con, as space is limited.

Oh, if you do sign up, also join our Facebook group for WomenBuild, as we envision this as the first of a series of career-building events for developers using LEGO bricks and the Serious Play methodology.

PDC2008 | Agenda | Pre-Conference

Solving Microsoft PDC Hard Hat Challenge #4

llangit — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:51:03 GMT

Do you like code puzzles? Did you know we were throwing out challenges around PDC? To read how a 15-year old from Hungary solved this week, just check out the blog link below. Congrats and geek-cred to Niner 'palotasb (Boldizsar)'

Solving Microsoft PDC Hard Hat Challange #4 [updated] at PalotásB. blogja

The Art of Multiprocessor Programming

llangit — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:13:50 GMT

What are you reading these days? Here's what I am 'up to':

I am really enjoying this book, for it's balance of theory and practical application. Now, it does use Java for it's examples, although I generally code in C#, I find enough similarity between the two languages that the Java examples are still quite useful for me.

I do think we all need to start paying attention to this topic - to that end here are some links that you might find useful:

PLINQ webcast by Daniel Moth - http://www.microsoft.com/uk/msdn/nuggets/nugget/292/Parallel-LINQ-PLINQ.aspx

About PLINQ on MSDN Ch9 - http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/Going+Deep/Joe-Duffy-and-Igor-Ostrovsky-Parallel-LINQ-under-the-hood/

Anders and Joe Duffy on MSDN Ch9 - http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/Going+Deep/Programming-in-the-Age-of-Concurrency-Anders-Hejlsberg-and-Joe-Duffy-Concurrent-Programming-with/

Parallel Computing on MSDN - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/concurrency/default.aspx

Order this book - Amazon.com: The Art of Multiprocessor Programming: Maurice Herlihy, Nir Shavit: Books

If you are attending PDC08, there are already 4 announced sessions on parallel computing:

Cool PDC2008 Contests

llangit — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:58:11 GMT

The Professional Developer's Conference (Oct 27-30, 2008) is already my favorite public, Microsoft technical event because of it's pure geekiness - I mean where else will you find sessions like "Parallel Programming for C++ Developers in the Next Version of Microsoft Visual Studio" or "Concurrency Runtime Deep Dive: How to Harvest Multicore Computing Resources" and get to hear presenters like Don (Box) and Anders (Hejlsberg)? Oh and there's this new Open Space thing being run by ubergeek himself, Jason.

All this goodness in my town and now fun contests too. Hey, why don't YOU enter one of these contests?

PDC2008 | Social | Contests

Two weeks in Seattle with SoCalDevGal

llangit — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:08:21 GMT

I've just returned from a trip to Seattle. Many of you have asked, "What are you doing there?" So, here you go....

The overall purpose of the trip was technical readiness. To that end I (mostly) attended a MS-internal conference called TechReady. Nearly all sessions are presented by the product group and are delivered at deep, technical level. Many sessions focus on future technologies. Of course, I LOVED this. The entire conference is private. So, no, I can not release any information. However, I can tell you that you should PAY ATTENTION around the time of PDC (session list) . Better yet, if you can attend PDC, you won't be sorry. Here's more PDC Buzz.

In addition to TR, I had the good fortune to be invited to a session at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit held in Redmond by MSR. There I spoke with a panel, representing women academics in computing. I was invited because I've been accepted to speak on my Africa (personal volunteer work for SmartCare - electronic medical records collection system) work at the Grace Hopper conference in October in Keystone, CO. It was quite an honor to meet Telle Whitney there. She is the CEO of the Anita Borg Institute and chairs the GHC.

I am wearing my iGive Microsoft limited-edition shirt in the picture with her. Asli and I launched iGive for a couple of reasons:

1) We were tired of getting ugly, man-sized swag at each conference

2) We wanted a cool-looking shirt that showed how much we (Microsoft) cared. To get the shirt you must donate to a selected charity that benefits women and kids.

To that end, she and I ran the third iteration of the iGive program at TR7. The recipient charity was the MONA Foundation. Because this group has both financial and infrastructure needs, we are distributing shirts for money or technical volunteering time (web programming, etc..). If you wish to volunteer, pls ping me and I'll connect you to Jason Ward from the MS VS-team. He is leading the technical volunteers for this project.

We have also gained approval for running iGive at GHC and PDC. It was great to see how many men wanted shirts for their daughters!

While at the MSR Faculty summit, I met with a group from MSR that is taking a look at StoryTelling Alice. As part of my work with Microsoft DigiGirlz, I have been asked to advise on a global curriculum repository for them. I have been investigating various visual programming environments - StoryTelling Alice, PopFly, OpenSim for SecondLife, MS Robotics (RoboChamps) and more. The group at MSR asked me to write a synopsis of my work and submit it for presentation at next year's MS Academic Days Conference (April 2009). This conference is actually held on a cruise ship!

This month I am leading a group to implement the first-ever DigiGirlz camp (in SoCal) based on the visual programming theme. On the plane home from Seattle, I bumped into one of the co-leads, Cindy Palmer, who had been in Seattle for MS-Surface training. It is quite possible that the SoCal DigiGirlz will be the first to see the new surface for our Irvine, CA MTC!

Oh, and I won't be neglecting my SoCal Developers this month either. I am scheduled to speak at 3 UGs this month. LA.NET on Monday, Aug 4; OC SQL (new UG!) on Thursday, Aug 14; SoCal Architects on Thursday, Aug 21. For a complete list of all SoCal UGs, see this link.

Also Glen and I will be resuming our weekly Channel9 / MSDN geekSpeak shows, starting Wednesday August 6th.

And, oh yeah, I've got a a book to finish too. :)

PDC2008 registration is open

llangit — Fri, 30 May 2008 03:27:44 GMT

Among the goodness at this year's PDC in LA in this October is a pre-con session that I'm particularly excited about. If you ask me really nicely, I'll tell you the story of how Asli and I cooked up the idea for this one over drinks on a train one night last fall.

WomenBuild... inspiring career paths in technology

In this workshop, attendees will participate in an environment of rich, interactive experiences by modeling real-life business challenges and solutions with LEGO® Bricks as part of the LEGO® Serious Play Program (LSP). WomenBuild will open your minds to exciting and inspirational ideas on how to be a thought leader in the technical field. We will work together in small groups to brainstorm and problem solve in a collaborative and productive way. You will work with people in various responsibility areas in teams. This way each role can impart their own unique perspective to the group, while collectively creating shared understandings that direct future activity effectively.

The WomenBuild program incorporates a hands-on process that draws on the power of creative thinking to shift group conversation from talking heads to focused minds. Each team will be run as a facilitated conversation with physical Lego brick constructions that will powerfully shift a group to more productive outcomes by accomplishing a deeper mining of the diverse wisdom within the group and a clearer shared conclusion on inspirational career paths for women in the technical field.

Through this workshop, attendees will share real life experiences, discuss challenges, network & build on-going relationships with other women who are attending the conference. Ultimately, attendees of this workshop will find ways to unleash their creative thinking and transform ideas into concrete concepts.

PDC2008 | Agenda | Pre-Conference