Cairngorm Training Followup Post
Posted on | November 10, 2009 | Comments Off
Here are some links and code that I promised during the Cairngorm training.
The interactive Cairngorm Diagram
The Sample App and part 3 of the article – (You can also buy the full series on 360|Whisperings)
Our TDay App partially converted to Cairngorm
I hope you enjoyed the sessions as much as I enjoyed teaching them. ’Til next time!
360Flexpress – Saturday Wrap up and Sunday Agenda
Posted on | November 8, 2009 | Comments Off
Day one of the training was loads of fun. We accomplished a lot. For those of you that missed out, it’s a shame. We learned some great skills to apply to our Flex dev work. Here’s a link to a zip file. It contains the “backup” of our original POC mxml file as well as the version where we broke off components.
Sunday looks to be even better than Saturday. Take a peek at the schedule below:
8 am to noon – AM Session
noon to 12:30 pm – Lunch
12:30 to 4:30 – PM Session
Both the AM Session and PM Session blocks are repeats of the same content: one room for Mate, one for Cairngorm and one for PureMVC. This allows each attendee to learn about 2 different frameworks.
The speaker breakdown is as follows:
Harry Garland – Mate
Tom Ortega – Cairngorm – Session Files: CGFramework Source Sample App
Keith Sutton – PureMVC
See you there! It’s not too late too register either. Come down to register in person or register online. Today is only $99.
Tags: Building a Flex App from Scratch > Cairngorm > Flex Skills > Flex Training > Hands-On > Mate > PureMVC > Training > What to Bring
360Flexpress – What to bring with you
Posted on | November 4, 2009 | Comments Off
Not everyone has been to a 360 event (yet! LOL), so it’s always helpful for us to sort of give a rundown on what to bring. In addition, this is the first 360Flexpress event so we wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page.
The following items are “must bring” for you to have a great learning experience.
- You – As silly as it sounds, you’d be surprised at the random “Can I just leave my tape recorder?” question. This is training, so you need to be there alert and ready to learn. (Speaking of, if you haven’t registered yet, do it now!)
- A laptop – Technically, you can bring like an iMac I guess, but that’s probably not something you want to lug around. There are no machines on-site to rent, borrow or steal. Therefore, if you don’t have one, call up Aunt May and ask if you can borrow hers for the day.
- Flex Builder 3 Installed – Since Flash Builder 4 is a ways away still, we’re going to be learning on Flex Builder 3. It’s what you will use at work for a good quarter of a year yet, so don’t worry it’s not “old hat” just yet. There’s also the 30 day trial if you haven’t dabbled with Flex Builder yet. The trial is good enough for this weekend.
The following items are “nice to haves”. You’ll still be able to learn a lot, just not get the full experience should you be missing one.
- Upgrade to Professional – If you have Flex Builder Standard, upgrade to Professional. We’ll be using some of the charting components in our application. If charts aren’t important to you, no worries. If they are, then get the upgrade before you arrive.
- Notebook and Writing Tool – We’re huge believers in manual note taking. There’s just someting about pen(cil) on paper that drills things into your mind. When you have a “A-ha!” moment, jot it down and we bet you’ll remember it better. Plus, we’ll be doing manual drawings of mock ups, so even if you don’t like note taking bring it for that purpose.
- Business Cards - You’re about to hang out with a bunch of like minded peers. These are people that will grow their Flex skills at the same level as you. Chances are they’re local too, so no sense in not getting to know them. Hang out with them later and grow your skills together.
This weekend is going to be great. If you haven’t yet told your friends and family, do so pronto. The more people we get the better the group will be, not to mention it’s always fun to have a buddy to hang with.
Again, if you’ve already registered, great. If not, hop on over to the reg site and buy your ticket. This is gonna be a blast!
360flexpress Hands-On – Getting down to the wire for great training!
Posted on | November 3, 2009 | Comments Off
Some of you may be wondering what type of application your gonna build this weekend. While the application can’t be too complex since we only have a weekend, we also want to keep it relevant enough to teach you some great skills.
One thing I’ve never liked about a lot of training out there is that while you build pieces of an app, you don’t build the whole thing. There’s always things skipped, code prewritten for you, so you never get that continuous feel of going from nothing to finished product. That will not be the case here.
We will be building a simple survey app that asks questions and displays the results. Since it is November, I thought it would be fun to incorporate that in to app. Here’s the splash screen:
Splash Screen
There’s no styling in the screen shot. (Hey, I don’t want to give it all away before you show up!) But you will learn how to not only build the app, but then add styling and cool animation effects that we know and love Flex for.
The core concepts that will be taught are ones you will (or should be) using every day in your Flex development job. You will learn how to layout applications, break it up in to components, reuse those components to speed up development.
I’m very excited and am probably creating far too many labs for us to work through, but better to have too much than not enough. Don’t worry, the labs work will be staggered. We’ll touch an area, leave room for improvement, then move to the next. This way we’re guaranteed to get a working app that we can then go back later and add some more finishing touches.
On Sunday, we’ll then take this app and recreate it in 3 different frameworks: Cairngorm, PureMVC and Mate. You’ll learn how not only to build an app, but then also how to add a framework to help ease further development.
For those of you already registered, it’s gonna be a blast! For those not registered, hurry up there’s still time! Register now for the low price of $149 for both days.
Great goodies from Apress and great content!
Posted on | October 29, 2009 | Comments Off
We’re hard at work making the two days of 360|Flexpress the best hands-on Training you’re gonna find… anywhere.
I know, as if there was ever any question, HOWEVER we want to make sure everyone knows it.
Whether you’re new to Flex, or have a little experience and want to “Level Up”, Saturday is the day for you. Tom has been working with Flex since Flex 1.5, I know I was there working with him. We’ve got stories, oh yes, we do.
Saturday is all Flex 101, Hands-On. Bring your laptop, a power cord, and be ready to learn.
Sunday we’re offering some choices. Tom, Keith and Harry will be each holding talks on some of the major frameworks in the Flex developer world, Mate, Cairngorm, and PureMVC.
We’ve got a room for each, so once you’ve spent the day Saturday learning the in’s and outs of Flex, you’ll be able to learn about the most common frameworks in use by Flex developers.
After all, part of this training’s goal is to get folks the Flex skills they need to get a job, or a better job!
Register now! $149 for 2 solid days of Flex hands-on training! You won’t find a better deal!
Task Breakdown for Day 1
Posted on | October 27, 2009 | 1 Comment
In the previous post, I laid out the plan for Day 1. It listed some overarching goals that I have for the training day, i.e. to get you hired or excel at your new Flex job.
Some of you are excited, but want a little more meat. That’s understandable, since traditional training seems to be a focused on the Flex Skills, but not the other stuff you need to succeed.
Here’s why 360|Flexpress is going to be different than a traditional training program. I will be writing my own curriculum and exercises for you all to go through. The list below is my table of contents for the day.
Over this week, I’ll go into more details on each section to give you a better idea of which each entails. As you can see though, it’s going to be a great learning experience.
Thinking Through Your App Before You Code:
- Mocking up Screens
- Finding Common Components
- Deriving Classes
- Breaking Down Work Tasks
- Proof of Concepting
Beginning Your Application:
- Laying Out Code Packages (i.e. Directories)
- Creating DataObjects/ValueObjects
- Creating Components
- Putting Components Together to Create Screens
- Component Communication Via Events
In The Zone:
- Communicating with the Outside World
- Something’s Wrong, Debug It
- Redesign Time, Moving Code
- Commenting to Help Others (and Yourself)
- Keep the Code Simple, Don’t be a Hotshot
Wrapping Up
- Skinning Your App
- Adding Animation Effects
- Refactor Out Unneeded Code
If any of the above topics sound like something you need to learn, get on it. Tickets are flying fast and we’ve only planned for roughly 100. Register now for a mere $149 to get in on what’s sure to be a great learning experience for all.
The plan for Day 1 of 360|Flexpress
Posted on | October 21, 2009 | 2 Comments
When I managed Silvafug, there was always a common need: Get new Flex developers up to speed so they can get hired (or excel in a new role as Flex developer). In order to do that, you need to teach skills beyond just the technical (”This is a var”). You need to teach people how to think about not just what they are going to create, but how they are going to create it and why.
I’ve worked on many different kinds of projects from small to large. I’ve seen where the pain points are and have gone through some tough moments in the dev cycle that could have been avoided. My goal with the Day 1 training is to not only teach you Flex skills, but also the non-Flex skills that are going to help make you succeed.
The world at large still has a void of Flex developers. There are many positions that I know of that stay unfulfilled because there are no qualified devs to fill them. The goal of this training weekend is to help get the local bay area developers up to speed and filling those roles.
For those that have a Flex job or just a passing interest in Flex as a future role, there will be just as much information for you. You will see what to expect in your new role and learn if Flex really is something you want to spend your waking hours doing.
Mind you, this is just Day 1. Thomas Burleson, a world renowned expert in Cairngorm, will be sharing his expertise on Day 2. It’s just $149 for both days or $99 for each day separately if you can only do one. Register now and get prepared to get your Flex on.
Stay tuned, the next post will have more info on what to expect when you arrive for day one!
360Flexpress – Sunday Adv Training!
Posted on | October 16, 2009 | Comments Off
Thomas Burleson from Thunderbay software has signed on to cover the Sunday hands-on training for 360|FlexPress. Thomas’ list of credentials is as long as my arm, and I have long arms!
For example:
- the primary author for the Adobe Cairngorm courseware (available on Adobe labs). In fact, I presented first the Cairngorm courseware in Rotterdam, NE with Matt Boles, Leo Schumann, and James Talbot
- the original architect and founder of the Cairngorm Extensions [CGX]; which provide amazing extensions that vastly simplify the real-world uses of Cairngorm. The CGX is now open-sourced on Google and used in 100s of RIAs worldwide
- the primary trainer for Cairngorm dev teams at SAP (Palo Alto), Oracle, Oppenheimer Funds, UniversalMind, and many more.
- a major contributor to the Mate MVC framework
- an industry expert of il8n and RIA localizations (best practices, integration, deployment, etc)
Thomas will be spending the entire day Sunday going over advanced MVC topics, including
- Explore the FlexStore code with pre- and post-MVC usages.
- Present best practices and “danger” areas when using Cairngorm,
- and (if time allows)… explore the CGX add-ons for event scheduling, custom events, callbacks, delegate factories, etc.
Don’t worry, if you’re not sure if Cairngorm is for you, or even if you’re sure it IS NOT for you. Thomas’ session will be worth it. You’ll elevate your game no matter your position on Cairngorm.
Register now! Seats aren’t going to last long!
360FlexPress – San Jose! Get your Hands-On, on!
Posted on | October 7, 2009 | Comments Off
360|Flex is known for having some of the most advanced topics of any Flex Conference, that ain’t changing anytime soon, and we’re hoping to get more. A lot of people come to the Sunday Hands-On session to ramp up for the advanced stuff. Sometimes, though, it’s not enough. For those in the Silicon Valley, in conjunction with the awesome folks at Silvafug, we’re holding a 2 day hands-on training session in November.
On Saturday, Tom’s gonna walk folks through the basics of building Flex apps. He’ll very quickly cover the basics of building Flex apps, then spend most of the day on topics such as custom component building and using events.
On Sunday, you’ll learn how to take a simple application and write it from scratch in both Cairngorm and PureMVC. This will help you understand the similarities and differences between these two frameworks.
The pricing for this event is pretty straight forward. If you only want/need 1 day (Saturday or Sunday), it’s $99. Pick your day, show up and get your learn on.
If you want both days, it’s $149 for both days. You’re not gonna get 2 days of hands-on training for a better price anywhere. These are going to be hands-on sessions, not simple overviews. You can expect labs that will require you to write code, so you’ll not only learn the principles but how to apply them.
By the end of Sunday night, you’ll be ready to sit in on the 300+ level sessions at 360|Flex San Jose!
Oh and if (as we hope) you’re doing the Hands-On to ramp up for 360|Flex, you’ll be happy to know each attendee of 360|Flexpress will get a discount on the big show!
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