Mark DiGiovanni

May 2004 - Posts

• Gates backs blogs for businesses

  From BBC News: Blogs are good for business, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has said. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3734981.stm --Mark Posted May 21 2004, 09:43 AM by mdigiovanni with no comments

• Ride along with "The Test Man"

  “Can you hear me now? Good.” Do you want to ride along with “the test man”? http://news.vzw.com/news/2004/05/pr2004-05-17c.html A snippet from the above article: ‘Test Man’ Isn’t Just a Commercial Character Continued investment in its wireless network is also part of Verizon Wireless’ commitment to offer customers the most reliable service available on the nation’s largest wireless network. The company’s ‘most reliable network’ claim is based on network studies performed by real-life test men and test women who inspired the company’s national advertising campaign. The engineers conduct more than 300,000 call attempts monthly on Verizon Wireless’ and other national wireless carriers’ networks while traveling over 100,000 miles of the most frequently traveled roadways nationwide in specially equipped, company-owned quality test vehicles.* “Customers choose Verizon Wireless because they want wireless service they can depend on,” said Charles Hand, president of Verizon Wireless’ New York Metro area. “We continue to add new cell sites to serve the increasing number of customers who rely on our service for wireless calls, text messages, e-mail and other data services.” During the first quarter, the company added 1.4 million net new customers, more than any other wireless provider, and now serves 39 million customers nationwide. In addition, first quarter results showed Verizon Wireless retained more customers than every other carrier, posting the lowest churn rate in the industry. Hand said Verizon Wireless’ continued investment in its premier wireless network is the driver behind the company’s industry-leading customer growth. *Test Man Ride-Along Program Specially-equipped Verizon Wireless test vehicles simultaneously test the networks of six wireless providers, using a mobile laptop computer to generate phonically diverse “conversations.” If you are interested in setting up an interview or ride-along test drive with your local Verizon Wireless test man or woman, please contact David Samberg at 845-365-7212. --Mark Posted May 18 2004, 07:57 AM by mdigiovanni with no comments

• Test Driven Development comes to Richmond!

  On Thursday, May 13, at 6:30 PM the WeProgram.NET - Richmond user group will offer: Test Driven Development: Building .NET Muscle! Steve Metsker and Darrell Norton will present this hands-on introduction to TDD, at the CapTech lab. The lab is located at 1118 West Main Street, Richmond, VA 23220.  TDD has you develop automated tests before you write the code to make the tests pass. This helps to create light, simple solutions and guarantees that a testing framework accompanies your code. This style feels different from classical coding techniques, and this tutorial will let you try it yourself! Please bring a laptop with a development environment ready to go, if you can. We’ll provide starting examples in both C# and VB.NET. If you don’t have a laptop, we’ll pair you with someone who does. In addition to the presentation, WeProgram.NET will provide refreshments and give away a number of prizes, including Kent Beck's Test Driven Development book and Jim Newkirk's Test Driven Development in .NET book. Please plan to attend! Presenter bios: Steve Metsker is the author of three books, including Design Patterns in C#, and speaks frequently on programming and agile techniques. Steve’s Test-Driven Development tutorial was one of the highest-rated tutorials at OOPSLA 2003, and he will present this again at OOPSLA 2004. Steve is a Senior Architect at CapTech Ventures.  An autographed copy of Design Patterns in C# will be given away to a lucky attendee of this meeting! Darrell Norton, co-founder of the WeProgram.NET user group, has worked with Microsoft .NET since its beginning as part of the early adopter program. Darrell has been doing Test-Driven Development for over 2 years and is a Consultant with CapTech Ventures. Thanks to our sponsors:       It's important to thank our web hosting sponsor, OptimizeIT.net, for hosting the WeProgram.Net website. OptimizeIT also buys snacks and provides occasional speakers. ESI (Electronic Systems) provides our meeting facility.  INETA is a non-profit, independent organization, that supports all user groups interested in the Microsoft .Net platform. INETA is run by a board of user group leaders and supported by Microsoft Corporation and other sponsors. INETA helps WeProgram.Net stay connected with the broader .Net community and offers specials to WeProgram.Net members. O'Reilly sponsors WeProgram.Net by providing book donations and review copies of new O'Reilly titles, access to authors, and 20% discounts on conferences and products from O'Reilly. SAMS sponsors WeProgram.Net by providing book donations and review copies of new SAMS titles. Wintellect is a premier training, consulting, and debugging firm. Wintellect sponsors WeProgram.Net in a variety of ways, including Wintellectual speakers, book give-aways, and more. Addison-Wesley sponsors WeProgram.Net by donating books for us to review and give away. CapTech Ventures sponsors WeProgram.Net by providing speakers, buying snacks, and generally helping us out. Apress sponsors WeProgram.Net by donating books for us to review and give away. Telerik provides .Net controls, many of which will be used on the upcoming redesign of the WeProgram.Net website. Look for Telerik give aways at future meetings. Updated repost from Darrell Norton. --Mark Posted May 06 2004, 09:38 AM by mdigiovanni with no comments