Jesse Liberty

Well, it has been nearly 5 days since day 2, and that is because so much has been happening!

 One tremendous — and for me very exciting — event has been that Laurence Moroney has undertaken the adventure of working through the Learning Experience, and I urge you to check out Laurence's blog. as it will almost certainly be a more "linear" approach than mine.

My problem is that when I see a "hole" in the user's learning experience it's my responsibility to stop and figure out how to fill that hole (just writing it down and hoping someone else will fill it won't cut it).

So, I've spent the past week filling holes and figuring out how to get out of "planning mode" and into "action mode" and I'm happy to say that today, Monday August 13, is the very last planning day. Tomorrow morning, at 8am, begins action. (Of course, lots of action has started already).

 What can you expect going forward?  Remembering that much (most?) of this work won't be done just by me (I'm continually amazed at how many people are working on Silverlight-related projects), and that everything I say here is subject to change as we all learn more and as you tell us what you need, here's what I'm thinking…

 1. The Great Asynchronous Learning Experiment.  I'd like to keep pressing on, trying to recreate the experience of .NET developers learning Silverlight through the resources available on our site, and, along the way, finding the holes and filling them.

2.  I'll be creating videos on a regular basis. Expect a video right away on creating Silverlight 1.0 applications using Visual Studio 2008 with 1.1 installed!  Lots more videos coming. I want to be sure to cover the fundamentals, then move on from there. I'll be focusing on 1.0 for a while, but I know some of you would like to see more on 1.1, and I'll be sure to cover that as well. 

3. Alternative Media.  Some folks love videos, but others feel that even a 10-15 minute video takes longer to convey information than other media might, so I'll be experimenting with videos vs tutorials; videos vs podcasts; videos vs white-papers. That is, parallel ways of conveying the same information so you can decide which way you like to get the information. Your preferences will be registered by what you choose to download and what you pass by; if we see that tutorials are more popular than podcasts, guess what? more tutorials.

 4. Webcasts. These are live and interactive (and, of course, archived for downloading at any time later).  I'd like these to be highly interactive, with Q&A, and like the videos, they'll be "Developer to Developer" — not high gloss, not lots of sizzle; but down and dirty and in the code.  One Web Cast I know I want to do (look for it among the first half dozen) will be titled "Silverlight: What Are You Waiting For" — and in that one I'd like to discuss all the benefits of getting started with 1.0 rather than waiting for 1.1 or a later version (I know, I  know, never use an x.0 product from….) Stay tuned for announcements.

 5. More blogging.  It's been 5 days!! Unforgivable. There has been plenty to say and I've been too quiet. There is no reason to bother you with drivel, but that doesn't mean that I need to go dark for extended periods of time.  I believe folks want a steady rhythm of information. I'll try to provide it. Along the way (not too much ) I'll tell you a bit more about this job, why I took it, and what I hope to do in it. Mostly, though, I'll focus on what is going on with Silverlight, and how to get the most out of the technology.

6. Events.  I'll be at AJAXWorld in SantaClara in September, and an event in New Hampshire October 11. I'm discussing going to an event in Boston on October 8 (watch this blog for announcements), and possibly another in November.

In short, I'm interested in talking about Silverlight, if you can put me in front of a couple hundred people, please don't hesitate to contact me.

[Edited 20:53 EDT 8/13 because the first time I wrote this blog entry I was incoherent]

As you know, this journey through Learning Silverlight is being written with two voices.  The bold voice is the part of my brain that works for Microsoft,

while the lighter font is taking the role of the .NET developer learning Silverlight. 

On the first day I noted that there was confusion about Silverlight 1.0 vs. 1.1; I'm happy to note that I missed (or perhaps it was recently added), the following at the top of Step 2 "Download the Tools" in Getting Started

For more information on the features in 1.0 and 1.1 see the features matrix.

The feature matrix is wonderful — it shows in detail the difference between what is currently available in the 1.0 RC version of Silverlight and what is currently available in the 1.1 Alpha version.

 I've also received email from folks who have questioned whether this is one product or two.  Let me clarify. This is one product: Silverlight, that is currently in version 1.0.   At the same time that the development team is readying 1.0 for final release, they are working hard on the next release (1.1) which they have made available as an alpha (for early testing). The 1.1 release adds many cool new features, the most important of which is the addition of a subset of the CLR, and thus support for managed code and C#/VB9.

Finally, if you are interested, in detail, about the architectural differences between 1.0 and 1.1, there is a terrific image in the 1.1 help files (packaged with the 1.1 SDK)  under Silverlight Architecture that illustrates the framework modules that are added in 1.1 and the impact they have on your programming options.

More to come…

I am about to embark on the adventure of learning Silverlight  from scratch, putting myself into the shoes of a .NET developer who is coming to Silverlight for the first time, using the resources on Silverlight.net

 I'd like to invite you to come with me, joining at any time, participating as much as you'd like, and taking breaks whenever you see fit.

 As I go, I will be using the resources that are here and keeping a public "diary" that notes my progress and also takes note of

• What are the helpful resources that really worked to clear things up 
• What resources are not here that I wish were
• When was I confused about what to do next?
• What resources are here but are misleading or wrong or need updating
• What we should be doing to supplement the site with additional material

I would love for you to come along. No commitment necessary. You don't even  have to start or stop when I do. Just add comments to each "diary" post, saying what you found,  what helped, what confused you, what you wish was here, and anything else that is on your mind about the content of the site as you learn Silverlight.

This is also a great time to ask questions; if I don't know the answer, and often I won't, I'll ask the right folks and get an answer for you.

 Thanks.

 -Jesse Liberty
Silverlight Geek

I received the following email…

Maybe I am crazy but I see the creation of new design patterns around Silverlight 1.1.  It looks to me like there will a dual three tier architecture pattern involving three tiers on the server and three tiers on the client.  What do you think?

 My answer follows, but I'd be very interested in your ideas. Comments very welcome.

My short answer is: no, I think three tier won’t be affected by server or client; there will still be the presentation layer (with Silverlight that will occur in the browser, with very rich client side widgets), business objects (most of which will live on the server, with some optimization on the client) and persistence, almost all of which will be on the server (except of course if we implement something like Isolated Storage as alluded to in ScottGu’s blog of 6/19.

Watch out for breaking changes!!

As we move forward with new versions of Silverlight 1.0 and Visual Studio, you’ll want to keep an eagle-eye on the white papers that describe breaking changes in Silverlight.  (Remember we are early in the development of this technology).

I will be reviewing all the posted videos as quickly as possible and (a) fixing the code to match the latest iteration and (b) where necessary either re-shooting the video or adding notes about what must be changed. Please keep an eye on this blog; I’ll update it frequently to keep you informed.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. For the moment it may all seem like a bit of a moving target, but the truth is that the changes are small and most of what you are learning will not change; we’re just fixing things up so that we have a very solid foundation to build upon. (I still can’t quite get used to saying “we” <smile> )

Thanks.

-jesse
Silverlight Geek

This weB LOG (blog) will be a regular feature on Silverlight .NET, starting immediately. I hope you will come to count on it as a guide to what is new here, and how to find your way around through the amazing amount of information available about this rapidly evolving technology. 

Over time, my postings will branch out to give you as much information as I can about what is happening with Silverlight, where we are going, how folks are using it, and what new cool features, add ons, training bits, and so forth we have available. As the web site grows, my hope is that the blog will serve as an evolving and dynamic guide. I look forward to your comments, suggestions, feedback and criticism so that we can be as responsive to your needs as possible.