Technololgy Radar Screen

Silverlight

Mike McIntyre [MVP Visual Basic] — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:20:00 GMT

Below are some of the links I have found useful for learning about, and developing with, the Microsoft Silverlight technologies.

As a Visual Basic programmer you may want to start learning what Silverlight development is all about. Because Visual Basic in .NET can be used as a static or dynamic language, there are some unique opportunities emerging in Silverlight development for Visual Basic programmers.

Microsoft Silverlight (WikiPedia)
Abstract:	Microsoft Silverlight (code-named Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere or WPF/E) is a proprietary runtime for browser-based Rich Internet Applications, providing a subset of the animation, vector graphics, and video playback capabilities of Windows Presentation Foundation.
Title:	Microsoft Silverlight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
URL:	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Silverlight

Microsoft Silverlight (Microsoft)
Abstract:	Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows.
Title:	Silverlight
URL:	http://silverlight.net/

Getting Started

1 Getting Started Video.htm
Title:	Silverlight: Get Started
URL:	http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/

2 Download the Runtime and Tools.htm
Title:	Silverlight: Get Started
URL:	http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/

3 Learn from Samples and Documentation.htm
Title:	Silverlight: Get Started
URL:	http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/

Other Starlight Videos

How Do I with Silverlight 1 0.htm
Title:	Silverlight: Videos
URL:	http://silverlight.net/learn/learnvideos.aspx#cat2

How Do I with Silverlight 1 1.htm
Title:	Silverlight: Videos
URL:	http://silverlight.net/learn/learnvideos.aspx#cat2

MIX 2007 Key Note.htm
Comments:	This is a long video but really worth watching to understand where Silverlight fits into the application development framework. Ray Ozzie introduces the high level vision. Scott Guthrie gives the 'hands on' demos.
Date Accessed:	26 Sep. 2007
URL:	http://sessions.visitmix.com/view_07.asp?pid=KYN001

MIX 2007 Silverlight Sessions.htm
Title:	Silverlight: Videos
URL:	http://silverlight.net/learn/learnvideos.aspx#cat4

Using Blend with Silverlight 1 0.htm
Title:	Silverlight: Videos
URL:	http://silverlight.net/learn/learnvideos.aspx#cat3

Mike McIntyre http://www.getdotnetcode.com

An Excellent Article About Web 2.0

Mike McIntyre [MVP Visual Basic] — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 07:49:00 GMT

An excellent article on Web 2.0 can be found at -> What is Web 2.0?

Ready to Code: Code Snippets in Visual Studio 2005

Mike McIntyre [MVP Visual Basic] — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 08:03:00 GMT

Fresh Off the Stove

Want to get more productive? Visual Studio 2005 code snippets are available from these sites.

And don't forget - hundreds of code snippets are included with Visual Studio 2005 ;-)

What are Visual Studio 2005 Code Snippets?

If you havn't discovered the code snippets feature in Visual Studio 2005 learn more about this productivity booster by viewing the Microsoft VB team's Lisa Feigenbaum on Channel 9:

Lisa Feigenbaum - Code Snippets in Visual Studio

Upgrading to Visual Basic.NET - Post 0

Mike McIntyre [MVP Visual Basic] — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 11:22:00 GMT

I've decided to share, in a series of blog posts, what I have learned about upgrading from previous versions of Visual Basic to VB.NET.

This week my company, aZ Software Developers, will begin our forty-sixth Visual Basic upgrade project. This project is for a new client. This client employs 4 Visual Basic 6 programmers. Thirty-two of our upgrade projects have been for clients who employ five or less full-time VB programmers.

Having worked almost 100% of the time with .NET since 2001, and having been a participant in almost four dozen Visual Basic to VB.NET migrations, I believe I have some information that MAY be of value to SOME of those folks considering, planning, or implementing an upgrade from a previous version of Visual Basic to Visual Basic in .NET.

In this blog series I will be presenting the 'evolutionary' process for moving from earlier versions of Visual Basic to VB.NET that has worked best for us and our clients. An evolutionary process is a process in which something passes by degrees to a more advanced stage. From our experiences we have found that 'evolving', as opposed to 'upgrading' or 'migrating', is the far superior way to advance Visual Basic programmers and systems to VB.NET.

I hope our process will be useful to you.

Mike McIntyre

Two New Microsoft Resources for Enterprise Development

Mike McIntyre [MVP Visual Basic] — Tue, 08 Feb 2005 10:39:00 GMT

First, the Connected Systems Business helps you see how Microsoft's hardware, software, patterns, and practices works to day and where its going in the future.

Second, the Patterns and Practices Enterprise Library consolidates and updates seven of the application blocks Microsoft has produced.

The Connected Systems Kit

The Connected Systems Kit is a collection of sample applications, presentations, white papers and videos that illustrate how to implement connected systems and service-oriented architectures using current technologies.

Start here: Connected Systems

Patterns & Practices Enterprise Library

The patterns & practices Enterprise Library is a collection of application blocks designed to assist enterprise developers with common enterprise development challenges and help them build high-quality solutions with less effort. Developers are able to use the blocks as is, extend them to meet new requirements by plugging in their own code, or use them as the basis for more-complex solutions. Enterprise Library is available as a free download at the patterns & practices Web site at:

Patterns & Practices

.NET - The Ball of Mud Killer

Mike McIntyre [MVP Visual Basic] — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 17:33:00 GMT

Big Ball of Mud is an term that describes a system or computer program that has no real distinguishable architecture and is choking to death from all the mud that has been thrown on it to keep it alive.

Brian Foote and Joseph Yoder popularized the Big Ball of Mud term in their Big Ball of Mud paper. That paper defines the term as:

"A Big Ball of Mud is a haphazardly structured, sprawling, sloppy, duct-tape-and-baling-wire, spagetti-code jungle. These systems show unmistakable signs of unregulated growth, and repeated, expedient repair. Information is shared promiscuously among distant elements of the system, often to the point where nearly all the important information becomes global or duplicated. The overall structure of the system may never have been well defined. If it was, it may have eroded beyond recognition. Programmers with a shred of architectural sensibility shun these quagmires. Only those who are unconcerned about architecture, and, perhaps, are comfortable with the inertia of the day-to-day chore of patching the holes in these failing dikes, are content to work on such systems."

Big Ball of Mud systems are developed over a period of time, by different individuals with different skill levels doing what they think is best at the time.

Foote and Yoder do not universally condemn Big Ball of Mud programming. They point out that this pattern is most prevalent because it works — at least for the moment. However, as they become caked with mud programs of this pattern become maintenance nightmares producing less and less reliable results.

Overtime if left unchecked, the mud will eventually choke the system to death.

Often the best thing to do when you encounter a Big Ball of Mud system is to learn what it accomplishes and from that start drafting requirements for a new well architected system.

By the way, times when technology shifts (procedural to OO programming, client-server to web-based, file-based to database, the introduction of the internet etc.) can provide good reasons to kill off the Big Ball of Mud system and move on. Often Big Ball of Mud systems can not effectively take on the new technology which introduces the opportunity to kill the old system and build a new well architected system.

Which brings us back to the .NET Framework. The .NET Framework is a technology shift - just ask any VB Classic programmer.

It you are responsible for a Big Ball of Mud system take another look at the .NET Framework.

It may be the road to your salvation.

What's new in Data Design in Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2?

Mike McIntyre [MVP Visual Basic] — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 10:31:00 GMT

Steve Lasker at Microsoft just posted a great Beta 2 update on what the Data Design Team accomplished for Beta 2. See it at:

Data Design Time Changes Beta1 to Beta2