1. The Developers Group http://www.richplum.net
12th April, 2005 Meeting
POSK, Hammersmith
Group Leader Brian Long

2. Agenda
1:00 - 2:00 – Welcome, News & Problem Clinic
2:00 - 2:55 – An Introduction to Using Arcana Components to Develop Intraweb Applications Russell Weetch
2:55 - 3:15 – Tea/Coffee & Biscuits

3. Agenda
3:15 - 4:05 – Address Formatting Components Sandy McCourt
4:05 - 5:00 – Yes, No or Maybe Joanna Carter
5:00 - 5:05 – Brief Fidget Break
5:05 - 6:00 – Compact Framework In C# Jim Cooper

4. News DevCon (née BorCon) 2005 announced To be held in San Francisco
7th – 10th November
Focusing on developers (not managers)

5. News Delphi 2005 Update Pack 2 has been released
Fixes many problems!
Keep posting issues in Quality Central

6. News APress release some of their books as free eBooks
Notable examples:
COM and .NET Interoperability
A Programmer's Introduction to PHP 4.0
Dissecting a C# Application: Inside SharpDevelop
Oh, and there’s one on VB.NET too

7. News
Bob Reselman’s acclaimed novel Coding Slave about being a developer is available free online:

8. News Two new free .NET command-line tools available:
ILMerge – merge multiple .NET assemblies into one (was on MSR originally):
LibCheck – report assembly differences in terms of removed and added APIs

9. News
MSDN Technical Briefing at Microsoft on Thursday 12th May, 09:30-16:30 Visual C# and Windows Forms in Visual Studio 2005 User Group Tour
The Visual C# and Windows Forms teams are coming to a city near you! Sign up now for this full day event covering Visual C# and Windows Forms enhancements in Visual Studio You’ll get one-of-a-kind expert advice directly from the product team on how to build powerful applications that leverage the .NET Framework 2.0.
Registration:

10. News
Free event at Microsoft on Saturday 14th May 09:30-16:30 (welcome time at 09:00) DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper!
For the first time ever in the UK, Microsoft is hosting a unique, event for Developers to learn, share and hear from other Developers - NO Microsoft speakers will present. DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper is designed to be an informal day; the agenda will be determined by the developer community. You will have the opportunity to see new faces present in a relaxed atmosphere. Activities will include presentations on a wide range of topics, a networking area and fun zone. And as it’s often it’s hard to justify a day off work to attend training and events, the DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper day is being held on a Saturday and is FREE.
Registration:

11. News Next meeting on Monday, May 16th at Microsoft Campus, Building 3
Topics to include
Driving Office with Visual Studio
MS Windows Installer
.NET ClickOnce
Registry delvings
Full agenda at

12. News
As .NET 2.0 Beta 2 nears readiness/is ready, we see that MS are dropping the .NET moniker:
VB.NET (aka Visual Fred) -> Visual Basic
JScript.NET -> Jscript
Some feature drop
ENC for C#
Performance enhancements, e.g. in JIT

13. News Beer not fattening: official
What actually causes the beer belly is the overwhelming desire to partake of an enormous kebab or plate of curry after a particularly robust session, the BBPA (British Beer & Pub Association) says

14. News