web-development|Mar 5, 2015

What Javascript Framework should you be using?

What Javascript Framework should you be using? This seems to be the question everybody is asking … and everybody seems to have a different answer. I’m here at ng-conf 2015. Is AngularJS the answer? Angular has a particular opinion about how to build a Javascript application. But other popular alternatives exist. Ember.js prescribes a set of…
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wintellect-blogs|Mar 5, 2015

ng-conf 2015 – Office Apps Hack-a-thon

The night before ng-conf 2015 started, there were a number of lightning talks and hack-night activities. You might be surprised to see Microsoft as part of the mix. With the lure of several Xbox Ones to give away, there ended up being 11 teams competing for the prizes. Josh Carroll and I represented “Team Wintellect”.…
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Blogs|Mar 4, 2015

ng-init @ ng-conf 2015

ng-conf: Day 0 It’s only the first day at ng-conf 2015 but I am already pretty pumped about the next few days. There are of course going to be some cool things going on tonight even before the conference gets started. For instance there is a pretty interesting “Building Microsoft Office Apps with AngularJS Hackathon”…
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Blogs|Mar 2, 2015

Responding to Orientation Changes in Xamarin Forms

Last week, I published the first in a series of articles on building cross-platform mobile apps with Visual Studio 2015 and Xamarin Forms. In it, I presented an RPN calculator app that works on Windows Phone, Android, and iOS. One subject I didn’t address in that article was how to respond to orientation changes in…
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Blogs|Feb 19, 2015

Software Development Guidelines to Live By

Not too long ago I posted a tweet that immediately went viral. (OK, it’s all relative – to me 66 retweets and 120 favorites is viral.)  It referred to Microsoft’s Engineering Guidelines for contributing to its open-source repository on GitHub for the next version of its web development platform, ASP.NET 5. You may be familiar…
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Blogs|Feb 10, 2015

Implementing Interfaces in F# Using Object Expressions

To expand on another topic that was mentioned in the F# Infographic is that F# also has the ability to use any .NET library. From that, you may be wondering, “what about implementing interfaces that may come in other libraries?” Of course, you can create classes in F# if you need but there’s a more…
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developer-lifestyle|Feb 8, 2015

Modern Web Development 101

Maybe you’ve heard the term “Modern Web” before. It embodies the idea of a constantly evolving, exciting platform that unique and powerful user experiences can be built upon. It is a platform that new capabilities are added to regularly, not waiting for long release cycles. And maybe you’ve been asked to build a “modern web…
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Blogs|Feb 5, 2015

Cmder: Making the Command Line Your Best Friend

Now that I’ve jumped fully on board the Git and GitHub bandwagon, I’m spending a lot more time at the command line.  In fact, I find myself working with both Visual Studio and the command prompt simultaneously, constantly switching back and forth between the two.  The main reason is that, while Visual Studio 2013 makes…
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Blogs|Jan 22, 2015

Why You Should Be Writing ECMA Script 6 Now

If you are reading this article then you have probably at least heard of ECMA Script 6, the next version of JavaScript, and are curious about what it means for you or your organization. You might be wondering how ES6 is different, if it will affect your existing applications, or if it will affect your…
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Blogs|Jan 21, 2015

When Should You Make the Move to Entity Framework 7?

The next version of Entity Framework will be called “Version 7” and will be released as part of the next version of ASP.NET, called “ASP.NET 5.” If you’re currently on EF6, you might jump to the conclusion that you should upgrade to EF7 as soon as it hits the streets. But the EF team has…
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