PDC Wrapup

Well, my plan was to blog on the sessions through the week but it didn't really happen that way.  For one thing, I was just really busy!  I was running, running all the time.  I don't know how many miles I put in.  I always wondered that with JavaOne too.  It would be interesting to count the miles.  Beyond the time constraint, I thought I could just blog from the sessions, but for whatever reason I couldn't always get a connection in the session rooms (though they seemed to always be available based on other attendees), and of course I was paying attention to the session!  Typing about the session while sitting in it might have distracted me.

So what did I attend?  I went to sessions on Indigo (Windows Communications Framework), Avalon (Windows Presentation Framework), WinFX in general (of which Indigo and Avalon are part), WinFS (the file system overlay with strong metadata and object relational support), Vista (next OS), Media Center (where I got to see the XBox 360 of all things!), and a number of other assorted best practices and other sundry sessions.  Lots of great learning.  In a few months I'll get webcasts of all of them on DVD, but for now I have the PowerPoint's of all of them.  Very handy!  I am totally hyped about next-gen Windows dev and already consider Visual Studio 2005 (due in a few months) to be old news!

So what should you keep an eye out for?

• Well, Visual Studio 2005 is hot.  The new features such as Edit-and-Continue, better databinding, better XML support, Code Snippets, improved Intellisense, and a host of other enhancements and additions make it the best version yet (do I sound like a marketing page?).
• Windows Vista is looking good.  Removal of legacy hardware such as ISA, additions to the file system (even before WinFS comes out), integrated Tablet and Media Center functionality (depending on version), user interface improvements, and a much improved Explorer shell make it a great OS for the user and for the developer.
• WinFS provides exceptional improvements to NTFS to provide a true relational object store while maintaining perfect compatibility with Win32.  I plan on blogging about this again in the next day or two.  I already have some code I've written that I will post.  Very easy object model.  The sample code/apps really give you a feel for how revolutionary WinFS is going to be, not just for user-interface reasons, but for application development.  I think it's really going to blur the boundary between apps and enable all sorts of data management never really possible before.  Again, I'll come back to this soon...

Anyway, it was a good week.  I'm glad I went.  I'll come back with a few more thoughts as I have time this week.