Nate's Stuff : Presentations

CSS3 Why & How

Nathan Zaugg — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:35:07 GMT

I was asked to fill in for Michael Palermo from Microsoft because he had a personal issue come up that made it so he couldn't attend the Fall 2011 Utah Code Camp. He sent me over his demo files and I added some to the end after coming up short on time after rehearsing it a bit. I mostly added the animation portion that begins after the CSS Media Query demo.

CSS3 is a really cool technology and can add quite a lot to your website. As you can see in the example, the website enhanced with CSS3 is much nicer to look at and has some interactive features that while possible before were much more difficult to implement.

CSS3 Why & How Presentation Video

Download Full Quality Video (WMV) | Mobile Quality Video (WMV)

The demo files and slides can be downloaded here.

Get Going with HTML5

Nathan Zaugg — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:56:00 GMT

As a follow-on to my last presentation “Intro to HTML5” I have created a new presentation “Get Going with HTML5” where I dive deeper into some of the most used features of HTML5, mainly Canvas, Audio, and Video. Below is the recorded presentation I gave at the Fall 2011 Utah Code Camp. The slides and example code can be downloaded here. It’s in two parts because I had to change my screen resolution half way through.

Part 1 - Slides

Part 2 - Example Code

Example code and slides can be downloaded here.

HTML 5 Presentation

Nathan Zaugg — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 03:24:02 GMT

I just got back from Denver and the Rocky Mountain Tech Trifecta v3. I will post more about the trip soon, but for now you can download my slides and examples in the links below.

HTML5 Presentation by Nate Zaugg

Silverlight 4 : A First Look

Nathan Zaugg — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:21:00 GMT

This past weekend I got to fly to Denver and present at the Rocky Mountain Tech Trifecta v2. It was a lot of fun! I can see why people get addicted to code camp!

My presentation was on Silverlight 4 and some of the new features in this release. There were so many new features that I couldn't possibly cover them all, but I did hit quite a few.

Here is the screen cast.

I got to Denver in on Friday afternoon and rented a car. The car rental place was a mistake…I could see that from almost the get-go. I saw a shuttle for every other rental care place before I saw one for E-Z Rent-a-car. I waited only about 20 min’s and I was on my way there. When I got there, I passed big shiny car lots, and then at the end of the big long line was a run-down looking building where my car was waiting! Yay! Good thing I found a place that was $5 cheaper than the rest. Undeterred – I’ll do almost anything for a good deal – I went in and got my car. It felt more like a used car dealer than a rental car place. The guy at the counter said that I should note any damage on a piece of paper and then he ripped it off and took the half they keep so I didn’t really get a chance to inspect the car. There seemed to be a lot of pressure to buy the rental insurance (even though your insurance carrier covers you for liability).

The car had other problems too. It was, by my reckoning, a couple of years old and was in pretty good condition for that age, but the dash board said that there was a tire pressure gauge fault and I couldn't see my mileage or trip meter. That is really useful when you’re following directions that have a mileage. It also made some pretty ugly noises at freeway speeds. This was not the last of the car issues, but more on that later.

I stayed at the Comfort Inn about 10 miles from down town. It was pretty nice. It was a bit on the small side, the desk chair was uncomfortable, but the bed was VERY comfortable and the bedding was very clean and fresh.

One funny thing was the flagpole outside my window. Check this out!

Notice a flag missing? Notice that thing in the tree? That’s right. The flag for the great state of Colorado is stuck in a tree! I also had bunnies outside of my window so it wasn’t all bad.

There was a party the night before the event for the presenters. it was lots of fun!

The Tech Trifecta is huge! Almost 4 times as large at the Utah Code Camp. It was a bit annoying that there wasn’t enough room for the Silverlight birds of a feather and there wasn’t enough room in the keynote. The only other complaint I had was that it seemed like Session 4 had a bunch of the Microsoft technologies bunched together so you had to pick and choose between ones that you only kind of wanted to see for earlier sessions and between ones you really wanted to see on the later ones.

Right after I finished my presentation I had to head to the airport. The rental car place will charge you $5 per gal of gas so you need to bring it in full! I figured I would take an exit or two before the airport and fill it up there. I took the exit before the airport and drove over 10 miles before I saw a gas station! No Kidding! I was starting to think that maybe cars in Denver were powered by batteries or something! Needless to say it was an unplanned detour that added 20 min’s to my trip to the airport. It was only then that I saw there was a gas station right next to the airport. Live & Learn!

Here is where things get really fun! I returned the car to the rental place where they inspected the car post haste. The lady handed me the inspection slip and I went inside. That's where I was told that somehow I must have scratched the rear bumper! I was VERY ANGRY!! There was no way that I damaged that car even a little bit! I guess that's what you get when you don’t buy the all-but-mandatory insurance. It took me another 20 min’s to put up enough of a fight that they waved the damage charges. I now had less than 1 hour to get to the airport. The shuttle driver sure took his sweet time and then dropped me off in the wrong wing.

I go to check in with Delta and it wouldn't let me check in (because my flight was within 45 min’s) so I had to wait at the ticket counter. The lady was going to reschedule my flight as it was leaving in just 30 min’s and I was departing from the C-gate. She eventually agreed to give me the boarding pass and told me to RUN to the gate. The rest of the passengers had already boarded. I ran to get through security and picked the shortest of the 6 screening lines. It wasn’t really one of those thing where you could jump to a different lines. The person in front of me took EVERYTHING for carry on including a cheesecake! Apparently it’s impossible to tell the difference between cheesecake and explosives? Yum, C4 with graham cracker crust and cream cheese frosting. After getting through security I only had 10 min’s to make it to the C-gate. I hopped on the tram, got to the C-gate, and they plan took off almost immediately after I boarded!

I hope to be able to go next year but perhaps I’ll drive up instead.

LINQ to Entities Example Queries

Nathan Zaugg — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:06:00 GMT

Here are the examples I used during my LINQ to Entities presentation. They show how to use the EntityClient, ObjectQuery, and LINQ to Entities queries. All examples are built using a 1:1 mapping to the Adventure Works database that had been slightly modified. The Object Services with Lazy Loading Example shows some how to debug these queries.

Entity Client Example

// Entity Client & Entity SQL
using (EntityConnection conn = 
       new EntityConnection("Name=AdventureWorksEntities")) {
    conn.Open();
    EntityCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand();
    cmd.CommandText = "SELECT VALUE c FROM 
           AdventureWorksEntities.Customer AS 
            c WHERE c.State = @state";
    cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("state", "UT");

    DbDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader(
          CommandBehavior.SequentialAccess);
    while (rdr.Read()) {
        Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Company Name: 
              {0}\tCompany City: {1}", 
              rdr["CompanyName"], rdr["City"]));
    }
}

Object Services Query Example

// Object Services & Entity SQL
using (AdventureWorksEntities data = 
     new AdventureWorksEntities()) {
    ObjectQuery<Customer> custs = data.CreateQuery<Customer>(
        "SELECT VALUE c FROM Customer AS c WHERE c.Address.City = @city", 
        new ObjectParameter("city", "Salt Lake City"));

    foreach (Customer cust in custs) {
        Console.WriteLine("Company: " + cust.CompanyName);
    }
}

Object Services Query with Eager Loading Example

// Eager Loading with Object Services
using (AdventureWorksEntities data = new AdventureWorksEntities()) {
    ObjectQuery<Customer> custs = data.CreateQuery<Customer>(
        "SELECT VALUE c FROM Customer AS c WHERE c.State = @state",
        new ObjectParameter("state", "UT")).Include("SalesOrderHeader");


    foreach (Customer cust in custs) {
        SalesOrderHeader sales = cust.SalesOrderHeader.FirstOrDefault();
        string str = (sales == null) ? "none" : sales.OrderDate
             .ToShortDateString();
        Console.WriteLine(
            string.Format("Company: {0}\tOrder: {1}", 
                 cust.CompanyName, str));
    }
}

Object Services Query with Lazy Loading Example

// Lazy Loading with Object Services
using (AdventureWorksEntities data = new AdventureWorksEntities()) {
    ObjectQuery<Customer> custs = data.CreateQuery<Customer>(
        "SELECT VALUE c FROM Customer AS c WHERE c.State = @state",
        new ObjectParameter("state", "UT"));

    Console.WriteLine("DEBUG: " + custs.ToTraceString());

    foreach (Customer cust in custs) {
        if (!cust.SalesOrderHeader.IsLoaded)
            cust.SalesOrderHeader.Load();

        SalesOrderHeader sales = cust.SalesOrderHeader.FirstOrDefault();
        string str = (sales == null) ? "none" : sales.OrderDate
               .ToShortDateString();
        Console.WriteLine(
            string.Format("Company: {0}\tOrder: {1}", 
            cust.CompanyName, str));
    }
}

LINQ to Entities Query Example

// LINQ to ENTIES (Lazy Loading)
using (AdventureWorksEntities data = new AdventureWorksEntities()) {

    var custquery = from d in data.Customer
                where d.State == "UT"
                select d;

    foreach (Customer cust in custquery) {
        if ( !cust.SalesOrderHeader.IsLoaded )
            cust.SalesOrderHeader.Load();
        SalesOrderHeader sales = cust.SalesOrderHeader
                .FirstOrDefault();
        string str = (sales == null) ? "none" : sales.OrderDate
               .ToShortDateString();
        Console.WriteLine(
            string.Format("Company: {0}\tOrder: {1}", 
             cust.CompanyName, str));
    }
}

The presentation slides are available here.

Fall 2008 Utah Code Camp Announcement

Nathan Zaugg — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:57:33 GMT

Another six months have come and gone and it's time for another Utah Code Camp! I can't believe how quickly this sneaks up on me every time! For those in the area Code Camp is a high quality, free training event! The topics range greatly from Microsoft, Java, Ruby, XBOX & Wii Development, Agile, Project Management, etc.. These presentations are by developers for developers and allows you to catch up on the sea of new technology that continually floods us. More on the Code Camp Manifesto can be found here.

Before I share the details I would appreciate any feedback on a good topic to present. I haven't replied with a topic yet and I'll need to get one soon so I can get started on the presentation. Previously I have presented on .NET 3.5 / VS 2008, WPF, and Silverlight 2. A big topic in MSDN magazine these days seems to be parrallism, but that topic feels rather dry to me. Other ideas I have had were LINQ in Depth, DSL Tools, F# (though I hope someone else does this one), or WPF for Newbs.

Here are the specifics:

When: Saturday November 1, 2008
Where: Neumont University, Building 2, 2nd Floor (directions)

We are also always looking for sponsors. It takes a lot to put on this event and contributions help a lot! For more information about sponsorship, please visit http://www.utcodecamp.com

Utah Code Camp Spring 2008 Retrospective

Nathan Zaugg — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:51:09 GMT

Code camp snuck up and bit me this year! I have been so busy with the new cuegle.net/cuegle.com site that I didn't get the preparation time I wanted. Although turnout was mixed (a little less than we had last time, but still pretty good) the sessions were pretty good this year.

The Good:

I got the large room again this time and a lot of people attended my presentation
There was a lot of good presentations on lots of different technologies
The speakers used up all of the time this year
The speakers were better this year
The topics were all very interesting!
The emphasis was on the code, not the power-point!
I think it got people energized about the new technologies
We had wireless and even if slow, it worked!
People didn't get locked out of the building this year.
My friend, Phil won a prize (I drew his name)
THERE WAS ENOUGH PIZZA THIS YEAR! YAY!

The Bad:

One of the presentations was supposed to be about how cool it is to have Iron Ruby-- instead we got a bunch of propaganda from a Ruby fan-boy about how we only use Microsoft technologies because "we fear anything else -- especially something that has power".
I wasn't as prepared this time around. I was doing Silverlight and didn't get my sample application working until the exact moment I was to setup for my presentation. As a result I wasn't really mentally prepared for the presentation and didn't present it well.
I didn't get to pay as much attention to the other presentations as I wanted or get to go to the ones I wanted because I was working on mine!
I didn't have near enough handouts (sorry, my printer is out of toner!)
I have some bugs in my XAML Cheat Sheet that I just distributed to 100+ people!
I've moved to Kaysville now and I'm quite a ways from Neumont University.
A lot of my "support" wasn't able to attend. I know it sounds crazy but when I give a presentation be it Code Camp or a Users Group I like to have 2-3 of my friends helping me get going. It allows me to focus my energy on mentally preparing.
I drew myself in the drawing which disqualified me! DANG!

The Future

There is a lot of feedback and a lot of talk around having this during work hours. This is probably the #1 request among developers. This is a two-sided sword we're very mixed about it. It is against the code camp manifesto that we loosely follow. Though, I wouldn't be surprised if we started doing it on a weekday.
I still think we need to have more than 3 rooms going at a time and that some presentations should be given twice.
It would be cool to involve people in another way, too. Have a code competition or a Linux Installation room, etc. Add some dimension to the conference.
Let's go commercial! Let some big-name sponsors in and give everyone free stuff! Why not a free PDA for those who attend?

Special thanks goes out to Phil Gilmore who helped me immensely in preparing for my presentation. He also took the photo's posted below.

Myself presenting Silverlight 2.0 Beta 1

Discussing the difference between Silverlight 1.0 and 2.0

They audience looks enthralled!

There I am drawing my own dang name!

The grand prize winner (Rock band)

Winner-Winner Chicken-Dinner!

Double score!

--Nathan Zaugg

Photo's courtesy of Phil Gilmore.

January 2008 NUNUG Notes

Nathan Zaugg — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:40:00 GMT

I am a little behind on my Blog but I wanted to be sure and post my notes from January's NUNUG meeting on Visual Studio 2008 and the new features in the C# 3.0 framework.

I also wanted to post notes from a remoting presentation I did for STG a year or so ago.

Enjoy!

Downloads