NEWS
NuGet API key expiration
A controversial proposal landed today that would see NuGet access tokens expire once every 90 days. Dear NuGet team, your job is to help people do open-source, not make their lives more difficult. Please reconsider your approach and potentially implement the GitHub access token UI/UX workflow instead.
nuget.org
Technical Bulletin: Android SDK Build-tools v24
Google has released a final build of the v24 Android SDK Build-tools package which is not compatible with the latest version of Xamarin.Android. For now, Xamarin is recommending that you do not install v24 or uninstall v24 if it has already been installed.
xamarin.com
Stable Release: Cycle 7 Service Release 0
Xamarin has released their first update for Cycle 7. Make sure you review the known issues as there is an especially annoying defect open whereby when using Visual Studio + Xamarin.iOS breakpoints within async methods in PCL projects will not be hit if the linker is enabled.
xamarin.com
CODE
CSLA v4.6 released
CSLA is a software development framework that helps you build maintainable business logic and clean user interfaces by keeping business objects in the middle, where it belongs. v4.6 improves support with Xamarin.Forms.
github.com
DESIGN
Building a delightful onboarding experience for mobile app users
When launching an app, you need to spend a lot of time and resources to attract users. You can pull people into your app using a variety of means, including advertising, referral programs, public relations and content marketing. But when people finally download an app, they sometimes feel abandoned. You must clearly show users why they need your app.
smashingmagazine.com
DEVOPS
Gary Ewan Park's talk from NDC 2016 - "A Piece of Cake"
Have you ever wanted to create a build script for your application, but been faced with learning a new language, or DSL, or writing more XML than any person should ever need to? Introducing Cake where you use the C# skills that you already have to write once and run on all platforms.
vimeo.com
IOS
Code Signing in Xcode 8
Code signing and managing provisioning profiles has been an ongoing annoyance for many developers over the years. One of the many announcements from WWDC was that Xcode 8 has a new report in the Report Navigator section that outlines everything Xcode does on your behalf related to code signing. No longer will you have to hunt and peck to find out what might be wrong. Xcode 8 will tell you exactly what is wrong, misaligned, expired, or missing.
possiblemobile.com
WINDOWS UNIVERSAL
Invoke UWP APIs from .NET desktop applications
A magical NuGet package by Lucian Wischik (MSFT) that allows you to use UWP/WinRT APIs from your desktop apps.
github.com
XAMARIN FORMS
Merged Dictionaries with Xamarin Forms
With v2.3.0 and higher of Xamarin.Forms it is now possible to define your application style into thin slices and merge them together using resource dictionaries.
xamarinhelp.com
Contributing to Xamarin Forms
Tired of waiting for a bug to be resolved? Learn how to fix it yourself with this excellent guide by Adam Pedley.
xamarinhelp.com
.NET
Portable- is dead, long live NetStandard
With the RC of NuGet 2.12 for VS 2012/2013, and the imminent release of .NET Core on Monday the 27th, it’s time to bid farewell to our beloved/cursed PCL profiles. So long, you won’t be missed! Oh, and dotnet, please don’t let the door hit you on the way out either.
oren.codes
This week on "On.NET" - Jeremy Kuhne on MAX_PATH
The Windows API, has for too long now defined that the maximum length of a path (MAX_PATH) is 260 characters. In Windows 10 build 14352 (Anniversary Update aka Redstone) this limitation can be removed via a group policy and in this video Jeremy discusses what this means for .NET developers.
youtube.com
FSHARP
Inversion of Control in F#
The Spiderman (Market Intelligence) team at Jet has documented their approach to using IoC with F# and created a step-by-step guide that includes working code.
jet.com
WHO'S HIRING/LOOKING
Work for a software company founded by developers for developers. A place where smart, like-minded developers collaborate to make great software using only the best tools.
Envoy is a company of around 20 developers based out of Sydney, Australia, who build bespoke applications for clients. Unlike a lot of other companies we are not a body-shopper and because our defect rate is so low we don't have dedicated support people either.
We are growing quickly through word of mouth and looking for .NET developers with Xamarin experience or who are interested in working in Xamarin.
If you have the ability to pick up technical ideas and architectural concepts quickly, like to work autonomously and create great software in an environment with no bureaucracy or office politics we'd love to chat.
envoyat.com
AND FINALLY...
Write lots of code. Clone existing things as exercises. Learn deeply. Alternate trying yourself and reading literature. Be obsessive. - John Carmack
twitter.com