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This was the first event that I attended last year. It was a great learning experience and the beginning of some great friendships. If you missed it last year, here’s a great video by Andy Erickson that recaps the day.

I attended the CINNUG meeting on June 24, 2008. Tim Wingfield was the guest speaker. The topic was MVC and this is one I also missed at CODODN . Tim gave a good explanation of MVC and it's history.

Tim also had great TDD demos. He really showed each step of the process (the behind the scenes) to creating your test. He then walked through the results of the test after running the program. It was interesting to see the testing process. It gave me a totally different perspective of the application.

I can see how this would initially take time to set up the testing environment but it can also save tons of time at the end. You wouldn't have to do such rigorous testing because you've already tested your functions as they were being built. This could also catch errors better than traditional testing. Each section of the application that you are creating will be associated with a test.

I know I'm not on this level yet but still enjoyed the presentation and seeing more of the MVC framework. This reinforced what I learned from Alan Steven's MVC talk at IndyCodeCamp.

I was glad to finally meet Tim face-to-face because I've followed him on Twitter since the CODODN event. It was also WAY cool to hang out at Claddagh's after the meeting with a few local tweeps.

It felt really good to just sit back and talk to people that are interested in the same things I am interested in. I can talk about things that I do without getting the "oh boy, I hope this isn't one of the 'nerd' talks again" or the "I have no idea what you talking about" stare.

Update: Leon Gersing also gave a quick presentation at the end of the meeting. He discussed separation of responsibilities. I'm really embarrassed that I neglected to add this information. Even though it was a brief presentation it really got me focused. Many apologies to Leon. :) 

This post is for my tweeps. :) This was really difficult for me to answer because I really haven't developed much software but here goes...

How old were you when you started programming? I created the cube in sixth grade and when I was in high shcool I remember writing a few intro programs and I was hooked. I started college at age 18 but I really wasn't sure what I was getting into. I remember taking Lotus 1-2-3 and C++ but I didn't learn much.

How did you get started in programming? Most of my programming was written in the computer lab. Many, many hours of computer lab. I didn't have a home PC (didn't know too many people that did). 

What was your first language? I'm not sure but I'm guessing QBASIC (and DOS). First languages I had a chance to use were years later during college (round 2). I used Contorl Language (CL) and Reports Program Generator (RPG). My degree was focused on the AS/400 (lucky me).

What was the first real program you wrote? Again, no clue. Most of my programs were written in a college environment and nothing more than an assignment at the time. Since I was a mainframe programmer I took my focus off of the PC and the internet was still pretty new. America Online (AOL) was a buzz word.

What languages have you used since you started programming? I have used several languages or at least jumped into someone else's code: QBASIC, CL, RPG, COBOL, PHP, and C#.

What was your first professional gig? My first IT job was backing up tapes on an IBM-3850. My next job was working at the company I currently work for doing website design for an affiliate program the company runs.

If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming? Yes. I love programming and look forward to creating websites and some software in the future. 

If there is one thing that you've learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be? Stick to one specific area until you are an expert. Don't bounce around and become too generalized.

What's the most fun you've ever had programming? The most experience (and fun) I've really had was sadly during college. I just haven't had to opportunity to do my thing yet but I know this is changing and I'm looking forward to the real fun beginning.

So, I guess the bottom line for me is I'm a jack-of-all, master of none. However, I'm working hard on this every day so this won't always be the case. 

Update:  I also had some intro to Visual Basic during college (round 2).