I learned some pretty cool stuff at the Richmond Code Camp on Saturday.  As usual I was really awed and amazed at how WELL some of my contemporaries really know their stuff!  I just wanted to do a quick review of some of the sessions I attended and blog my overall Experience.

May The Source Stay With You

Steve Andrews did this amazing presentation about obfuscation, de-obfuscation and how to try and stump those who might seek to decompile or hack your code.  As I tweeted during his talk, it made my brain hurt!  He has an amazing amount of knowledge on the topic and I can honestly say I'm sure glad he's one of the good guys.

Practical Entity Framework

Chris love showed us how easy it is to use the Microsoft Entity Framework to develop applications with "plug and play" data sources.  As usual, he really showed enthusiasm for what he was doing (including pimping his upcoming book on the topic) and was able to explain it to his audience with clarity and simplicity.  He made me want to do an Entity Framework project simply for fun!

Design Principles

Chris Eargle covered some basic design principles and code smells in a manner that would have made Martin Fowler proud!  I loved the photos he showed in his slide deck - although at dinner last night, we all discussed some even funnier photo recommendations for some of the code smell slides!  He was very knowledgable about the material and had a great presentation style.  He was the only speaker I encountered at Code Camp who gave away teeshirts and pens!  (although I did not get any)  I really enjoyed meeting his wife, Kitty too!

Extending the Mobile Experience for Your Existing Website

As usual, Steve Presley impressed the heck out of me - and that was just the awe of his immense phone collection!  This man sure knows his mobile dev stuff!  He covered sms to email, email to sms, and my favorite topic, QR codes - which are these cute little scannable codes that can be photographed by a smartphone and converted to sms or even links to websites!  I'm SO ordering a teeshirt with the QR code for crazeegeekchick.com. ( Photogtraph my shirt to go to my site!  Cool huh?)

Advanced Techniques for Every Day Development

Edwin Ames dropped some serious knowledge that contributed to another one of my "ah-ha" moments.  He discussed Test Driven Development and  Behavior Driven Development.  It was the Behavior Driven Development portion that really got my attention.  Most of us really do understand the need for Unit Testing and TDD.  However, the behavior driven perspective is something that somebody like myself with a business education can really wrap her mind around.  It somewhat involves testing to business rules!  What a wonderful way to promote the value of testing to the Pointy Hair Bosses!

The Richmond Code Camp was a wonderful experience - both in learning and in networking!  I really appreciated the work that Kevin Hazzard and team put into the camp!  It was first rate!  Andy Leonard made an appearance and I was not a bit surprised to learn how nice and down to earth he really is!  Andrew Duthie also popped in and reminded me again just why I liked him so much already!  I think Jessica Moss is probably one of the nicest people I've met in ages and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to hang out with everybody both before and after the camp.  I really look forward to more of these events, and maybe even doing my LOL Code presentation for some of them!