In this episode Chris, Matt and Eric discuss project design, Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2, ASP.NET MVC, the future of C#... and much more!

• The guys start out by discussing some of the best practices for initial project design.
• Chris and Matt used a Microsoft product called Sketchflow that is part of the Expression Blend family of products.  Another popular screen layout program is Balsamiq Mockups.
• Writing specs can be an important part of the design process, even though some developers dislike this part.
• Now that Chris and Matt have more experience with ASP.NET MVC, they talk about what they like and dislike about it, as well as how the repository pattern has helped with their current process.
• Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 is out now, and is a huge improvement over Beta 1.
• One of things we like about C# is how much it evolves as a language, which is also one of the things a lot of developers dislike.  One of the articles discussed is K. Scott Allen's article about where C# is in the development lifecycle.
• To wrap up the podcast, the guys discuss DJ Hero and The Beatles Rock Band.

If you have a question for the podcast, please send an e-mail to podcast@craftycoders.com.  You can either send your question in text form, or record it and send us the audio file.

Download Podcast #6 MP3

In this episode, Chris and Matt discuss Microsoft's Entity Framework and LINQ to SQL.  They also discuss Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET 4.0 Framework, and what is coming in these new versions.

• Chris and Matt discuss the pros and cons of the Entity Framework and LINQ to SQL.  There are also alternatives like NHibernate.  How should you code to these ORM models using an n-tier approach?
• Also discussed is the differences between Entity Framework and LINQ to SQL.  We don't cover a lot of them in detail in the podcast, but you can find a good list here.
• The System.IO.File class has been updated to expose IEnumerable in some methods.  A Crafty Coders post will be coming soon on this subject.
• What is the new "dynamic" keyword, and what does it affect.  We're not quite sure what we would use it for right away.  It could definitely be overused for evil though.
• More new stuff coming is: F# bundled in with Visual Studio, parallel processing updates, optional parameters and more.
• Lastly, the guys discuss Swoopo.com... including what the site is, and who are the people that actually bid on the products!

If you have a question or comment for the podcast, please send an e-mail to podcast@craftycoders.com.  You can either send your question in text form, or record it and send us the audio file.

Download Podcast #2 MP3