Windows App Developer Links - 2012-05-18

posted on 17 May 2012 | App Developer Links

Windows 8

  • Delivering reliable and trustworthy Metro style apps (Building Windows 8 Blog)

    • "As we developed the app model for Windows 8 and the new Metro style apps, a key architectural requirement has been to deliver apps to customers that can be used with confidence--confidence that apps will be well-behaved with respect to resources, that apps will not interfere with other apps, that apps use system resources with your permission, that apps can be installed and uninstalled with ease, and so on. These attributes require a robust platform and strong set of tools for developers. This is an effort that requires a fresh start and cannot be retrofitted on an existing system. Windows 8 is a fresh start in this regard. This post details some of the work we have done at the platform level to deliver reliable and trustworthy Metro style apps. This post is authored by John Hazen, a program manager on our Developer Experience team."

Metro App Development

  • Why Developers Should Care About Design, and How Metro Helps (G. Andrew Duthie)

    • "I'm going to avoid casting aspersions on my fellow developers and instead simply own up to my own failings...I've been developing software since I was 10 years old (my first program was written in BASIC on a Commodore PET), and professionally for well over a decade, and for most of that time, I believed that design was someone else's job, and that it didn't matter whether I could design my way out of a paper bag. WRONG! Design is everyone's responsibility, at least to some degree. ..."

  • The Task: Async and Await in a Windows Runtime World (Jeremy Likness)

    • "In my last blog post, I covered how to wrap your arms around the Task class and its relationship to the new async and await keywords. I mentioned that the post was focused on the .NET Framework only because the Windows Runtime handles these operations differently. In this post, I'll cover what those differences are. Task is a Task is a Task ... First, in the Windows Runtime, a Task is a Task ... is a Task. You can write your code to return a Task or Task in your Windows 8 Metro applications. If you are going to expose a Windows Runtime (WinRT) component, however, one of the rules is that you must always return a WinRT type. For asynchronous operations, there are four types allowed..."

  • .NET 4.5 Improvements for Cloud and Server Applications (Somasegar)

    • "I've had multiple meetings recently with customers and press where the topic of .NET development has come up, particularly as it relates to the cloud and server. They've heard about the extensive work we've done with Visual Studio 11 to enable the client-side development of Metro style apps for Windows 8 using C#, Visual Basic, C++, and JavaScript, and they're curious to learn what improvements have been made for server-side development using .NET. From my perspective, .NET is already the richest and most productive way for developers to create server-side applications that run in the cloud and on premises, and to do so with symmetry across both. With .NET 4 available today on Windows Server and in Windows Azure, developers have in place the languages, libraries, frameworks, and capabilities necessary to create next-generation solutions, whether for the enterprise or for a consumer application."

Apps & Code to Look At

  • 5 Best Windows 8 Metro Apps Yet (SmashinGeeks)

    • "Windows 8 is popular because of its Metro Interface, and without which it couldn't be as successful as it is now. We have gathered 5 of the Best Windows 8 Metro Apps for those who are using Windows 8 Consumer or Developer Preview. These Apps are specially made with the architecture of Windows 8, giving you the look and feel of Metro User Interface in the Application. Here is our list of Top 5 Windows 8 Metro Apps Built till now. There are not more in even Microsoft Store. So, we have collected the ones which are top in the list and most popular."

Books

  • Reminder: Programming Windows, Sixth Edition available for preorder

    • "Programming Windows, Sixth Edition" by Charles Petzold (eBook) is available for preorder at the discounted price of $10 which includes preview copies for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Release Preview in addition to the final eBook. This discounted price will only be available for two weeks.