News, Tips, and Advice for Technology Professionals

Language/library updates

IronPython 2.7 Beta 2

The IronPython team released the second beta of IronPython 2.7.

Tools and products

Mule iON in beta

I spoke to the team at MuleSoft about the beta of Mule iON. It is an integration platform offered as a cloud service. Instead of trying to code disparate systems to match each other, you have them match the iON interface, which links them together. This makes it much easier to re-use services, and it reduces the need to write per-application integrations.

Reflector goes paid

In a move that has surprised and angered many in the .NET community, Red Gate is going to discontinue free versions of the popular tool Reflector.

Pervasive DataRush 5.0

Pervasive released DataRush 5.0. Its big new feature is the ability to scale across clusters.

BlackBerry AppWorld 2.1

BlackBerry AppWorld 2.1 has launched. It includes the ability to add in-app payments.

January WP7 tools update

The Windows Phone 7 development tools have been updated, including copy/paste support.

BlackBerry tablet simulator updated

RIM updated its tablet simulator. The full BlackBerry Browser is now included.

SOASTA CloudTest Pro

SOASTA announced CloudTest Pro, a system for testing cloud-based applications (including Azure and AWS).

Editorial and commentary

HTML Working Group charter extended

The HTML Working Group (currently working on HTML5) has had its charter extended. Along with it came the responsibility to get to Last Call by May 2011, and reach Recommendation status by the middle of 2014.

Dilbert explains the economics of downsizing

Dilbert is usually pretty good, but the 2/13/2011 strip about downsizing was particularly outstanding.

Tips and tricks

How to make sample data based on a class

Kirupa Chinnathambi posted a tutorial on how to use Blend to generate sample data from a .NET class. This is very useful when developing an application.

RSS on Windows Phone 7

Arik Poznanski put together a free library to read RSS on WP7.

101 Async examples

Here are 101 examples in C# and VB.NET that show off the functionality in the new Async CTP. (You must have Silverlight installed to view the content.)

Silverlight OOB apps and the Taskbar

Kunal Chowdhury wrote a good article about how to get Silverlight Out of Browser apps to work with the Window 7 Taskbar.

Events

Delphi Developer Days

The Delphi Developer Days conference is coming to Washington DC, Houston, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam in April and May. Check the Delphi Developer Days site for specific dates and more details.

NetBeans Day in Munich

There will be a NetBeans Day event in Munich on June 18.

Nebraska CodeCamp looking for speakers

The Nebraska Code Camp is looking for speakers. The conference will be held April 9, 2011.

J.Ja