December 2015

Volume 30 Number 13

Visual Studio - Modern Tools for Web Development: Grunt and Gulp

Visual Studio - Modern Tools for Web Development: Grunt and Gulp

Adam Tuliper

In the second part of his series on front-end Web development, Adam Tuliper covers Grunt and Gulp, two JavaScript-based task runners that let you perform all sorts of tasks, like copying files, minification, concatenation, and even compilation.

Upstart - The Long GameColumn

Upstart - The Long Game

Krishnan Rangachari

Over-long hours and frequent career changes can be a sign that you are taking a short-sighted approach to career success. Krishnan Rangachari explains how he learned to play the long game.

Microsoft Azure - Azure Service Fabric and the Microservices Architecture

Microsoft Azure - Azure Service Fabric and the Microservices Architecture

Cesar de la Torre, Kunal Deep Singh,, Vaclav Turecek

The microservices approach provides a compelling way to build robust, scalable and manageable cloud-based apps and services. Learn how microservices and the new Microsoft Azure Service Fabric combine to enable hyperscale solutions.

Data Points - Aurelia Meets DocumentDB: A Matchmaker’s Journey, Part 2Column

Data Points - Aurelia Meets DocumentDB: A Matchmaker’s Journey, Part 2

Julie Lerman

In the second of her two-part series detailing the difficulties in learning how to use DocumentDB and the Aurelia framework together, Julie Lerman presents the path to the solution that ultimately proved successful.

Game Development - Babylon.js: Building a Basic Game for the Web

Game Development - Babylon.js: Building a Basic Game for the Web

Raanan Weber

Raanan Weber begins his two-part series on game development with Babylon.js by building a simple bowling game. Follow along as he creates meshes and textures them, adds cameras and light sources, and enables simple user interaction.

Test Run - Introduction to Spark for .NET DevelopersColumn

Test Run - Introduction to Spark for .NET Developers

James McCaffrey

Here’s an overview of Spark, an open source framework for big data. With its exceptional performance characteristics, Spark is well-suited for use with machine learning systems. James McCaffrey shows how you can install and run it on a Windows machine.

Xamarin - Build a Cross-Platform UX with Xamarin.Forms

Xamarin - Build a Cross-Platform UX with Xamarin.Forms

Keith Pijanowski

With Xamarin, C# developers write applications for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and the Mac OS X, while writing a custom UI for each target. Learn how Xamarin.Forms lets developers reuse UI code by leveraging common UI concepts across target mobile platforms.

The Working Programmer - How To Be MEAN: Express InputColumn

The Working Programmer - How To Be MEAN: Express Input

Ted Neward

The MongoDB, Express, AngularJS, Node.js (MEAN) stack is an alternative “Web stack” to ASP.NET. In this installment, learn about processing input—the ability to put a new person into the system, remove a person from the system and update an existing person.

Microsoft Azure - How Azure, Web API and Redis Helped Deliver Data Faster

Microsoft Azure - How Azure, Web API and Redis Helped Deliver Data Faster

Sean Iannuzzi

Learn how to achieve top performance and responsiveness in intenstive data lookup operations, using the Redis in-memory database with Web API and Microsoft Azure.

Essential .NET - Designing C\# 7Column

Essential .NET - Designing C# 7

Mark Michaelis

The C# 7 design team has been discussing, planning, experimenting and programming for about a year. Get an inside look at the next version of C# as Mark Michaelis samples some of the ideas they have been exploring.

Modern Apps - What You Need to Know About Windows 10 App DevelopmentColumn

Modern Apps - What You Need to Know About Windows 10 App Development

Rachel Appel

A lot has changed with the arrival of Windows 10. Rachel Appel looks at the top 10 things developers need to know to stay ahead of the curve.

Don't Get Me Started - Refactoring Higher EducationColumn

Don't Get Me Started - Refactoring Higher Education

David Platt

The days of university professors subjecting students to endless lectures may be at an end. David Platt reflects on recent changes at the Harvard Medical School, where instructors are ditching rote presentation in favor of digital instruction and interactive teaching.

Editor's Note - Goodbye, KennyColumn

Editor's Note - Goodbye, Kenny

Michael Desmond

Long-time Windows with C++ columnist Kenny Kerr is leaving our pages to join the Windows engineering team with Microsoft, where he will be working on C++ and the Windows Runtime.