Breaking Changes from Beta2 to RTM

MS has published the details of the breaking changes from .NET2.0 Beta2 to the RTM version.
The list goes like this:

Breaking Changes Overview

.NET Framework Version 2.0

• Threading Cancellation Functionality
• INullableValue Interface
• System.Nullable
• Boxing and Unboxing of Nullable

.NET Client

• MenuCommands Class
• Behavior Class
• ColumnWidthChangedEventArgs Class
• BindingContext Class
• DataGridViewRow Class
• DataGridViewCell Class
• Client Application User Settings
• Application Settings Serialization
• TreeView and TreeNode Classes
• BackgroundWorker Class
• MaskedTextBox Class
• GetPreferredSize Property of Form Controls
• Windows Forms API Changes
• CancelRowEdit Event
• AsyncCompletedEventArgs.Error Property
• RadioButton.TabStop Property
• MDI Automatic Merging
• BindingSource.Items Property

.NET Compact Framework

• EventArgs Classes

Common Language Runtime (CLR)

• XCertificateUI Class
• System.Threading.Thread Class
• KeyValuePair Class
• AssembliesVisibleTo Attribute

System.Data Namespace

• SqlDataReader.GetSchemaTable Method
• SqlNotificationEncryptionType Enumeration
• System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlStreamChars Property
• SqlDataReader.GetSqlValue Return Type

Globalization

• Persian Calendar Class
• DateTimeFormatInfo

ClassVisual Studio Tools for Office

• VSTView Interface

Visual C++ Programming Language

• ATL Server — CAtlHttpClient Class
• Floating-point Control Word Support Functions
• Dynamic Cast from Private Base
• MFC Wrapper for LoadLibraryEx()
• MFC -bit Message Map Support

C# Programming Language

• Compilation Error Due to Implicit Conversion
• Checked and Unchecked Expressions
• Nullable Does Not Satisfy IComparable Constraint Error
• Cannot Form a Delegate Over Nullable Error
• Operator "is" Returns true for T and Non-null T?

Visual Basic Programming Language

• TypeOf Statement
• Non-CLS Compliant Return Types
• Overriding Object Members in Structures
• Namespaces with Different Casing
• Implementing MustOverride Methods
• AppActivate Case-insensitivity
• AppActivate Right-Hand Title
• CreateObject Case-insensitivity
• Zero-Based Collection Object
• FileIO Enumerations
• FileLogTraceListener.CustomLocation Property
• FileLogTraceListener Date Format

ClickOnce Runtime Process

• ClickOnce Store Change
• WebBrowser Permissions

Visual Studio

• Visual Studio Settings
• Machine.config File Changes
• Visual C++ Beta Project Open Error
• Errors When Deploying Device Projects to the Device Emulator

ASP.NET

• Unique Class Names
• HTML Default Validation Schema
• Events for Non-Visible Controls
• ICallbackEventHandler.GetCallbackResult Method
• ASP.NET Personalization Database Schema
• Page.CreateStateFormatter Method
• Aspnet_regiis.exe Utility Argument Change
• WebPart File Format
• System.Web.UI.IPageHeader
• Relative References in the Configuration File
• Web Project Global Settings and Project Policy Settings

Check the Breaking Changes in Visual Studio and the .NET Framework for complete details. Just went through the document to have a bird's view of the changes, sounds good.

New Generation MS Certifications

Microsoft has come up with new certifications based on .NET2.0 technologies. Have a look at the details at The New Generation of Microsoft Certifications.

Case Study on Application Development with Whidbey & Yukon

Polaris Software Lab Triples Developer Productivity with Microsoft is a brand new case study that details the company's experience with one of its product Intellect-Collect that was ported to .NET from Java. The case study sounds pretty good. Just have a read and share your thought about it.

Hiring Good Programmers!!!

Stumbled over this article Hiring Good Programmers Matters. Was a good read and indeed true... Check it out.

Via: Sudhakar

Kid's Programming Language

Microsoft has signed on to promote a new programming language intended to replace BASIC as the first step students take towards learning how to code.

The Kid's Programming Language, or KPL, was developed under the direction of Jonah Stagner, and his colleagues, ex-Microsoft program manager Jon Schwartz and former NCR engineer Walt Morrison. The three run the software consultancy Morrison-Schwartz Inc.

"One of the things we realized is that we all learned programming on some flavor of BASIC when we started. You're not going to learn how to program in BASIC anymore," said Morrison, in an interview. "We wanted something that isn't 20 years old; modern technology that uses an integrated development environment, so we can take our kids and move them directly from this to the .NET environment."

KPL has its dedicated website and a descriptive article has been posted at MSDN's Code4Fun site.

Via: Yahoo News

Openings with Polaris

Polaris is looking for .NET developers with 1+ years experience who have a flair to work with the bleeding edge technologies. If you are one of them, you could send in your CVs to mahalakshmi.n@gmail.com.

WSS and Sharepoint Portal Server

I got an opportunity to learn Windows Sharepoint Services(WSS) and Sharepoint Portal Server. Pretty interesting. Searching for more resources and samples to understand better. If you have any good resource, please share.