MSDN Magazine: February 2012

The Parallel Patterns Library offers a new task-based programming model that makes using asynchronous operations easy and productive.

Artur Laksberg

Client Insight:
Getting Started with Knockout

This inaugural Client Insight column explains how to get started with the Knockout JavaScript library by learning how and where to use it.
John Papa

Online-only Features

Web Development Report: Build Mobile-Friendly HTML5 Forms with ASP.NET MVC 4 and jQuery Mobile
In this second installment of her Web Development Report, Rachel Appel shows you how to create mobile-friendly HTML5 forms in ASP.NET MVC 4 projects that also use jQuery Mobile.
Rachel Appel

XAML: Optimizing C# for XAML Platforms
By carefully examining the code you use in your XAML applications, you can ensure that you make choices that enhance your application’s performance.
Georgi Atanasov, Tsvyatko Konov

XAML: Creating a Single Codebase for Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation
Find out what tips and tricks worked for Telerik in handling the differences between the platforms, from optimizing theming with minimal code to implementing virtualization and container recycling to developing custom controls.
Hristo Hristov

SQL Azure: Scaling Out with SQL Azure Federation
George Huey explores SQL Azure Federations, and how SQL Azure Migration Wizard and SQL Azure Federation Data Migration Wizard can help simp+lify the migration, scale out and merge processes.
George Huey

Columns

Editor's Note
Calling out the Client
John Papa returns to MSDN Magazine with his new column on the fast-changing arena of rich client development technologies and platforms.
Michael Desmond

Data Points
A Few of My Favorite Things... in the Entity Framework 4.2 DbContext
The Entity Framework DbContext API simplifies many of the most common coding tasks, says Julie Lerman, who shows you her three favorite DbContext features.
Julie Lerman

Forecast: Cloudy
Microsoft Azure Deployment Domains
Joseph Fultz considers the complexities of updating a Web application deployment, focusing on the use of fault domains and upgrade domains.
Joseph Fultz

Test Run
Ant Colony Optimization
James McCaffrey introduces the Ant Colony Optimization algorithm, an artificial intelligence technique based on the pheromone-laying behavior of ants.
James McCaffrey

The Working Programmer
Talk to Me: Voice and SMS in the Cloud
Ted Neward shows how to develop applications for Tropo, a free, cloud-hosted, voice-and-SMS solution.
Ted Neward

Touch and Go
Background Audio on Windows Phone 7.5
Windows Phone 7.5 introduces the concept of a background agent, which you can use for playing either music files or streaming audio while your program is suspended. Charles Petzold shows you how to play audio files in the background.
Charles Petzold

Don't Get Me Started
Ring Around My Neck
MSDN Magazine's "resident curmudgeon" looks at our obsession with smartphones, and how they draw us together even as they push us apart.
David Platt

Features

Microsoft Azure: Building a Massively Scalable Platform for Consumer Devices on Microsoft Azure
Learn how to use RESTful Web services and Azure to build apps for the wide spectrum of mobile platforms and devices that could potentially be used by millions of users.
Bruno Terkaly

ASP.NET MVC: The Features and Foibles of ASP.NET MVC Model Binding
Dive deep into the heart of ASP.NET MVC’s model binding subsystem, examining each layer of the model binding framework and ways to meet your application’s needs.
Jess Chadwick

Building HTML5 Applications: Practical Cross-Browser HTML5 Audio and Video
John Dyer explores the benefits of using HTML5 for media playback as well as some of the major issues developers face when doing so.
John Dyer

Windows Phone: Get Your Windows Phone Applications in the Marketplace Faster
Learn how to use the Marketplace Test Kit to identify issues with an application and the Performance Analysis tool to determine the source of the issues and how to fix them.
Cheryl Simmons

Windows Workflow Foundation 4.5: What's New in Windows Workflow Foundation 4.5
The next version of Windows Workflow Foundation introduces a range of new features and capabilities, based on lots of customer feedback. Leon Welicki gives you the details.
Leon Welicki

NuGet: Creating a NuGet Gallery
In the third article in our series on NuGet, Clark Sell and Mark Nichols tell you why you should consider hosting your own NuGet gallery, and how you go about setting one up.
Clark Sell