Microsoft PEX and Moles

Microsoft Research is currently beta testing a couple new frameworks that can make unit testing your code a breeze. Pex is a testing tool that analyzes code and generates unit tests. Moles is a framework that isolates code with dependencies on other application layers or frameworks. With just a few mouse clicks, you can generate suites of tests against code that previously may have been difficult or impossible to test.

Tonight I'll be giving a presentation on these technologies at the Nashville .NET User Group. For anyone who can't make it you can watch and discuss it in my Google Hangout. I'm hoping to post a video of the presentation to this blog within the next couple weeks. I'll also be giving a similar presentation and Code PaLOUsa on March 17th. Below are links to the demo solutions and Prezi used in the presentation.

Presentation on Prezi
Using Moles to Mock DateTime (Y2KBug.zip)
Using Moles to Stub Interfaces (MolesDemo.zip)
Using PEX to Generate Parameterized Unit Tests (PEXDemo.zip, PEXDemo-Result.zip)

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Nashville User Group Meetings

How enthusiastic do you think you would be if you had a 1/5 chance to win a really nice prize worth up to $1,300? We gave away a ton of great stuff at the Nashville .NET User Group meeting, but the enthusiasm level seemed abnormally low. Our first meeting at the Brentwood library went really well, despite the reserved mood and the (new) projector refusing to work for the first 10 minutes. The library conference rooms are quite nice, the speaker (Chris Hefley) was great, and we had a fair turnout considering the meeting location change.

Now that the January .NET UG meeting is behind us, I'm excited about the first Web Developer meeting this Thursday @ Compuware. If your job involves developing web sites/applications or you're just interested in learning to publish your own sites, come join us. We'll be discussing what topics people would like to see presentations on.

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Nashville User Groups (.NET and DotNetNuke)

Since being appointed as Vice President for the Nashville .NET User Group, I've felt like a fireman without a fire. My task as VP is to handle sponsorship and the all important SWAG (Stuff We All Get). The previous VP had a child and needed to step down early, so I expected to be swamped with current and potential sponsors to contact and have a list of companies who had donated products/books for giveaways to hit up for more stuff. This was not the case. The user group has been blessed with a number of very faithful sponsors and, although we did have to scramble for a new meeting place, doesn't seem to have any urgent needs.

As anticlimactic as this felt, I'm grateful in that I have more free time to devote towards personal projects and organizing a Nashville DotNetNuke User Group. The plan is not to create an altogether separate UG, but a child group within the .NET UG. My task now is to find out what date would be good for our first meeting. Is Thursday the best weekday? Chime in with your suggestion. Would it be a good idea to have it the Thursday after the .NET User Group meeting?

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