Tag Archives: software

July events in Ann Arbor

Some on schedule, some on holiday delay

First, who IS meeting.  Then, who ISN'T.

The Michigan Python User Group is forging ahead with a meeting this week.  On Thursday, July 5, MichiPUG will meet at Arbor Networks, where Mark Ramm will talk about what to look for in TurboGears 2.0 (unreleased and in progress).  Hint: there was a sprint that involved Pylons a few weeks ago in Atlanta, and Mark was involved.  The meeting starts at 7:00.  Arbor Networks is at 220 E. Huron in the City Center Building in Ann Arbor (6th floor).

Now, who ISN'T meeting this week:

The Ann Arbor Java User Group meeting, usually held the first Tuesday, has been postponed so that everyone can head out to the fireworks tonight.  I hear that there will be some in Dexter!  I think that there will be an AAJUG meeting next Tuesday (10th); will advise when I get word.

The Ann Arbor Computer Society is also on holiday delay.  They will be holding a joint meeting with the Ann Arbor Dot Net Developers Group (AADND) on Wednesday, July 11, at the Ann Arbor SPARK (330 E. Liberty, lower level).  It will be an interesting talk, I think.  Bill Wagner (yes, my business partner) is talking on Generics, and what you can do with them in addition to using them in collections.  The meeting starts at 6 pm!

And, a SAVE THE DATE notice.

In August, AACS and MichiPUG will have a joint meeting on Thursday, August 2 at 6 pm at the Google offices in Ann Arbor.  Google is sponsoring a Tech Talk.  Seating will be limited,, so registration will be required.  Registration will open on 7/13.  Stay tuned, but definitely save the date!

We’re hiring

Interested?

Bill just posted about our 3 open positions.  We seem to be building up steam these days and we really need some good resources.

I like Bill's post about what we're looking for.  To go even further, we want people who are PASSIONATE about software development.  We're looking for the curious, the interested, the "I can't sleep right now because I have this cool thing on my mind" type of people.  Yes, we sleep and so should you, but you know what I mean.

Anyhow, I know we've talked to some of our blog readers at user group meetings, but when we've contacted people directly they've said, "Yeah, I was thinking about talking to you guys", but hadn't actually done it.  So, do it.  Even if we don't have something that you're interested in now, our local software economy seems to be revving up, so maybe we will have something soon.  Yes, most of the jobs right now are .NET, but we may have some "alternate technology" stuff coming up soon.

Ruby on Rails at the Ann Arbor Computer Society

Featuring Joe O'Brien of the Columbus Ruby Brigade

Joe O'Brien, who helped to found the Columbus Ruby Brigade, is going to be speaking at the next AACS meeting, on May 2.  Meeting starts around 6 pm (well, that's when the pizza arrives; Joe will probably start talking around 6:30).

So, if you're in the Ann Arbor area and want to learn about Ruby on Rails, here's your chance.

AACS meetings are free and open to the public.  Annual memberships (just $20) do qualify you for door prizes and to vote in elections.  The May meeting also happens to be election night.

Meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 2, at 6 pm at the Ann Arbor ITZone/Spark Central, 330 E. Liberty (lower level), Ann Arbor, MI.

AACS

Columbus Ruby Brigade

Ruby on Rails

User Interface Smackdown 2007

Explore Google's GWT, Adobe's Flex, and Microsoft's WPF for creating user interfaces

Registration is now open for the User Interface Smackdown 2007, being held April 4, 2007 at the Ann Arbor ITZone (Spark Central). The user interface toolkits that we will discuss and work with include (at least) Google’s GWT, Adobe’s Flex, and Microsoft’s WPF.

I’ve had a lot of fun doing Open Spaces events that Bruce Eckel has hosted in the past year. I exposed Bill Wagner (my business partner and co-founder of SRT) and our consultants to Open Spaces at CodeMash and they all enjoyed the experience as well, so we decided to start doing them locally, and we hope to do about 1 per quarter. Hopefully we will have the next one planned by the time that this one takes place (teaser: we already have some ideas in the works).

We believe that these events benefit the developer community. Not only are they an efficient and interesting way to bring timely knowledge to programmers, but they also bring the community together in a way that fosters continued communication and builds community. This helps everyone.

We believe that innovative user interfaces will be a key differentiator for software offerings in coming years, and learning how to use modern toolkits to build them is essential. We hope that we have a great turnout for this event and that it provides us with the motivation and interest to do more of these in the future, on different topics.

Cost for the event is $75 before March 26, or $90 after March 26 (and at the door, if space is available). Registration also includes continental breakfast and lunch.

This event is sponsored by Adobe, Microsoft, and SRT Solutions.

Hope to see you there!

Announcing CodeMash 2007

Ohio … where you need to be January 18-19

What? January in Ohio?! That’s always the first reaction. But … once I tell them what’s going on (and that it’s at an indoor water park), the tune changes to, “Really? Cool!”.

I’ve been involved with the planning of CodeMash, a 2-day conference for developers, to be held in Sandusky, Ohio January 18-19. 2007. It’s a conference for developers of all flavors: Java, .NET, Python, PHP, Perl … you name it! We’ll have some Ruby on Rails and some TurboGears, some Oracle and MySQL. The goal is to all get together and learn from one another. We all benefit from advances in other languages and platforms.

We’ve scheduled some really cool keynotes. Bruce Eckel is going to talk about issues of design in software development, from a philosophical standpoint. Neal Ford is planning a talk about the evolving programming paradigm. Scott Guthrie will also be doing a keynote.

We’re accepting abstracts right now, and conference registration will be open really soon (you can reserve a spot now, though!). The pricing is phenomenal … early bird price of $99 for the 2 day conference, if you stay at the Kalahari Resort (conference hotel, discounted room rate of $88/night). The regular price for registration (after Nov 30) is $149.

I think it’s going to be an amazing event.

CodeMash – I'll be there!

Code Mash Conference Page

My Biggest Software Failure

Dianne fesses up.

Bill Wagner offered “What is your biggest failure” as an appropriate interview question. I like it. I especially liked his answer! But in calling his bluff, I promised that I would confess my biggest failure if he did, so I have to be true to my word … not sure that mine measures up as well as his does!

At my first job out of college, I developed software for laboratory instruments. We controlled hardware with our software, as well as doing measurements and analysis. It was really a fun job! In any case, the fact that I was controlling REAL hardware was driven home one day when I forgot to turn the power off to the furnace before raising the piston. Yowza! The two pieces of metal touched and arched. Luckily, no one was injured, but it was fairly scary. This was a lot different than SIMULATING something. Real people were putting their hands in there. Real machinery was moving and under POWER. I’ve always made sure I understood the components of a system after that incident! And in the nearly 20 years (ouch) since then, there have been several times that I’ve discussed this failure with new grads to impress upon them the importance of a broad understanding of the application.

In Praise of Technology: Sportvision

Just embracing the little ways in which technology has enhanced entertainment!

In Praise of Technology: Sportvision

Well, I have decided that if I could do ANY job as a software developer, I would want to work at Sportvision (http://www.sportvision.com). This is the company that developed the 1st and 10 line in football. That yellow line for the 1st down is one of the reasons I like to watch my MEEECHIGAN football at home (in addition to easily accessible bathroom facilities, no traffic, not being squeezed into the small seats at Michigan stadium, and my husband’s fabulous guacamole!).

My Olympic viewing has also been enhanced by SportVision. I love the “world record line” that the swimmers chased in the last summer Olympics. I love watching the current ski leader superimposed on the screen with the current racer. And the team who developed the technology to “embed” the country flag below the ice for speedskating amazes me. The graphic is SO good. I’m not all that much of a speedskating fan, but I will confess to have watched a bit last night just to get a good glimpse of the flags to see if any shadows, etc. were missing. It just looks flawless to me!

I heard an interview on NPR yesterday by a representative of Sportvison, about the use of their technology at the winter Olympics. It was pretty cool. You can hear the interview at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5204366.

So … the real geek question is … what language, toolkits, etc. do they use? Wouldn’t you love to know?! (Of note: their website doesn’t work very well with Firefox)