Daryll McDade - The High School Guy : .NET in Action

Looking for post AP exam activities? Hunt for the Wombat is here!

Daryll McDade — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 00:54:00 GMT

What can teachers and students work on now that the AP exam is over? Hunt for the Wombat is a 4-6 week project designed to give AP Computer Science students the opportunity to apply their programming skills, gain broader awareness and understanding of the software development process and have fun along the way. By participating in a “real world” scenario where they build a computer game, students can gain experience with project teams, methodologies and core development phases: Discovery, Design, Development and Deployment.

The story behind untitlednet.com

Daryll McDade — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 03:22:00 GMT

If you are among those that don't have an Xbox 360 yet, there is a tool available at http://untitlednet.com that will check the inventory at Best Buy, Circuit City and FutureShop. It's cool because it's cool but it's *especially* cool because it was created using version 2.0 of the .NET Framework. Craig McMurtry has built a version that searches across the entire US and demonstrates the capabilities of WinFX. Nice.

KPL on Channel 9 again

Daryll McDade — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 03:36:00 GMT

In case you missed it check out 2/3 of the KPL team on Channel 9 (44 minutes). Lots of stuff on the next version--nice!

ASP.NET 2.0 "How Do I..." Video Series

Daryll McDade — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 02:08:00 GMT

Brian Goldfarb from the ASP.NET team just posted about a new series of "How Do I..." videos. I just watched the "Web parts and Personalization" and if it's any indication of the rest of the series, this is going to be EXCELLENT!

Enjoy!

Mint Source for Express

Daryll McDade — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 22:38:16 GMT

Huh?

Mint Source is a cool tool from the UK Developer team--built by an intern actually--that let's you play around with Express to build a system tray RSS aggregator.

Fresh... :)

Visual Studio Express Editions are here!

Daryll McDade — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:39:43 GMT

Gosh, it seems like this took FOREVER! Glad that the Visual Studio Express Editions are finally here and REALLY glad that they are available FREE! :)

From Dan Fernandez’s blog:

I am proud to announce that today, November 7th 2005, we officially released the downloadable versions of Visual Studio 2005 Express on MSDN and they are free to download for one year!

Download Visual Studio Express
You can download Visual Studio Express from the links below:

Visual Web Developer 2005 Express
Visual Basic 2005 Express
Visual C# 2005 Express
Visual C++ 2005 Express
Visual J# 2005 Express
SQL Server Express

Express is free for one year. Until November 7, 2006, we are promotionally discounting the downloadable versions of Express to free. This doesn’t mean that the product turns off after a year, but rather that as long as you download the product before November 7, 2006, you can get it for free and you can use it forever.

Rewards for Registering
The other big news announced at the Visual Studio launch is the availability of the Visual Studio Express DIY Kit, which is a set of benefits you get for registering Express and includes:

250 royalty-free stock photography images from Corbis
Free Windows Icons from IconBuffet

Free eBooks including: Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition: Build a Web Site Now, Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition: Build a Program Now!, and Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition: Build a Program Now!

3rd party components from VSIP partners

And we have more benefits coming soon

Want More Information?
Take a tour of the newly revamped Visual Studio Express Edition Web site, read the Frequently Asked Questions, and as always, please tell us what you think :)

Looks like the feedback from the community is positive as well. For those students and teachers that want to burn to image disc, instructions here.

UW Student ROCKS the launch

Daryll McDade — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 00:48:00 GMT

Nice work by Brian Goldfarb and Carolyn from the University of Washington on their demo during Steve’s keynote speech at the launch kick off in San Francisco. Give it up for Carolyn—student gets on stage with SteveB to ROCK THE LAUNCH! :) I was very impressed at how she handled herself during the demo—believe me, an on-stage demo with Steve is NOT a low pressure environment (<smile>at least that’s what I hear </smile>)!

My favorite line of course was, “Let’s build a fan site for The Windows—our favorite band since 1995”. :) :) :)

If you missed the kick off in San Fran there are a BUNCH of Launch events planned across the US. Probably gonna hit Detroit, D.C. and Philly myself.

Visual Studio 2005 for the Web Developer

Daryll McDade — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 22:50:24 GMT

If you’re into application development, of course you know that today is a big day. Especially exciting, IMO, if you’re into Web development. Lots of things are updated;

-the Visual Web Developer Express (VWDX) page (I dig the purple—I may have to order this just to have the box!)
-the VWDX tutorial page (my personal favorite project—Windows Media Player collection)
-the ASP.NET Developer Center
-the ASP.NET 2.0 community site

Sheesh! LOTS of updates and I’m sure I haven’t caught them all.

I … am ... overloading …

Must … go … play …. now …

Orange County Choppers - proud users of Microsoft technology

Daryll McDade — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 07:37:10 GMT

Maybe you’ve heard of Orange County Choppers, which is the featured bike builder on American Chopper which airs on Discovery Channel. OCC are proud users of Microsoft technologies. They are definitely at or near the top of the list of “cool” companies running their business on Microsoft technologies. All I have to say is, “Mikey for President!” :)

Project Aardvark ships!

Daryll McDade — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 22:21:00 GMT

I posted previously about Project Aardvark;

Well the interns have finally shipped their summer project—Fog Creek Copilot 1.0 has shipped! Congrats to the team! How cool is that for these students? Your Summer internships results in a shipping product…awesome stuff. Although I must say, as a person who gets asked by family and friends to play “tech support” about 20 times a week this scares me a little. At least I can have THEM pay the bill!

Tags: Aardvark, Fog Creek, C#

Paint.NET updated

Daryll McDade — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 00:05:22 GMT

Looks like the team that is maintaining Paint.NET have updated the app. It was created all in C# by some students at Washington State University—mentored by some folks at Microsoft. The app is intended to be an alternative to Microsoft Paint.

Some screenshots courtesy of Rick Brewster.

Tags: .NET, Paint.NET, WSU

MSN Spaces now has Power Toys for Advanced Users

Daryll McDade — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 20:10:46 GMT

If you have an MSN Spaces account AND you would classify yourself as an advanced user, you should check out the new Power Toys.

From the Power Toys team:

“PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released to manufacturing. They add fun and functionality to the experience.”

If you’ve been avoiding Spaces because the customization options were limited go and have a look. My Space isn’t really “presentable” right now but I’ll update when I’ve had a chance to update.

Tags: MSN, MSN Spaces, Blogging, Power Toys

Videos and demos from TechEd now available

Daryll McDade — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 05:26:00 GMT

Thanks to Brian for the head's up on the release of the videos, presentations and demos from the ASP.NET, Visual Web Developer, and IIS talks at TechEd 2005.

Tags: ASP.NET, TechEd

X-10 Hardware + Express

Daryll McDade — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 04:58:00 GMT

The Coding4Fun guys are at it again. This is about the coolest thing I've ever seen! First it's cool because it's the first video podcast entry (yes, the feed will include a video file in your podcast catcher). Second it's cool because you can combine coding and home automation. Some sample scenarios from the site;

"You can also combine X10 technologies with your computer and custom applications written with Microsoft Visual Basic Express or Microsoft Visual C# Express. With logic provided by custom your custom application, you can make some stunning upgrades to your home:

Receive an e-mail notification if someone unexpectedly opens a door or window

Send a message to your mobile phone if your basement floods

Monitor video of your property across the Internet—for less than $200 in hardware

Turn on your home air-conditioning from work, so your home is cool when you arrive

Control whether your kids can watch TV or play games from work

Monitor pets to make sure they’re healthy and eating while you’re on vacation

Have your porch light turn on when it gets dark in the evening, and turn off after everyone is home

Build a complex security system that uses any logic and alarm mechanisms you can dream up"

I could monitor my cats remotely...when they jump on my favorite chair, I can blast an airhorn in their mug! :) :) :) I'll be interested to see what kinds of things folks come up with beyond these.

Tags: Codinig4Fun, Visual Studio, Microsoft

Visual Studio 2005 - One teacher's perspective

Daryll McDade — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 21:08:00 GMT

Tom Indelicato, Computer Science teacher from New Hampshire, was kind enough to write up his impressions on the newest version of Visual Studio. Nice quick overview of the key feature updates. Just wait Tom--it's going to get even better! ;)

Tags: Visual Studio, Whidbey, .NET, Computer Science