Microsoft and jQuery Engagement

It seems that Microsoft is going to include jQuery by default in the new releases of Visual Studio and ASP.NET MVC in the near future. jQeury is a very nice and handy Javascript library which has an increasing acceptance recently in the web development community. Here is a part of the John Resig post in jQuery Blog about this news:

Microsoft is looking to make jQuery part of their official development platform. Their JavaScript offering today includes the ASP.NET Ajax Framework and they’re looking to expand it with the use of jQuery. This means that jQuery will be distributed with Visual Studio (which will include jQuery intellisense, snippets, examples, and documentation).

Additionally Microsoft will be developing additional controls, or widgets, to run on top of jQuery that will be easily deployable within your .NET applications. jQuery helpers will also be included in the server-side portion of .NET development (in addition to the existing helpers) providing complementary functions to existing ASP.NET AJAX capabilities.

Code Style Review Using Microsoft Source Analysis

Today, I gave a try for Microsoft Source Analysis aka StyleCop. The tool was internally used inside Microsoft and it's now publicly released. It nicely integrates with Microsoft Visual Studio with the ability to attach the analysis process with the project build - See this post. The tool scan all your C# code and gives you hints for better coding style according to the best practices followed in writing C# code. It gives for example notes regarding the missing comments, formating, missing or extra spaces, extra blank lines and unnecessary brackets.

Here are some sample error messages resulted after running the Source Analysis on one of my projects

- The class must have a documentation header.
- The property must not be placed on a single line. The opening and closing curly brackets must each be placed on their own line.
- Property names begin with an upper-case letter: projectspath.
- All using directives must be placed inside of the namespace.
- The body of the if statement must be wrapped in opening and closing curly brackets.
- Statements or elements wrapped in curly brackets must be followed by a blank line.
- The code must not contain multiple blank lines in a row.
- All properties must be placed after all constructors.



However, there is some drawbacks regarding the tool like it targets only C# developers. More so it can't recognize the spelling mistakes in the code and comments which is one of the most common issues. Another point is that the tool is not flexible regarding its guidelines rules. It doesn't give you the option to exclude a rule in the next time of the analysis scan. For example, it consider putting a preceding underscore in the class private members as a breaking style. However, it is common for most of the C# developers. I think there is already a debate about the best style guidelines for C# coding to follow. The issue even seems to have some historical sides..

I really recommend this tool if you want your team to follow the basics of the C# coding guidelines without caring much about going in details while reviewing their code. It just help you, so that you ignore all the small crappy notes giving all your attention to the real massive mistakes in the coding logic and modules interactions.

You can find more about the tool releases and the future expectations in the Source Analysis blog.

Seekda - Seeking Services On The Web

SOA is now one of the most valuable options in building integrable and loosely-coupled applications. As much as the number of the web-services increases on the web, indexing the services to be reachable by the seekers became a vital need. seekda! - by Semantic Technology Institute (STI) - is one of the nice efforts to index the business services around the Web. The project is based on the results of another research project funded by the European Union called DIP - which started on 1st January 2004 and came to an end officially on 31 Dec 2006 with total funding of €16.3 M. The project acts like a link between the services providers and service consumers aiming to increase the transparency of the services market across the web.

Open XML Appears to Win ISO Approval

After more than 14 months of intensive review, a Joint Technical Committee of the International Standardization Organization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has concluded its formal process to evaluate Ecma International’s submission of the Draft International Standard (DIS) 29500: Office Open XML (Open XML). While the final vote has not yet been announced formally, publicly available information appears to indicate the proposed Open XML standard received extremely broad support. Open XML now joins HTML, PDF and ODF as ISO- and IEC-recognized open document format standards. Read the full story here.

ASP.NET MVC Framework CTP is Finally Released.

ASP.NET MVC CTP is finally released. The framework is released as a part of new ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions package. The extensions includes some new stuff beside the MVC framewok like: The Entity Framework, new additions for ASP.NET AJAX and others.

Download ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions

Scott Guthrie published a series of articles about MVC. Here is the full list:

ASP.NET MVC Framework: Introduction
ASP.NET MVC Framework (Part2): URL Routing
ASP.NET MVC Framework (Part3): Passing ViewData From Controllers to Views
ASP.NET MVC Framework (Part4): Handling Form Edit and Post Scenarios

Finally MVC Model For ASP.NET

Finally we will have MVC model for ASP.NET. This was announced on Alt.Net Conference last day. In my opinion, this will be one of the most interesting feature added to ASP.NET. MVC is one of the old design patterns which introduced in many object-oriented languages. In MVC pattern, controllers just handle application flow, models represent the data, and the view is just concerned about presentation logic. The model was first introduced in SmallTalk. It is widely used on many other web frameworks like Zend Framework for PHP and MoneRail.

I was reading about Zend Framework from a while and I liked the way which they separate their pages and controllers classes. The model itself has a great trust from many web developers especially when building large scale projects where updatability is a critical issue.

Using MVC model, you will be able to define you application URLs like:
http://domain_name/Controller/Action/Parameter1/Parameter2/...

Where you map a URL to a certain Controller and action.

Read more about this topic here.
For more about MVC Model, check out this post

Microsoft Releases First Public Longhorn Beta

Microsoft has moved forward on the server side of the OS equation. The company just released the first public beta of Windows Server, aka Longhorn. It's widely available for download by just about anyone who wants it. And finally, the OS is feature complete.

Download Windows Server - Code Name Longhorn - Beta 3

Copied - eWeek.com

Virtual Earth 3D Control

The Virtual Earth 3D control is a new tool released by Microsoft for visualizing the entire world in three dimensions. Rather than a standalone application, Virtual Earth™ 3D is implemented as a managed control, which allows seamless integration with Web sites or standalone applications. The Microsoft^® .NET Framework security model gives users the capability of dynamically loading plug-ins to supply data, but restricting them to execution in a partial-trust environment.

Get More Details

Visual Studio Code Name "Orcas" March CTP Available Now!

Get an early look at Visual Studio codename "Orcas". Orcas CTP is now available. The next version of Visual Studio, Visual Studio code name “Orcas”, will provide an industry-leading developer experience for Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and the Web. In addition, it will continue in the Microsoft tradition of development language innovation.

AJAX Version 1.0 Available Now!

AJAX Version 1.0 is now released for market and available to download.

To download the full version, visit: ASP.NET Offical Site

ASP.NET AJAX is a free framework for quickly creating a new generation of more efficient, more interactive and highly-personalized Web experiences that work across all the most popular browsers.

With ASP.NET AJAX, you can:

Create next-generation interfaces with reusable AJAX components.
Enhance existing Web pages using powerful AJAX controls with support for all modern browsers.

Continue using Visual Studio 2005 to take your ASP.NET 2.0 sites to the next level.
Access remote services and data directly from the browser without writing a ton of complicated script.

Enjoy the benefits of a free framework with 24x7 technical support provided by Microsoft.

MDC2007 Registeration Starting Up

MDC2007 started up its registeration process for attending the event. MDC 2007 is the biggest Developers' Conference of the year in the Middle East, and is a critical event for any developer who wants to see the newest as well as the next-generation technology. MDC07 is full of sessions and activities that help you learn the current and future of the Microsoft platform and get to know people who are as passionate about software as you are.

MDC2007 will be held in Cairo International Conference Center, between February 4-7. The registeration fees is 100 Egyptian Bound, which you will have to pay in the first of February, 2007 in Cairo International Center.

For Registeration, Visit MDC2007 Official Site

iPhone - New Apple Device

iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.

The phone will be available in two models, 4GB and 8GB priced at $499 and $599 respectively, and will ship to the US in June of this year. Europe will get the phone in the fourth quarter, while Asia will wait till 2008.

It's nice to mention that Microsoft has recently released Zune. In my opinion, iPhone has crashed any expectations and provide ultimate features which can't be compared with Zune such as internet access and mobile phone cababilities.

On the other hand, Cisco sues Apple over use of iPhone trademark. Cisco said in the complaint that Apple had attempted to get rights to the iPhone name several times, but after Cisco refused, the company created a front company to try to acquire the rights another way, according to the lawsuit. For more about this issue, click here.

Finally, it's the industry challenge and days will be tell us who wins.

Zune: The Microsoft iPod

It seems that Microsoft want to straggle in all the fields even in the Media and Music World. Now, we have a new competitor for iPod - The Apple Product - which is introduced as Zune. Zune is a new handled device for music and media gives you almost the same features of iPod and maybe better. Explore more about it here: Zune - Official Site

Depending on this post, Zune has some key features which may lead to a great success over iPod. For example, Zune gives you the WiFi conectivity feature which is an attractive way in sharing songs and videos. However, you can't connect to the internet through it (see this). Also, the wide screen is something attractive for Zune fans.

The challenge which Zune may face is in the Zune battery life which may not be able to last for a long time with the Wi-Fi connectivity and the device large screen. It's nice to mention here that, iPod battery can currently last for approximatly 12-hours.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Cell phone users, beware. The FBI can listen to everything you say, even when the cell phone is turned off.

A recent court ruling in a case against the Genovese crime family revealed that the FBI has the ability from a remote location to activate a cell phone and turn its microphone into a listening device that transmits to an FBI listening post, a method known as a "roving bug." Experts say the only way to defeat it is to remove the cell phone battery.

"The FBI can access cell phones and modify them remotely without ever having to physically handle them," James Atkinson, a counterintelligence security consultant, told ABC News. "Any recently manufactured cell phone has a built-in tracking device, which can allow eavesdroppers to pinpoint someone's location to within just a few feet," he added.

References: ABC News

Google Opening Middle East Office in Egypt

Google will be basing their Middle East marketing & sales operations in Cairo, although they already have a Research and Development Lab based in Israel. On Angelo's blog he states that the Arab world had expected Google to open their regional office in the elegant area of Dubai (UAE), but Google has decided on Egypt.

Angelo writes on Stravinsky's Sizzlin' Shack (warning, two or more pop-up windows served):

According to some sources, a few months ago, Google Egypt hired a Country Manager (Sherif Iskander — mentioned here) who also serves as a regional manager and is now looking around for suitable candidates to fill the posts of Associate Product Marketing Manager and Product Marketing Manager. An unofficial Google page at Wikia.com details why Google should choose Egypt as their Middle Eastern base for regional operations and at the Wiki's talk page, someone also notes the hiring of the regional manager for the Middle East and points to the vaccant positions.

It seems that although the official Google jobs site lists the vacancy for a product marketing manager for their office in Egypt, the listing fails to mention that posting may require travel between London and Cairo, the same job posted on monster.com states that the job is located in London although it is for Google Egypt. I'm guessing here, but I think that Google is planning on pushing Arabized/localized versions of their enterprise solutions like the OneBox & Google Earth. One of the reasons as to why Google might have chosen Egypt for their Middle Eastern regional office over Dubai, is since Yahoo already has a footing in terms of advertising sales & marketing operations for the region over at Dubai's Internet City.


For more..

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/?p=3567

http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1896

COPIED!.

Google Code Jam 2006

Google Code Jam 2006 Qualification Round was started in the last 5th, September. This competition is supported by google and aims to create an international competition in programming and problem solving. Depending on the round, you got a set of problems and you will have to solve it in a certain time.

The qualification round consists of 2 problems - 250 point and 750 point problems - and you will have to solve these problems in 60 minutes. CodeJam gives you a great option to choose your favorite programming language to program with (Java, C#, VB.NET, C++ and Paython), which supports the idea of not giving much importance to the programming langauge and free the minds to solve the problem itself.

Qualification round will filter the participants to 1000 coders who will be qualified to continue to Round 1. The 1000 coders then will be filtered to be 100 who will get the prices and go to New York, USA to challenge again.

Egypt existance in Google Code Jam this year was not enough. I am sure we have so many skills out there who need to be encouraged to participate and challenge.

New Service In Alex. Bibliotheque Museum

The Museum of the Alexandria bibliotheque has created a new service for its visitors allowing them to explore the museum pieces-of-art using a handled PC.

The visitor simply enters the piece ID, and all the related information is viewed on his handled. After the visitor finishes his tour, he can send all the information - he got in his tour - to his email address.

AJAX - The New Giant

AJAX – Asynchronuos Javascript And XML – is a new technique introduced recently to give more richness to web applications. AJAX is totally executed on the client machine. We can consider AJAX as a Java Applet – The Sun technology – in the main idea.

Web applications in general can be formalized as a “Request” and a corresponding “Response”. In other word, any web application is synchronous – a request and an acknowledge (response). This criteria makes web applications some how not rich in developing. Many functionalities done in desktop applications is not easy to be performed in web development.

For example, suppose you want to make a small dictionary that accept a word in English and return the equivalent in Arabic. If your decision is to make this application as web-based application, then you will have a web form which accept your word, after submition, your browser will perform a request. In meanwhile, the whole page will be refreshed to give you finally the equivalent word in Arabic!

As you see, for this simple proces, there is no need to refresh the whole page just to get the translation of one english word. Offcourse, you hope that your user can enter his english word and after submission, the results is shown in the same page without refreshing. The process simplicity, make this experience. This is what your user expect from the application.

In desktop application, a process like that is so easy. However, in web application, this is some how so hard to be done.

AJAX comes to solve such kind of problems in web development. AJAX act like a background component which can make small requests and get the response without the need to refresh the webpage. The same way the desktop applications act.


Actually, we can’t define AJAX as a new technology. AJAX is a group of technologies, grouped to solve a certain problem faced by web developers. AJAX uses XHTML (Extended Hyperlink Text Markup Language), CSS (Cascaded Style Sheets), DOM, ActiveX, XML and offcourse Javascript.

AJAX is supported now with many browsers such as Internet Explorer 5 or later, Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox and Opera. The technique also can be seen in many online applications like Gmail and GoogleMaps.

AJAX now can be used in .NET applications using ATLAS component – a release of AJAX for .NET technology.

AJAX is spreading now. And we have now a new effecive tool in building rich web applications. However, we need to change the way we think about the web.