Silverlight 2 is big. Very big. It's great, but it is very big, with many cool features.
So we're preparing. And all that preparation means that there will be a lot of information, and many paths through that information. My goal is to ensure that Silverlight.net always has more than enough information to be the one-stop home for the community of Silverlight developers.
As a step in that direction, I'd like to tell you a little about my own plans for providing an integrated set of materials to make learning Silverlight 2 easier.
The Plan
My plan, subject to management intervention ("stop that and get back to sharpening pencils"), your feedback ("you call that a tutorial?"), or unexpected acts of the Gods ("oh look, locusts") is this:
The day we release Silverlight 2, I will post a number of on-line tutorials here on Silverlight.net with links through my blog. These tutorials will be targeted at .NET developers, but I will not assume the reader has experience in Silverlight or WPF .
Each tutorial will be filled with illustrations and working examples (that you can download separately), and each will run about 4,000 – 5,000 words (the equivalent of about 20 pages), or more as needed.
The goal is for the Silverlight 2 tutorials to compliment rather than replace or repeat the Silverlight 2 documentation. The tutorials are targeted at working developers who prefer more explanation rather than less, but my assumption is a high level of professional expertise; these are not for hobbyists; and they are not fluff.
Along with these tutorials I will also post the first of my new How Do I video series on programming Silverlight 2. This new series will be a compliment to the tutorials; not repeating the material; but demonstrating concepts through developing examples in screen-capture videos, and adding a new level of post-production enhancement to increase their value.
After we release, I'll personally commit to at least the following every month…
- Two tutorials, each covering a Silverlight 2 topic in detail, starting with the most compelling topics
- 6 How Do I videos
- A Deep Dive Webcast
- 20 Tips of the Day
- Numerous blog entries on Silverlight 2 news, events, and more
Also, Tim Heuer and I have committed to writing Programming Silverlight, to be published by O'Reilly Media this year.
I certainly will not be the only person producing material on Silverlight 2 (far from it) but I hope to create a useful set of multi-media material, and to do so in a very predictable pattern that you will be able to rely on.
In addition, I'll be taking the opportunity to go to events to present on Silverlight development; which will give me a chance to talk with and listen to the developer community directly.
In the meantime, Scott Guthrie, our new Vice President (congratulations Scott!) , has released a sneak peek of Silverlight 2 that you don't want to miss, complete with his own 8-part tutorial !
