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Cloud Computing + Modern DevOps == Productivity Gains
In this post, App Dev Manager, Omer Amin reminds us that thinking about old problems in new ways is critically important for maximizing the benefits of the cloud. The Productivity Paradox...When new tools promise higher productivity, but fail to deliver.I came across this concept last weekend when I was reading Tim Harford's "Fifty Inventions that shaped the Modern Economy". He was talking about the Dynamo's, and how their invention was supposed to revolutionize the industrial era. When the Dynamo was invented, factories still ran on steam generators. Most factories were had huge steam engines that de...
Homomorphic Encryption 101
In this article from his blog, Premier Developer consultant Razi Rais covers some of the basics of a powerful security & privacy tool – homomorphic encryption.I was recently exploring methods for improved privacy using various encryption schemes and stumbled upon Homomorphic Encryption that has a huge potential in that area. I do feel that it has higher barrier to entry considering the complexity and level of maturity it has today. If you’re looking for learning resources/libraries to get started on it take a look at Git repo that I have created for the purpose of sharing resources around Homomorphic En...
Visual Studio Shortcuts and Add on Tools
This post from Premier Developer consultant Crystal Tenn walks you through customizing Visual Studio to work better for you and your organization. I like tools that make my development faster and more organized. The small amount of time it takes to invest in installing and learning these tools pays off in the long run! I have listed out the shortcuts that I use in my Visual Studio and how to change your settings if you want to adopt some of my shortcuts or make up your own easy to remember ones. You can share settings across a team so that everyone is more productive and in sync. I like to change my new cl...
Debugging ASP Core on Linux with Visual Studio 2017
NET Core and specifically ASP Core is an Open Source, High Performance implementation of .NET that runs on Windows, Linux and Mac. After you deploy your web application to a Linux server it can be difficult to troubleshoot when issues arise. In this article, I’ll show you how to configure your Linux test server and Development environment to allow remote debugging giving you all the greatness of debugging in Visual Studio while your code is running on a Linux server.
[Service Fabric] Auto-scaling your Service Fabric cluster–Part I
In this article from his blog, Premier Developer consultant Larry Wall discusses building an ARM template that configures auto-scaling on a virtual machine scale set (VMSS). Like most people, whenever I need to build an ARM template to do something with Service Fabric, I'm browsing around Github or where ever else I can find the bits and pieces of JSON that I need. I was recently working on a project where they needed 3 things: Continue reading on Larry’s blog here.
PowerAppsPuzzle: Sorting SelectedItems
Premier Developer consultant Brian Gregor has launched a new series on his blog called PowerAppsPuzzle where he shows examples of issues and solutions in PowerApps. Here’s an excerpt of the first puzzle in the series:Let’s take the scenario where you have a ListBox in a PowerApp that contains sorted information – either alphabetically or numerically, doesn’t matter – similar to the following:The user selects 1, then 2, then 4, and all is good, however you may notice that sometimes the values are not sorted. You may receive the values out of order like: 4,2,1 or 2,4,1.Check out Brian’s blog here for the solu...
Converting PCL (Portable Class Libraries) to .NET Standard Class Libraries – Part 2
In Part 2 of this 3 part series, App Dev Manager, Herald Gjura covers upgrading the continuous delivery and Build/Release pipeline in VSTS. In order for the new .NET Standard Packages to build and release, we will need modify the build definitions. Here is a step by step guide on all the changes using an existing build definition, and highlighting all the important changes along the way. VSTS Build Definition Setting the build variables The only custom build variables I use for these packages is the $(ProjectName) variable, set at the name of the project of the package. In the c...
DevOps is not for sale
This post is provided by Senior App Dev Manager, Robert Shanks who reminds us to put away the checkbooks and instead: engage, empower and encourage your people!I'm an Application Development Manager (ADM) on Microsoft's Modern Applications, Premier Developer team. In my role, I have the opportunity to work with a variety of clients across multiple industries. Like many organizations, the clients I work with have objectives of achieving a better DevOps environment. Some have established DevOps Centers of Excellence to set the foundation of processes, governance, and tools "necessary" to achieve their DevOps object...
Choosing the right tooling for Azure and side by side Azure CLI and PowerShell commands
This article on the various tools available to perform tasks in Azure comes to us from Premier Developer consultant Crystal Tenn.There are a lot of tools out there for managing your Azure subscriptions! We have the Portal web page, Visual Studio integration (with the Azure SDK), PowerShell commands, and the Azure CLI. Sometimes it’s hard to know which one to use. In all honesty, sometimes the answer is that you choose the one you like the most and use a mixture of other tools for specific tasks because the other tools make it much simpler to accomplish what you are trying to do. As someone who came from a develop...