Things are going to get very interesting in the Microsoft .NET space very soon. .NET programmers have primarily been overshadowed by the Google/Java and Apple/Objective C programmers when it comes down to consumer products (aka Android and iPhone apps). However, there is a wave coming and I strongly believe that .NET programmers will be able to do a lot more in the upcoming months than they could before.
Here are some of the top technologies that I think .NET developers should start learning immediately:
Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight has often been compared to Adobe Flash for the obvious reasons. However, I strongly believe that Silverlight is so much more. Smooth Media Streaming technology, HTML embedding within Silverlight Canvas, a very strong integration with the underlying .NET framework etc. all make Silverlight a force to reckon with.
Microsoft recently announced that the Windows 7 Series Phone will leverage the power of Silverlight and XNA frameworks. This means developers who know and understand Silverlight will be able to leverage their knowledge into building great phone applications. Silverlight is a must know for all .NET developers seeking to build great applications for the future.
Here are some Silverlight links:
http://silverlight.net/
XNA
XNA allows users to develop games for the XBox and Microsoft platforms. Just like Silverlight, XNA is going to become the top technology to learn to create applications and games for virtually all future Microsoft products. I recently downloaded the PGR: Ferrari Edition on my Zune. Very, very impressive. I would start learning the XNA framework right away.
Here are some links:
http://creators.xna.com/en-US/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/aa937791.aspx
Microsoft Azure
The multiple screens and the Cloud vision is very close to becoming a reality. This video by Microsoft shows how close we are to that reality. Microsoft Azure is the backbone of this strategy and has been gaining a lot more traction. Steve Ballmer wants 90% of his employees working towards this vision. That should give you an idea on how serious Microsoft is about getting it right.
Developers should definitely invest some time learning Microsoft Azure. It would be very safe to say that Microsoft Azure will be the most requested technology in the coming years.
Here are some links:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/getstarted/
F#
Functional Programming is a paradigm of Software development aimed at dramatically reducing complexity of software and thereby improving developer productivity. F# is I believe every .NET programmer should start learning functional programming fundamentals and F#. Our generation is moving towards parallel processing and asynchronous processing at a very fast pace. F# also addresses these items including all of the other functional programming ideologies.
Here are some links:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/fsharp/default.aspx?ppud=4
With the RC of Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET 4.0, the SDK’s for all of the above mentioned technologies are now available for developers.
Without further ado, I think it is time to get coding! Rock on, developers! Rock On!
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