Robert Hess
Changing the world, one cocktail at a time.
Biography
By day, a technology evangelist,
...by night, a cocktail evangelist.
Daytime: http://msdn.microsoft.com/theshow
Nighttime: http://www.DrinkBoy.com
Check me out on the web at The .NET Show or at my blog.
Comments
C++: A Language for Modern Times
I love all of the discussion going on here, I think a key thing to keep in mind is that I doubt there could ever be a single programming language that solved everybodies problems. As Herb mentions a few times in this video "The Right Tool for the Right Job".
As somebody who has programmed in far more languages then I can even remember, I enjoy getting into the groove of each one and appreciating the features and capabilities they bring to the table.
FORTH may have never been a terribly practical programming language, but it was a lot of fun, at times almost seeming like playing a game of Tetris :->... Modula-2 was a well structured language with a great balance of polite power. C, when I was first coding in it, was sort of like a challenge to see how tightly you could wind your code, and in a sadistic sort of way trying to make it do something in a next-to-unreadable way (you've got to remember, I was just a fun-loving kid back in those days! :->)
I've been using C# for many years now, and find it both comfortable and familiar, but seeing some of the new capabilities working their way into C++ makes me realize that it's probably time to take a look at it again.
-Robert
Use a Nerf Gun, Kinect Skeletal Tracking, and a Turret to protect your office!
So I work in the office right across from Clint... and happened to walk out my door when he was first working on this project. It was a bloodbath (or should that be nerf bath?)
Phil Haack - ASP.NET, MVC, and Ninjas On Fire
Kervin, it's working fine for me, what's the problem you are having?
Mark Wilson-Thomas: WPF and Silverlight Development in Visual Studio 2010
Tim Aidlin - Glimmer, a JQuery Interactive Design Tool
Brad Abrams - Silverlight 3.0 for Great Business Apps
http://localhost/SLAppTestPage.aspx#/Views/HomePage.xaml
The Silverlight application itself exists on the ASPX page shown in the URL, so that essentially has to be listed in that fashion, however just as you'd use "#" to then link to a "position" within a big gigantic page, we are using this to link to a the "position" within the Silverlight application that you are wanting to access.
Tim Aidlin - User Experience Designer
But... you do raise a good point. It would have been appropriate to let Tim dive into some of his actual work and show how he produces it.
-Robert
Tim Aidlin - User Experience Designer
Glad you enjoyed The .NET Show! Erica and I had a great time working on this show for over seven years. Even Star Trek: The Next Generation decided to wrap up after seven years, and I felt that I couldn't suggest that The .NET Show was better then that! :->
I am currently playing around with using "The Knowledge Chamber" as a replacement for The .NET Show. The format will allow me to do shows far more regularly, and far cheaper (which is important these days!). I will be adjusting the tone and format over time based on what I percieve as the feedback from you, the audience. So please let me know what you think of the show, it's length, my guests, etc.
Thanks!
-Robert
Joanna Mason - Senior Program Manager, Expression Blend
The issue you mention with Design View is one the team is aware of and have been actively working on.
Patrick Dussud: Managing Garbage Collection
There were perhaps a few extra comments about Lisp that we cut from the filming, but we didn't go into details about Lisp as a language, although that would have been fun, especially since Lisp is one of the few languages I've never really had any dealings with. I understand that there are a couple of CLR implementations available.
-Robert
Transpara – Visual KPI Software
We'd love to hear from you folks what you thought about this particular episode, as well as what areas of solution/application design you'd like us to look at "pimping up" next.
-Robert
Mohsen Agsen: Bridging the Gap between PC and Enterprise, Developer and Designer
As I discussed with Mohsen in this episode, the value of intelligent, appropriate, and compelling user experience design cannot be overstated. And yet it is far too often overlooked. We do a LOT of development here at Microsoft as you might expect. And while we also have a lot of designers, it has only been recently that they have been able to really come into their own. Myself, I saw this most with the development cycle of Windows Vista, and how much time and energy was put into the visual design and cohesive user expience fundamentals.
But to truely incorporate these designs often still comes down to the designer handing the developer a bitmap, and the developer using whatever tools he might have to slice and dice this to pieces, or simply "attempt" to visually render the design concepts using normal form controls and window constructs.
For truely great applications, it is critical that designer/developer collaboration is a first-class citizen in the application life-cycle. If we start with the assumption that "developers" are going to be using Visual Studio for their development environment, then we (Microsoft) need to really grok the issues and requirements of tying this together with the designer tools. As great (and pervasive) as the third party tools are, we can't simply leave it up to them. This is problem we need to own, if even just internally. Ideally, we'll be able to illustrate the value of a combined development environment to such a level that many of these third-party designer tools will discover ways that they can seamlessly integrate themselves into this methodology. But to address this fully, this means that it is important that Microsoft produces world-class designer tools which are first-class citizens in application development environment.
-Robert Hess