Oregon Delphi User Group

This month we’ll explore some custom-written non-visual components that have been useful in several projects, encapsulating common functionality for ease of use and consistency. This isn’t a new topic, but is a great starting point to discuss unit testing. Unit testing is not a new topic either, but one that more people should look at. Studying these two topics together could branch in various directions, depending on questions and preferences from the audience.

Quality Assurance is the elusive goal of every product manager–and the bane of every programmer. OK, I don’t know that for sure, but producing bug-free applications can drive a programmer crazy if he has to work with loose guidelines or tight time-constraints. But aren’t those both par for the course? This month’s format will be a little different. There will be an introduction by David Cornelius, focus on examples with Chris Newcombe, then the audience is encouraged to share their “worst bug ever” and how they overcame it.

We don’t have a formal presentation this month, but instead will discuss a few topics that may include the following (based on audience preference): Utilities written in Delphi How to call a web service CodeGear’s RAD Studio 2007 What is Blackfish SQL? Others? PRESENTER David Cornelius has been using Borland’s software development tools since the mid-80’s. He is the coordinator of the Oregon Delphi User Group, works for Retail Dimensions, is a contract programmer through CorneliusConcepts.

Starting with Delphi 2006, the base product has a VERY cool feature previously only available in 3rd-party add-on products such as Code Rush and Castalia. The feature is Live Templates and allows the user to write macros with customized paramters. It is a great productivity enhancement and is much more powerful than many people realize. With Live Templates you can: fix typos automatically; insert large code snippets with a couple of keystrokes; remind yourself of obtuse parameter options; greatly speed up coding.

Experience the CodeGear products first-hand in Portland! You will be provided with a CodeGear update, as well as presentations and demonstations showcasing the new products. As if the opportunity to check out our newest, coolest toys wasn’t enough, we will also give all attendees a special product discount, and enter your name in a raffle for products and even an 80GB iPod! PRESENTER David Intersimone from CodeGear, and Michael Li from InfoCan Management

We have no specific planned presentation this month. We’ll gather as colleagues in the industry and friends that like to talk about computers and programming and see what topics emerge!

Did anyone “attend” the virtual CodeGear conference last week, CodeRage? There were some good sessions, although I didn’t have time to listen in on all I wanted to. If you missed any of them, they’re all available at the CodeRage web site. The topic this month is just a loose discussion around Borland/CodeGear and speculation about how they’ll do this year. Delphi 2007 for Win32 was announced on Friday and has several really nice features and improvements.

There is no planned presentation tonight. However, if you want to influence this year’s schedule, discuss programming concepts, debate politics, or hear some home remodeling stories, meet me at the Lorenzen Center Monday night. I’ll be there around 5:30 PM. PRESENTER David Cornelius has been using Borland’s software development tools since the mid-80’s. He is the coordinator of the Oregon Delphi User Group, works for Retail Dimensions, and runs a contract software development business (CorneliusConcepts.

Less than half of our meetings this year have covered Delphi (1 month on FinalBuilder, 1 month skipped, 1 month on Java, and 3 months on PHP), so I decided it would behoove us to finish out the year with an actual Delphi presentation. While trying to figure out what would be a good topic and who I might be able to get up on the platform, I happened across an interesting blog.

Due to the high interest in Content Management Systems (CMSs) and PHP scripting, we’ll spend this month’s meeting discussing them. There won’t be a formal presentation, but there will be a laptop with a working copy of WAMP (Windows/Apache/MySQL/PHP) and at least Drupal and Joomla! loaded. To get you started on a good discussion, here are some web sites for reference you can browse beforehand: Read independent evaluations: CMS Watch Explore and test: Open Source CMS Compare and discuss: CMS Matrix PRESENTER David Cornelius has been using Borland’s software development tools since the mid-80’s.