Lately I've been into all things "Orcas" (i.e. LINQ, Acropolis, Astoria, Jasper, etc.) However, the one thing I haven't really delved into yet is WPF. Since it's getting all the buzz, I decided to dig in and see what it's about. Admittedly I haven't gotten all that far yet, I'm still looking at how the WPF application model differs from that of Win32, but I have been amazed at how easy it is do some things, particularly when it comes to 3D and animation. For example within 20 minutes approximately 50 lines of xaml I was able to take a label, project it into a 3D cube, and then rotate the cube on its vertical axis. The result is something that looks like this:

Of course, when the app runs it actually spins. To me, that's pretty mindblowing.

The source code is attached if you want to take a look at how simple this is. (Note: HelloWPF.sln was written with Visual Studio "Orcas", I'm not entirely sure if it will work on Visual Studio 2005 with the WPF extension installed).

ag

Over the past month or so Microsoft has released a number of CTP's targeted at Visual Studio "Orcas". You should already know about Silverlight (if you don't then you probably shouldn't continue reading this post). Of course Silverlight gets the spotlight, and it should, because it looks so cool (check out the Netflix demo to see what I'm talking about). With everyone ranting and raving about Silverlight, some middle tier projects have been released under the radar (detail below.. As you know this kind of stuff doesn't get all the hype that UI innovations do, but they're not trivial projects. I recommend checking them out when you have some time.

Acropolis

“Acropolis” builds on the rich capabilities of Microsoft Windows and the .NET Framework, including Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), by providing tools and pre-built components that help developers quickly assemble applications from loosely-coupled parts and services.

Astoria

The Microsoft Codename "Astoria" project is an incubation effort at Microsoft focused on exploring how various emerging world-wide-web technologies and concepts can be combined with the Microsoft Data Platform to provide a first-class infrastructure for building the next wave of internet applications.

The goal of Microsoft Codename Astoria is to enable applications to expose data as a data service that can be consumed by web clients within corporate networks and across the internet. The data service is reachable over regular HTTP requests, and standard HTTP verbs such as GET, POST, PUT and DELETE are used to perform operations against the service. The payload format for the data exchanged with the service can be controlled by the client and all options are simple, open formats such as plan XML and JSON. The use of web-friendly technologies make it ideal as a data back-end for AJAX-style applications, Rich Interactive Applications and other applications that need to operate against data that is across the web.

The first Astoria CTP is a dual release, making Astoria available in the form of downloadable bits that can be used to build data services that are entirely contained within a single computer or network and as an experimental online service that you can use to create online stores that are hosted by Microsoft and are accessible over the internet.

Jasper

Jasper leverages the power of dynamic languages and the concept of convention over configuration to provide a programming surface for data that enables rapid development of data-bound applications. While most other rapid data access frameworks are only capable of working against simple databases, Jasper can scale to almost any database, regardless of size or complexity. This is possible because Jasper takes advantage of the ADO.NET Entity Framework’s significant investments in mapping and conceptual data modeling.

ag

Forgive me dear readers. I know I've been a little lax on the whole blog thing recently. This has been due to the fact that I've been diving deep into Visual Studio "Orcas" and LINQ in preparation for the May 2007 DevCares. My slide decks and demos should be attached to this post (if I remember to click the attach button).

This is some really cool technology that will make you rethink the way you access and query data. I recommend checking it out before "Orcas" ships (some time this Fall).

You can download the Orcas beta here.

If you're an MSDN subscriber you can download an ISO image from your subscription page.

If you want more info on LINQ I recommend checking out Scott Guthrie's blog. He has been posting a number of entires on LINQ over the past couple of months.

For some really good content head on over check out the session from MIX '07. All session are downloaded for your viewing pleasure (on iPod or Zune).

In particular I would recommend Anders Hejlsberg's presentation on LINQ. This is the guy that came up with the idea. No one should be this smart.

(A note on the demos. These demos were created running Visual Studio "Orcas" Beta 1. I installed this on my host Vista machine side by side with Visual Studio 2005. Usually I'd Virtual PC this kind of thing, but I'm also highly impatient and like a quicker response. I haven't had any problem to date, but I do know that if you uninstall the Beta you'll need to fix your VS 2005 installation by running the install media again.)

ag

We've all seen that clever Mac commerical that takes a jab at Vista's UAC feature. I admit I laughed a bit, but I have to say, for the most part I like the UAC feature. Why wouldn't you want to know when an application is attempting to execute with elevate privilege?

With that said, I live 8+ hours a day in Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 Management Studio. To run correctly I've set both of these apps to run as administrator. I'll be the first to say, that every now and then I get annoyed when I get promptied to allow these application to run as administrator when I've already specified that they should. I was content to accpet this until I read Tim Sneath post on disable UAC in Vista. The nice thing about his solution is that it doesn't really disable UAC, it just allows the applications you've set to "run as administrator" to actually run without the elevation prompt.

Just a handy tip.

ag

Lately I've been rereading Steve McConnell's classic "Code Complete". A great book and I recommend it for all. Coincidentally he was also on .NET Rocks this past week discussing his books. He gave a quote by Stan-Kelly Bootle that I think is great and worth repeating:

your program n. A maze of non sequiturs littered with clever-clever tricks and irrelevant comments. Compare MY PROGRAM.

my program n. A gem of algoristic precision, offering the most sublime balance between compact, efficient coding on the one hand and fully commented legibility for posterity on the other. Compare YOUR PROGRAM.

So the next time you're writing some code, try keeping this in mind and see what happens.

ag