DDD Resources and August Session – LLBLGEN Pro

Last months session went reasonably well. We had a bit of a play with a very simplistic sample of what Domain Driven Design was all about. If you want to learn more about DDD then I highly recommend Eric Evans book:

InfoQ produce a free introductory text that summarizes much of the Evans Book called Domain Driven Design Quickly. This is a good start but if you are serious about DDD then I’d recommend the full book.

Otherwise you can download the code that we wrote and have a play with that:

This month, Adrian McGrath is going to show us the LLBLGEN Pro framework. The session will start at 6pm on Wednesday 12th August at 43 below. See you there.

P.S. Sorry for the late notice. This is THIS Wednesday

July Session - DDDD

Domain Driven Design. The extra D is for Dojo. You can decide which end it belongs.

The July session is on for Thursday night (the 9th), 6pm at 43 below. Adrian has been kind enough to provide a small sample of a drag-drop application that we can either rebuild or refactor into using more Domain Driven approach.

Participation is encouraged but if you just want to sit in the back and heckle feel free.

Beer of the month is still VB (gross) but there is usually a beer and pizza combo deal on Thursday nights for $13 so maybe that balances out.

See you there.

Preparing July Session

At our last meeting we had a long discussion about the general architecture of a Domain-Driven application. While I think most of us have a pretty good understanding of the parts and how they interact it was suggested that we should have another Coding Dojo to build something together and really explore this space.

We’ll build a small part of an application around the AdventureWorks database (hey, it’s there right?). This should consist of a small domain model (2 or 3 classes) and a couple of screens. A lot to get through in one session but we might continue this offline afterwards.

We won’t have internet access as usual so I’d like to stock up on the required tools before we go in. I already have VSTS 2008 Developer Edition, Gallio, MbUnit, NHibernate, Linq to NHibernate, FlunetNHibernate, ASP.NET MVC and Unity on my laptop. What else do we need / would like?

Also, if we stick to the normal meeting date it will by Wednesday, July 8th. As this is my wife’s birthday I’d best move it to one of the other days that week (or buy a very comfy couch). If anyone has a preference let me know otherwise I’m leaning towards Thursday 9th (they have $13 beer and pizza on Thursdays).

Session tonight

Tongihts session is still on folks so come on down to 43 below on Barrack Street for 6pm start if you are keen.

The topics proposed were BDD, DDD and SOLID. Recently I've been reading the DDD book [Evans] and started to question the industry adoption of Object Modelling (Fundamental to DDD and SOLID principles). If people are willing I'd like to step back from the proposed topics and explore the value of Object Oriented thinking. Why is it important and why is it so frequently ignored? For me, this represents one of the fundamental pillars of the ALT.NET ideal.

Next Session

In order that we can all prepare for the next session (Wednesday 10th June) we need a topic for discussion. I have 3 idea at the moment.

1) Domain Driven Design (DDD): I get this request a bit and I’m reading the Big Blue Book at the moment.

2) Behaviour Driven Design (DDD): As I’ve been working on a BDD tool recently I’d be keen to discuss people’s opinions and ideas about BDD.

3) S.O.L.I.D. Principles: a set of 5 principles that you can use to guide your OO design toward some desirable properties (high-cohesion, low coupling, etc.).

If you want one of these then say so. If you want something else then propose it.

I’ll see you all on the 10th.

P.S. Don’t forget the OzVAN session is happening tomorrow evening (around 7:30pm local time). I probably won’t make it as I’ll be celebrating my 30th!

Tools and resources

There is a session next week, I've just been very slack about blogging about it. A few people have expressed sorrow over the fact that the idea for the original Perth ALT.NET session (sharing the tools that make us happy) never came to pass. With that in mind (and considering Hanselmans list hasn't been updated for a year or more):

What: Open Toolbox Show and Tell

When: Wednesday 13th May, 5:30pm - ???

Where: 43 Below, Cnr Barrack & Hay St, Perth

Bring a laptop (or a thumbstick) with your favorite tools on them and be prepared to show them off. 

Also, I keep forgetting that the official Virtual ALT.NET group is now live. They have a schedule of sessions and a repository of previous sessions for you to check out. Remember that the OzVAN sessions run every 2nd Monday and the next one is this Monday (the 11th). This one is about Powershell. Go and check it out!

TestDriven Dojo a-go-go

Well the bad news is that I forgot to book the 43below function room for the dojo until tonight and the room is taken by the Young Engineers. The good news it that they're going to put us in the restaurant and there is plenty of room (and beer) for both of us.

The event is Wednesday, 8th April starting at 6ish. Beer of the Month is still listed as Fat Yak on the website but as it's April 1st you never know.

Thus far it looks to be shaping up as a good event with:

Jeremy Thake - SharePoint and TypeMock

Rhys Campbell - WinForms

Stephen Price - Silverlight

Tiang Cheng - ASP.NET with WatiN

I don't have a link for Tiang but he sent me this:

Tiang Cheng is a Software Developer at Westnet. He works primarily in .NET 2.0 and 3.5, coding in both Visual Basic and C#. In his free time he codes Ruby on Rails web applications and Device Communcations technology (RFID and Rally Timing). He has a strong interest in Continuous integration, Testing techniques, and Software Quality and Measurement.  

Don't forget to bring your Coding Ninja outfit (I refuse to call it a Gi) and be prepared to jump in at a moments notice. Also, just two last things. 1) If you are coming please register at http://perthaltnet0904.eventbrite.com/ 2) Tell your friends (or if you think TDD is stupid tell your enemies). That is all. See you there.