The tutorial and workshop program for 2002 has been specifically designed to provide a forum for collaborative learning, exploratory participation, and a first-hand opportunity to gain unique insights into key industry trends.
Tutorials
Workshops
Please Note: Program content subject to change.
Tutorial Abstracts
ASP.NET
Microsoft .NET is a huge initiative that eventually will touch nearly every area of Windows computing. The object-oriented architecture, the comprehensive type libraries, and the improved languages and tools will all contribute to raising the quality of life for software developers. Some of the most fortunate beneficiaries will be those involved in creating web-based applications. We will examine some aspects of ASP.NET with potential to help increase the quality of web applications. Server-based controls, compiled execution, separation of presentation from behavior, XML-based web service support, and enhanced state management options are only a few. Attendees should come with at least some basic programming experience, but not necessarily web application development experience. They should leave with an understanding of the ASP.NET programming model and facilities.
XML - "Information Modeling for Adaptive Applications"
Since XML was first introduced as an data interchange standard its use has increasingly expanded to become a means to model components of information systems, enabling those components to then automatically construct themselves around what has been expressed in XML. This represents the real potential of XML - the ability to model the behavior of an entire application in XML once, instead of repeatedly in different ways for each component of an application program.
As long as XML was used as a container for data managed by legacy systems it was sufficient to only consider syntax when building documents. Now that XML is being used to do more than simply express data, it is important to consider grammar and style as well. Obviously, proper syntax is necessary for parsers to be able to accept XML documents at all. Good grammar insures that once XML information has been assimilated, it can be effectively interpreted without an inordinate need for specific (and redundant) domain knowledge on the part of application programs. Good style insures good application performance, especially when it comes to storing, retrieving, and managing information.
Proper XML syntax is well understood and documented - so that topic will not be discussed in this tutorial. There is no discussion of how to build XML schemas or DTD’s either, as they are also well documented elsewhere.
This tutorial is intended as a practical guide to achieving good grammar and style when modeling information in XML - which translates to building flexible applications that perform well with minimal programming effort. Grammar is often regarded as being either right or wrong. True, there are "wrong" grammatical practices; but past that, there is good grammar and bad grammar - and everything in between. Arguably, there is no such thing as wrong style, only a continuum between the good and the bad. The purpose of this tutorial is to provide an approach to Information Modeling, and subsequent XML generation, that will result in maximum business benefit with minimum technical effort.
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