Mole II

Karl Shifflett, Andrew Smith, and I have gone too far this time.  We are so far gone into the world of WPF visualizers that there’s no turning back.  We took our Mole visualizer for WPF and built something ten times better…Mole II. 

That’s right, the visualizer which made Woodstock look like a toy is now dwarfed by its successor.  Mole II is so incredibly cool, so fast, so robust, and so IMMINENTLY USEFUL that I can do it no better justice than to simply provide you with a link to the article about it: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/moleIIforWPF.aspx

Karl and I have been slaving over this thing for weeks now.  Andrew has been like a sniper, who has helped squash some of the really nasty bugs and then disappear into the thickets until needed again.  Mole II was the most fun, collaborative, interesting, and exciting software project I’ve ever been involved with.  All I can say is…WOW! 

Oh yeah, by the way, I’ll be giving a WPF presentation tonight (Thursday, 12/7/2007) at the Beantown .NET User Group.  If you’re in Boston tonight, stop on by.

A WPF Contest Worth Entering

I am honored to announce that I am a judge in the ”Lab49 WPF in Finance Innovation Contest“.  The premise of the contest is awesome; they provide you with some data and you have to create the best way of visualizing it in WPF.   I almost wish I wasn’t a judge so that I could compete!

In addition to me, the other two judges are Rob Relyea and Charles Petzold.  We have the excellent task of reviewing all of the applications that are submitted and deciding which ones are the best.  I should point out, that if you attempt to contact one of the judges regarding your application then you are automatically disqualified.

The prizes are INCREDIBLE.  It makes the prizes in my WPF Challenge competition look like chicken feed.  You can check out all the goodness here.

What’s even more important than the prizes, however, is the prestige you will receive by winning.  I’m sure that the winners of this competition will be raised a notch or two in the eyes of employers at companies which need WPF devs.  Think about it, what do you have to lose?

I have returned to Infragistics

Once upon a time I was hard-core into Windows Forms.  I worked at Infragistics in their WinForms Development Lab, helping build and maintain their awesome controls and components.  After a while the urge to move to NYC became irresistable, so my girlfriend and I packed our bags and headed off to the big city.  Ever since then I never found a job that even came close to being as cool as the one I had at Infragistics.  Nor did I ever find a company where my co-workers were as hard-core into programming and cutting edge technologies as I am.

Fortunately for me, I was able to get a job at Infragistics again!  My girlfriend and I will continue living in NYC, but I’m a full-time employee in the Infragistics User Experience Group.  My official job title is “Guidisan” which I find rather odd, but it is fitting because my job is rather odd.  

Guidisan is supposed to mean the combination of a Guide and an Artisan, which accurately describes what I will be doing there.  I’m thrilled to announce that my job will entail helping developers move into the world of modern UI programming; by creating exemplars (something like a reference app), writing technical articles, creating demonstrations of how the Infragistics controls can be used in powerful and innovative ways, and generally staying in touch with the community by blogging and speaking at tech events.   My manager, Ambrose Little, said that the User Experience Group is like the SWAT team of the company.  So it looks like I should have a pretty diverse and interesting job.

They’re paying me to do what I love!  I knew all this damn blogging would pay off somehow…

I’m glad to say that Infragistics has done nothing but grow since I left.  I was amazed at how many more people the company has now.  I was also pleasantly reminded of how nice and smart the people are there.  I’m thrilled to be back!!

On my first day some of the guys took me out to lunch.  During the ride over to the restaurant I realized that, including myself, I was in a vehicle containing five Microsoft MVPs!  How cool is that?!  Talk about a Geek Squad…

LINQing WPF value converters

A new blogger in the WPF world, M. Orçun Topdağı, has started his blog off with an amazing series about using LINQ expressions in the XAML declaration of value converters.  He has published a three-part series about his invention, entitled “WPFix”.  I haven’t tested his code yet, so I can’t vouch for its stability.  Regardless, I recommend you check out his series:

WPFix Part 1 (Lambda Converter Extension)

WPFix Part 2 (Binding Extension)

WPFix Part 3 (Extension Methods)

Enjoy!