I wrote the start of this post after returning from a full day of interviews, what Microsoft has endearingly termed Finals Day… I had no idea I’d actually get to post it now, 2 weeks later, as I get ready to start this awesome new job…

I just got back from my Finals Day with Microsoft. I’m interviewing for a Developer Evangelist position, which is beyond exciting. Not to mention a tad mind blowing. If anyone had told me a few months ago I’d be interviewing for this job I would have laughed them right out of the room.

And yet, here I am. So, in the spirit of fellow hax0r turned Microsoft Evangelist, Joey DeVilla (aka @AccordionGuy), I thought I’d blog about just WTF I’m thinking.

If you’ve read anything of mine, you probably know my shtick, I like to say:

"Java, C#, C/C++… it ain’t about the language but the wonderful things we build."

And this is true – for languages, platforms, technologies, practices… I pride myself on being technology agnostic and just picking the right tool for the right job.

So, how am I interviewing for a Microsoft Evangelist role?? Good question! Let’s step back into our WABAC machine…

Read More…..

Apologies for the slow down in posts, I’ve been head’s down in code bringing you more tutorials on LINQ to SQL and how to use it with my current obsession, Windows Presentation Foundation.

It has now been expanded into 3 parts – aka, everything you ever-never wanted to know about LINQ to SQL:

1. Mapping Tables to Objects
2. Adding/Updating/Deleting Data
3. WPF Data Binding with LINQ to SQL

These tutorials describe how to manually map your classes to database tables with LINQ to SQL so you can have support for M:M relationships as well as WPF data binding using my own hack workaround solution to providing this functionality. One person even claimed my code was cleaner then the auto-generated code, but I’ll leave that for you to decide yourself.

But… even if you do choose to auto-generate your classes, understanding how these techniques work will allow you to expand the code to better fit your application’s needs and troubleshoot issues when they arise.

I hope these help you out in your own encounters with LINQ to SQL!

For the source code inclined in each of you, I just posted an application and tutorial on LINQ, .NET’s Language Integrated Query, on The Code Project.

It shows how to map database tables to classes with LINQ and then retrieve the data in the very cool LINQ-manner that makes me ooh and ahh for doing more with C#.  It also includes a simple WPF GUI that uses data binding to display the data and navigate the relationships because, well, WPF data binding is sexy.

I hope you enjoy!

A LINQ Tutorial: Mapping Tables to Objects

Gratuitous brag update: This article was just selected as Editor’s Choice on The Code Project (w00t!)

If you want to build the kind of science fiction, futuristic GUIs that only exist in TV and movies (think: Minority Report) then you want to be looking at Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

WPF is Microsoft’s next generation API for developing applications and it’s possibilities really start to shine through when you look at Microsoft Surface, which was developed entirely with WPF and the .NET Framework.

The idea behind Surface is that any surface – vertical or horizontal – can be made so that you can interact with it in a very direct and natural way.

"We used to say a computer on every desktop and now we say every desktop will be a computer" — Bill Gates

This notion of interfacing with a computer through touch and gestures rather than mice and keyboards is all part of the next generation of user interfaces – termed "Natural User Interfaces" or NUIs for short (pronounced New-eee, like GUI with an "N"). The idea is that we began with Command Line Interfaces (okay, we began with blinkin’ lights, toggle switches, and punch cards – but…), progressed to Graphical User Interfaces, and we are now entering the next stage of this evolution.

"The last 30 years of computing have been about people learning the language of computers. The next 30 years are going to be about computers learning the language of people."
– Daniel Makoski, Interaction Design Manager, Microsoft Surface

Read More…..