InfoQ Homepage .NET Content on InfoQ
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Windows Share, a New Data Exchange Mechanism in Windows 8
Microsoft has created a new mechanism for sharing information between applications in Windows 8 called Windows Share. Apps can share text, bitmaps, HTML, URI, files, and other type of data, and the usage scenarios are numerous. For example, the app receiving the information can post it to Tweeter or Facebook make it easy to post information to a social network without actually visiting it.
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Design Details of the Windows Runtime
The Windows Runtime (WinRT) was created to provide a fluid and secure application experience on Windows. WinRT was influenced by both .NET, C++ and JavaScript. WinRT does not replace the CLR or Win32, but rather provides unified support for applications written in different languages to run on Windows using the new Metro UI.
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F# 3.0 – LINQ + Type Providers = Information Rich Programming
Microsoft recently announced a developer preview release of F# 3.0 – new features include LINQ-support through Query expressions and a Type Provider System along with a set of built-in providers that allow succinct programming against a variety of data sources.
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C#, VB.NET To Get Windows Runtime Support, Asynchronous Methods
C# and VB.NET will soon be getting new features like Windows Runtime Support, Asynchronous Methods, Caller Info attributes and more. Also, compiler will get APIs which will expose what the compiler knows about the code to the IDE and the developers.
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Designing Loosely Coupled Metro Applications with URIs
Protocols allow applications to launch other applications using URIs much as you would launch a website. This allows you to build a collection of small work-flow centric applications that work together seamlessly.
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Application Lifecycle Management in Team Foundation Server 11
Team Foundation Server 11 has added many features in the area of Application Lifecycle Management. Some of the highlights include support for code reviews, iterations/sprints, resource allocation, third part testing frameworks, and a much more capable dependency graph.
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Visual Studio 11 Preview is Now Available
The Visual Studio 11 preview is now available for MSDN subscribers with a general release planned in the next few days. Here is a brief summary of the features they are showing off at Build.
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C# and Visual Basic on the WinRT API
While Win32 APIs can be called from .NET languages, doing so can be quite difficult. So for the last two year Microsoft has been building a replacement known as Windows Runtime or WinRT with cross-language support in mind. WinRT components can be created in both C++ and .NET and may be consumed by both of those as well as JavaScript.
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Microsoft has Abandoned Silverlight and All Other Plugins in Metro IE
Though it has been hard, we have been trying to avoid reporting on rumors about the death of Silverlight for quite some time. As in all things, rumors tend to be exaggerated or out-right false. Unfortunately the end of Silverlight is no rumor; if Microsoft doesn’t change course it, as well as Flash and other plugin technologies, will be effectively unusable when Windows 8 is released.
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Build Sessions to Watch For
With 274 sessions at the //Build/ conference it is hard to predict which are going to be important and which are just filler. Here is a rundown of the sessions we think are going to be important to enterprise developers.
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WinRT: An Object Orientated Replacement for Win32
WinRT is a modern OS-level API that is built upon the Windows kernel. It isn’t just a layer on top of Win32, it is a replacement for it. Built with Object Orientated concepts such as a unified type systems and reflection, it is equally usable from C++, .NET, and dynamic languages such as JavaScript.
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Major UI Themes in Windows 8
Windows 8 Metro doesn’t just change the way applications look, it fundamentally changes how they behave. Applications will no longer be running in the background at all times, they will be suspended whenever they are not view. Rather than a save button, most applications will be constantly updating data on the cloud so that the user can seamlessly switch from one device to the next.
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Windows 8 Replaces the Win32 API
Windows 8 introduces a new core API called WinRT. This is used to develop Metro style applications using C/C++, .NET, or JavaScript. These applications automatically gain features such as hardware acceleration and advanced power management out of the box. Existing Silverlight and WPF applications can be ported to the new “Native XAML” libraries with minimal effort.
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Spring AMQP 1.0 GA
SpringSource, a division of VMware, has released Spring AMQP 1.0 GA (1.0.0.RELEASE). The Spring AMQP project applies core Spring concepts to the development of AMQP-based messaging solutions, and is available in both Java and .NET versions.
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Windows Azure Toolkits for Devices Now Include Android
In addition to updates to the Windows Azure Toolkits for Windows Phone and iOS, Microsoft has introduced a new toolkit for Android, which can be used with applications developed with the Android SDK and Eclipse.