How do users perceive the difference between a rich application and an online resource? What processes should developers use to capture these differences? How are projects affected by the results of these processes? Leo Frishberg, a software developer, usability consultant, and user-centered designer, will talk about user-centered design in the context of the Web vs. the desktop. Using examples from projects in both environments, Leo will point out the similarities and differences in users' expectations, approaches, and behaviors when faced with an application or online resource.

This month's presentation will be an interactive discussion on Good Coding Practices. David Cornelius will launch the discussion covering the following topics:

• Indentation and spacing
• Good naming conventions
• Writing robust code
• And why everyone needs version control!

Here's your chance to participate in an interactive discussion with Pervasive Software experts Chip Izard and Jim Beecher as they discuss Pervasive's Data Management Security and Data Integration solutions.

What's in it for you? Just by showing up you'll learn how to:

• Reduce the security risks to the data in your apps
• Manage and integrate data across or beyond your enterprise
• Deliver timely access to corporate information

Don't know Pervasive? You should.

Borland will be presenting Delphi 8 in locations throughout the US. We'll show you all the reasons why you should make Delphi 8 part of your .NET plans.

Here's a very brief taste of what we'll be looking at:

• ECO (Enterprise Core Objects)
• WinForms
• WebForms (ASP.NET)
• BDP for .NET (Borland Data Providers)
• VCL for .NET
• IDE features
• Compiler/language feature

The votes are in--a new template for the web site has been chosen! The new HTML pages will have WebBroker tags throughout and the resulting pages generated by OdugWebBuilder, a Delphi/Kylix application. The Pascal code contains a reusable base class that can be extended for a variety of databases. In fact, it was first designed to work with DBISAM a couple of years ago, but tonight's presentation will describe the Firebird version.

In October, we introduced WebBroker in Delphi. Now, we'll move those projects over to Kylix. We'll go a little further in developing the ODUG web site using custom tags in a web template and will have time for general Q&A.

PRESENTER:

David Cornelius has been using Borland's software tools for over 15 years, using mostly the Object Pascal language. He is the current coordinator of the Oregon Delphi Users Group and cofounder of Sohlius, Inc. managing the development of a large web-based project.

As mentioned during past meetings, a copy of Kylix 2 Enterprise was given to the Oregon Delphi Users Group to rebuild their web site and learn about and help promote both Kylix and web site development with Borland's Object Pascal tools. That was over a year ago. Well, instead of waiting for someone to have time, we might as well just do it during one of our meetings!

CodeWright and Delphi are a perfect combination for Delphi programmers. Delphi provides necessary tools for developing applications. CodeWright supplies invaluable tools for analyzing and editing Pascal and other Delphi code.

Firebird is a relational database offering many ANSI SQL-92 features that runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix platforms. It has been used in production systems, under a variety of names since 1981.

Much development has occured since Firebird rose from the ashes of the Open sourcing of Interbase. In this presentation some of the topics we'll explore and demonstrate include:

• A brief history of Firebird/InterBase
• A review of Firebird's Features
• What's new since the open sourcing of InterBase

Borland has announced C#Builder, an IDE for Microsoft's .NET platform and the C# language. Even if you have no intention of using C# or .NET, you should pay attention to this product because it is a major milestone for Borland. Borland has created a new IDE core, which will be used in the next Delphi for Windows and Delphi for .NET products. Also of interest to Delphi programmers is a glimpse at Borland's new strategic focus on Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM).