Minneapolis Sessions

Session and Speakers for Code Mastery Minneapolis

Implementing Windows 8 Design Principles

Windows 8 marks a complete shift in design principles for the Windows platform. To stay relevant as a developer on the Windows platform, you have to learn to implement the new Windows 8 design principles. In this session, we will cover what you need to know about what has changed and what hasn’t. We will look at how you, the developer, can leverage these design principles from the perspective you know best: the code.

Brent Edwards is an Associate Principal Consultant for Magenic, a Microsoft Gold Partner software development firm. He is an accomplished software developer, architect, mentor, and speaker with over 7 years of experience in developing innovative solutions with Microsoft technologies. Brent has worked on projects ranging from ASP.NET MVC with jQuery to WPF to Silverlight. He is also the author of MVVM Fabric, a free MVVM framework for WPF. In addition to Microsoft technologies, Brent develops applications for the Android platform. His apps have over two million downloads and he was selected by Google as a Top Android Developer for their Device Seeding Program. When not cranking out code, you can find him hanging out with his wife and four kids or riding his wakeboard, snowboard or mountain bike. Check out his blog at http://brentedwards.net.

Introduction to the WinRT API

With Windows8 comes a complete rewrite of the API surface that a developer uses to build their applications. In this session we’ll cover what’s available for you to use in your Windows 8 applications, including (but not limited to) storage, search and metadata.Jason Bock is a Principal Consultant for Magenic and a Microsoft MVP (C#). 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”, and the forthcoming “Metaprogramming in .NET”. He has written numerous articles on software development issues and has presented at a number of conferences and user groups. He is a leader of the Twin Cities Code Camp . Jason holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University. Visit his web site at http://www.jasonbock.net.

Windows 8 a Pebble or a Landslide?

Windows 8 has stirred up much discussion in the custom software development sector. We will open up a lively debate around the impact of Microsoft’s new offering; Will it change the terrain, our lives, the ways we interact with technology or perhaps it is just another step. Just how big will the waves be created by a splash of windows 8 in the market.

Larry Louisiana is a consultant for Magenic, a Microsoft Gold Partner consulting company. has been working with .Net for the last 5 years, Magenic for the last 3, and leads the Twin Cities Microsoft Game Developers User Group TCMGDUG. Larry has a dual degree in biology and Chemistry with an emphasis in Biotechnology, and went on to grad school to study Computational Photo-Physical Chemistry. Larry is published, has a software patent {pending}, is developing a game engine in his free time, and finds threading and deep computation entertaining. Visit his web site at http://elybob.wordpress.com/.

Data access and asynchronous programming for Windows Store Apps

Windows Store apps and the underlying WinRT framework change some things related to accessing data. Asynchronous programming is no longer a good idea for UI responsiveness, it is now required to access data in most cases. Come and explore these changes and what WinRT makes available to the developer for accessing files, web services, OData feeds and other approaches to data access in the new development paradigm.

Dave Stienessen is a Principal Lead Consultant for Magenic, a Microsoft Gold Partner consulting company. For 19 years, Dave has been developing and designing enterprise applications built with Microsoft technologies and working with .NET since its release in 2002 and SQL Server since version 6. Currently Dave works with clients on enterprise application architecture, database design and architecture, and multi-tenant custom SaaS applications. You can contact Dave at daves@magenic.com and view his blog at http://stienessen.net

Game Development in Win8?

Windows 8 has stripped out marketplaces support for XNA, and has pushed developers into new paradigms of dissemination. We will present a simple game based off of the software superhero’s concept.

The Business Side of SQL Server

For technologists, SQL Server 2012 is a treasure trove of technical goodies. A quick web search reveals a growing body of technical content detailing these technical goodies in great detail. But is someone from the business community where to ask you the question: “what’s in SQL Server 2012 for me?”, how would you respond? This session focuses on the business context for one of the key facets of this platform: Business Intelligence. The session covers common business challenges and how BI features within SQL Server and BI tools address these challenges. Session attendees will gain insight in these features and tools that enable real business users (not just over-achieving, tech savvy power users) to answer their own business questions.

Chuck Whittemore is a Lead Business Consultant for Magenic Inc, with specialized knowledge in business intelligence, business performance management and SharePoint® as a business solution platform. Chuck has a hybrid skill set given his extensive background and experiences, and is equally comfortable with both business and technical aspects of technology-based solutions. Chuck has proven experience in bridging challenging business opportunities with effective business solutions. Chuck leverages techniques such as envisioning, road mapping and solutioning to identify, prioritize and develop business solutions that are uniquely designed for each client.

Using SSRS Reports with SSAS Cubes

Take your reports to the next dimension! In this session we will discuss how to combine the power of SSRS and SSAS to create cube driven reports. We will talk about using SSAS as a data source, writing MDX queries, using report parameters, passing parameters for drill down reports, performance tuning, and the pro’s and con’s of using a cube as your data source.

Jeff Prom is a Senior Consultant with Magenic Technologies. He holds a bachelor’s degree, three SQL Server certifications, and is an active PASS member. Jeff has been working in the IT industry for over 14 years and currently specializes in data and business intelligence.

BI with xVelocity In-Memory Analytics

With SQL Server 2012, Microsoft has introduced the next generation of the VertiPaq engine, xVelocity. xVelocity contains the first two members of Microsoft’s family of in-memory and memory-optimized data management technologies. These members, the in-memory analytics engine and the memory-optimized columnstore index are designed to achieve breakthrough performance for analytic queries.

Curtis Smith is a Principle Lead Consultant based in Atlanta GA. Curtis has been working with SQL Server technologies for over 18 years. His experience includes full life-cycle application development, database architecture, BI reporting and analytics. Curtis is a former Director of Software Development for a major home health agency.

Enabling and Managing the BI Stack in SharePoint 2010

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 provides back end services and a rich web front end to support a powerful suite of business intelligence functionality. Tools like SQL Server Reporting Services, Excel Services, KPI’s, scorecards and more are baked right into SharePoint to help you surface rich data for your users. However, getting the SharePoint services up and running to support this can be a challenge. Come to this session to get a tour of the SharePoint BI stack and what it takes to get each tool configured for your developers and power users to start driving data out to the business. Special attention will be given to authentication options for each tool.

Greg Moser has been working with SharePoint and many other development technologies for over 13 years. Greg has specifically enjoyed working with SharePoint since 2003, and has helped many organizations in various industries and sectors with their SharePoint planning and implementation projects. Three random facts about Greg (two true and one false):

Greg was a starting forward on a Class A Minnesota State High School basketball champion (many moons ago).
At age 27, Greg did a one year trip around the world covering four continents and 13 countries.
Before getting into technology, Greg spent two years working as a stage hand on an off Broadway production of “Cats”.

Beyond Rounded Corners: SSIS Changes for the Developer

Unlike SSIS 2008, there are a number of developer improvements in SSIS SQL Server 2012, beyond the rounded corners and new icons. Microsoft has significantly improved the development, deployment, and execution capabilities of Integration Services with this release. I will focus on changes that directly affect development and deployment in this session including script debugging in dataflow tasks and deploying with parameters.

Steve Hughes is a Practice Lead at Magenic, working with Microsoft’s SQL Server stack to deliver data and BI solutions. He has worked with technology for over 15 years and is passionate about helping customers understand that data is valuable and profitable. Over the past 6 years, he has delivered more than 30 presentations on SQL Server and data architecture. In 2010, he received Consultant of the Year honors at Magenic. Steve leads the Minnesota SQL Server User Group (PASSMN) and is a PASS Regional Mentor for the Northeast. You can read his insights from the field at http://dataonwheels.wordpress.com.