Pie in the Sky (April 4th, 2014)

It's the weekend I wanted to go see a movie, so of course I now have a cold. Well at least there's lots of //build videos to watch. Here's a list of some of the more interesting links I found this week.

Client/Mobile

• Extending platform commonality through universal Windows apps: Looks like Microsoft is attempting to unify application development across devices/platforms

• WinJS: WinJS, formerly a Windows 8 only thing, is now open source and apparently works in modern browsers on other platforms. There's also a site where you can try it out in the browser.

• What's new in the Azure Mobile Services client SDK Some stuff for notification hubs and Xamarin apparently.

• Azure Mobile Services node.js backend updates: Fixes for the most part.

• Browser testing with Modern.IE: I've linked to the Modern.IE stuff before, but SitePoint has a good write up this week.

.NET

• The .NET Foundation: Microsoft announced the .NET foundation this week, which will provide stewardship of a bunch of open source .NET technologies. Hit the page for a list of all the OSS .NET projects they are working with.

Java

• Azure Web Sites now support Java: Here's a getting started page.

Node.js

• Build an OAuth2 server: In case you want to roll your own authentication.

• Outbound SSL performance: PayPal has some numbers and advice for you.

• Node.js security in the enterprise: Securing your Node.js application.

Ruby

• Visual overview of Ruby on Rails: A nice overview diagram of Rails.

• Active Record enums: New in edge Rails.

• Snapi: Kinda neat API generator.

Misc.

• TypeScript 1.0: Typescript hits the big 1.0.

• Analysis paralysis: Good article on overthinking things.

• Microsoft Avro library for HDInsight: This is now released. A sample is available.

Enjoy!

-Larry