I attended the CINNUG meeting on June 24, 2008. Tim Wingfield was the guest speaker. The topic was MVC and this is one I also missed at CODODN . Tim gave a good explanation of MVC and it's history.

Tim also had great TDD demos. He really showed each step of the process (the behind the scenes) to creating your test. He then walked through the results of the test after running the program. It was interesting to see the testing process. It gave me a totally different perspective of the application.

I can see how this would initially take time to set up the testing environment but it can also save tons of time at the end. You wouldn't have to do such rigorous testing because you've already tested your functions as they were being built. This could also catch errors better than traditional testing. Each section of the application that you are creating will be associated with a test.

I know I'm not on this level yet but still enjoyed the presentation and seeing more of the MVC framework. This reinforced what I learned from Alan Steven's MVC talk at IndyCodeCamp.

I was glad to finally meet Tim face-to-face because I've followed him on Twitter since the CODODN event. It was also WAY cool to hang out at Claddagh's after the meeting with a few local tweeps.

It felt really good to just sit back and talk to people that are interested in the same things I am interested in. I can talk about things that I do without getting the "oh boy, I hope this isn't one of the 'nerd' talks again" or the "I have no idea what you talking about" stare.

Update: Leon Gersing also gave a quick presentation at the end of the meeting. He discussed separation of responsibilities. I'm really embarrassed that I neglected to add this information. Even though it was a brief presentation it really got me focused. Many apologies to Leon. :) 

I attended the CINNUG meeting on May 20, 2008 and it was a open panel discussion on Software Development as A Career. There were a many people at the meeting and it was a great discussion. The guest speakers were Jim Holmes, Tim Apke, and Ed Summerfield. I finally got a chance to introduce myself to Jim. I've heard good things about him and Dayton .Net Developers Group is so close. I saw him at CODODN but I was too shy to introduce myself with it being my first event.

It's difficult to really cover this one because there were so many things being discussed but I got so much out of it and it was very inspiring. Some of the things that really stood out, they discussed the difference between working for a small company and working for a large company. They discussed certifications and gave their honest opinions and experience from the field. They answered many of the questions I had. They also talked about consulting. Another topic I was interested in and I was able to get a better understanding of the consulting world. I was able to talk to some my tweeps during the break.

After the break Mike Levy gave a quick presentation on Pattern Grok. This is something new the .NET Group is trying. There will be short sessions at the end of the meeting to allow people to get a chance to present a topic their interested in to the group. The discussion was on pipes and filters and was interesting as well as funny. I think the short sessions are a great idea. It gives people an opportunity to speak to a group of people. This may allow them to be comfortable enough to become a speaker or give a presentation in the future.

I attended my first Cincinnati Programmers Guild (CincyPG) meeting on May 21, 2008. Joe Wirtley was speaking. I really enjoyed this group. It's a smaller group which gave me a chance to relax a bit and actually talk to people. Before the meeting started I got a chance to speak to Leon Gersing, Matt Brewer, and Joe Wirtely (tweeps). I feel like I'm getting to know people a bit so now I not as stressed. A step forward in my journey.

The topic was Pragmatic Architechture and the Role of the Architect. Joe did a great job defining an architect as well as discussing the role(s), responsibilities, and some overall challenges. There were many good discussions that went along with some of the topics. This meeting had a more open format than some of the other I've attended. I really enjoy both. It does depends on the size of the group. For this group, it worked. I didn't jump into the discussion. I know I was welcome to but I'm not quite ready for the spotlight. :)

I hope to attend more CincyPG meetings. I was able to get a better understanding of what software architech's role is and some of the expectations. This related to the CinArc meeting I attended recently perfectly.