Structured Random Testing
Scott Will
Monday, March 15, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
You're nearing completion of your testing cycle, and you think your product is ready to be released to your customers. You know that your team has done a solid testing, covering the product thoroughly. Your metrics trend-lines all look good and your engineers seem happy with the quality. But, there's still that nagging, uneasy feeling that there may still be a major defect lurking in the product, one that will seriously affect your customers' perception of your quality and may lead to other negative consequences. So you decide that doing some "off-road testing," or "ad-hoc testing," or "random testing," or whatever name you want to call it, is in order. Is there a way to go about this that isn't totally random, a way in which some forethought can be applied, and yet still allows your tester(s) the freedom to explore different scenarios? This session will discuss some simple ideas that can help you get everything you want out of "random testing," thus helping to attenuate that nagging feeling and allow you to sleep better at night.

Effective XML
Elliotte Rusty Harold
Monday, March 15, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Five years after XML 1.0 was released, the community is finally beginning to understand which practices work and which ones don't. Connect with fellow XML developers while we discuss your experiences with XML. Which APIs produce code that's smooth like silk and which APIs produce code that's smooth like burlap? Which tools are worth their weight in gold-pressed platinum and which ones are worth their weight in AOL CDs? Come learn which techniques are working for your colleagues and which aren't.

Your C++ Wish List
Chuck Allison and Bruce Eckel
Monday, March 15, 7:00pm-8:30pm
The C++ Standards Committee is now in the throes of defining C++0x, the next version of C++ (so we hope to see it by 2009!). What else could be added to this already huge language? Or should we throw a few things out? Or is it mainly new library components that are called for? Come discuss the current proposed features, and contribute your own list at this BoF hosted by Bruce Eckel and Chuck Allison.

Getting Migrated from Windows/C++/COM while Moving Forward to Whidbey
Richard Hale Shaw and company
March 15, Monday, 7:00pm-8:30pm
.NET is poised for wide-spread acceptance by Windows developers still using C++/COM, while a new release of the Framework is in the wings: code-named "Whidbey", .NET 2.0 will feature new language enhancements, new ways of creating and deploying distributed applications, and new opportunities for .NET professionals, both old and new. Join Richard Hale Shaw and other .NET speakers to discuss strategies for leveraging or re-writing legacy code bases, while gearing up for the Whidbey release later this year.

Are Your Deployed J2EE Applications Waking You Up at Night?
Claire Rogers
Monday, March 15, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night because your application in production has crashed? This BOF enables you, as developers, to discuss the needs for application manageability and discuss the technologies available today. Or maybe your organization is thinking about building in manageability and are not sure how to get started? Come share your concerns and hear others share their best practices for being successful in this endeavor.

Web Services Development and Open Source
Claire Rogers
Thursday, March 18, 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Many companies today are investigating or starting small internal projects with web services. Join HP in an in-depth discussion around open source tools that can be used to get started on web services development.

Introduction to MDA
Michael Rosen
Thursday, March 18, 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Standards spur competition, choice, vendor independence, best practices and innovations. The standardization of UML brought great changes to the field of modeling and created a wide variety of tools. Model Driven Architecture (MDA) with UML is the new, standards based approach to the architecture and design of systems and has the potential to impact modeling as much as the standardization of UML itself. Industry leaders including Microsoft and IBM have adopted MDA as an initiative. MDA describes how to create standards based, technology independent models of business concepts, and then map them to different specific technologies. Many leading tools are now supporting generation capabilities based on MDA models. This BOF will describe an overview of MDA concepts, techniques and tools and provides an example starting from a business model and working down to generated code.

Generics in Java
Steve Close
Thursday, March 18, 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Generics types add a powerful tool to the Java Developers tool kit. In this gathering we will introduce the syntax and uses of generic types in Java. After a basic understanding of generic types is achieved, advantages and disadvantages of generics will be discussed. Design trade offs between compatibility and usability will be presented to further discussion.

.NET Smart Client
Juval Lowy
Thursday, March 18, 7:30pm - 9:00pm
.NET Smart clients signal the return of the rich client as the predominate way for generating application from end for Intranet applications, and the demise of the browser as a front end. The combination of Windows Forms deployed over HTTP, ClickOnce infrastructure, and code access security are the building blocks of this new shirt. Come discuss what it means for your career, business, and the industry as a whole.