Cucumber
This session was quite interesting, especially given my enthusiasm for Cucumber. The presenter, Aslak Hellesøy, had an unusual prop—a blender on his desk—which added a quirky touch to the talk.
Aslak began with an introduction to Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) and Test-Driven Development (TDD). He emphasized Dan North’s ideas on BDD, highlighting its outside-in approach, which focuses on business value.
Aslak, the creator of Cucumber, showcased its basics. Although he didn’t delve into .NET or C#, there is support for these technologies, and hopefully, it integrates well with Visual Studio. Despite the blender’s lack of success, the presentation was engaging, and I plan to explore Cucumber further.
ASP.NET MVC Advanced Ninja
The next session, titled “ASP.NET MVC Advanced Ninja,” covered new features in Visual Studio 2010 and ASP.NET MVC 2.0. Here are some highlights:
- ASP.NET 4 introduces a shorthand for HTML encoding output with
<%: %>instead of<%= Html.Encode(…) %>. - A T4 template demonstrated generating a static class with all views, content, links, and images. While still in beta, it looks promising.
- Compilation in ASP.NET MVC can serve as another level of unit testing.
- Validation in ASP.NET MVC 2.0 with DataAnnotations was shown, including how to use these annotations to generate client-side validation.
- Html.DisplayForModel() uses templates and convention over configuration to determine the appropriate view.
- The JQuery Grid was also highlighted as a promising tool.
Modeling in the Age of Agility
Kevlin Henney presented on the intersection of modeling, architecture, and agility. Here are some key takeaways:
- Agile can be defined as “to do,” which I found quite appealing.
- A memorable quote: “It turns out that nature knows very little about the equations we are applying to it.”
- A model is an abstraction from a specific point of view, designed for a particular purpose.
- Be selective when modeling; only include relevant information. For example, a map of the London Underground isn’t accurate in scale or placement but serves its purpose effectively.
- Viewing a pen from its tip only shows part of the picture. Models should appropriately represent the domain.
- Understand the purpose behind creating a model—what you intend to communicate and what is important.
- Emphasize the process of modeling, as it is more crucial than the final model itself. Effective communication is key.
- Kevlin ended by recommending the use of a whiteboard as a great UML-modeling tool, which I also appreciate.
Final Thoughts
And that’s a wrap on ÖreDev! It’s been an incredibly enlightening experience, and I don’t think I’ve learned so much in such a short time. A big thank you to everyone, especially the ÖreDev team!