DevExpress Data Blog

September 2010 - Posts

• Utah Code Camp and a Piece of Humble Pie

  Utah Code Camp just wrapped up this weekend. It was great! From the 40 or so presentation submissions they culled it down to roughly 20. There were some really good presentations and above all a great atmosphere. It was great to meet some of the great community guys that do a tremendous job of putting on such wonderful events. Among them is the tremendously affable Pat Wright, the wise Craig Berntson, as well as the ever informative Nathan Zaugg. A Conversation with David Starr David Starr gave a very informative and interesting keynote address entitled Modern Software Development, the State of the Craft. In it he had a couple of zingers: "Any process is better than no process, the trick is to actually do it." "Billions of dollars have been made from big piles of crap." "Agile Manifesto is not a business model." "Clean while you cook." "Save your rocket powered brain for your business domain." Agree or not, those are some powerful statements! During lunch, an abrupt yet informative conversation sprung up with the Keynote speaker while everyone was in line for pizza. I don't remember what I was asked, but it ran along the lines of what software development process I used to develop software. Among other things, my reply could be summarized by "I'm an algorithms type guy." David interjected with something along the lines of: "Every time I hear a statement like that, what I hear is 'I'm too smart for that kind of stuff'." During that mini shock-and-awe campaign of a statement, I knew immediately that what he was preaching was right. Often as software developers we pride ourselves so much on the technology of the thing that we ignore the business of it to the detriment of the project. He further commented that what we lack as software developers is exactly what would smooth over our relationship with the business side of things: proper communication. A simple change of vocabulary, David said, would go a long way towards cementing those relationships and ensuring a successful project. An Example - Reports One huge example of this exact disconnect is the afterthought of almost all software projects - reporting. We (at least me) often relegate this integral, if not critical, feature of almost ALL software to the back-burner. Without reporting, most software would be useless. Imagine if a business guy comes to you and says: "We need another report that has X!" What causes the roll of the eyes in this instance? What are the pain points involved in adding this new magical report? In the next couple of weeks/months I will try to show you how to make it easy to make these changes so that you can smile and say "I'd be happy to make that report! Is an hour or two too long to wait?" Feel free to shoot me an email with the pain points involved in reporting so I can include them in some of the demos and tutorials! Seth Juarez Email: sethj@devexpress.com Twitter: @SethJuarez Posted Sep 27 2010, 01:46 PM by Seth Juarez (DevExpress) with 3 comment(s)

• It’s all about data

  Data I love data. I've spent the majority of my academic and professional career finding ways to glean knowledge from the vast data resources available. Often, erroneous decisions are made simply due to a lack of knowledge event though relevant information is available. As Rutherford D. Rogers said: We're drowning in information and starving for knowledge. Current technology allows for the storage of vast amounts of structured and unstructured data. Regardless of the choice of representation, the same kinds of questions permeate the use of these kinds of technology: "How can I maximize the usefulness of the data I am storing?" My Background My fascination with data started with relational databases. I have studied and taught relational theory for many years. There is an inherent beauty surrounding the mathematical models behind relational theory and the concepts surrounding normalization. I am also intrigued by artificial intelligence and machine learning. I finished my Masters in Computer Science at the University of Utah and decided to pursue a PhD in Machine Learning with the hopes of simplifying the way the .NET community interacts with these really novel algorithms. I started a .NET library for Machine Learning (still in incubation phase) with the goal of having these things understood better (mostly by me). I love talking about these things and helping others understand these difficult concepts simply because by explaining them I understand them a bit more. Technical Evangelist A couple of weeks ago I was approached by DevExpress to be a Technical Evangelist. I was thrilled to accept their invitation! I have been using DevExpress tools for the last 6 or so years because of their sheer awesomeness! I am also tremendously excited about the things I'll be able to do with data! DevExpress has unmatched ways to aggregate and visualize data. What would you me like to do? I want to help! Have a pesky data problem? Need help visualizing your data? I am happy to take questions at my brand-spanking-new-address sethj@devexpress.com. I am confident that with the awesome juice we'll be squeezing out of your data, together with some DevExpress sugar, we'll be making some truly refreshing software.   Seth Juarez Email: sethj@devexpress.com Twitter: @SethJuarez Posted Sep 20 2010, 09:25 AM by Seth Juarez (DevExpress) with 4 comment(s) Filed under: data, machine learning, database