C# might be more elegant with escape sequences, but that doesn't mean Visual Basic is weaker in this area.
Updates to pull requests, continuous integration features, and build definitions, and work items are highlights of the latest sprint released at the beginning of this month.
- By Michael Domingo
- 08/25/2016
When you debug a C++ application, the debugger can take a number of detours through lots of trivial functions or code from third-party libraries. You can filter out those unnecessary paths and have the debugger focus on just the code you want.
- By Bartlomiej Filipek
- 08/24/2016
Many of the new features previewed in the IDE -- setup engine, revamped the Start Page, quick launch from clone, etc. -- have been enhanced and improved. Dozens of language-specific improvements are also embedded in this fourth preview.
- By Michael Domingo
- 08/23/2016
One way to slow down your application is to make multiple trips to the database. Here's a way to cut those trips in half (at least) and it has to do with the EntityFramework.Extended library.
Web Parts support is a highlight of this for-testing-only developer preview, and Visual Studio tooling and "modern page editing experiences" are also in the works.
Microsoft is open sourcing its popular scripting language and porting it to the Linux and Mac OSX platforms. PowerShell capabilities will also reach into the cloud via extensions for Microsoft Operations Management Suite.
- By Michael Domingo
- 08/18/2016
How C# and Visual Basic handle characters and single-character strings is a bit inconsistent. There's no tidy solution, but it's something you do need to know.
Here's a round-up of the most recently released extensions for Visual Studio. There's something here for everyone, from starting a new project to deploying your code.
- By Terrence Dorsey
- 08/17/2016
It's not quite there yet, but Visual Studio 2015 has improved the authentication process so that developers aren't forced to sign into it more than twice a day.
- By Michael Domingo
- 08/16/2016
By adding one open source library to your application (and adding two methods to your LINQ statements) you can cut the time spent on database updates and deletes in half.
As the end approaches for code-based sandbox support in SharePoint sites, Microsoft and third parties point to a few resources for inventorying sites that use it.
Recompiling source code while debugging is possible, but sometimes your C++ project might not be configured to use it.
- By Bartlomiej Filipek
- 08/11/2016
How can developers gain the trust of the operations side? As Microsoft's Donovan Brown explains in a Visual Studio Live! keynote, automation is key in gaining that trust. He then live-demoed a DevOps pipeline within an Azure environment to prove his point.
Developer evangelist James Montemagno explains the benefits that developers will derive in the coming months as a result of the company's acquisition by Microsoft earlier in the year (one hint: open source). He also doesn't hide his affinity for a certain mobile platform.
Vectors, lists, arrays, matrices and data frames -- a look at five of the most fundamental data structures built into R.
- By James McCaffrey
- 08/10/2016
At Visual Studio Live! on Tuesday, Microsoft's Amanda Silver offered up a state of the Microsoft development stack, noting the gains made by open sourcing its tools.
A release candidate for TFS '15' comes with UI changes on the Web side and a slew of improvements to Agile planning capabilities, Git, Build, and Release Management, to name a few (as well gobs of bug fixes).
- By Michael Domingo
- 08/09/2016
If you're looking for a lean, mean, cross-platform, desktop code editor then Visual Studio Code might be just your cup of tea. However, if you're used to the level of functionality you get with Visual Studio, it's important to set your expectations appropriately.
Integrating distributed, in-memory computing with distributed caching can easily extend LINQ semantics to create important new capabilities for real-time analytics on fast-changing data.
- By William L. Bain
- 08/08/2016