My boss has been pressuring me (in a good way) to submit abstracts to some technical conferences. In particular, he really hammered on me to submit to SD West. I did so just before the deadline, in true Mike fashion. Here are the abstracts I submitted:

IoC Containers - What's all the Hubbub?

Inversion of Control (IoC) Containers have really captured the development community's attention in the last year or so. What do these so-called lightweight containers have to offer your project? Better designs featuring loose coupling and testability, just for starters. By the end of this session you'll have the understanding you need to put a lightweight container to work in your project.

Spring into Action

"Lightweight" Inversion of Control (IoC) Containers have really captured the development community's attention in the last year or so. One such "lightweight container" is the Spring Framework. What does the Spring Framework have to offer your project? Better designs featuring loose coupling and testability, just for starters. See how Spring has been put to practical use on a real project. By the end of this session you'll have a basic understanding of how to put Spring to work in your project.

Strangling Legacy Code

In the Summer of '04, Martin Fowler published an entry to his "bliki" proposing a pattern called, vividly, "StranglerApplication" (http://www.martinfowler.com/bliki/StranglerApplication.html). Fowler describes how a new system can grow "around the edges of the old", eventually overtaking and replacing it. In this session you'll learn pragmatic approaches to putting this pattern into action from a practitioner who's been there, is doing that.