Notes from Visual Studio Live! In Orlando November 14-17th.

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I was lucky enough to attend Visual Studio Live! in Orlando on November 14th-17th. There were so many great speakers and the networking was great. I met a lot of really cool people and  we talked about everything .NET (from WP7, Silverlight, C#, ASP.NET WebForms, AJAX, MVC 3.. and so forth). I took a lot of notes during all the sessions and wanted to provide it to those that could not come out. If you follow me on Twitter then you have seen most of these. Most of the authors put slides/source code for their presentation on the web. So if you want to learn more you should be able to find the info by googling the author’s name. I met a lot of people at Visual Studio Live and had great conversations with many speakers like (Tim Huckaby, Billy Hollis, Wallace McClure, David Platt, Walt Ritscher).

Below are the sessions that I selected and the Key Points that I took away from the session.

Sunday Nov 13th.

Making Effective Use of Silverlight and WPF (Billy Hollis, DotNetMasters, Rockford Lhotka, Principal Technology Evangelist, Magenic)

Key Points:

• Billy Hollis- "One size does not fit all for almost anything in live"#vslive. - so true.
• My favorite quote so far is by @billyhollis . If I am writing a 5 screen#silverlight or #wpf app then I'm not using #MVVM#vslive
• Rocky Lhotka @rockylhotka announced you can d/l Basic xaml framework from http://bxf.codeplex.com#vslive
• Best #vslive comment so far for me....'no ui should have more than one data grid on it' somebody tell that to my last company
• Link to the design pattern book "Gang of Four" Design Pattern that Rockford Lhotka recommends http://mcrump.me/bCltk2#vslive
• Always assume the client is compromised when thinking of putting "secret" code into your .xap #silverlight#vslive
• Rockford Lhotka (Creator of the CSLA .NET framework) is talking about his framework. #Silverlighthttp://www.lhotka.net/cslanet/#vslive
• Lambdas FTW! @rockylhotka#vslive (regarding Asynchronous Data with #Silverlight )
• You can download Billy's NDC videos at http://www.ndc2010.no/#vslive#silverlight
• I keep hearing people around me saying "Wow" when they see the power of XAML #silverlight#vslive (regarding adding shapes/text in button).
• If your not using Expression Blend 4, it's time to start. Try doing an animation without it.. yeah even Chuck Norris cant do that #vslive

Monday Nov 14th

Keynote Visual Studio 2010 The Best Path from Ideas to Solutions (Dave Mendlen, Senior Director, Developer Platform and Tools, Microsoft Corporation)

Key Points:

• Lightswitch – Still in Beta. Easy for non-developers to create applications. (Developers have mixed feelings about this – actually they hate this.)
• Lightswitch uses Silverlight and you can create simple database tables without knowing what Data Types are. (example: Phone number)
• Here is the Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2 announced at #vslive yesterday morning http://bit.ly/9DXMJL

What's new in ASP.NET 4 WebForms (Wallace McClure, Partner, Scalable Development, Inc)

Key Points:

• I just got an awesome shirt from @wbm at #vslive.
• Wally's @wbm blog is located at http://morewally.com and his podcast is at http://aspnetpodcast.com#vslive#dotnet#vs2010
• Routing – Human Readable Url’s (eg. Cust.aspx?CustomerID=2 or Cust/2)
• Wally @wbm is using iWebKit http://iwebkit.net/ to assist making mobile application with #webforms. #vslive
• I think that @wbm shirt is working. I had someone ask me aboutASP.NET MVC. Had to tell em I'm more of a #silverlight guy.#VSLive
• I'm rocking the www.aspnetpodcast.com today at #vslive ( @wbm )

ASP.NET MVC Quick Primer (Gus Emery, Principal, Tech-Pro)

Key Points:

• I would highly recommend watching @SteveAndrews talk on MVC to supplement what you learned today http://mcrump.me/cxSuG3
• Now included with .NET 4.0. No separate d/l needed.
• VS2010 MVC template automatically ask if you want to create a unit test project #MVC#vslive
• Controller – Intercepts all User Interactions.
• Default Route is Home
• This is not a brand new pattern created by Microsoft. It’s been around for a while.

WPF & Silverlight: Data Visualization, NUI, and Next Generation of User Experience (Tim Huckaby, CEO/Founder, InterKnowlogy)

Key Points:

• Tim is using an old Acer Aspire Laptop to do 3D in WPF. This shows you just how hardware is becoming cheap.
• Touch Capable computing devices are not new.
• Tim says that we not that far away from “surface – touch apps” everywhere.
• Showed a demo of surface app that reaches into a human heart.
• Another demo of a doctor swiping his badge using Surface.
• I just met Tim Huckaby @timhuckaby at #vslive. He's about to do a presentation on Data Visualization #silverlight#wpf

Tips & Tricks: Visual Studio 2010 IDE & Extensions (Chris Granger, Microsoft)

Key Points:

• You can pin recent items inside of VS2010.
• You can get new Project Templates online.
• Extension Manager has lots of goodies like – Productivity Power Tools
• VS2010 Supports multiple monitors (finally).
• IntelliTrace debugging only works with VS2010 Ultimate.
• Demoed finding a bug without setting breakpoints.

Tuesday Nov 15th

AJAX with the UpdatePanel, WebForms, and the AJAX Control Toolkit (Wallace McClure, Partner, Scalable Development, Inc)

Key Points:

• IIS 7 Compression. Good? Bad? How much? - Scott Forsyth's Blog http://mcrump.me/d0BuGz#vslive ( RE: @wbm Presentation)
• The UpdatePanel is NOT dead.
• Here is a link to the Ajax Control Toolkit (@wbm )http://www.asp.net/ajax/ajaxcontroltoolkit/samples/#vslive

Silverlight, WCF RIA Services, and Your Business Objects (Deborah Kurata, President, InStep Technologies, Inc.)

Key Points:

• Additional Info: Getting started with RIA Services http://mcrump.me/bONWcY#Silverlight#vslive
• I'm about to check out Deborah Kurata's talk on RIA Services . Her blog can be found here: http://mcrump.me/alWIXD#vslive

JQuery for ASP.NET Developers - Part 1 (Jeffrey McManus, CEO, Platform Associates)

Key Points:

• Current Version is 1.4.4
• 24kb minified and compressed.
• Anonymous functions.
• Essential #JavaScript And #jQuery Design Patterns For Beginners http://mcrump.me/acPF42
• .@jeffreymcmanus 's #jquery fits in twitter <script type="text/javascript">$(document).ready(function() {alert("Hello world");});</script>
• If you have ignored #jquery so far, now is the time to start learning it.#VSLive
• Code from @jeffreymcmanus talk on jQuery http://blog.jeffreymcmanus.com/talks/jquery-for-aspnet-developers/#VSLive
• Podcast featuring the creator of #jQueryhttp://thisdeveloperslife.com/#VSLive
• Codelesson link that @jeffreymcmanus mentioned http://codelesson.com/jquery/#VSLive

Building RESTful Applications with the Open Data Protocol (Todd Anglin, Chief Evangelist, Telerik)

Key Points:

• OData.org – vast amount of data.
• Open Data Protocol Visualizer Ext mentioned during #OData session http://mcrump.me/92Yv2d#vslive
• Representational State Transfer – is REST.
• HTTP+URLs+XML – Rest is not a standard.
• WWW is the biggest REST implementation.
• OData – OData does for data what REST does for services.
• Interoperability – Predictable access to data from any system.
• REST is not a protocol, its a pattern #vslive
• You can query OData using LinqPad http://www.linqpad.net/#vslive( Get version 4) #Silverlight
• Ctrl-Shift-I to open Developer Tools in #Chrome @toddanglin#vslive
• Open Data Protocol by Example http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff478141.aspx @toddanglin#vslive
• Link to Live OData Data Sources ready to consume http://www.odata.org/producers @toddanglin#vslive
• Sharepoint 2010 exposes OData #nice to know.. @toddanglin #vslive

Can you use MEF too much? Hint - NO! (Jon Flanders, Senior Consultant, MCW Technologies)

Key Points:

• MEF is a framework for creating loosely-coupled, extensible applications.
• Most of VS uses it already.
• Silverlight MEF - Extensible Applications http://mcrump.me/axqZrD
• Export it, Import it, Compose it - MEF #vslive

Wednesday Nov 16th

Why Software Sucks (David S. Platt)

Key Points:

• Great session in the morning at #vslive by David Platt on http://mcrump.me/aDlrxg
• David Platt has a column on #MSDN called "Don't get me started"http://mcrump.me/9gB3RF#vslive
• Make software not suck.. make it work (David Platt's Why Software sucks #vslive )
• Don't bug your users with Save Dialog boxes (David Platt's Why Software sucks #vslive )
• Catastrophic Software Error http://mcrump.me/cTz4nB (David Platt's Why Software sucks #vslive )
• Know Thy User for he is Not Thee (David Platt's Why Software sucks #vslive )
• Carbonite is a great backup software.

Design, Don't Decorate (Billy Hollis, DotNetMasters)

Key Points: 

• Billy @billyhollis recommends developing several prototypes in parallel. #vslive
• Billy @billyhollis says that he does not use SketchFlow for prototyping. #vslive
• Process/Team Structure - Process must be design-centric rather than code-centric. #vslive
• Billy @billyhollis says that you will have failed experiments! I say AMEN! #vslive
• Billy @billyhollis says don't reuse prototypes hacks for your production version. #vslive

Using Microsoft Prism Loose - Coupling for Application Development (David S. Platt)

Key Points:

• Rich Clients Beat Browser Clients
• David Platt "never events" is in the Feb issue of MSDN. #vslive
• Link to all the MSDN magazines in .PDF format (including David Platt's articles - end of the mag) http://mcrump.me/aOlXlq#vslive
• Prism 4.0 Download Link http://mcrump.me/aU4alr#vslive
• Developer's Guide to Microsoft Prism http://mcrump.me/9yn0Yt#vslive

Multi-touch Madness! (Brian Peek, Senior Consultant, ASPSOFT, Inc.)

Key Points: 

• Brian @BrianPeek is explaining that all new computer electronics (laptop, phone, etc) will be equipped with multi-touch capability.
• #WPF 4 Contains 3 Touch API's. #vslive
• Did you like the Jeopardy game at #vslive? @BrianPeek created it http://mcrump.me/9A17a1
• #Surface SDK includes an Emulator (Use Multiple mice) #vslive
• Hack to get Surface working on 64-bit OS http://tinyurl.com/surface64 @BrianPeek#vslive
• Microsoft #Surface SDK 1.0 SP1 Workstation Edition http://mcrump.me/bgTVww @BrianPeek#vslive
• . @BrianPeek Coding4Fun show on Channel 9http://mcrump.me/c8DHAY#vslive

Using WPF for Good and Not Evil (David S. Platt)

Key Points: 

• Making your customers sick is not a recipe for success. Jeffrey Katzenberg #vslive
• Users do not want to think about your software, they want to think about their tasks. #vslive
• Motion Grab's a User's Eye - its hard for the user to look away from it. #vslive scrolling text...

Thanks to all for putting up with my Tweets during the past few days. I’ve added a lot of people to Twitter and hope that we continue having great conversations. See you next year (hopefully).

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