Category Archives: Essentials

Linq and Fluent Programming

A LINQ Tutorial I interviewed Bill Wagner for Yet Another Podcast while we were both at CodeMash (look for his interview to be published next week).  In addition to being one of the nicest guys I know, he is also … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Essentials, Mini-Tutorial, Patterns & Skills, WindowsPhone | Tagged | 16 Comments

Yet Another Podcast #21–Jeremy Miller

IOC Containers, .NET, Alt.NET and much more with Jeremy Miller Jeremy is the Chief Software Architect at Dovetail Software, the coolest ISV in Austin. Jeremy began his IT career writing "Shadow IT" applications to automate his engineering documentation, then wandered … Continue reading

Posted in Essentials, Opinion, Patterns & Skills, Tools and Utilities | Tagged | 1 Comment

Windows Phone From Scratch #21–Animation Without A Lick Of Code

Animation, used with restraint, can greatly enhance the user’s experience of the phone; clarifying transitions and creating useful illusions.  One, discussed here previously, is the illusion of “flipping” part of the page over, perhaps to reveal a help file. In … Continue reading

Posted in Animation, Blend, Essentials, Mini-Tutorial, Patterns & Skills | Tagged | 3 Comments

12 MORE Insanely Essential Utilities For Programmers

In July I published a list of 12 Insanely Essential Utilities for Programmers. That list is still current and I’m still using every one of the twelve.  The list, however, has become popular enough, and there are enough great utilities … Continue reading

Posted in Community, Essentials, Opinion, Tools and Utilities | Tagged , , | 48 Comments

Entity Framework Code-First, oData & Windows Phone Client

Entity Framework Code-First is the coolest thing since sliced bread, Windows  Phone is the hottest thing since Tickle-Me-Elmo and oData is just too great to ignore. As part of the Full Stack project, we wanted to put them together, which … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Essentials, Full Stack, Mini-Tutorial, Patterns & Skills, Tools and Utilities | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Yet Another Podcast #18 – Joe Stagner

Talking with Joe Stagner about Code Joe’s Blog Listen | Return to Yet Another Podcast Call in comments:  1-347-YAP-CAST

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Windows Phone From Scratch #12–Custom Behaviors (Part I)

To fully understand how behaviors work, you need to create a couple custom Behaviors of your own.  In this tutorial we’ll build a custom behavior and in the next we’ll look at a specialized form of custom behavior called a … Continue reading

Posted in Blend, Essentials, Mini-Tutorial, WindowsPhone | Tagged | 1 Comment

Firstarter 2010 – Data Binding

I had the great pleasure of presenting the Data Binding portion of the 2010 Firestarter, joining Scott Guthrie, Yavor Georgiev, Dan Wahlin, John Papa, Tim Heuer, Mike Cook, Jossef Goldberg and Jaime Rodriguez for an amazing day. Download the slides … Continue reading

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Windows Phone From Scratch #8–Styles

Let’s take a look at how styles can unify the look and feel of a Windows Phone application.  This and the next few Windows Phone From Scratch (WPFS) postings will use the same form, so we’ll begin by creating a … Continue reading

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Quick Timesaver When Coding Xaml

Try this in your Xaml… <Button VerticalAlignment=”Center” HorizontalAlignment=”Center” Margin=”5″ Height=”30″ />

Posted in Essentials, Patterns & Skills | Tagged | 7 Comments

Windows Phone From Scratch #5 – Data Binding

Databinding is a somewhat advanced topic, typically covered in the second or even the final third of most Silverlight books.  We’re going to tackle it in the next couple mini-tutorials because It isn’t difficult to understand It isn’t difficult to … Continue reading

Posted in Essentials, iPhoneToWP7, Patterns & Skills, WindowsPhone | Tagged , | 5 Comments

6 Steps To Presentations That Don’t Suck

1 Your Slides Do not read your slides aloud Use few transitions and keep them simple Do Not give out your slides in advance. Key:  Everything on your slide must be there for a reason.  That includes animation, colors, gradients, … Continue reading

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