As a Developer

Here is a script for downloading/renaming PDC09 content (WMV-High/WMV/PPT) using cURL and a batch script get it from HERE

Lots of big stuff happening this week. Today Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 is available to MSDN Subscribers and it'll be available for everyone on Wednesday.

I'm running Beta 2 on all my machines now and really digging it. It's much faster than Beta 1 and I'm doing all my work in it now. It's come a long way and I'm really impressed at the polish.

.NET 4

This is a big deal. This isn't ".NET 3.6" - there are a lot of improvements of .NET 4, and it's not just "pile on a bunch of features so you get overwhelmed." I've been working with and talking to many of the teams involved and even though it's a cheesy thing to say, this is a really customer-focused release.

Shouldn't every release be that way? Sure, and in this case there's a really clear focus on, as I like to say, "making the Legos the right size." This is as much about tightening screws as it is about adding new features.

There's more goodness that I can put in one post, but some personal favorite highlights are:

• Quicker to Install - A smaller Client Profile with a much smaller initial download (down to 0.8 megs from 2.8) for bootstrapping .NET client apps faster than ever)
• Side by Side - .NET 4 is a side-by-side release that doesn't auto-promote, meaning you won't break existing apps and you can have .NET 2.0, 3.5 and 4 apps on the same machine, happily.
  • Side-by-side CLR support for managed add-ins inside of apps like Explorer or Outlook. Again, new and existing apps in the same process, chillin'.
  • For more details on Application Compatibilty, check out the AppCompat Walkthrough for .NET 4 on MSDN.
• Dynamic Language Support - The DLR (Dynamic language runtime) ships built-in with .NET 4 so you can mix-and-match your solutions and pick the best language (or languages) amongst C# and VB.NET as well as F#, IronPython and IronRuby. This includes better support for COM (yes, COM! People do use COM and it's even easier with the new dynamic keyword in C# these days.)
• More Web Standards Support - Better support for WS-* and REST making interop easier. (I love ADO.NET Data Services, but you know that already, Dear Reader. I'm a bit of a RESTafarian, these days.)
• Plugins Galore - Visual Studio 2010 uses MEF and WPF to enable a whole new world of clean managed extensions as well as an Online Gallery (there's an extension for that!)
• Multi-Framework Multi-targeting - You can't really overestimate how useful this is, but a picture is worth a thousand words. You can code all your apps in all your organization's frameworks with the same IDE:
  

Keep an eye on the blogs this week as the various teams talk about their favorite features.

On the ASP.NET 4 side:

• I'll be posting video interviews with the actual ASP.NET 4 developers all week on Hanselminutes on 9 up on MSDN's Channel9 so watch for those.
• Joe and I will also start populating the Learn section of ASP.NET with new ASP.NET 4 videos between now and Christmas as well.
• And of course, @ScottGu is continuing his series of ASP.NET 4 Tutorials, so watch his constantly updated rollup post. He's currently on #8!

Oh, yes, one other thing…

Fresh Look

You may notice a few things in the new Splash Screen above. There's a new Visual Studio logo that goes nicely as well as a new logo for MSDN. You probably heard that we launched a new MSDN this weekend and today we add the new logo and background. This new MSDN is the beginning of a more agile, community focused MSDN and you should expect to see and hear of cool stuff coming from the team, often, in the months to come. Of note will be the new MSDN Lightweight view, soon to be the default view for the library. 

In the coming weeks I'll dig into more details on the these new things and how they work together:

• Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4
• Windows 7
• Microsoft Developer Network

Enjoy! Also, be sure to check out Soma's blog post and go get Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Beta 2 as soon as you can!

Source: Scott Hanselman blog

What Is Doloto?

Doloto stands for Download Time Optimizer and is also the Russian word for chisel,  It analyzes AJAX application workloads and automatically performs code splitting of existing large web applications. Doloto enables applications to initially transfer only the portion of client-side JavaScript code necessary for application initialization.

Check it Out here:  http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/doloto/

If you are interrested in Distributed Dev Teams (aka Virtual Teams) and Agile Development this white paper is a must read.

Some parts of the white paper:

...While there may be business reasons for distributing a team, distribution will also contribute to team dysfunction by inhibiting communication. Agile teams rely on intensive person to person communication, both within the team and with the customer. This allows them to forego some of the additional process—like writing detailed specifications—usually associated with a more waterfall approach. Casual conversations within the team room, in hallways, and other shared spaces make a significant contribution to the team’s collective understanding. Remote team members miss these and consequently their understanding suffers...

Microsoft Expression Studio is the set of Apps and tools that let you benefit from Microsoft's latest Technologies like Silverlight v1 v2 v3, WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), Silverlight Live Streaming, IIS Smooth Streaming…etc.

Here are the most important Resources on the web.

A must keep code snippets resources and repository :

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/21/45-excellent-code-snippet-resources-and-repositories/

Just would like to remind you of staying up-to-date by following our tweets on twitter.

We tweet about all the cool stuff like:

Software development, ASP.NET, .NET Framework, Microsoft Development tools Updates, CTP’s, Release dates, Articles, blog posts,Whitepapers…etc

So Stay tuned ;)

This a great whitepaper on “A Services-Layer and Smart Client for monitoring ship-navigation” that shows real-world usage of WCF and WPF and design patterns.

You can find it here (Save Target As..)

I have recently been working on WPF and found this great Whitepaper which shows the differences between Silverlight And WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)

I’m pleased to announce that the SQL Server 2008 Developer Training Kit is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download center, so download your copy today at the following URL:

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9665942 

Read on for more details….

SQL Server 2008

SQL Server 2008 offers an impressive array of capabilities for developers that build upon key innovations introduced in SQL Server 2005. The SQL Server 2008 Developer Training Kit will help you understand how to build web applications which deeply exploit the rich data types, programming models and new development paradigms in SQL Server 2008. The training kit is brought to you by Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism.

Overview and Benefits

The training kit offers the following benefits:

• Learn how to build web applications that exploit the unique features and capabilities of SQL Server 2008.
• Provides a comprehensive set of presentations, demos and hands-on labs
• Designed for web developers who are already familiar with SQL Server application development.
• Easy to download and install and works on free editions of SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008.

Software Requirements

The following software is not included with the training kit and must be downloaded and installed separately.

• SQL Server 2008 Express with Advanced Services (or higher-level SKU)
• Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express (or higher-level SKU)
• AdventureWorks 2008 Sample Databases

Intended Audience

The training kit is designed for the following technical roles:

• Web developers who build applications for the Microsoft platform.
• Microsoft evangelists, technical specialists and consultants.

Contents

The training kit includes the following content:

• Presentations (6)
  • Filestream
  • Spatial
  • T-SQL
  • Date and Time Types
  • SQLCLR
  • Reporting Services
• Demos (12)
  • AdventureWorks Racing All-Up SQL Server 2008 Demo
  • SQL Server 2008 All-Up Spatial Demo
  • Spatial Types Demo
  • Intro to Filestream Demo
  • SQL CLR Nullable Types Demo
  • Programming with Filestream Demo
  • Reporting Services Web Application Integration Demo
  • Date and Time Support in SQL Server 2008 Demo
  • T-SQL Table-Valued Parameters Demo
  • T-SQL Row Constructors Demo
  • T-SQL Grouping Sets Demo
  • T-SQL Merge Demo
• Hands-on Labs (3)
  • Using Spatial Data in TSQL
  • Using Spatial Data in Managed Code
  • Using SQL CLR in SQL Server 2008

Source : http://blogs.msdn.com/rdoherty/archive/2009/05/12/announcing-the-sql-server-2008-training-kit.aspx

This is a "Thank You" Post

I would like to thank Ahmed Shokr for his great session "ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 deep dive with jQuery samples and new components" that was yesterday and really it was a great experiance having it in a Live Meeting.

Thanks again and Keep it Up

If you have the passion to start programming ,don’t miss out Microsoft Beginner Developer learning Center it’s a place where you find the resource and knowledge to guide you step-by-step on starting your software development hobby/Career.

They provide all the tools you might need for FREE : Visual Basic,Visual C#,Visual C++ ,SQL Server 2005/2008, Visual Web Developer…etc.

I say that “ it is a really well presented, simplified resource for beginners that will put them on the software development track really fast.”

Some of what it provides :

• Web Track
• Windows Track
• Kid’s Corner (Yes..Kids,If you want to teach your bright kids programming go for it!)
• Videos
• Articles
• Tips & Tricks
• … and More!

Don’t hesitate to start when you have all the resources to have fun and learn new things.!

Good luck and hope to see you as our next event Speaker ;)

Tonight I did a Session about “Developing WPF Apps (For Developers)”, Attendees was really interested in WPF, But found it a bit difficult to grasp and I 100% Agree!

The thing is that WPF is “Way Big” it is larger than ASP.NET and Windows Forms Combined.!! , So.. the question is what can you do about it? How Can you learn such a thing? You cannot learn it over night?

The answer to these questions is that WPF has a High learning curve and you have to have patients and, the sooner you stop thinking about doing stuff like you used to do in earlier technologies, the sooner you go production with it.

Some might say “WPF is so hard so..I’ll wait until they find an easier way to use it, then I’ll start doing WPF ”, I say the sooner you begin learning, the greater competitive advantage you’ll get and you will have more value. So You will be producing when they are still learning.

If you are developing an Enterprise App. Check the Composite UI Application Block Guidance Code Name (Prism) .They provided a set of guidance on developing WPF & Silverlight Applications for the enterprise with a must have features in every large app. “Separation Separation Separation” . if you are interested in such apps then you should consider Prism seriously.

after the session some people asked me on how to start doing WPF so  I have a link to a previous post Titled "A Must Read WPF Resources,Books,Articles and Blogs". I guess that should do it, If you have any question please feel free ;)

Patterns & Practices Application Architecture Guide 2.0 project site!

This guide provides design-level guidance for the architecture and design of applications built on the .NET Framework. It focuses on the most common types of applications, partitioning application functionality into layers, components, and services, and walks through their key design characteristics.This guide is a collaborative effort between patterns & practices, product teams, and industry experts.

Forewords

“we are confident that Application Architecture Guide 2.0 will help you choose the right architecture, choose the right technologies, make more effective design decisions, and choose relevant patterns.”

S. Somasegar
Microsoft | Senior Vice President of Developer Division

“The guidance as a whole is based on the combined experience and knowledge of Microsoft experts, Microsoft partners, customers, and others in the community. It will help you understand our platform, choose the right architecture, choose the right technologies, and build applications using proven practices and lessons learned. “

Scott Guthrie
Microsoft | Corporate Vice President of .NET Developer Platform

Download the Book Now

We have started tweeting on twitter, you can follow us on http://twitter.com/oryxdev

What is Twitter:

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

Why should you follow our tweets..?

To stay up-to-date with community updates, events, announcements or even just to know where are we going to be on weekends, so you can join and have a techi-chat or a chit-chat!

If you want to interact with our tweets or add replies you’ll need to signup for a twitter account- it’s FREE- and you can use there website OR use a WPF Cool Twitter Client like “blu” it is a Must See WPF App!. some Screenshots:

it also flips on double clicking a message to reply: