CodeMash 2012 Rundown

Posted Date: 2/1/2012 4:53:56 AM by Dan Martin

CodeMash 2012 was not only my first time attending CodeMash, but also my first time attending a software development conference.  I really wanted to go last year but did not order tickets quick enough. This year I made sure to not repeat the same mistake, and I still almost missed out on getting CodeMash tickets. I’ll summarize what stood out to me the most and my thoughts on the conference below, but if you want the TL;DR version, then this pic sums it up best.

PreCompilers

If possible, I would have attended nearly every session offered during the Wednesday Precompiler. Instead, I had to settle with only two sessions, and I really enjoyed both of them.

• .NET TDD Immersion by Jon Kruger – I was already fairly comfortable with TDD. But since I don’t get to use it much at my current job, I’m always looking for further insight. Jon did a great job going through the basics and more within the half day session. The material itself was good, but I got a lot out of some of the tips/tricks that Jon currently utilizes to make TDD easier. The Q&A from the audience was also very helpful. Many of us run into similar problems testing, so it was nice to hear what others are doing to solve these problems. We finished the session up by pairing on a payroll calculator kata that was a bit more difficult than you’d initially expect. I look forward to sharing that kata with team members to work on in upcoming weeks.
• HTML5 is Here and the Web Will Never Be the Same by Brandon Satrom & Clark Sell – I caught the first few minutes of this one from the hallway, it was that packed. Thankfully the CodeMash organizers and Kalahari staff were quick to remedy the situation (Thanks again guys!). This session also ended up being very enjoyable, and could have easily been expanded into a full day event. Brandon & Clark did a great job presenting a lot of information but in a way that not only a web novice like me could understand, but in an entertaining way. In between slides and demos, we were given labs to work on that were very helpful. FYI, you can find the labs here.

Sessions

Picking which sessions to go to wasn’t any easier than picking the precompilers. Not only were there always several good sessions going at the same time, but then there were open spaces going on that sounded just as interesting.

• Inside the Microsoft Web Stack of Love by Scott Hanselman – This session could have been on basket weaving and I still would have attended. I had heard and seen videos of how good a presenter Scott is, and he did not disappoint.  Not to take anyway away from the session material though, which covered a lot of the cool stuff coming soon from Microsoft. There are a lot of really nice improvements on the way that I look forward to working with.
• Breaking the Sound Barrier with Node.js on Windows and Azure by Glenn Block – I’ve been a big fan of Glenn’s blog and podcast appearances, so I wanted to attend his session as well. It also helps that I've been very interested in learning about Node.js, so this session became a must see for me. It too, did not disappoint. We got a good overview of Node.js and how to play with it on Windows. The examples Glenn demonstrated were really nice for seeing what you could do in Node.js and how quickly you could do it. It was also really cool to see how open source is helping to improve the experience in Windows. A Windows Azure github account is a good start, and something I honestly didn’t expect to see. Add in projects like GitAzure and the future should be bright for Node.js on Windows.
• Dynamic in a Static World by Hadi Hariri – Great talk on the basics of using dynamic in C#. Hadi was another one of the really good, entertaining presenters at CodeMash. The session was very enjoyable. Basic enough for beginners with dynamic in C#,  like me to keep up. But also in-depth enough to answer some of the questions regarding performance and when you should or shouldn’t use dynamic.
• C#’s Greatest Mistakes by Jon Skeet – I expected Jon’s session to be great, and like most sessions it did not disappoint. The session was originally supposed to be about C#’s greatest mistakes, but Jon changed it up to get more interaction with the audience. Specifically he wanted our thoughts on what we wanted to see in a language, and what made a language more usable. He then talked about some of the surprising “features” in C#, which turned out to be not only amusing but very interesting. The session actually ran over a few minutes, but I would have been fine with this one turning into a double session. Jon was every bit as entertaining and intelligent as I expected, and there is a good chance I got smarter simply through osmosis of being in the same room as him. 
• Capability vs. Suitability by Gary Bernhardt – Another entertaining, yet informative presentation. Gary went over the history of programming languages and how there is a pattern of expansion and contraction between languages. His talk wasn’t very long, but he more than made up for it with his epic lightning talk – “Wat” - that most of you have probably already seen. If not, do yourself a favor and watch immediately (FYI, that’s where I got the image above from) . There was also a good bit of Q&A afterwards where the audience got Gary’s thoughts on where we might be heading in terms of languages and frameworks. Very interesting stuff and a great way to close out CodeMash.

Misc

• Pecha Kucha – This was the main event during Thursday’s dinner. Highly entertaining way to cap off a great day. Search “codemash pecha kucha” on Youtube to find a few of the videos if you’re curious, such as the Urinal Rules Kata. FYI, you can also find the rules to the urinal code kata here.
• Waterpark Party – Pretty hard to top drinking beers in a giant outdoor hot tub during a winter storm in Northern Ohio in January.

Final Thoughts

I can pretty much guarantee I’ll do whatever it takes to make it back to CodeMash in 2013. There are some things I didn’t get to do this year that I’d like to do next year. Specifically, I want to attend some of the open spaces. I heard really good things about some of them and it may be worth missing a session to participate in one that interests me. There were also quite a few people that I didn’t get to chat with that I had hoped to, something I will have to remedy next year. Still, I don’t have many regrets. I had a lot of fun and met a lot really nice and helpful people. I’d like to say Thanks again to the CodeMash organizers for putting on such a fantastic conference. Everything was more than I hoped for, even the infamous Bacon Bar. The Kalahari staff deserves credit too as they were very nice and operate a really nice resort. See you all next year!