Hello.

Day 2 of DevWeek was packed with insightful sessions. Niels Berglund's talk on ADO.NET v.Next and the Entity Framework highlighted the potential for simplifying database interactions by mapping database models to programmer-friendly models. Kelvin Henney's lecture on streamlined object-oriented analysis emphasized the importance of modeling the current system before designing solutions, using UML and Use Cases. Ingo Rammer's presentations on scalability and performance, and Windows Workflow integration, offered practical advice and cleared up some misunderstandings. I also had a chance to visit vendor booths, with Infragistics' XAML components and Dev Express's slick presentations standing out. Overall, the quality of the lectures has been excellent, but the vendor presence could be improved.

I've just completed a Mastering UML training course at IBM Education Services in London. It was a good course and I learned a lot, particularly because the instructor, Chas Weaver, incorporated his own experiences. The only downside was the lack of Internet access.