Contribupendence Day is coming up this Friday, July 3rd. Are you ready for it?

Wait... you haven't heard of it? Let me explain how it works:

1. Write recommendations for friends and fellow community members.
2. ...
3. Profit!

Ok... maybe there's no profit involved.

Seriously, though, last summer, Jeff Blankenburg came up with this idea. The way he put it was:

A day when we can contribute to our colleagues and friends to improve their online standing. A day when we take advantage of those features of social networks that we always put off until tomorrow. - taken from his post from last year's Contribupendence Day

I've been thinking about this throughout the year, as I wanted to select people that I didn't select last year, and I wanted to diversify my options - not just .NET people.

So this is my challenge to you - participate! If you're not sure what to do, check Jeff's post from last year and it should give you an idea of what it's about.

Labels: Contribupendence Day, Jeff Blankenburg

The language junkie in me spoke on Python to the .NET group, and of course, leave it to me to remember to tie in IronPython - the .NET implementation of Python.

My slides are here:


All of my sample code has been zipped up and is available here.

I'd like to thank all those who came out. I had a very inquisitive and interactive audience, which made my presentation that much easier to deliver. It was great to present tech to one of my home user groups, and I hope to speak more around town.

Labels: C#/VB.NET SIG, IronPython, presentation, python

This one time, at GiveCamp....

This morning, I read that the Columbus GiveCamp site is now up and running. As I read through their site, I had to laugh at some of the things on there - as it brought back fond memories of my experience last summer at the Ann Arbor GiveCamp.

What is a GiveCamp?
A Give Camp is a weekend-long event where software developers, designers, and database administrators donate their time to create custom software for non-profit organizations. This custom software could be a new website for the nonprofit organization, a small data-collection application to keep track of members, or a application for the Red Cross that automatically emails a blood donor three months after they've donated blood to remind them that they are now eligible to donate again. The only limitation is that the project should be scoped to be able to be completed in a weekend.

Source: http://www.annarborgivecamp.org/WhatIsAGiveCamp.aspx


Last Year's Experience

Last year, Ann Arbor was a full GiveCamp, and Columbus, OH and Knoxille, TN ran satellite camps. I had talked with Mike Eaton throughout their planning stages, and as much as I could've gone to the satellite camp in Columbus, after having talked with Mike through so much, I was determined to go to the Ann Arbor camp.

I didn't know which charity or team I was placed with until I got there, and that's where I met the great team that worked on GoLightly IT's SiteFinity site. Towards the end of the first night, Mike floated around the groups to get interviews and offer cookies (which I ended up tagging along with him and calling them "HTTP cookies"). I liked how he had the job of floating around to check on the groups and assist them with any blocking issues - that was a much-needed position, one that I wouldn't mind doing. He pulled me in to help a group that was starting with the hopes of using SharePoint, only to be defeated by Verio's hosting options and having to use SiteFinity. I was able to work with them to at least get them on the right path, joining most of us on the "we're using SiteFinity and relying on John T. Hopkins' awesomeness to help us out" bandwagon.

"No showers" means "There are no showers at the facility."

The Columbus GiveCamp site has stressed that their facility has "no showers" quite a few times in the FAQ. In case they weren't obvious enough, this means that QSI does not have showers. So if you're staying overnight, don't count on showering there - it's not happening.

Sleep is for the weak.

As for the award for least amount of sleep and probably why they link to Red Bull - you'll find that some developers will stay up the whole time to work on their project. Some will stay up to help others with their projects. And some of us stay up just because we can. I managed to go 41 (or was it 42) hours without sleep at Ann Arbor GiveCamp, competing with one of the guys from another team in our room. My first night there, I hung out with my friends in the break room, helping keep Jennifer going during her 1am-5am break room shift. I'm not sure how the guys did it, but I got lucky running mostly on my second wind. Then my first wind for the next day kicked in and sleep was fairly inevitable. I could've gone for a little longer on the second night, but since I had a long drive home the next day, I knew that I needed to sleep, from a safety standpoint.

Going to GiveCamp this year

This year, I'm planning on going down to the Columbus GiveCamp - a full camp this year - and putting my background to use there however they need me. I've got one of those weird backgrounds - system administration, database administration, web server administration, tech support, developer... on both Microsoft-based platforms and non-Microsoft platforms. I tend to adapt quickly new technology, which makes it even easier for me to fit a variety of roles.

Ann Arbor's GiveCamp will be running at the same time, as Columbus planned theirs to be at the same time. I look forward to seeing what comes out of these GiveCamps - last year, they worked on a lot of great projects, including projects for WonderPuzzle and Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum.

So what are you waiting for? If you've got the time July 17-19 and want to put your technical talents to a good cause, volunteer for a GiveCamp today. And if you know of any groups with projects, have them contact the respective GiveCamp location to see how the GiveCamps can help them out.

Again, the links for the sites are:

• Columbus GiveCamp


• Ann Arbor GiveCamp

Hope to see you there!

Labels: Ann Arbor Give Camp, Columbus Give Camp, givecamp

It's summer, a time for hanging out with family and friends, a time to relax, right? As much as I wanted to take a break and relax, my schedule is keeping me busy, with at least 4 talks planned. So... what's going on?

• Cleveland C#/VB.NET SIG
  Python 101 for the .NET Developer
  
  The first part of this meeting will cover the basics of Python - its history, how its data structures compare to those we're familiar with in the primary .NET languages, its strong and weak points, who's using it, and why you as a developer - both generally speaking and as a .NET developer - should care about Python. The second part of this talk will get into the demos - starting with some basic Python scripts and getting into IronPython scripts, if time allows. By the end of this talk, you'll have an idea of what Python is, why you should know it as a developer and specifically as a .NET developer, and how to get setup and write a basic app in both Python and IronPython.
  


• PyOhio 2009
  
  Pumping Iron into Python: Intro to FePy
  As python grows in popularity, IronPython has started making more waves. What is IronPython and why should regular python programmers be familiar with it? This session will introduce the open source .NET implementation of python known as IronPython without using Windows. Come see FePy (IronPython community edition) in action via Mono -- a cross-platform open source implementation of the .NET framework.
  
  Show & Tell: IronPython Edition
  In this session, you will hear about IronPython and what is needed to work with this .NET implementation of the python language. This session will show the power of IronPython in a Windows environment. There will be many demos of how IronPython can be used - including some WPF, XNA, Silverlight, COM Interop, database interaction, and other neat features.
  


• devLink
  
  Going Cross-Platform with C#
  Running Windows forms apps in a non-Windows environment? As absurd as it sounds, it can be done. This session will show how to work with Mono and MonoDevelop to get your Windows apps to be cross-platform.
  

Hope to see you at one of my talks this summer!

Labels: C#/VB.NET SIG, devLink, presentation, PyOhio

I get to add another talk to my list of Python/IronPython talks, as I've been asked to speak at the Cleveland C#/VB.NET SIG for their June meeting. The talk will start with a focus on Python, giving my fellow SIG members a glimpse at yet another language to add to their toolboxes. We'll take a look at what it is, how it compares to C# and VB.NET, where it is strong and where it is weak. If time allows, I will use one of its weak points to transition into IronPython, which is the best of both worlds, bringing .NET to the Python language.

If you're interested in heckling me or maybe even seeing my talk and learning about the language, here are the details:

• What: "Python 101 for the .NET Developer" with Sarah Dutkiewicz, Cleveland C#/VB.NET SIG


• When: Tuesday, June 23, 6:30-8:30pm


• Where: Beacon Place Conference Center, Beacon Place Office Building, 6055 Rockside Woods Blvd, Lower Level, Independence, OH 44131


• Other things to note:
  
  
  
  • Thanks to Sogeti for sponsoring the food and venue. Please be sure to RSVP (see the Cleveland/VB.NET SIG site for details) so that they can get an accurate headcount for ordering pizza.
  
  
  • This group meets afterwards at Mavis Winkle's in Independence. There's a lot of networking and socializing, so come on out and have fun with us.
  
  
  
  

Hope to see you there!

Labels: C#/VB.NET SIG, IronPython, python

I've had my netbook since the middle of January, running Windows 7 from day 1. No, my netbook doesn't have a DVD drive. However, a USB to IDE adapter gave me the ability to hook a drive up to the netbook to get Windows installed.

Everywhere I take it - user groups, coffee shops, hotels - I'm asked what "this little laptop" is. I call it my laptop's laptop. Check this out for a size comparison:


15" ASUS G1 laptop on the left, Dell Mini 9 on the right

It's such a great conversation piece. I've had total strangers - both male and female - stare for a bit and then come up and ask me about it. So look out cute kids and puppies, the netbook is the new pick-up icon!

So what do I tell people about it? I love traveling with it - smaller footprint than my 15" laptop, much lighter, and great for things like checking email, reading things on the Internet, chatting online, and basic office functions. Going away for work and want to stay in touch with the fam? This one has a webcam built-in, great for video chatting. I had tested it with one of my friends, who was amazed with the webcam's clarity, as if he was looking directly into my house. With wi-fi, wired, and Bluetooth capabilities, I can get my Internet fix in a number of ways. The SD card reader is nice for offloading pictures from my digital camera to a hard drive while I'm on trips.

Ah... but the hard drive. So the Dell Mini 9 that I have has a 16GB solid state drive. That's right, only 16GB. So I have to watch my space. Now I know I can upgrade my hard drive and that Dell is shipping Minis now with bigger hard drives, but from my personal basic setup, 16GB is what I have to work with, which isn't really that much space for storing pictures - especially when 7GB alone is eaten up by the operating system.

Battery life is good enough for me. With wireless on and full use, I can get a couple hours easily. However, I'm typically not promiscuous with my netbook, so the wireless is usually off and the display brightness isn't super bright. This means I get about 3-3.5 hours of battery life.

The processor and the memory are my limiting factors. I've got 1GB of memory, with a 1.6GHz Atom processor. So it's great for the stuff I mentioned above. However, as a developer, I wouldn't compile code on it. Writing scripts, HTML pages, and other notepad tasks... sure. Working on a Silverlight app... probably not.

There are little quirks, but I had to expect something had to change, considering the size. One of the other things I struggle with sometimes is the keyboard layout. For the most part, it's a QWERTY keyboard, but my tilde (~) and my apostrophe (') are in different spots, and that throws me off, for as much as I use those characters.

Despite the headache it was to get it shipped, I am fairly content with my netbook. If you're doing simple tasks on a computer while on the go, I'd recommend the Dell Mini 9.

Labels: Dell Mini 9, netbook

Labels: Web Platform Installer