Thanks to everyone who made it out early this morning at the Chicago Code Camp to catch my session on Azure – The Next Frontier. Here are the resources I promised you…
Here are the steps to get up and running with Azure:
1.) Request your development tokens (requires a Windows Live ID)
2.) Download the Cloud Computing Tools
3.) Download the Azure Services Training Kit
4.) Try the Cloud Computing Tools Walkthrough
Here are some additional resources to help you along your learning path:
…and Homer couldn’t be happier! Ok…not THAT Springfield, but Springfield, IL.
Part of my job as a Microsoft evangelist is fostering developer communities across the region. It just so happens that my region (officially) covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. However, I like to help provide support to any and all developers communities where and whenever I can.
One of the areas of the region that hasn’t seen much action in way of community (at least that I know of) is the southern half of the state of Illinois. Well…that all ends now. Darrin Bishop, in partnership with Levi, Ray and Shoup, are bringing the Central Illinois SharePoint Users Group to Springfield, IL.
(You can read the full announcement over on Darrin’s blog.)
I’d like to see additional developers groups started in the southern area. If you’re interested in starting a user group, there are a few organizations like INETA that can be a valuable asset and resource. To learn more, check out INETA’s whitepaper on Starting and Running a User Group.
UPDATE: The jobs have been filled.
I don’t typically throw a job posting up on my blog. This a first and will *certainly* be the last. There are better sites and resources to help connect developers will employers, however this one is a special case.
An old friend of mine (well, he’s not old, we just go way back) is part owner of an exiting and fast-growing startup seeking some highly skilled .NET developers with a penchant for leadership. You can find all of the details on each position below. If you fit the job requirements to a tee, I’d suggest getting your resume in to the fold as quickly as possible. I don’t suspect these positions will be open long. Good luck!
Job Openings:
This week I am attending php|tek and while learning how to “Get it Done” from Wez Furlong, Soma announced on his blog that Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Fx 4 (Beta 1) has shipped to the developer masses.
You can download the bits, submit feedback to the Connect site and participate in the ongoing conversations on the Beta forums. The documentation has been removed from the download for Beta 1 but you can find all of the documentation online on MSDN.
Once you kicked off the download, be sure to read What’s New in .NET Framework 4 and What’s New in Visual Studio 2010.
You can install Visual Studio 2010 side-by-side with other versions of Visual Studio or you can drop it into a virtualized machine with something like Virtual PC.
Once you have everything up and running, download the Visual Studio 2010 Training Kit to learning about the latest features and enhancements. There are also a number of walkthroughs posted highlighting some of these new features.
Enjoy!
We received quite a bit of feedback from the MIX’09 conference on why Microsoft was pushing WPF aside and focusing their efforts on Silverlight. This is certainly not the case and the WPF story is stronger than ever. This is evident in the Visual Studio teams strategy (and several product teams across Microsoft) to bet on WPF for their front-end technology for Visual Studio 2010. MIX’09 is a conference focused on Web design and development and WPF is specific to building client-based applications.
For the vast majority of enterprise developers, their day to day efforts are spent applying their skills in building and maintaining line-of-business applications. Prior to WPF, these types of client-side applications have been built using technologies such as WinForms. WPF is focused on bringing the client-side technologies forward and providing the necessary tools and technologies to offer our users a better user experience and building the next-generation types of applications. However, there is a significant (but short-lived) learning curve in bringing your .NET skills to targeting WPF applications.
Thankfully, Karl Shifflet and Jaime Rodriquez are hitting the road across 4 cities across the U.S. as well as London to provide a *free* 2-day training class focused on building line-of-business applications with WPF. Karl Shifflett is a former Microsoft MVP and current Program Manager for Cider (Cider is the code name for the WPF designer in Visual Studio). Jaime Rodriquez is a Microsoft Technical Evangelist focusing on WPF and Silverlight. You can’t find any better instructors than the ones who are actually building the technology! If you’re interested in learning more about WPF and how it can help you bring more engaging user experiences to your users, I highly suggest attending this event.
Date, Location, and Logistics
Los Angeles, CA, 4/24 -4/25
London, UK, 5/15 -5/16
New York, NY, 5/29-5/30
Chicago, IL, 6/12-6/13
Phoenix, AZ, 6/5-6/6
Agenda
Day One:
- Lap Around WPF
- WPF Tools ( Blend, Visual Studio 2008)
- Graphics Subsystem
- Layout
- WPF Fundamentals and new concepts (Application Model, Dependency Properties, Trees (logical & visual), Events, Threading)
- Resources
- Controls
- Styling
- Templating
- Q&A with instructors at end of day
Day Two:
- WPF integration with Win32 and Windows Forms
- Data binding
- Introduction to Model-View-ViewModel
- Commanding in M-V-VM
- Views, Navigation and Transitions
- Data Validation
- Error handling, Model dialogs, Logging
- Unit Testing
- MVVM & LOB tips and tricks
- Q&A with the instructor
Dave Bost is a Technical Evangelist for Microsoft and co-host of the Thirsty Developer Podcast.
