6/10, Saturday. Thunderstorm briefly. I was almost late, even though I budget 20 minutes extra. Police had blocked a street where my bus line is. The Grand Flora Parade was expected, and people were already lining up their lawn chairs.
Xamarin Dev Day is hosted by Viewpoint Construction Software. Lunch is sponsored by Microsoft (pretty lousy: subway sandwich). Speakers are from Viewpoint. I left before the reception, with my raffle prize of a mini drone.
The event is to entice developer to use Xamarin and Microsoft Visio Studio (both free, for community version). The goal is most likely so you'd be using Azure for the Cloud service. Every big players are competing in the Cloud space. There're $100 coupons for Azure you can take.
I'm impressed with how easy is to use Xamarin in Visio Studio (one of the extensions - all free). Before Microsoft acquired Xamarin, this is one expensive piece of software, which allows you to write one app and with minimal modification, deploy to 3 platforms (iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone). The test cloud is also very handy and easy to use. I attended the first half of the hands-on lab, cutting and pasting code following the instruction (well written, with one bug). Got the app to run on my Android phone. Still need to go home and understand how they relate to each other, especially that I've never programmed in C# before. Overall a well run class. Certainly got the message across.
After the event, I went to check out FINDpdx, benefiting Bradley Angle, a local nonprofit supporting survivors of domestic violence. Looks like a rummage sale, but with brand new items. You find price online, and then pay 50%. Clothing and electronic gadgets, some insect repellent (I bought a bottle). I had 20 minutes before they closed. Spent ~$30. This will continue on Sunday.
Went to International Rose Test Garden afterwards. Roses are blooming nicely. Lots of people. Construction is still going on.
