microsoft – Page 2

Visual Studio 2011 – Confirmed Features In The Upcoming Iteration

April 8, 2012 by Raj Agrawal 1 Comment

Visual Studio 2011 is the next iteration to Microsoft’s esteemed development platform. It provides a range of tools to help the users develop almost any type of applications ranging from offline applications to server applications requiring online connectivity. Visual Studio has always been the leader when it comes to application development, and the upcoming version proposes to improve it even further. So without further ado, lets look at some of the features the newest version stands to offer.

Metro Application Development Support

This is by far the most important and anticipated feature of Visual Studio 2011. It provides support for Windows 8 specific Metro UI applications which can be built as extensions to the current applications. It includes a set of templates that can help you create Metro style apps using JavaScript, Vb, C# and C++. It also allows you to seamlessly redesign your app by simply opening it from Visual Studio and then changing the style using JavaScript. This can be achieved using a new feature called Expression Blend. This feature allows you to run your applications as live apps rather than static layouts. Hence, you can control the design of the application as it runs in real time. This is especially useful given the dynamic nature of HTML.

Game design enhancements

Many tools to enhance the game design process have been integrated into Visual Studio 2011. It comes packed with a slew of visual design, development, and debugging tools, which greatly improve upon the game design experience. It also allows you to design 2d/3d games and Metro UI apps.

Code enhancement and Re-usability tools

Visual Studio has always sought to improve the quality of code by refactoring it. This is taken a step further in Visual Studio 2011. Now, instead of being purely developer dependent, Visual Studio will scan the logic of the code developed by you and try and factor the code into methods which can be user later in the program. And this is done not just by scanning through identical blocks of code; Visual Studio searches for semantically similar blocks based on heuristics developed by Microsoft Research.

Reviewing Code

Visual Studio 2011 works in collaboration with Team Foundation Server to provide application life-cycle management. Code can be reviewed in Visual Studio 2011 in collaboration with developers with the help of team viewer.

Exploratory Testing

Exploratory Testing is a new feature of Visual Studio 2011 which lets the user perform testing operation without any formal test planning. No need to write test cases or create a test plan now; testing can begin straight away. Each time a test is performed, a full log of the test scan is recorded. This tool also allows the user to generate a bug list, which records all the bugs encountered during testing. After testing is complete, the user can view the test result in the Microsoft test manager and review the test scan and take a further course of action.

Other Features you’ll see in the 2011 version

In addition to the aforementioned features, Visual Studio 2011 also has the following benefits over its predecessors,

Support for development of cloud computing applications.
Solid integration with HTML 5 and CSS3.
ASP.Net MVC4.
It includes a new template for mobile development which makes mobile development easier and more efficient.
New and more improved version of JavaScript to make the programmers life even easier.
New profile which lets the user choose between building the application and publishing it.
Visual Studio 2011 now supports web socket protocol which helps in server to client data transfer. It has support for both ASP.net 5 and IIS 8, so that we can easily read and write data into a socket object.

PS: The Beta versions have been out quite since a while and you can get them from Microsoft’s website.

Via [CodingHub, MSDN]

Is The Rumored Xbox 360 Integration With Windows 8 A Good Idea?

February 27, 2012 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

Windows 8 is going to be a very unusual operating system. The main crowd Microsoft seems to be targeting are the ones who fancy touch systems, over the traditional mouse-keyboard layout. And as we know, most computer users the world over prefer the mouse keyboard layout. Then how does Microsoft expect users to switch over to Windows 8, when Windows 7 is still already capable and popular? If the rumors are to be believed, Microsoft might have realized this potential flaw in the strategy, and might be trying to pack a bigger punch by integrating the Xbox 360 into Windows 8. But, is it a good idea?

If you’re a PC user, of course it is. There may be many instances where you might have wanted a particular exclusive on your PC, or the game might have been designed with the Consoles in mind, and must have been an abysmal port on the PC, of which there are many. Well, now you can enjoy all those games without having to buy a new Console. If the rumors are true, then there might be no reason for a PC gamer to buy a Microsoft Console, at least until the next Xbox comes out.

One thing really puzzles me; where does Microsoft benefit from all of this? It’s not like Microsoft suddenly woke up with an earth shattering epiphany to give back something to the society. That never happens. Epiphanies are the result of gradual behavioral change, and nothing Microsoft has done recently has been suggestive of the same. They obviously might be trying to lure people into switching over from Windows 7 by using the Xbox integration as a marketing tool. Even then, wouldn’t it be kicking yourself in the foot? The PS2 still sells a respectable amount of units worldwide, and there’s no reason not to believe that the Xbox 360 will keep selling even after the Xbox 720 arrives.

The only logical reason I can think of is the royalties that Microsoft will earn from each game sold – they’ll be pure profit. This money won’t go into making systems at a loss, which was the case with the Xbox 360. Here, people are basically getting a Console and a PC for the price of a PC. Many people who download pirated versions of Windows might be tempted to prefer an original copy, since Microsoft will obviously employ some sort of protection to ensure that pirates will not be able to use the Console. Still, leaving an entire brand as redundant doesn’t seem like a pragmatic decision, whatever the benefits might seem.

All this leads me to believe that this rumor will not see the light of reality. There may be some sort of compromise though, like many of the 360 games coming to the PC. But, I don’t see Microsoft giving away a free Xbox 360 with every copy of Windows 8 it sells.

Visual Studio 2012 To Feed A Lazy Programmer In You? (Spoof)

July 26, 2011 by Raj Agrawal 5 Comments

Visual Studio 2012 – Microsoft is all set to release the next increment of its popular development environment. Visual Studio 2010 has made and continues to make a huge impact on the IDE market. The new iteration seems more titled towards convenience, rather too much. But eh, it’s not bad all the way though!

(Spoof)

With so much for me to yet discover and learn about the Visual Studio 2012, i’m excited to discuss about its next version and all it’s offering to the development community. Here are some of the few fascinating features that I have discovered so far.

Resize the code window:

This is a feature that you can use while writing your code. You can maximize the code window by selecting it, thus hiding your solution explorer and the output window.

Edit your code during execution:

This was possible before way back in the 1990’s in Visual Basic 6, but now you can do this in Visual Studio 2012. You can pause your code during execution, modify it and then the compiler handles the rest for you.

Google your errors:

A real handy feature for all developers, for all the obvious reasons.

Automated addition of semi-colons:

Will probably help reduce the number of silly mistakes while programming. Useful to compensate the programmer’s forgetfulness, when it comes to adding semi colons at the end of statements. There are potential rumours that the compiler may also add closing brackets and braces. Damn you Microsoft for making the programmer’s work more convenient and lazy!

Copy-Pasting Codes:

A widely embraced feature by most lazy programmers and students. Copying and pasting code picked up from the internet will just become more convenient. Visual studio will now apply its own changes to the copied code and redevelop it for you so that it makes some sense.

Evil Code Monkey:

For all those who copy and paste code directly without even thinking for a second now have an evil monkey by their side. The hottest add-on to feature in the Visual Studio 2012, is the ‘IntelliSense’ feature. It is points out at the part of the code that has to be written the correct way and ask you to Google it on how to do it.

Have your code translated now:

Be it VB, C# or F#, while viewing your code, you can have it translated to any of these languages you wish to view your code in.

Add Reference Dialog:

A better “Add Reference” dialog that provides a blend of speed and flexibility as demanded by people earlier.

I hope you had a good laugh out of this brilliant skit for Visual Studio 2012, originally by and all credits to the creator – Ian Quigley.