Smart Device Extensions (SDE) for Visual Studio .NET allow programmers to develop applications for the .NET Compact Framework, a new platform that maintains many of the features of the .NET Framework in a version optimized for handheld devices. This article shows how SDE provides access through Visual Studio .NET to a variety of .NET classes for devices running Windows CE, including classes for creating user interfaces. Data access classes and Web Services for the .NET Compact Framework are also explained. Following that overview, a sample Web Service called XMLList is built. Then the UI-the XMLList client-side application-is created. Larry Roof

As the Web evolves, so does the role that Internet servers play. The Internet has seen the growth of e-commerce, B2B business, collaboration, streaming and other new media, and these new applications require new features to meet increasingly complex needs. Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) has many of the features today's mature Web sites need. This article outlines the features in the upcoming version 6.0 and discusses how they promote better scalability, reliability, and performance. Features such as Remote administration, caching, and metabase improvements, as well as custom isolation and security enhancements, make IIS 6.0 the Web server of the future. George Shepherd

Aspect-oriented Programming (AOP), a paradigm invented at Xerox PARC in the 1990s, lets the developer better separate tasks that should not be inextricably tangled, such as mathematical operations and exception handling. The AOP approach has a number of benefits. First, it improves performance because the operations are more succinct. Second, it allows programmers to spend less time rewriting the same code. Overall, AOP enables better encapsulation of distinct procedures and promotes future interoperation. Dharma Shukla, Simon Fell, and Chris Sells

DLLs are a cornerstone of the Windows operating system. Every day they quietly perform their magic, while programmers take them for granted. But for anyone who's ever stopped to think about how the DLLs on their system are loaded by the operating system, the whole process can seem like a great mystery. This article explores DLL loading and exposes what really goes on inside the Windows 2000 loader. Knowing how DLLs are loaded and where, and how the loader keeps track of them really comes in handy when debugging your applications. Here that process is explained in detail. Russ Osterlund

The Win32 Portable Executable File Format (PE) was designed to be a standard executable format for use on all versions of the operating systems on all supported processors. Since its introduction, the PE format has undergone incremental changes, and the introduction of 64-bit Windows has required a few more. Part 1 of this series presented an overview and covered RVAs, the data directory, and the headers. This month in Part 2 the various sections of the executable are explored. The discussion includes the exports section, export forwarding, binding, and delayloading. The debug directory, thread local storage, and the resources sections are also covered. Matt Pietrek

Web Services are a great way to accept and manage contributions to a public clip art library, digital music catalog, or corporate knowledge base. Since the SOAP interface to a Web method operates over HTTP, contributors can easily publish content any time, from anywhere across the Internet. However, accepting binary content and managing content metadata through SOAP over HTTP presents Web Service developers with some interesting design decisions. This article discusses three ways to enable content publishing using Web methods. Paula Paul

Theresa W. Carey

Edited by Nancy Michell

Aaron Skonnard

Dino Esposito

Ken Spencer

Matt Pietrek

John Robbins

Paul DiLascia