November 2016

Article
01/30/2019

November 2016

Volume 31 Number 11

[Cognitive Services]

Seeing the World with Xamarin and Microsoft Computer Vision APIs

Learn how the Microsoft Computer Vision API allows images to be described and analyzed using natural, human-readable language. You can upload a picture to the Computer Vision service or point to an image URL, and expect a fully natural description back, without the need to construct and format descriptions on your own.

Column

[First Word]

Any Developer, Any App, Any Platform

Julia Liuson

Cross-platform, open source, cloud-ready and mobile-savvy. The nature of software development has changed, and Microsoft has changed with it.

[Azure IoT Hub]

Capture and Analyze Brain Waves with Azure IoT Hub

Benjamin Perkins

Ben Perkins uses the Emotiv Insight headset to capture brain activity and load it on to the Azure IoT Hub for machine language analysis via Stream Analytics. Welcome to the future.

Column

[Cutting Edge]

Code First and Database Initialization

Dino Esposito

Dino Esposito reviews Code First as a multi-customer application, focusing in particular on how to create and fill a database and how to programmatically define its name and connection string.

[Bot Framework]

Solving Business Problems with the Microsoft Bot Framework

Srikantan Sankaran

Organizations face a keen challenge tapping information spread across multiple applications and systems. This article explores how Microsoft Flow and Azure Search can be leveraged to access data, and sets the stage for employing bots to surface information within familiar applications.

Column

[Data Points]

CQRS and EF Data Models

Julie Lerman

Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS) is a pattern that has a lot of benefits—and some drawbacks—when you’re defining data models with Entity Framework. Julie Lerman explains why it’s worth considering.

[HoloLens]

Introduction to the HoloLens

Adam Tuliper

Microsoft HoloLens and Windows Holographic open new horizons in application development. Adam Tuliper explores the HoloLens development environment and the three primary ways users interact with the HoloLens—gaze, gesture and voice.

Column

[Test Run]

Solving Sudoku Using Combinatorial Evolution

James McCaffrey

James McCaffrey explains how write a program to solve difficult Sudoku problems, using a technique he calls combinatorial evolution, a set of general guidelines that can be used to design a concrete algorithm to solve a specific optimization problem.

[.NET Framework]

Hidden Disposables

Artak Mkrtchyan

Learn about disposable types and some of the non-obvious ways they are being used by developers. The article also exposes hidden usage patterns for disposable types and illustrates ways to eliminate them.

Column

[The Working Programmer]

How To Be MEAN: Take a Gulp

Ted Neward

Ted Neward examines Gulp, an ECMAScript development automation tool, and looks at a few helpful tools that Gulp can “turn on” in your Node.js projects as a side benefit.

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[Modern Apps]

Add Facial Recognition Features to Your App

Frank La

Cognitive Services provides a rich feature set around computer vision, facial detection, and recognition. Frank La Vigne explores how the Universal Windows Platform allows developers to implement face detection in UWP apps.