Silverlight and Managed Code

Okay, a few of my scribblings from the Silverlight and Managed Code demos (and they haven't finished yet)...

Chess Demo

Scott demo'd a chess playing Silverlight app. The AI is implemented in both .NET and JavaScipt. As well as playing the computer, you can also set the .NET version to play the JavaScript version. The app is set up to limit the time per move and shows the number of options inspected prior to moving. The .NET "player" was orders of magnitude more performant than the JavaScript player. ie about 1,000,000 inspections by the .NET player vs a few hundred for the JavaScript player implementing the same algorithm.

New Visual Studio Orcas Silverlight Project Type

Create the XAML representing your application UI and a code behind (Page class derives from Canvas). Scott demo'd C# but any .NET language is supported. Full Intellisense support on Silverlight objects etc.

New ASP.NET Silverlight Server Controls

Host Silverlight applications in your ASP.NET web pages

CLR Cross Platform Debugging - *Woah!*

Scott showed attaching the Visual Studio debugger to the Silverlight app he'd built running on a Mac. Set a breakpoint and you'll see the breakpoint hit. You can inspect object properties etc on the remote application and even modify them. We saw the Mac update as Scott made changes. This is very cool and must have been incredibly challenging to do.

Connect to Web Services / WCF Services

Just like you would in any other .NET application.

New Community Site for Silverlight

Technorati tags: mix07, silverlight, .net