C# 411It’s holiday time, and hopefully most of you are home enjoying time with your family and loved ones. But if you’re like me, at some point over the holidays you will escape to your computer for a little diversion. So to keep you in the holiday spirit, here are some Christmas and Santa Claus-related goodies for computer programmers.
Today the world’s most popular social network Facebook introduced its biggest interface change since the complete revamp in March.
The second beta version of Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft .NET Framework v4.0 are now available. VS 2010 and .NET 4.0 deliver significant new capabilities and improvements. The Beta 2 release was focused on performance, stability, and the integration of the overall feature set. The development team is awaiting our feedback on the product and preparing for the final release candidate (RC). Beta 2 includes a “go-live” license, which means you can start using these tools for your production projects.
VS 2010 and .NET 4.0 are slated to be released on March 22, 2010.
Download VS 2010 and .NET 4.0 Beta 2
More details about Beta 2 from Scott Gu
Windows Live Writer is free software from Microsoft that enables you to easily create, edit and publish blog articles. It’s like a simple “Word for Blogs.” Click here for a list of features in Windows Live Writer.
Following are instructions on how to download, install, and setup Live Writer for your blog.
The good news is that Microsoft .NET Framework is installed on a majority of Windows PCs. The bad news is if you are developing an application with the newest version of .NET (3.5), nearly half of Windows PCs cannot run your app.
Alexander McCabe has produced a detailed and thoughtful analysis of the penetration of the various versions of Microsoft .NET Framework installed on Windows PCs. As of October 2009, his study shows the following distribution of .NET versions:
| .NET Version | % Installed | % Compatible |
| .NET 3.5 | 52% | 52% |
| .NET 3.0 | 7% | 59% |
| .NET 2.0 | 11% | 70% |
| .NET 1.1 | 8% | 78% |
| .NET 1.0 | 0% | 78% |
| None | 22% | n/a |
BugSpy crawls the web in search of the latest bug reports in open source software. It tries to display only open bugs. You can search by tag or product name.
This is part 13 in a series of articles on obscure programming languages.
The Microsoft “M” programming language is a declarative language for working with data and building domain models. M lets users write down how they want to structure and query their data using a textual syntax that is convenient to both author and reader. M does not mandate how data is stored or accessed, nor does it mandate a specific implementation technology. This is not to be confused with the MUMPS language, which is also known as M.
Download a thousand FREE, beautifully designed icons from FatCow Web Hosting! The icon set includes both 16×16 and 32×32 pixel versions of the icons. Images are saved in PNG format on transparent backgrounds for your convenience (but no .ICO format).
The Ranter is a bit tired of the “coolest app” conversation that inevitably occurs when he talks with another iPhone user. It seems like there is a time-wasting iPhone app for just about everything except making a phone call, which is the true reason most people buy a mobile phone in the first place.
Check out this funny fake iPhone commercial that addresses this problem:
Microsoft has launched a new WebsiteSpark program for independent Web developers and companies that build Web applications and Web sites for others. The program enables qualified developers to receive FREE software, support and business resources from Microsoft for three years. The purpose is to help independent Web developers expand their business and build great Web solutions using ASP.NET, Silverlight, SharePoint and PHP.
WebsiteSpark provides the following free software licenses:
The only two requirements to join the program are:
If you meet these requirements, visit the WebsiteSpark website to enroll in the program. As part of the enrollment process, you can pick either a network referral partner (for example: a Web host or an existing Microsoft partner), or enter a referral code that you have received at an event or from a Microsoft employee. Or you can send an email to webspark@microsoft.com to get a referral code quickly.
