I have attended live the sessions described below on day 3 at the Build conference and these are my notes from these sessions. Some parts might not be easily readable or understandable (even for me )  because the sessions were fast-paced and I tried to write down everything which seemed important to me. Nevertheless I hope that this brief summary is helpful to some of you.

The Future of C#

• Roslyn
  • The .Net Compiler Platform
  • Reimplementation of C# and VB compilers in C# and VB respectively with rich public APIs
  • Available on CodePlex
  • Roslyn source
  • Rewritten to get a richer IDE experience, build and share tools and extensions, clean architecture, OSS
  • Diagnostics Framework
  • Source and end-user preview
  • Call to action: install, previews, fork the compiler source
  • SDK Preview: samples, tools, project templates to build for Roslyn, Syntax Visualizer
  • Project Template: C# node => Roslyn
    • Diagnostic with code fix
  • Roslyn Syntax Visualizer: navigate the syntax tree
  • Diagnostic Analyzer: checks and shows squiggles
  • Code Fix Provider: transform code with fix
  • C# languages design notes on CodePlex
  • VB Select Case As Type => direct use in case block
  • C#:
    • Console.WriteLine() => using System.Console; => WriteLine();
    • Easier declaration
      • Primary constructor on the class
        • public class Point (int x, int y)
      • Initialization of the auto properties
        • It doesn’t call the setter, sets directly the private variable
        • public int X { get; set; } = x;
        • public int X{ get; } = x;
      • Accessibility modifier on the parameter
        • public class Point (int x, private readonly int y)
        • Creates private variable automatically
      • Object initializer
        • Dictionary initialization
          • new JObject() { [“x”] = p.X }
          • LINQ query:
            • new JArray (from points where … select … );
      • Indexed member (syntactic sugar only)
        • From json[“x”] to json.$x
      • Declaration expression
        • Our parameters have to be declared
          • var x; TryGetInt(json.$x, out x);
        • Can be initialized
          • TryGetInt(json.$x, out int x)
          • TryGetInt(json.$x, out var x);
          • TryGetInt(json.$x, our var x = 1)
      • await inside catch and finally blocks for async close or logging
      • Exception filters also in C# (already in VB and F#)

Cutting Edge Graphics in HTML

• Options:
  • Images
  • SVG
  • Canvas
    • Fill rule
    • Dashed lines
• JPEG
  • Save image quality 0-6, for web 0-50
  • Tool RIOT
• WebGL
  • IE11 has WebGL on all devices
  • On tablets and phones GPU is always used
  • Spring 14 update
• Antialiasing
  • Enable on WebGL
  • It looks smoother
  • Lines will use gradient
  • No antialiasing on DirectX 9 devices
• WebGL best practices
  • Don’t render in the background
  • Don’t render if the scene is not changing
• Babylon.js: framework for WebGL
  • On GitHub
  • Physics engine and collision engine included in Babylon.js
  • For web app
    • HTML page, CSS, JavaScript file
    • Add canvas to HTML page
    • Add script reference babylon.js to the HTML page
    • In the JavaScript file:
      • new Babylon.Engine(canvas, useAntiAliasing)
    • Babylon.SceneLoader,Load => engine.runRenderLoop , scene.render
      • Loads Json
      • Loads scene with textures, shadows
      • When loaded asynchronous
        • scene.executeWhenReady()
    • web.config: declare .ddl and .babylon as known types
  • You have to create the scene by using Blender 2.7
  • Sandbox for Babylon.js to test scene by drag & drop
  • Replace JPEG with DDS
    • JPEG and PNG converted to BMP
    • Using DDS is 4 times less memory footprint
  • Offline support
  • Full support for Windows Phone 8.1
    • Virtual joystick
    • Camera follows finger
    • Move phone
  • Support for Oculus Rift
    • No plugin needed, just JavaScript and Internet Explorer
    • Cut screen in half for left and right eyes

Animations in Windows Phone XAML Apps

• Timing is crucial
• Animations are slow and annoying, e.g. blinking
• What makes animations great?
  • Fluidity
  • Context
  • Subtle feedback
  • Emotional appeal
• Library of animations designed by motion experts
  • ThemeTransitions
  • ThemeAnimations
  • Examples:
    • Page Navigation Theme Transition
      • SlideNavigationTransitionInfo
    • NavigationTransition
      • Common
      • Slide
      • Continuum

You can find also lots of pictures from the conference and also some of the most important slides here on OneDrive.

I will be watching online some sessions that I missed at the conference because the sessions was either full or overlapping with the ones that I attended live. The recap of these sessions will be coming soon…

Useful links

• Official Build website
• Session recordings on-demand