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Talking XNA with Shawn Hargreaves and Charles Cox

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date September 29, 2010

Can’t see the video? Download Silverlight or download the video in high-quality WMV, medium-quality WMV, MP4 and MP3 (audio only) formats!

XNA is the game development framework that makes it easier to develop games for Windows, Xbox and Windows Phone, and it lets you do it with managed code – that is, using C# instead of C++. In this video, Microsoft’s Shawn Hargreaves and Charles Cox talk about all things XNA, including:

XNA Game Studio
XNA Creators Club Online
Game Development for Windows Phone 7
XNA Game Studio and Silverlight – Games and Apps
GPU Acceleration
The History of XNA Game Studio
.NET Garbage Collection Tips for XNA Game Studio
Managed Code Performance Tips
DirectX 11 or XNA Game Studio – Making the Choice
Introducing Reach and HiDef Graphics Profiles
Visual Basic in XNA Game Studio
XAML and Event-Driven Programming in XNA Game Studio

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

Tags Games, XNA

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“Speaker Idol”: Montreal, October 25th

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date September 29, 2010

Want to share your .NET knowledge in front of an audience? Got some special pearl of wisdom that you’d like to pass to your grateful, applauding peers? Want to win prizes for your scintillating oratory?

“La Communauté .NET Montréal lance un grand concours appelé Speaker Idol afin de vous donner la chance d’être conférencier,” says the Speaker Idol event site. Luckily, my vast experience in talking my way out of sticky situations in La Belle Province has given me enough skill to translate it:

The Montreal .NET Community is starting a competition called Speaker Idol. It’s your chance to be the speaker, presenting a .NET-related topic, trick or technique in ten minutes in front of a panel of expert judges. Impress them, and you’ll get:

An opportunity to do a full presentation in front of the user group at a later date
A license for the all-singing, all-dancing, all-coding Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate

The rules for Speaker Idol:

When and where? Speaker Idol takes place on Monday, October 25th, from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Microsoft’s Montreal Office (2000 Avenue McGill College, 4th floor).
Both official languages welcome. No, not C# and VB, but French and English!
They’re looking for new speakers. The contest is open only to people who’ve never spoken at a user group or conference.
Submission deadline: You need to submit a brief description (200 words max.) of your talk and a speaker bio by midnight, October 1st (Friday!) to info@dotnetmontreal.com.
Maximum number of participants: They’re looking for 10 participants, and no more. If more than 10 people sign up, the best 10 submissions will get picked. Sign up soon!
Who presents first? Speaker Idol contestants will present in alphabetical order, based on surname. If your family name is Aaaaaaabercrombie, you’re probably going on first!
Speaker Idol contestants will be announced on October 4th.
Contestants will be judged on:
- Mastery of their subject
- Quality of their presentation
- Ability to get the point across
- Quality of their slides
- Quality of their code
What will be provided: A laptop with Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate and SQL Server Express 2008 installed will be available. If your presentation requires the installation of other software, please bring your own (if your bring your own, set your screen resolution to 1024 * 768).
What won’t be provided: There will be no internet connection available.
What you should bring: Bring your PowerPoint presentation and demo code on a USB key or drive. Your presentation and code will be featured on the .NET Community’s site.
Judging: A panel of 3 judges will comment on your presentation and the audience will vote. They promise a relaxed environment.

Once again, if you want to participate, submit your 200-word-max presentation description and bio to info@dotnetmontreal.com!

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

Tags contests, Montreal, public speaking

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Toronto’s Hot Tech Scene

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date September 27, 2010

Sarah Prevette addresses the SproutUp crowd.
Photo by Brett Gundlock for the National Post.

“On almost any given weeknight,” goes the article in today’s National Post, Sprouting a Hotbed, “there is an event in Toronto somewhere where the technology crowd convenes to talk about the smartphone applications they’re building, to offer advice on each other’s business models and share Twitter marketing strategies with an eye to becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg.”

There’s a lot going on in my city’s tech scene, and it’s making splashes worldwide. The article covers some of the names of the people who make Toronto the tech-place-to-be that it is, including friend and former coworker at Microsoft, David Crow:

"If you were to ask me what’s in the water and what makes Toronto special, it’s that it’s one of the most diverse cities in the world," he said. "Much of what we think of as innovation is just the tension between different viewpoints and Toronto is the city of differing viewpoints … the whole point of building the community piece is to help the diversity and these folks come together and get excited about what’s going on."

Read the full article

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

Tags tech culture, Toronto

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Windows Phone 7 Hands-On Lab in Ottawa: Saturday, October 2nd

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date September 27, 2010

If you’ve been meaning to take up Windows Phone 7 development but didn’t know where or how to get started and you’re in the Ottawa area, this event is for you! Join Microsoft Developer Advisor Christian Beauclair and DreamDigital’s Colin Melia as they present a hands-on lab this Saturday where they show you how to write apps for our new phone.

At this lab, you’ll:

Learn how to develop apps for Windows Phone 7 in Silverlight and XNA
Follow along at a workstation as Christian and Colin walk you through WP7 development
Get familiar with the software tools: Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone, Expression Blend and the WP7 emulator
Have an opportunity to try out a real live Windows Phone

This training lab will take place at Algonquin College (1385 Woodroffe Avenue, Ottawa). It’s free of charge, but you must register in order to be able to attend.

This is a hands-on lab, so space is limited – if you want to attend, register now!

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

Tags hands-on lab, mobile, Ottawa, phone, training, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7, WP7

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This Week’s Coffee and Codes / Deployment Clinics

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date September 27, 2010

Creative Commons photo by “Demion”.

Join us as we make ourselves available to you so you can try out a real live Windows Phone 7 device and see how your apps work on the real thing. We’ve got a couple of Coffee and Codes and one deployment clinic this week:

Wednesday, September 29 in Montreal (Coffee and Code)

Coffee and Code is all about us spending the day working out of a cafe so that you can find us, join us, talk, ask questions and get to know us better. These days, it’s also about Windows Phone 7, but we’re happy to talk and answer questions about anything. Please drop by, whether it’s for five minutes or five hours!

Join “les bons gars”, Developer Advisor Christian Beauclair and Regional Director Guy Barrette, who’ll be holding a Coffee and Code at Le Café de la Cité on 75 Queen. They put on a professional appearance, but we all know qu’ils vont ecrire des «fart apps»! They’ll be doing it in both official languages: Silverlight and XNA!

Thursday, September 30 in Montreal (Deployment Clinic)

Deployment clinics are a little more formal than Coffee and Codes. You can book an exclusive timeslot to deploy and test apps to a Windows Phone 7 device, and there’s one taking place all day at Microsoft’s Montreal office (2000 Avenue McGill College, 4th floor) on the 30th. Email Christian Beauclair to reserve a time slot.

Thursday, September 30 in Toronto (Coffee and Code)

I’ll be at the Starbucks at King and Yonge (4 King Street West) this Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a Windows Phone 7 for you to play with and deploy your apps to. I’ll be at or near the big table in the back — come on down!

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

Tags Coffee and Code, deployment clinic, Montreal, Toronto

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Microsoft’s Developer Guidance Maps

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date September 26, 2010

When I took this developer evangelism job and returned to the Microsoft platform almost two years ago (after an eight-year hiatus) one of the first things I had to deal with was the sheer size of it. Even people who’ve been working in a certain area of the platform get lost when they venture out to other parts (say, when a desktop developer decides to give web development a try).

If you’re thinking about exploring unfamiliar parts of the Microsoft platform and don’t know where to start, try using one of the Developer Guidance Maps. Like city maps, they give you an at-a-glance view of the “lay of the land” and make certain useful “landmarks” – different types of documentation, key topics on developing for a specific technology and notes on features you need to know about – easy to find.

Built by the people at Microsoft’s Connect Innovation Center, they’re using the Developer Guidance Maps as a way to model, prototype and test ways to find, organize and share guidance for developers in a meaningful way. I find them pretty useful, both for myself as well as places to point developers with questions.

The Developer Guidance Maps break down the platform into a number of subject hubs: