Its been a busy year. I can't believe we are already half way through it. In a blink of an eye, here we are in July.
I just wrapped up the manuscript for a new article for CoDe Magazine which I will talk about more once I get through the edit process (sometimes things can change after a few passes but it covers Azure Compute and Table Storage) and am heads down on a gate automation and management software product for a leading commercial transportation company. The product is a canonical software + services product with central WCF services in the cloud and lightweight clients and WCF services out in the edge. The idea is that customers who want to optimize operational expenses will install the gate management appliances at their facilities and provided they install compatible hardware, they can set up schedules and rules around when and for who the gate should open and literally set it and forget it in the cloud. The software will detect the presence of a vehicle by reading the RFID transponder, run some client-side rules and either open the gate or deny the vehicle entry to the facility.
We are currently in our 5th Sprint (4 week sprints) and it is exciting to see the product really start to take shape. We've delivered almost all of the vertical slices as a result of the stories completed to date (each Sprint we've delivered potentially shippable software), and one of the last slices is the synchronization infrastructure for keeping the cloud and .png)
clients out in the edge in sync. To be successful, the synchronization strategy must support occasionally connected clients providing the ability to perform a one-time synchronization to bootstrap a brand new install at a facility with all the necessary data from the cloud to become operational. It also must support event-driven updates, such that the cloud publishes events of interest such as new gates, RFID devices being registered for a gate or changes to business rules and a subscribing service then initiates a JIT synchronization with the cloud. In addition, the client on the edge must be able to synchronize with the cloud (i.e. forward updates), and all of this must be a) durable, such that synchronization can resume after a network failure b) transacted such that both client(s) and cloud updates are atomic, c) interoperable such that both TCP and HTTP/S topologies can be supported and d) secure.
To that end, I am currently implementing the next version of Microsoft Sync Framework (Sync Framework 2.0) which will be the lynchpin of our synchronization strategy first with a SQL provider followed almost immediately by a WCF SOAP provider.
I have been extremely impressed by Sync Framework 1.0 and Sync Framework 2.0, and I must say that Sync Framework 2.0 has really simplified the synchronization process beyond the Local Database Cache implementation pattern made famous in MSF 1.0. If you are interested in the Sync Framework, check out the Sync Framework dev center here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sync/default.aspx
In addition, my friend and former colleague Rituraj Singh co-authored a gem of a book, Pro Sync Framework which covers v1 of the Sync Framework and went a long way to get me started.
The team is split between resources in Phoenix and the D.C. area, and I've been racking up my miles with US Airways flying out to D.C., on average once a month. My client has really embraced agile values which is just fantastic, and it is always nice to know I'll be keeping my Silver status :-)
So, needless to say, this project is keeping me plenty busy so if I don't blog as often as I should over the next not so lazy days of summer, you'll know why. That said, here's what else I'll be up to over the next couple of months:
Phoenix Connected Systems User Group 1 Year Birthday, August 13th
1 year ago in August, my good friend Todd Sussman and I started the PCSUG. We've had some fantastic talks, covering BizTalk Server, WF, WCF, REST, .NET Services, and several discussions on SOA. So, to celebrate, we're throwing a party and you're invited! Stay tuned to http://www.pcsug.org/Home/Events for more info on the August meeting which at a minimum will include pizza, sodas and cake to celebrate. You can also look out for the #PCSUG hashtag on twitter for more info.
SQL Server Worldwide User Group Virtual Conference, November 2009
I've been invited back to speak at the SSWUG VCon in the fall. I am currently working on my abstracts, but I'll announce my session topics sometime in the next few weeks. Of course, they will in some way involve WCF and very likely some Azure stuff.
New Article on Azure Compute and Table Storage Services in CoDe Magazine, September 2009
Look for a new article in the Sept/Oct issue of CoDe Magazine on Azure Compute and Table Storage. More details coming soon.
Reading List
What would summer be without a good reading list? Here are the books I plan to conquer this summer, in no particular order:
- The Art of Unit Testing by Roy Osherove
- Restful .NET by John Flanders
- Effective C# by Bill Wagner
- More Effective C# by Bill Wagner
- Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries 2nd Edition by Brad Adams, et al.
- Enterprise Integration Patterns: Designing, Building, and Deploying Messaging Solutions, Gregory Hohpe, et al.
Well, that's all for now. Would love to hear what you are up to this summer- drop me a note.