Category Archives: Community

Community, Security, Windows 7

Security – Reading: Windows 7 focus

With Windows 7 reaching its RTM build very soon, it’s worth keeping up to speed with the security features that are available to us. Microsoft has been kind enough to provide us with a wealth of documentation, some which I’ve chosen to list here:

What’s New in Client Security
Get a quick overview of new security features in Windows 7, and changes to security features and technologies from Windows Vista.

BitLocker Drive Encryption Deployment Guide for Windows 7
Delve deep into the various aspects of deploying BitLocker Drive Encryption on computers running Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 7 Ultimate from using certifications and smart cards to enabling BitLocker by using the command line.

BitLocker Drive Encryption Step-by-Step Guide for Windows 7
Designed to help you become familiar with BitLocker Drive Encryption in a Windows 7 test environment, this guide details basic information and procedures you need to start configuring and deploying BitLocker in your organization.

Implementing and Administering the ActiveX Installer Service in Windows 7
Learn how to use the ActiveX Installer Service to manage the deployment of ActiveX controls by using Group Policy on computers in an organization.

AppLocker Step-by-Step Guide
This step-by-step guide is designed to help administrators become familiar with AppLocker by providing the instructions needed to set up AppLocker in a test lab environment. Each scenario provides basic information and procedures that administrators can use to start configuring and deploying AppLocker in their network environments.

How to Turn Off Security Messages and Other System Notifications in Windows 7
Windows 7 gives you more control over the Security Messages and other Notifications you may or may not want to receive. Learn how, for starters, you can configure how notifications are handled on the Taskbar—choosing to hide certain types of notifications, such as Action Center messages, Network messages, Windows Update Automatic Updates messages, and so on.

Internet Explorer 8 Enhanced Security Configuration
Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration places your server and Internet Explorer in a configuration that decreases the exposure of your server to potential attacks that can occur through Web content and application scripts. Learn more about this configuration and browser security best practices.

Community

Meet Joe Duffy – Parallel Programming Talk @isntv 30/06/2009 4PM GMT

It’s fair to say that today’s processors are getting pretty advanced.  The arrival of dual core processors marked a significant change in processor design and the performance we can expect from them.  Whatever your beliefs about the limitations and upper limits of Moore’s Law for single core processors, multicore processors are here to stay.  And with multicore (or manycore), as developers, there’s a whole new way of programming to master: parallel programming.

Microsoft has recognised this with their Task Parallel Library (with a focus on the .NET architecture here).  Indeed, Microsoft’s commitment and vision in the parallel space, particularly for developers is recognised by those on the ground and by those further up the corporate ladder: “Microsoft’s goal is to make the benefits of building software on manycore architectures simple and accessible to the broad developer community.” –  S. Somasegar.

Processor manufacturers are keen to promote development for manycore.  It’s easy enough to sell processors (or so I believe), however if programmers have to re-align their development techniques and thinking, writing applications that run on manycore devices is going to mean a change to the rules.  Historically, programmers have shyed away from parallel and concurrent programming.  The challenges of understanding and dealing with race conditions, task-to-task communication and synchronisation have played their part in chasing developers away.  In the concurrent programming space, predictability, re-orderability, reconciliation and data stability cause similar concerns.

Intel are in the software library space too, they have their Intel® Parallel Studio which promises to deliver simplified, end-to-end parallelism to Microsoft Visual Studio C/C++ developers.  Indeed, Intel are providing considerable support for those of us learning parallel whether it’s as a beginner or an advanced practitioner.

June 2009 saw Intel launch their own on-line TV channel: the Intel® Software Network TV.   Of course, you can follow the show on Twitter: @isntv

Whilst the channel isn’t 100% dedicated to parallel programming, there are two specific shows of interest:

  • Parallel Programming Talk (Every Tuesday, 8AM Pacific – 1600 in the UK)
    June 30: Joe Duffy of Microsoft will discuss the Microsoft Parallel Extensions to .NET and Microsoft Task Parallel Library. Joe Duffy is the lead developer and architect for Parallel Extensions to .NET.
  • Teach Parallel (Alternate Tuesdays, 10AM Pacific – 1800 in the UK)
    June 30: HPC Centers can help support curricular change. Tom interviews Scott Lathrop, Blue Waters Technical Program Manager for Education & TeraGrid Area Director for Education, Outreach and Training.

I’ve been watching the shows since the June 9th launch: they’re professionally done, yet have the air of flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants about them…which adds both realism and that little something to each show!  Typically the shows are live and bring together big names either in person or over a video link.  Remote presenters often appear on a laptop screen which gives the show a real sense of community.  Most shows are 30 minutes long, which is good insofar as they don’t take too much time out of your working day. And they are “right-timed”, live broadcasting doesn’t start until 8AM Pacific which is 1600 London time.

So far the shows have focused on parallelism in academia.   However you may have noticed that I’ve included details about the June 30 shows.  I’m particularly interested in Joe Duffy’s inclusion on the agenda.  Joe’s the author of a couple of very popular books:

 

If you are developing applications using the Microsoft tools, listening to what Joe Duffy has to say is a not-to-be-missed opportunity.  Learning how to take advantage of manycore processors that are available is going to be a key skill to have (if it isn’t already).  Joe’s a lead developer and architect for the Parallel Extensions to .NET.  He probably works very closely with The Moth, and we know that Dan’s content is second-to-none: I’m sure we can expect the same from Joe.

See you online at Intel® Software Network TV on the 30th of June at 1600 (London time)!

References
Dealing with Concurrency: Designing Interaction Between Services and Their Agents
Parallel computing
Concurrent computing 

Community

Good swag? What is it? What are your favourite swaggy items?

17 Comments

Swag: that stuff given away at IT Pro and Developer conferences. Swag is typically the free stuff that conference organisers give away “willy nilly”. Expensive prizes may also be referred to as swag, but you may have to work for them (answer questions) or simply be lucky (name drawn out of a “hat”)

But what makes good swag?

For me, good swag revolves around a few key concepts:

  • Usability. A pen is usable, however it’s an easy piece of swag for vendors and conference organisers to give out. How many conference pens have you got? How many are still capable of writing anything? I filled an A4 paper box with conference pens gathered over the last 10 years: none of them worked without a lot of effort. Granted pens are excellent if you need people to fill in feedback forms – having a pile of pens handy encourages folks to complete the form as they don’t have to hunt for a pen of their own. USB pen/key drives are usable, however only if they are “right sized”: 512MB is no good these days…unless it’s simply a CD replacement (devExpress gave out 512mb drives at one of the TechSummits, it contained up-to-the-minute builds of CodeRush and RefactorPro – this is when a 512MB drive is considered good swag!) For key drives, 4GB used to be an expensive option, however nowadays, 8GB and even 16GB should be deemed reachable.
  • Fun. Swag has to have a reason for being, be it useful or fun. Wrox lollypops are fun, as can be seen here.
  • Practical. Practical and usable are very closely related, however there is a fine line. Practical to me, means it’s not “throw away” type swag. Usable means that I might not use it daily, but I will put it somewhere that I can use it. Socks and wearables that aren’t garish are practical. For example, I have a few pairs of thick Microsoft/MSDN socks – these are practical. Branded clothing is also practical, although some folks prefer the branding to be “delicate”…I personally don’t mind branding being “in your face”. If you are thinking about producing wearables, assess your audience: how many XXL t-shirts do you see at conferences? Too many IMHO.

With those key points in mind, here are my four favourite pieces of swag:

DevExpress laptop bag. Laptop bags are emotive items. This one is perfect for 17″ laptops, whilst still providing space for other toys and chargers (when I remember to pack it!) It also has two stretchy bits at either end – ideal for a small umbrella (I live in Scotland, sometimes the rain is so heavy that a small umbrella is required) and a soft drink of some kind too.

Microsoft SharePoint thermal mug. I use this virtually every day. It’s perfect. It fits in my car’s cup holder. It works – hot drinks stay really hot for well over an hour. It doesn’t spill. I’m sure that I blagged this from @lliu during a Microsoft MVP Summit.

Office duffel bag. I have two of these. They are great for carrying camera equipment at events as well as being an excellent golf shoe bag!

I also find myself using a Microsoft .NET rucksack that was given out at MSDN Roadshows around 2000-2001. It’s almost usable as a laptop bag, but since it has little in the way of padding, care is required. Nonetheless, it’s “right sized”, not too big and not too small.

That’s not to say that the CodeZone fleece, the Microsoft MVP rugby shirt and dress shirts aren’t good swag – they are used very frequently too. Good wearables, IMHO, make good swag, especially if the vendor goes out of their way to ask you what size you are!

Bad swag manifests itself in the form of:

  • Stuff that is hard to get rid off. If swag doesn’t fall into the usable or practical, folks may reject it. Conference organisers like to give swag away…they’re not so keen to take it back! Personally, I try to recover and re-use as much swag as I can: cleaners don’t want swag, they’ll simply “bin it”. It’s important to recover such swag: vendors paid for it and gave it to the conference, recovery is key. Besides, it’s only common decency to grab a box and run around the conference rooms cleaning up after you, yes?
  • Breaks easily. Good swag can be delicate swag, i.e. it breaks very easily. If that happens, word gets around and you have bad swag!
  • Doesn’t work. Swag that looks to be useful and practical needs to work. I’ve seen a lot of USB gizmos that were very appealing, however they simply didn’t work when plugged in.
  • Good, but legacy. Think about USB devices. 1.1 is old hat now, don’t expect your audience to like you if you give them a 1.1 device that relies on a little bit of speed! Folks won’t thank you for a USB 1.1 pen drive these days!

So those are my thoughts about good/bad swag; some of them are “from the field”, i.e. from attendees at events; some are simply my observations. They’re aren’t meant to be rude in any way, so please don’t take them that way. Perhaps they’ve helped you? I would be keen to read/hear your views on this topic…

What makes good swag? What are your favourite items of swag? Please do share in the comments!


Community, Development

Programming Challenge – Original Pascal Submission

4 Comments

Earlier this week I set a Programming Challenge using an example from my first year in academia. So far it has attracted 60 or so comments and solutions!

I’m particularly impressed with the range of languages that have been used.

Regular day-to-day offerings in C# are there, C# with LINQ, PowerShell and VBScript. “Vanilla” C, C++, Perl, Ruby and Python aren’t left out; neither are Smalltalk, Haskall, Lisp, clojure, Scala, F#, T-SQL, Informix SQL, SyBase SQL, APL, APL2 and A+. 6502 machine code and Excel are in the submission pot to – extreme diamond plotting!

There are even submissions in Octave and J (references here and here)!

I’ve had offers of solutions in JavaScript and jQuery, hopefully they’ll arrive soon!

I haven’t verified it yet, but here’s one of the J solutions, stunningly terse:

It is written in Iverson’s J programming language.

3 :'(],|.@}:)(|.@}.”_1,.])(AB{~i.Y)(_2<\2#i.Y)}'' ''$~2#Y=.>:y(=i.1:)AB=.a.{~65+i.26′”0

by Tracy Harms

That won me “most cryptic” tweet from Stuart!

Naturally I’m pleased, I wasn’t expecting it to be so popular! Huge thanks to all involved so far!

For the sake of completion, I’ve scanned in the original Pascal submission. Here it is:

Oh dear: notice the scandalous indentation after the FOR loop. Cringe.

If I was to write a C# version of the Pascal code, I might end up with something similar to this:


using System;

namespace diamond
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
char widest_char;
int next_char, finish_char, wide, range, direction, position, spacelength, loop;

widest_char = Console.ReadKey().KeyChar;
Console.WriteLine();

wide = (int)widest_char;
direction = 1;
spacelength = 1;
position = 1;

next_char = 66;
finish_char = 65;

range = 2 * (wide - finish_char);

// Calculate initial left indent
int mid = wide - 65 + 1;

String firstLetter = Char.ToString((char)finish_char);
firstLetter=firstLetter.PadLeft(mid+1);
Console.WriteLine(firstLetter);

for (loop = 1; loop < range; loop++) { Console.Write(" ".PadLeft(mid - position)); Console.Write((char)next_char); Console.Write(" ".PadLeft(spacelength)); Console.WriteLine((char)next_char); next_char = next_char + (1 * direction); position = position + (1 * direction); spacelength = spacelength + (2 * direction); // Flip direction when the middle of the diamond is reached if (next_char == wide) direction = -1; } Console.WriteLine(firstLetter); Console.ReadLine(); } } }

Back in 1988, I was reasonably pleased with the Pascal solution. Looking at it now, there are a few things I'd probably change, however hindsight with experience is a wonderful thing.

I can't remember how long it took me to write the Pascal version, probably not very long as I had prototyped the solution using BBC Basic V - a programming language that I had been using since I was 13...some five years before I set eyes on the diamond plotter task! I can't recall exactly, but I'm reasonably sure that the BBC Basic version took me about an hour to get working...

Of course, throwing readability, etc. out of the window, were I thinking about writing a similar solution today in 2009, I might find myself writing something similar to this:


using System;

namespace ConsoleApplication5
{
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
int range = Console.ReadKey().KeyChar - 65;
Console.Clear();

Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0}A", "".PadLeft(range)));
int r = 1, dir = 1;
while ((r > 0) && (range>0))
{
char c = Convert.ToChar(r + 65);
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0}{1}{2}{3}", "".PadLeft(range - r),
c, "".PadLeft(r + (r - 1)), c));
if (r == range) dir = -1;
r = r + dir;
}
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0}A", "".PadLeft(range)));

Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}

How long did it take me to write a solution today? 30 minutes. 10 minutes of which were spent strangely refactoring for fewer lines of code and terseness. It was interesting writing this version, readability and ability to follow the work-flow came through in the initial version. Then the desire to strip it back to the very basics caught up with me. It's still not perfect, but it does the job. That said, I'm not sure my original Pascal tutor would be hugely happy with it! C'est la vie!

I'll write another post that brings together all the submissions that I've received so far - keep them coming!

Community, Development

Programming Challenge!

120 Comments

Twenty years ago, during my first year in academia, my Pascal tutor set us some top-notch assignments.

Your mission:

Write a program which draws a diamond of the form illustrated below. The letter which is to appear at the widest point of the figure (E in the example) is to be specified as input data.

Here’s a scan of the original hand-out:

My original Pascal solution, which I prototyped using BBC Basic V, took less than a page of fan-fold listing paper and was implemented as a console application. 50% of the listing dealt with input validation and “do you want to run the program again?” code! I will convert the example line-by-line into C# for later publication here! Of course, were I to write it today, it should look very different!

I’d be keen to see your solutions, written in your choice of programming language. Novelty value for uniqueness in your choice of programming language may well be rewarded! Procedural, object-oriented, functional, dynamic, verbose, terse…the choice is yours!

“What’s in it for me?” you might ask?
Well, nothing really, a bit of kudos and the feeling of a job well done! However, I will offer the two best/novel UK-based solutions a much-coveted DDD polo shirt (modelled here!). My decision is final, colour may vary, size might not be the same size as you, yada yada, other legalese applies, etc.

Submission by comments here on this post, by e-mail (top right About Me), or via Twitter @camurphy please!

Over to you!

UPDATE: Comments seem to mangle the code formatting, it has been suggested that code is submitted either via e-mail or via http://pastebin.com/

Community, Developer Events

3 * DDD – DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper!

April and May 2009 are shaping up to be busy months for DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper!

First up, on the 4th of April, there is DDD Belfast. With a dedicated MVC track, this promises to be a event not to be missed! The full agenda can be found here. To register (to attend), please click here. The hash tag that’s already in use for this event is: #DDDBelfast

Next, on the 2nd of May, there is DDD Glasgow. All the information you’ll need can be found here.

The 23rd of May sees DDD South-West in Taunton (not Exeter as I had previously thought!). Click here to register (to attend) for this event!

The beady-eyed amongst may have noticed www.developerdeveloperdeveloper.com! This is a new portal site that we created in 2009 (huge thanks to @plip and @davesussman). We’re hoping to use this portal as the primary means of accessing all DDD events in the future. Watch that space!

Of course, regional DDD events doesn’t mean the end of the “Big Daddy” DDD that’s held annually in Reading! Rest assured that plans are afoot for DDD8, follow @developerday to keep track of all things DDD!

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Community, Security

Win32/Conficker.B/Downadup infections

2 Comments

In short: make sure your system is patched for MS08-067 – use Windows Update to help you.

—————————————————————————

Abstract
Based on feedback Microsoft are concerned about the rise in reported infections due to the worm Win32/Conficker.B also known as “Downadup.” Though systems which have already applied the out-of-band released MS08-067 in October 2008 are protected, unpatched system user have experienced system lockout and other problems.

Last week, Microsoft released a version of the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) that can help remove variants of Win32/Conficker and other resources.

Background
Win32/Conficker.B exploits a vulnerability in the Windows Server service (SVCHOST.EXE) for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows 2008. While Microsoft addressed this issue in October with Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067, and Forefront antivirus and OneCare (as well as other vendor’s antivirus products) helped protect against infections, many systems that have not been patched manually through Server Update Services and Microsoft/Windows Update or through Automatic Updates have recently come under attack by this worm. Attacked systems may lock out users, disable our update services and block access to security-related Web sites:

In response to this threat, Microsoft has:

  • Updated the January version of the MSFT to detect and remove variants of Win32/Conficker.B. You can download this version from the MSRT from either the Microsoft Update site or through its associated Knowledge Base article (see next bullet point)
  • Created the KB article 962007 “Virus alert about the Win32/Conficker.B worm” to provide public details on the symptoms and removal methods available to address this issue.
  • Announced the release of the items and the virus threat itself on the Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog.

It is Microsoft’s hope that these resources can assist you in resolving issues with unpatched, infected systems and that you can apply MS08-067 to any other unpatched systems as soon as possible to avoid this threat.

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Community, Developer Events

Call For Speakers: DDD Ireland “ah go on!”

2 Comments

After Galway last year we’re taking DDD to Belfast this year and you can be involved.

The call for speakers is open and awaiting your submissions. Like all DDD events there here will be NO Microsoft speakers presenting, just speakers from the [.NET] developer community; although we will have many of the Irish Developer Platform Evangelists (DPEs) on hand to help out and chat to attendees.

The day is put together by the community for the community, in other words you. We thank our sponsors who have helped make the event possible: Microsoft have graciously sponsored the event! The event is free to attend and will be held on Saturday 4th April so you don’t even need to take time off work.

Do you have the urge to present? Then register and submit a session. Not sure about your presentation skills, but would like to suggest something you’d like to see then you can submit your suggestions using the new for 2009 Request a Session page! Somewhere in between? Drop me an email, I’m sure we can find a seasoned speaker to act as a mentor – this could be your first big break! (my e-mail address is over to the right-hand side of this blog!)

We’d love to have speakers from the island join us again, ah go on, ah go on, ah go on go on go on…

The call for speakers and sessions runs from the 12th of January until the 2th February. The community can then vote on the suggested sessions from the 3rd February until the 2nd of March with the conference itself taking place somewhere in Belfast on Saturday 4th April. The venue is still to be confirmed, but the date and the event are set in stone!

Submit your session via the DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper Belfast web-site!

Learn more about future DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper (DDD) events via the DDD aggregator!

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Community, Developer Events

[UK] Feb/Mar 2009 MSDN Events (inc. Professional Developers’ Day discount!)

Mar 23 Microsoft Professional Developers’ Day @ DevWeek 2009 London

Register for PDD before 27 February to receive the discount rate of £219 + VAT. The Professional Developers’ Day (PDD) is a Microsoft exclusive, single-day event designed to give you an early preview of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework v4.0 as unveiled at the 2008 Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles. We guarantee there will be no slides and no marketing fluff. Instead we’ll be delivering lots of code and lots of demos using the very latest technologies from Microsoft, including samples and more for you to take away. With so much new technology to choose from we have split the day into 10 self-contained sessions, each digging surprisingly deeply into what we believe are the most relevant and impactful changes in the .NET Framework and Visual Studio. Our goal is to ensure you finish the day able to identify which technologies will help you deliver better solutions in the future and hence focus your own research time in the right areas. And to add to the fun, we’ll be showcasing a range of ‘after hours’ technologies in the Expo area, including XNA, robotics, and Photosynth.

***

What:
MSDN: Catch Up with Microsoft Rich Client Technologies for 2008

Event Description
Audience: Developers

In this half-day session we’ll do a refresh of the technologies that we can use to build rich, interactive clients with .NET in 2008. We’ll take a look at how we can be cross-platform, cross-browser with Silverlight 2 and yet get the full development experience of a .NET application and then we’ll explore how we can take that further with the Windows Presentation Foundation V3.5 Service Pack 1 which allows for the richest, most-productive development model for Windows applications. There’ll be lots of demos and code as we bring you bang-up-to-date with what’s happening in the world of Microsoft clients.

Agenda:
Silverlight 2: From Scratch

Haven’t seen or experimented with Silverlight 2? This session is for you. We’ll explain the platform’s capabilities for rich, internet applications and we’ll look at how you go about building applications using a combination of the XAML language and the .NET Framework. Along the way, we’ll look at the major stepping stones like how we can make use of the network, how we can make use of the filesystem, how we can re-use and make use of existing controls and we’ll look at the controls that come “in the box” along with the ones in the Silverlight Toolkit on CodePlex. We’ll also look at the tooling involved in building a Silverlight 2 application with Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 and Expression Blend 2 Service Pack 1.

Windows Presentation Foundation: From Scratch

New to WPF? Coming back to the world of “rich client” after building web applications? In this session we’ll do a refresh of what Windows Presentation Foundation is, what its core capabilities are and how we build applications using a combination of the XAML language and the .NET Framework. We’ll bring this bang up-to-date by having a look at what’s new for WPF since its original release in 2006 and we’ll look at some of the newer developments such as the WPF Toolkit with its DataGrid and Ribbon controls on CodePlex.

Where:
Feb 10 London
Feb 12 Birmingham
Feb 24 Edinburgh
Feb 26 Manchester

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Community, Developer Events

[UK] Feb/Mar 2009 MSDN Events (inc. Professional Developers’ Day discount!)

1 Comment

Mar 23 Microsoft Professional Developers’ Day @ DevWeek 2009 London

Register for PDD before 27 February to receive the discount rate of £219 + VAT. The Professional Developers’ Day (PDD) is a Microsoft exclusive, single-day event designed to give you an early preview of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework v4.0 as unveiled at the 2008 Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles. We guarantee there will be no slides and no marketing fluff. Instead we’ll be delivering lots of code and lots of demos using the very latest technologies from Microsoft, including samples and more for you to take away. With so much new technology to choose from we have split the day into 10 self-contained sessions, each digging surprisingly deeply into what we believe are the most relevant and impactful changes in the .NET Framework and Visual Studio. Our goal is to ensure you finish the day able to identify which technologies will help you deliver better solutions in the future and hence focus your own research time in the right areas. And to add to the fun, we’ll be showcasing a range of ‘after hours’ technologies in the Expo area, including XNA, robotics, and Photosynth.

***

What:
MSDN: Catch Up with Microsoft Rich Client Technologies for 2008

Event Description
Audience: Developers

In this half-day session we’ll do a refresh of the technologies that we can use to build rich, interactive clients with .NET in 2008. We’ll take a look at how we can be cross-platform, cross-browser with Silverlight 2 and yet get the full development experience of a .NET application and then we’ll explore how we can take that further with the Windows Presentation Foundation V3.5 Service Pack 1 which allows for the richest, most-productive development model for Windows applications. There’ll be lots of demos and code as we bring you bang-up-to-date with what’s happening in the world of Microsoft clients.

Agenda:
Silverlight 2: From Scratch

Haven’t seen or experimented with Silverlight 2? This session is for you. We’ll explain the platform’s capabilities for rich, internet applications and we’ll look at how you go about building applications using a combination of the XAML language and the .NET Framework. Along the way, we’ll look at the major stepping stones like how we can make use of the network, how we can make use of the filesystem, how we can re-use and make use of existing controls and we’ll look at the controls that come “in the box” along with the ones in the Silverlight Toolkit on CodePlex. We’ll also look at the tooling involved in building a Silverlight 2 application with Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 and Expression Blend 2 Service Pack 1.

Windows Presentation Foundation: From Scratch

New to WPF? Coming back to the world of “rich client” after building web applications? In this session we’ll do a refresh of what Windows Presentation Foundation is, what its core capabilities are and how we build applications using a combination of the XAML language and the .NET Framework. We’ll bring this bang up-to-date by having a look at what’s new for WPF since its original release in 2006 and we’ll look at some of the newer developments such as the WPF Toolkit with its DataGrid and Ribbon controls on CodePlex.

Where:
Feb 10 London
Feb 12 Birmingham
Feb 24 Edinburgh
Feb 26 Manchester

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