Desert Code Camp 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009 15:20:43
Yesterday I attended Desert Code Camp here in Phoenix. This was a full-day event, taking place at DeVry University.
This was a great event, targeting programmers from all environments and languages, in a "by the community, for the community" format. The speakers are real-life experts in their field, and are there to teach, demo, and provide insight into their particular technology. Classes ranged from the basics, like intro to OO, to specific sessions like the new FILESTREAM feature in SQL Server 2008. Technologies ranged from specifics like Microsoft.NET or Ruby, to general techniques like table-less CSS web design.
I attended seven sessions: On-Site Optimization, Tableless Layout with CSS, Aspect Oriented Programming in .NET, ASP.NET MVC 101, ASP.NET MVC Advanced, New Features of C# 4.0, and Optimization Patterns: Reducing Memory Footprint in .NET.
Of these sessions, I was especially interested in aspect oriented programming, led by Andrew Wilson, and ASP.NET MVC, led by Scott Williams. Aspect oriented programming has always been somewhat of a mystery for me - I've worked with attributes, and even built my own on occasion, but never really understood how some of the popular frameworks like PostSharp worked - this session helped me to understand what is actually going on behind the scenes with these attributes. ASP.NET MVC seems to be an up-and-coming technology that potentially has a bright future in the .NET world - it still seems a little strange to me, coming from a WebForms background, but I think I'll give it a shot - it could be fun. The two hours of live demos and Q&A beats out reading half a dozen tutorials online.
Code Camp is always free to the community, sponsored by outside companies - I really didn't see any advertising anywhere, so these companies apparently are anonymous to the community. DeVry of course was a big part of the success, providing their campus and several classrooms for the event. Lunch was free - there were probably close to 100 large pizzas from Domino's, and dozens of Subway sandwiches, and there were muffins and danishes for breakfast.
I don't know when the next camp is coming, but I will definitely be attending. I highly recommend it to anyone in the software development industry, whether you are interested in hearing about new technologies or techniques, or if you just want to meet up with your peers throughout the valley.
Tags: programming phoenix social tech
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