Codeguru Update eNewsletter – June 10th, 2008

CodeGuru.com

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Tuesday June 10, 2008

This Week’s Topics


Comments from the Editor



Last week, I attended Tech Ed 2008 for Developers. I’d like to say that it was full of revolutionary new ideas that will blow your mind, but in truth, it simply wasn’t. I’d also like to say that Bill Gate’s [possibly] final keynote was awe-inspiring and led the crowd to a standing ovation. But, it wasn’t and it didn’t. As far as Tech Eds go, I think Microsoft might want to put the developers and the IT Pros back into the same room next year!

In all fairness, Microsoft is at an in-between point for developers. They’ve covered Visual Studio 2008 in launch events, they hit Silverlight 2 beta 2 at MIX 08, and even SQL Server 2008 has been hit in pretty good detail even though it is still coming. There are new things coming, such as “Oslo” and Windows “7”; however, there isn’t a lot to be said about these until Microsoft’s PDC this fall.

Silverlight 2 beta 2 just released. This new beta includes more built-in controls, control template editing support, Visual State Manager (VSM) support, more UI Automation and Accessibility, DeepZoom XML-based manifest file support, WPF compatibility fixes, Data improvements, and a lot more. For the details of what is new, you can check out Scott Guthrie’s blog entry.

I
did sit through a session on “Oslo” at Tech Ed. Although the room was packed, there were a number of people that left. We’ll be covering a lot more on Oslo nearer Microsoft’s PDC as more information is made available. In short, “Oslo” was summarized as being a repository with a visual editor, a new version of Microsoft Work Flow (WF), and a new process server for Work Flow, WCF, BizTalk, and more. David Chappell stated that the challenge that “Oslo” is trying to resolve is that there are a lot of people working in diverse roles with diverse information across many different areas of an organization. “Oslo” attempts to make IT simpler, more effective, and less expensive. Overall, it seems like a plan to help architect and create solutions across an enterprise. Time will tell what “Oslo” will really be.

One part of “Oslo” that interested me was the new “D” language. At Tech Ed I learned that “D” will be the Oslo schema language, which will generate SQL. In fact, you probably can avoid the “D” language entirely and just use SQL if you want. Because of that, most people won’t need to learn and use a new language. My excitement over a new language was dashed!

If you want to know an interesting perspective on Tech Ed, check out Russell Jones’ blog entry on DevX. I think he hit a key point in that Microsoft is beginning to unify things. “Oslo” might very well extend that unification farther into the corporation. We’ll know more about that, however, in the future.

Until next week…

Brad!
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Bradley L. Jones
www.CodeGuru.com
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Recently Published Books


For those of you keeping up by reading books. The following are just a few of the new books that have been recently released. If you’ve read any of these, feel free to write a review to be posted on CodeGuru. See the submission guidelines.

Getting Results from Software Development Teams

By Lawrence J. Peters for Microsoft Press
300 pages for $39.99

Pro VB 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform


By Andrew Troelsen for Apress
1400 pages for $59.99

Beginning VB 2008 Databases

From Novice to Professional
By Agarwal and Huddleston for Apress
420 pages for $44.99


New & Updated Articles on CodeGuru


Following are short descriptions of new articles on CodeGuru. If you are interested in submitting your own article for inclusion on the site, then you will find guidelines here.


Creating Snippets in Visual Studio

By Dan Rigsby
Create chunks of code that you can paste in your applications in Visual Studio. Discover how to Include customizable parameters.


A TR1 Tutorial: Class std::tr1::array


By Marius Bancila
Learn how to use std::tr1::array, an implementation of a fixed size sequence from VC++ 2008 Feature Pack.


Wt: C++ Web Toolkit Library Lets You Write Scripting-Independent Web Apps


By Victor Volkman
Tired of over-committing to one web scripting technology only to get derailed by the client’s browser? Wt will insulate your application logic from the bumpy ride of trying to guess the right web platform for your apps.


[Updated] Cryptographically Random Password Generator


By Garrett Groff
Create a cryptographically random password generator, including options that allow the user to specify allowable characters in the password.


Creating a Pong Game

By Quasar
It’s a simple game, but this tutorial will get you playing in a very short time.


Leveraging Content Types in SharePoint Document Libraries and Lists


By Daan De Brouckere and Raj Agarwal
Many organizations are not fully realizing the power of content types when using SharePoint. Here you will learn how to leverage content types and use them properly through examples.


Using Functional Construction to Create XML Documents


By Paul Kimmel
Dynamically construct XML documents in code quickly and easily with LINQ to XML and Functional Construction.


Discussion Groups


Check out the CodeGuru discussion forums

Forums include Visual C++, General C++, Visual Basic, Java, General Technology, C#, ASP.NET, XML, Help Wanted, and much, much, more!

… HOT THREADS …


Is inline editing of a listbox row possible? (C++)


Large array causing segmentation fault (C++)


Problem with random numbers… (C++)


New Articles on Developer.com

Front End Architecture: Where Business Meets IT

By Jeffrey Ryan
Front end architecture is where business meets IT. Learn the benefits you can realize through a thoughtfully designed front end architecture.

Working With Design Patterns: Mediator

By Jeff Langr
Objects talking to each other and no one in control? Messages going all over the place? The mediator pattern can help you control the chaos!

Math for Java Game Programmers, Vector Addition

By Richard G. Baldwin
Learn how to develop a game-programming math library by adding and manipulating vectors.

More by Author

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