Previewing the April issue of MSDN Magazine

The April issue of MSDN Magazine is just around the corner and will lead off with Bill Kratochvil’s feature titled, “Windows Store C++ for C# Developers: Understanding the Domain.” The article aims to show C# developers how they can incorporate C++ components into Windows Store applications to maximize performance and functionality.

The April issue also includes a pair of features focused on Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) development. Stephen Cleary’s feature, titled “Patterns for Asynchronous MVVM Applications: Commands,” is the second of three articles he is writing that explores patterns for combining the async and await keywords with MVVM. The April issue feature shows how to develop an asynchronous implementation of ICommand. You can also check out the first article in Cleary’s series, “Patterns for Asynchronous MVVM Applications: Data Binding,” in the March issue of MSDN Magazine.

Laurent Bugnion authors the other MVVM-focused feature in the April issue. “Multithreading and Dispatching in MVVM Applications” explores the challenge of managing communication among multiple threads. Bugnion has written about MVVM plenty for us. If you haven’t already, take a moment to check out Bugnion’s recent contributions to the magazine: “IOC Containers and MVVM” (Feb 2013), “Messenger and View Services in MVVM” (Mar 2013), “Maximizing the Visual Designer’s Usage with Design-Time Data” (Apr 2013), and “Commands, RelayCommands and EventToCommand” (May 2013).

More good things come in pairs in April, with two mobile-focused features gracing the upcoming issue. Wallace B. McClure authors “Build a Cross-Platform, Mobile Golf App Using C# and Xamarin,” which shows how C# developers can use Windows Azure Mobile Services and Xamarin cross-platform tooling to create an app for both Windows Phone and iPhone users. Rajesh Lal, meanwhile, offers a look at how to use the Nokia Imaging SDK to create an advanced tilt-shift camera app for Windows Phone.

Finally, Ziv Topol explores the discipline of survival analysis—often applied in drug research, engineering systems design and credit analytics—and shows how it can be of value in software development.

April columnists include Kenny Kerr’s Windows with C++ (“Using Databases on Windows Azure”), Julie Lerman’s Data Points (“Adding New Life to a 10-Year-Old ASP.NET Web Forms App”), Rachel Appel’s Modern Apps (“What’s New in Windows 8.1 for Windows Store Developers”), and Charles Petzold’s DirectX Factor (“3D Transforms on 2D Bitmaps”).