Oklahoma City MSDN Event Fall 2004

So, I just returned home from attending my first MSDN event. I had read some mixed reviews on the topics, so I thought I would offer my take.


OOP in VB.NET

This topic was not of the most interest to me. When I first heard this was one of the topics, I expected a more conceptual talk which eventually led to the VB syntax. I didn't really think Microsoft was the best source for information regarding the concepts of OOP. I mean, you can pick up any number of books that cover these concepts. When I hear someone from Microsoft speak, I want lowdown, dirty details about their specific technologies that would be difficult or impossible to get elsewhere. However, the guy sitting next to me still did VB6. He was a petroleum engineer. My guess would be that he doesn't go out and seek a lot of other educational sources. I think there were a lot of other VB6 programmers there in the same boat.

There wasn't too much conceptual talk really. Quick and pragmatic the way I like things. The presenter, Ron Cundiff, showed the code and then explained the implications. I am not completely sure I would have followed everything conceptually if I weren't the OOP pimp that I am. ;) Honestly, I think this topic was more effective evangelizing the migration to VB.NET rather than to teach OOP. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. For me, the topic kind of got me into a groove of listening and understanding. It had merit.


Programming with MapPoint Web Services

This was kind of neat, but not very applicable to my particular responsibilities. It was covered pretty fast. So was my coverage of it.


Optimizing ASP.NET 1.1 Web Applications

I had read an honest, fair, unflattering review of this topic. Well, either OKC had a better presenter, or Microsoft read the review as well. The discussion of caching was still kind of glossed over, but it was mentioned, some simple strategies were suggested, and its importance was strongly emphasized in the conclusion. Now, I am a self-taught database guy, and I have never had to create/maintain a database that was of interest to more than five users, so I found the SQL optimizations that were offered were pretty valuable. I haven't done ASP.NET, either, but the optimizations seemed valid to me. I enjoyed the performance and stress testing demo as well.

So, big ups to Dave Donaldson. I think you had a hand in making my MSDN event experience better.


ASP.NET 2.0 Membership and Personalization

This demo was rushed because we were a bit behind, but WOW! I don't know a whole lot about membership and personalization, but this demo sure made ASP.NET 2.0 and Whidbey look like the shizzell. I was blown away with how much functionality Ron implemented with very little code writing. It got me super pumped about the controls in Whidbey.


Conclusion

I had a great time. It was cool to talk to some local developers I had never met. I got a T-Shirt, some cool bits I am dying to try out, and paid for it (I went on company time). I would suggest going if you have never been to one.