Announcing The First New York City ALT.NET User Group Meeting

altnetnewyorklogo_2 Come and be there at the start of something special!  The inaugural meeting of the New York City ALT.NET User Group will be held Thursday, September 25th, 2008 @ 6:30pm.

Are you passionate about the profession of Software Engineering, always looking for new learning experiences, stimulated by engaging in conversation with peers who challenge your preconceptions, and looking to improve your software development skills and practice?  Then ALT.NET NYC wants YOU!

What is ALT.NET?

ALT.NET is a loose confederation of like-minded, self-organizing .NET-focused software developers that delight in challenging the expected norms, experimenting with new and creative ways to solve problems in software engineering on the Microsoft platform, and aren’t afraid to challenge convention.

We will be meeting monthly to discuss issues that interest us in a loose, informal discussion-style environment.  All software developers of every stripe are hereby extended an invitation to participate in the discussion or just come and see what all this ALT.NET stuff is about.

Meeting Topic: Object-Relational Mapping: the philosophies and the tools

To get things started, our initial meeting will be focused on a discussion of the pros and cons of different Object-Relational Mapping technologies.  With the recent releases of the Microsoft ADO.NET Entity Framework, NHibernate 2.0, and SubSonic 2.1, the .NET Object-Relational Mapping space is hotter now than ever and the choices facing .NET developers in this area are widely-varying in their focus, capabilities, principles, and goals.

Participants will be on-hand to discuss their experiences with tools like NHibernate, SubSonic, The ADO.NET Entity Framework, and more offering attendees a unique opportunity to ramp up their understanding of where each of these kinds of tools may fit into their developer’s tool belt and also to share some of their own experiences with these tools and frameworks with other attendees in a relaxed, conversational atmosphere.

To ensure proper access to the building, all attendees are required to register no later than 48 hours prior to the meeting.  For additional information regarding registration, location, and other meeting details, visit http://nyalt.net/view/events.aspx