The second day of PDC was all about Windows 7. Microsoft Windows Vice President Steven Sinofsky showed the new OS's main features on stage and after it, the OS was shown on PCs throughout the Los Angeles convention center. From 1:30 PM on the same day, PDC 2008 atendees could get a free copy of Windows 7, and a black 160 Gb Westerd Digital Passport hard drive disk with several software:
- NET Micro Framework development kit 3.0
- Azure Services Training Kit, a set of hands-on labs, presentations, and samples.
- Live Framework SDK, documentation, samples and tools to build on top...
This is a nice one guys. I'll give a nice overview about MEF, the Managed Extensibility Framework going on on codeplex. The Managed Extensibility Framework is a .NET library that enables greater reuse of applications and components. Using MEF, .NET applications can make the shift from being statically compiled to dynamically composed. If you are building extensible applications, extensible frameworks and application extensions, then MEF is for you.
Imagine the following scenario where you have an application that enlists and then shows a selected 3D vehicle. You have a ListBox with items in it, and by selecting an item, it renders a...
One think I've never heard about was Spec#. And why? Well... It's one more Microsoft Research project from the Redmond guys of the programming Languages and methods group.
The Spec# programming system is a new attempt at a more cost effective way to develop and maintain high-quality software. Spec# is pronounced "Spec sharp" and can be written (and searched for) as the "specsharp" or "Spec# programming system". The Spec# system consists of:
- The Spec# programming language. Spec# is an extension of the object-oriented language C#. It extends the type system to include non-null types and checked exceptions. It provides method contracts in...
I've been hearing a lot about "Oslo" on PDC, and I knew there was something coming out. Microsoft released Oslo after it was announced ne year ago and since then a lot of interested people were focused on this, and it sure is an awesome technology. "Oslo" is the code name for Microsoft's platform for model-driven applications. "Oslo" provides 10x productivity gain by making model-driven applications mainstream with domain-specific models, a new language and tools. "Oslo" provides a visual design tool, wich MS codenamed “Quadrant”, and it's basicallya tool that:
- Enables people to design business processes with well-understood, flowchart-like graphics;
-...
On the ASP.NET roadmap session we were shown technologies that today make the .NET experience more rich, but aren’t part of the current version ASP.NET. I’m talking about the ASP.NET Dynamic Data, JQuery, MVC, Web Forms, control Toolkit etc. These technologies, that are currently available, will be fully integrated and improved in ASP.NET 4.0. I'll make sure to post some articles on each of them soon, if time allows :)
So, what are these technologies?
ASP.NET Dynamic Data can be described in quick words as a technlogy that enables you to really quickly build data driven web-sites that work against a LINQ to SQL...
Day 1 had this important keynote that everyone knew it would change things from now on. This was the day of Windows Azure, the new Microsoft platform for the cloud services. Windows Azure is the new Microsoft platform that supports all the cloud services: SQL Server Services, .NET Services, Live Services, Sharepoint Services and Dynamics Services. Basically, it's a world of organized, syndicated, internet services can be consumed from both on-premises environments or the internet. We were shown the architecture, examples and usage scenarios that allowed me to understand the new route of information highway.
I'm already signed up to use the...
I finally arrived at Los Angeles after 18 hours of flight, totalling 22 hours of travel. The weather is great, and the city looks good. It's just like the movies ("It does exist" - I thought). I'll be staying on Wilshire Grand, 1 km away from the Los Angeles Convention Center, wich is a pretty standard hotel, nothing fancy here.
I'm writing this article a bit late, because I have to admit... Since I arrived I haven't stopped. At this moment, I'm hearing Ray Ozzie and Steven Sinofsky on the Day 2 morning keynote, talking abot Microsoft strategies and Windows 7. Next is...
I should admit I was a bit skeptical on the detail and depth f this presentation. Turns out, at the end of the day that it was pretty complete, although not a complete deep dive over the bits and pieces of the hood. Jeff started the morning session with a brief technological contextualization, showing us, attendees, the essence of the Silverlight 2 technology: language, implementation and presentation. For those already working on Silverlight, which is my case, the morning session didn’t added much, except for some interesting behaviors regarding hit tests with objects on a Silverlight application. The usual panel...
Just posted an article on a design pattern from Enterprise Library 4 called Unity. It's a great article to get your brain bubbling and give you a flash-start.
Check it out.
Apparently someone, in it's infinite distraction, allowed the name "Windows Strata" to show up on the official Professional Developers Conference 2008 web site. Rumours say it might be the name of the new "Windows Cloud".
I'll make sure to end this gossip when I arrive in L.A. for the PDC 2008 event :)