This one is for the developers out there. I’m that if you are a keen C#, VB or C++ developer, you have been trying out the betas and release candidate for Visual Studio 2010. Well great news, Visual Studio 2010 has been released and is ready for you to start developing on.

Now remember, before you start wondering about the price, or look towards those torrent sites, you can get it for free as a student through MSDNAA or www.dreamspark.com

No excuses!

VS2010 features some awesome new additions like true multi-monitor support, editor zooming using the powerful new WPF code editor, C# 4.0 and C++0x if either of those take your fancy. Microsoft has really added features to bring Visual Studio 2010 into the future.

One feature that is really amazing is the ability to box select in the editor. Forget normal text selection, this allows you to draw a box around code, and only edit that part. Say you want to change a bunch of public variables into private variables, just box select all of the public identifiers and type private, done!

C# 4.0 alone has tons of new features, including integration with the dynamic runtime (easy scripting), and all of the Windows 7 features integrated into the .NET library. (Touch, Jumplists etc)

If you aren’t a fan of angle brackets, there are plenty of new features in Visual Basic 2010 as well, including implicit line continuation (goodbye underscore!), auto-implemented properties, and collection initialisers.

If you want a full overview of all of the new features, then head here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386063(v=VS.100).aspx

Scott Hanselman has a great overview of the key new features here:

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/VisualStudio2010Released.aspx

Don’t forget that you can get all of these features for free through DreamSpark:

https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductId=25

Something special for all of those developers who want to take advantage of the new touch input features in Windows 7 and .NET 4.0. The Microsoft Surface blog has announced the availability of the Microsoft Surface Toolkit for Windows Touch beta. This is a set of Controls, APIs, templates and Docs that were previously only available to Surface developers, and now they can be used by anyone developing touch enabled applications for Windows 7.

More details at the surface blog here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/surface/archive/2010/04/12/launch-microsoft-surface-toolkit-for-windows-touch-beta.aspx

and a direct link to the toolkit download:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=801907a7-b2dd-4e63-9ff3-8a2e63932a74

Happy coding!

Registration is open from 10:30 to 11am, but trains take ~2hrs to get there, so be sure you know what train you need.

Let me know if you are going to the camp!

-Michael

As I plan it with Microsoft, I do need some further information from the audience on some aspects so I can make the event as good as it can be.

So if you can spare a couple of minutes to provide some feedback and answer these questions:

1. Do you know C#/.NET?
2. If not, would you like a session that goes over the language and framework? (Tailored towards XNA, as much as time permits)
3. Which would you prefer?
   • One longer session, probably during mid-semester break.
   • Multiple shorter sessions (30-40mins) spread out through semester, each with a defined topic.

Any help would be appreciated in getting to know what you guys want so I can make an awesome event.

Please either post a comment containing your response, or email your answers to me at michaelq@student-partners.com.au.

Remember that there is a Game Design and Development category in the Imagine Cup, so you can take the knowledge you learn at the event(s) and form a team, and possibly win the competition.

XNA Creators Club also allows game submissions from Australia, as well as Dream Build Play submissions, so you could win an XBLA deal, lots of cash, or even just sell your game to the USA and Europe. (I will cover this in one of the sessions for certain.)

Thanks!

-Michael

Please note that if you are making a game for the Community Games service, you will only be able to submit a 3.1 game from July 23rd.

If you are entering Dream Build Play, ensure you convert to 3.1 as the competition requires it.

http://creators.xna.com/en-us/news/xnagamestudio3.1

New Features in 3.1:

• Avatars
• Video Playback
• Changed Audio API (SoundEffect class changes)
• XACT3 support, including xWMA compression
• Xbox LIVE Party support

For those interested, XNA GS will support both 3.0 and 3.1, and will offer the choice to upgrade to 3.1, so you can install this, try out an upgrade or a new project with the new features, and continue working on a 3.0 project until you are ready to upgrade. (Or if you wish to release to XBLCG soon, you may wish to not upgrade, but you can still install 3.1)

Remember that before 23 July, anything you submit to peer review or play testing needs to be 3.0, however after the 23rd you can upgrade.

3.1 XBLCG games will not be available for purchase until a future Xbox LIVE update.

There is a nice list at the MSDN USA ISV blog that goes through the new features, and you can find some nice articles on the new Office Interop features, the Dynamic keyword, and ASP.Net 4.

Let us know what you like/dislike about the new IDE, and be sure to send feedback to Microsoft if you encounter any issues.

Happy coding!

You can find the entire list here.

Some notable parts to highlight:

• Beta of VS2010 available soon.
• Office 2010 technical preview begins in July 2009, you can nominate yourself for the preview at Office 2010 the Movie.
• SQL Server R2 will get a preview before the end of 2009.

Most of them you either already have or probably won’t worry about, but check through that list to see if there is anything else that interests you. There are plenty of betas and previews coming up to get your hands on and try out for free.

If you have access to a MSDN subscription (MSDNAA should suffice) then it will be available on Monday 18th May.

More information about Visual Studio 2010

More details with links will be posted closer to the release date.

(Source: Jihad Dannawi (MS AU))