July 2014

Volume 29 Number 7

Azure Web Sites - Scaling Your Web Application with Azure Web Sites

Azure Web Sites - Scaling Your Web Application with Azure Web Sites

Yochay Kiriaty

Yochay Kiriaty kicks off our July issue themed on Microsoft Azure Web Sites development, with an article that shows how to modify Web applications to handle millions of HTTP requests across both multiple instances and multiple regions.

The Working Programmer - Fun with C#Column

The Working Programmer - Fun with C#

Ted Neward

Both F# and C# are languages based on the Microsoft .NET Framework, so you can often resolve a programming problem in one language, then transfer the code over to the other. This functional programming approach opens new avenues to problem resolution.

Azure Web Sites - Architect for the Cloud Using Azure Web Sites

Azure Web Sites - Architect for the Cloud Using Azure Web Sites

Apurva Joshi

Sometimes bad things happen to good apps, and when they do you need to react fast. This article explores the tools and patterns you can adopt to make your Web applications even better and more resilient in a sometimes-hostile cloud environment.

Windows with C++ - Embracing the Windows Composition EngineColumn

Windows with C++ - Embracing the Windows Composition Engine

Kenny Kerr

Kenny Kerr explores the Windows composition engine and shows how an alpha-blended window from his previous column can be reproduced using a composition surface rather than a swap chain.

Azure Web Sites - Building a Node.js and MongoDB Web Service

Azure Web Sites - Building a Node.js and MongoDB Web Service

Tejaswi Redkar

Tejaswi Redkar shows you how to develop a RESTful Web service in Node.js that accesses a MongoDB database in the cloud, and how to deploy it to Azure Web Sites.

Data Points - Tips for Updating and Refactoring Your Entity Framework Code, Part 2Column

Data Points - Tips for Updating and Refactoring Your Entity Framework Code, Part 2

Julie Lerman

Julie Lerman breaks out a small Entity Data Model and, using that model, works through some of the problems you might encounter when switching from the ObjectContext API to the newer DbContext API.

Azure Web Sites - Hybrid Connectivity: Connecting Azure Web Sites to LOB Apps Using PortBridge)

Azure Web Sites - Hybrid Connectivity: Connecting Azure Web Sites to LOB Apps Using PortBridge

Tejaswi Redkar

Hybrid apps bring the power of the cloud to existing software services that run on-premises in your datacenter. This article takes a deep look at connecting a Web site to a line-of-business application running on-premises and shows how to enable seamless connectivity.

Test Run - Distorting the MNIST Image Data SetColumn

Test Run - Distorting the MNIST Image Data Set

James McCaffrey

James McCaffrey presents a demo program that generates deformed images in order to create additional training data for an image recognition system.

Azure Web Sites - Teaching from the Cloud

Azure Web Sites - Teaching from the Cloud

James Chambers

Using Azure Web Sites, MVC 5, SignalR and Azure SQL, this article explores the creation of an e-learning application that provides course modules, lessons and basic user administration. The result is a Web site that allows an instructor to "push" content to the students' browsers, keeping all students in sync with the current lesson.

Modern Apps - Authentication and Identity in Windows Store AppsColumn

Modern Apps - Authentication and Identity in Windows Store Apps

Rachel Appel

Since many Web sites and apps require some sort of user sign in, it’s up to us as developers to make it as easy as possible. Here you’ll learn the basics of enabling application authentication on the Windows platform.

DirectX Factor - Breaking the Z Barrier with Direct2D EffectsColumn

DirectX Factor - Breaking the Z Barrier with Direct2D Effects

Charles Petzold

Using custom effects you can get much closer to authentic 3D programming than otherwise possible with Direct2D, as Charles Petzold explains.

Don't Get Me Started - Windows XP: An Old Soldier Fades AwayColumn

Don't Get Me Started - Windows XP: An Old Soldier Fades Away

David Platt

Years after it helped change the computing world, Microsoft support for the Windows XP operating system is finally ending. But that doesn't mean we've seen the last of Microsoft's venerable OS.

Editor's Note - Introducing Azure Web Sites ServicesColumn

Editor's Note - Introducing Azure Web Sites Services

Michael Desmond

Microsoft has been very busy of late improving the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. This issue of MSDN Magazine explores how developers can leverage the improved capabilities of Azure Web Sites.