5 Great Features in EcmaScript 6 (ES6 Harmony)

EcmaScript is the standardized scripting language that JavaScript (and some other languages, like ActionScript) implement.  If you think EcmaScript is a terrible name, you’re not alone.  Brendan Eich, the original developer of JavaScript, once wrote that the name EcmaScript sounds like a skin disease.  Naming aside, JavaScript is one of the most important languages in…

Angular.js vs Ember.js Star Rating Component Comparison

UPDATE: I recently published a WintellectNow course – Getting Started with Ember.js.  You should also check out Jeremy Likness’ in depth series on Angular – Mastering AngularJS.  Use promo code NSTIEGLITZ-13 for a free two week trial. Last week, I published a blog post that shows how to build a reusable Star Rating Component using…

Ember Components – Build a Star Rating Component

UPDATE: I recently published a WintellectNow course (“Getting Started with Ember.js”).  Use promo code NSTIEGLITZ-13 for a free two week trial. — Ember Components are “custom HTML elements that you can use to clean up repetitive templates or create reusable controls.”  They simplify your templates by encapsulating functionality and introduce reusability that would otherwise not…

Advanced Queries with BreezeJS

UPDATE: I recently published a WintellectNow course (Getting Started with Breeze.js) that goes into more depth using Breeze in the context of an AngularJS app.  Use code NSTIEGLITZ-13 for a free 2 week WintellectNow trial. — BreezeJS is a JavaScript library to help manage data in rich client web applications.  It’s especially useful in Enterprise…

Five Reasons ASP.NET Developers Shouldn’t Worry About Node

I devoted my last post to reasons why ASP.NET developers should pay attention to Node.js. Taking a queue from high school debate team, and because no technology decision (or opinion) exists in a vacuum, I’d like to turn the tables and consider a few reasons why ASP.NET developers might stay away from Node (or at…

Stop fighting Node.js in the enterprise

In 1995 there were around 40 million people on the internet, but by 2011 there were almost 4.5 billion. The average computer has gotten so ridiculously fast that my phone has more processing power than the server that hosted my first website. Internet connections have improved so much that buying a physical copy of any…

WintellectNOW Author Blog Round Up: March

It’s time for this month’s blog round-up! Check out what our authors have been creating over the past month!    This month in MSDN, Rachel Appel explores the Hub control in the Hub project template in Visual Studio.  If you are new to the Hub project template, which enables you to deliver a large volume of…

WintellectNOW Authors on the Road: March Update

Our authors are everywhere! If you enjoy watching their WintellectNOW videos, why not meet up with them in person?  We have folks speaking, attending, and working booths at a number of events this spring.  If you find yourself at any of the events below, please stop by and say “hi.” We’d love to meet you…

WintellectRAW: Kevin Griffin

Welcome to WintellectRAW – featurettes about your favorite authors.  Each month we’ll give you a quick glimpse into the life of a WintellectNOW author – how they got their start, some of their hobbies, their favorite projects, and more!   This month we feature Kevin Griffin, a Microsoft MVP, entrepreneur, and former childhood nuclear submarine…

A Behavior Change in Visual Studio 2013 .NET Breakpoints

One of my favorite tricks is to use Visual Studio breakpoints to call a method to force state changes when testing code. There’s just some times where calling a method at a breakpoint is the fastest way to create a test. To call a method at a breakpoint, set a regular location breakpoint, right click…

Five Reasons ASP.NET Developers Should Care About Node.js

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or perhaps in a van down by the river) you may have noticed that Node.js is kind of a big deal. Since its introduction in late 2009, Node has steadily grown in popularity and now occupies prime real estate as a (if not the) de facto choice of…

Cookbook for ASP.NET MVC and Angular.js Web Apps

As I’ve spent time with AngularJS, I’ve become very impressed with the clarity it brings to developing enterprise-level web applications. I thought it would also be valuable to create a GitHub repository with some examples of how one might integrate AngularJS with ASP.NET MVC. Thus, the Angular-MVC-Cookbook repository was born. I hope that I (and…