.NET Rocks!

Ready to code for XBox One? Carl and Richard talk to Tom Spilman about his efforts to bring MonoGame to the XBox One. When the XBox One came out a few years ago, it did not support Microsoft's Indie game platform, XNA. MonoGame has stepped up to fill that role. And as an extra perk, it runs on everything - iOS, Android, Mac, Playstation and Nintendo devices. And of course, everything is coded in C#. Tom talks about how more and more, performance in games is not an issue, and the price of coding in C++ is just too high, without significant advantage. You want to make games? Make them in C# - with MonoGame!

Ready to code for XBox One? Carl and Richard talk to Tom Spilman about his efforts to bring MonoGame to the XBox One. When the XBox One came out a few years ago, it did not support Microsoft's Indie game platform, XNA. MonoGame has stepped up to fill that role. And as an extra perk, it runs on everything - iOS, Android, Mac, Playstation and Nintendo devices. And of course, everything is coded in C#. Tom talks about how more and more, performance in games is not an issue, and the price of coding in C++ is just too high, without significant advantage. You want to make games? Make them in C# - with MonoGame!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

Are there startups running .NET? Sure! Carl and Richard talk to Alec Lazarescu about his experience running LearnBop. The applications are built in .NET, but being a startup is about more than just programming languages. Alec talks about having the agility of a startup, being able to rapidly scale while tightly controlling costs - there's only so much money in a startup! To get startup dynamics, you need to look beyond just Microsoft tools - Alec's team uses tools like Chef, which comes from the Linux world. Blending the two communities together has its own challenges, but the results are worth it!

Are there startups running .NET? Sure! Carl and Richard talk to Alec Lazarescu about his experience running LearnBop. The applications are built in .NET, but being a startup is about more than just programming languages. Alec talks about having the agility of a startup, being able to rapidly scale while tightly controlling costs - there's only so much money in a startup! To get startup dynamics, you need to look beyond just Microsoft tools - Alec's team uses tools like Chef, which comes from the Linux world. Blending the two communities together has its own challenges, but the results are worth it!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

Ready for JavaScript on the server? Carl and Richard talk to David Gatti about building the backend with nodeJS. The conversation starts out with why to use node - its not always an obvious answer! The philosophy of node moves away from the "do everything" web server of IIS and into turning on just what you want. With node you specify where you're listening and what you're listening for, and can construct exactly what your code should return as well. Templates make life easier - want to return a web page? There's a template for that. Just a service? You can do that too. David also talks about deploying through Heroku and automating the updating of your site with just a check in from GitHub!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

Have you checked out Microsoft Band? Carl and Richard talk to Charles Stacy Harris about his work building Band apps. The Band is stuffed with sensors, strapped to your wrist, which opens the door to a ton of interesting information. Stacy talks about several programming options for the Band, including the web tiles that will essentially push an RSS feed onto the band. There's also SDK development options for the Microsoft Health app that communicates with the Band and works with iPhone, Android and Windows Phone. You can work natively or with cross-platform tools like Xamarin, so there are lots of choices - The Band is a great wearable device to explore!

Have you checked out Microsoft Band? Carl and Richard talk to Charles Stacy Harris about his work building Band apps. The Band is stuffed with sensors, strapped to your wrist, which opens the door to a ton of interesting information. Stacy talks about several programming options for the Band, including the web tiles that will essentially push an RSS feed onto the band. There's also SDK development options for the Microsoft Health app that communicates with the Band and works with iPhone, Android and Windows Phone. You can work natively or with cross-platform tools like Xamarin, so there are lots of choices - The Band is a great wearable device to explore!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

Time for an Aurelia update from the man himself! Carl and Richard talk to Rob Eisenberg about the latest developments in the Aurelia project - and what a year it has been! Rob talks about the architectural decisions in Aurelia that allowed for rapid development and an ability to just grab the bits of the library that you need. Lean-ness is the new mantra in JavaScript libraries, and as few custom tags as possible. Aurelia has focused on efficiency from the outset, and Rob is taking it even further. The conversation also dives into the more component-based approaches to web development including ReactJS - there's more to come!

Time for an Aurelia update from the man himself! Carl and Richard talk to Rob Eisenberg about the latest developments in the Aurelia project - and what a year it has been! Rob talks about the architectural decisions in Aurelia that allowed for rapid development and an ability to just grab the bits of the library that you need. Lean-ness is the new mantra in JavaScript libraries, and as few custom tags as possible. Aurelia has focused on efficiency from the outset, and Rob is taking it even further. The conversation also dives into the more component-based approaches to web development including ReactJS - there's more to come!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/net-rocks/donations

When do you choose Cordova over Xamarin and vice versa? Carl and Richard chat with Brian Noyes, who has built apps on both stacks and talks through the details! The conversation starts out on Cordova, which takes a bit of effort to assemble a coherent code-build-debug cycle from. As Brian says, your productivity is directly measureable by how quickly you can get around that cycle, and he's worked hard to optimize it. Things are a bit more integrated on the Xamarin side, and with the recent announcements, a lot more financially feasible also - the hybrid mobile development space is heating up!