After 3,5 days of code, code, samples, demo's and a lot more code, the Tech Ed Europe 2010 has come to an end. Purpose of this conference was to see more of the new stuff Microsoft will provide over the next coming months and to get the developers interested in some of the new stuff. The moment when I was writing this down, I was at the Starbucks at Alexanderplatz in Berlin with 2 colleagues of mine. It was time to get everything straight in my head about all the overload information I absorbed the last few days.
First, my focus was only on jQuery, Silverlight for Web and WPF, but now I’m so excited about all the new stuff which came by at the sessions, I just don’t know where to start, but I’m trying to do it anyway…
HTML5 and CSS3 (with IE9 and Windows 7)
Really nice demo about the new HTML5 and its capability. Fact is, HTML5 just can’t live without JavaScript. To get all the nice features like 3D transforming, effects and animations and all the other stuff, just have to be done by JavaScript. The canvas gives you a lot more flexibility for the special effects.
If you are a Windows user and you have Windows 7 installed, there is even more pretty stuff for you. I won’t say anything about it yet. At this moment, I’m planning to create a demo page, with most of the features, which were shown in the session. I’ll add the demo here, so you can find out what it exactly can do. All I can say is, I was very surprised when Giorgio shown me the demo.
There were 50 demos in total I’ve seen and all were created in HTML5. I’ll add these links later on, if I’ll find some time (and if I can find them).
jQuery
Talk about a ‘How to explain jQuery in 60 minutes’. If you try, you know it just can’t be done. Gill Cleeren actually did give it a try and, to be honest, he did pretty much a good job. It was a complete overload of information for the people who actually never did something with jQuery, but enough to encourage the most people of trying to start using jQuery. Reason why I was there at his session? I was hoping he could me explain more about creating your own plugins. Some highlights, or maybe some nice hidden features… Unfortunately there was not enough time for this section to dive into.
New for me were the templates in jQuery. Never heard of them of used them before, but that is about to going to change. One fact about using the templates, use them for AJAX calls. I’ve asked Gill, what is so special about these templates, but he couldn’t really tell me the best reason for using them next to some AJAX methods. For example, when you want to create a list, you can just simply refresh on the page, you can fix something with .NET or any language you want. Add some style with CSS and you’re done. So, why the heck are there templates! Give me some time to work things out, but I will add some tutorials about the templates later on.
Windows Phone 7
I know you are thinking: what the h*ll does he want to do with a WP7? I know. Not only web is important for me anymore! That is a fact. So many sessions about WP7! It just triggered me to do more with this cool mobile device. The first session was held by Rob Miles. Truly, a master and the perfect example for people who will hold a presentation. This man has a truly passion for code. The way he held his session was just stunning. A lot of code and demo’s but also in the ‘happy’ mood. Everyone is laughing about his jokes, but in the meanwhile good sections are passing by. After he is done with his session, he posts the session directly to his personal blog (and sometimes WITH a picture of the audience). Both sessions about WP7 were with a picture and I’m sitting at the front row! Anyhow, his session was about XNA and how easy it is to develop a game with this language for the WP7. Really good examples and a really good session, that’s all I can say. You can download the presentation from his blog, to see what he actually made, when he held his session.
The other session was held by Oren Nachman. Cool guy, also 1 of the best session of the whole conference. His session was also about the WP7 but this time with Silverlight. It’s also really easy to create an useful application or small game with Silverlight. As I have already some experience with Silverlight, I can hardly wait to get started.
Still, I haven’t figured out which type of game the best is to make, Silverlight or XNA. As far as I know, you can’t use XAML controls in a XNA game. This means vector-based images can’t be used, as it is not possible to import .eps files. However, XNA is the default framework for a game application. I think I’ll start with my first game in Silverlight. This way I can create a nice UI in Blend, and apply my experience with Silverlight into the game. The best part is, when the game is finished, I have a fully legal reason (and to get permission from my girlfriend that is) to buy a WP7!
As you can read above, 3 highlights for me. And 1 new thing which I will dive into: gaming for WP7 in Silverlight or XNA. My overall thoughts about the conference are really great. It just triggered me to start with some new challenges. It may take some time, before I’ll have the first demo finished, but I will get these demos done.