Unit testing

Unit testing is a software verification and validation method where the programmer gains confidence that individual units of source code are fit for use. A unit is the smallest testable part of an application. In procedural programming a unit may be an individual program, function, procedure, etc., while in object-oriented programming, the smallest unit is a method, which may belong to a base/super class, abstract class or derived/child class.

Ideally, each test case is independent from the others: substitutes like method stubs, mock objects, fakes and test harnesses can be used to assist testing a module in isolation. Unit tests are typically written and run by software developers to ensure that code meets its requirements and behaves as intended. Its implementation can vary from being very manual (pencil and paper) to being formalized as part of build automation.

Comet Programming

Comet is a Web application model that enables web servers to send data to the client without having to explicitly request it. Developers can utilize Comet techniques to create event-driven Web apps. Comet is actually an umbrella term for multiple techniques for achieving client-server interaction. All methods have in common that they rely on browser-native technologies such as JavaScript, rather than on proprietary plug-ins

In theory, the Comet approach differs from the original model of the web, in which a browser requests a complete web page or chunks of data to update a web page. However in practice, Comet applications typically use Ajax with long polling to detect new information on the server. The concept predates the coining of the neologism, and is known by several other names, including Ajax Push, Reverse Ajax Two-way-web, HTTP Streaming and HTTP server push among others.

Essential Tools For WPF Development

Microsoft provides two development tools for WPF applications.

1) Visual Studio:

This is for developers and it is good in code and XAML editing

Download: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008-Express Edition


2) Expression Blend

This is for designers and its covers the graphical part stuff like gradients, template editing, animation, etc

Download: Microsoft Expression Blend 2-SP1

Introduction to WPF

The Windows Presentation Foundation is Microsoft next generation UI framework to create applications with a rich user experience.With WPF, you can create a wide range of both standalone and browser-hosted applications.It is part of the .NET framework 3.0 and higher.

The core of WPF is a resolution-independent and vector-based rendering engine that is built to take advantage of modern graphics hardware. WPF extends the core with a comprehensive set of application-development features that include Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), controls, data binding, layout, 2-D and 3-D graphics, animation, styles, templates, documents, media, text, and typography. WPF is included in the Microsoft .NET Framework, so you can build applications that incorporate other elements of the .NET Framework class library.