1: Installing Silverlight and Visual Studio

While installing Silverlight and Visual Studio is relatively simple, the fact of the matter is that the software required for the development environment is massive and takes a very long time to download, even on a fast, dedicated internet connection. If your computer is getting old — Windows ME or earlier — or you have a slow, unreliable, or shared internet connection, it is strongly encouraged that you find a newer computer, a better connection, a download manager of some kind that will protect against the loss of data due to loss of connection, or even request a CD-version of the software involved.

Required Software

1. Silverlight [link] — Perhaps the most important component of all: the Silverlight plugin itself. How can you expect to develop an awesome Silverlight application if you can’t test the thing?
2. Visual Web Developer [link] — Students, please skip to the following section “DreamSpark”. — Visual Web Developer is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) wherein you will be developing your applications. Express Edition (the free one) is all that is required for Silverlight development — though feel free to update to Professional Edition.
   - OR -
   Visual Studio Tools (for pre-existing install) [link] — If you already have Visual Studio installed your system, you will need these additional components in order to develop Silverlight effectively.
3. Silverlight Toolkit [link] — A selection of Silverlight tools, controls, components, and utilities for development purposes. Includes source code and demos.

In addition to the above programs, which are necessary for Windows-based Silverlight development, there are a number of additional programs which can come in handy for further development. These include: the .NET RIA Services, the Deep Zoom Composer, and Microsoft Expression Blend 3 + SketchFlow (not free; students, see DreamSpark below). Though these programs will not be required to follow the tutorials in this guide, you may wish to experiment with the capabilities of these powerful tools as your programs become more advanced.

DreamSpark: Students and Free Software

Microsoft’s DreamSpark program is intended to provide current high school and college students with access to professional software development programs that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive. Currently available are: Visual Studio 2008 Professional, 2005 Professional, 2010 Ultimate Beta 2; Expression Studio 2, 3; SQL Server 2008; Windows Server 2003, 2008 (32- and 64-bit); Robotics Developer Studio 2008 Academic Edition; XNA Game Studio; and so forth.

In order to verify their student status, new users must provide one of several forms of identification, including university (.edu) email addresses, national student identification cards, ISIC, and federated identity. For more information, and to sign up for the DreamSpark program, please visit the website: http://www.dreamspark.com/.

Students wishing to follow this guide should install: Visual Studio 2008 Professional, Expression Studio 3, and the Silverlight plug-in (see previous section for link).

Version Information

As of the time of writing, the most current version of Silverlight is Silverlight 3. (Silverlight 4.0 is currently in beta testing.) Silverlight 4 can only be developed in Visual Studio 2010. This guide will assume that you are using Visual Studio 2008 and Silverlight 3.

a guide to developing Silverlight applications for non-programmers

For the longest time, Macromedia Flash has dominated a very specific and prolific part of the internet experience: multimedia. The majority of free online games, for example, are coded in Flash. Those cool-looking dynamic menus, with the funky special effects and sound? Probably Flash. Almost 90% of those annoying flashing/noisy/dancing girl/shoot-the-fill-in-the-blank advirtisements? YouTube videos? Animation? Many Disney film websites? Definitely Flash.

In April 2007, Microsoft unveiled a new competitor to Flash. It was called Silverlight, and, as a whole, the internet development community sat up and gave notice. Not only was this a viable competitor for the 11-year-old Flash technology, but it could be built on top of a back-end system that ran on any of the .NET languages (C#, F#, VB.Net, &tc.) The built-in graphics looked like the traditional Windows graphics, there was a robust development community, and a new release averaged approximately 6 months. And the best part? Developers and users were not limited to Windows machines.

This is the first in a series of articles that attempts to introduce the casual programmer (or non-programmer) to the amazingly simple idea of Silverlight development. Whether you want a small calendar to display the date and today’s tasks on your website, or a full-fledged side-scrolling jet fighter game, this guide is designed to make your learning as painless as possible.

Please note that the guide is currently in development. Expect frequent and rapid changes as new articles are written, old ones are rearranged, and so on.

Table of Contents

(the following listing is subject to change)

1. Installing Silverlight and Visual Studio
2. Silverlight: the overview
3. The .NET languages: a crash course and overview
4. XAML overview
5. Capturing events
6. Multimedia and rich content
7. Samples and projects
8. Bibliography, sources, and further reading

Appendices

A. Developing Silverlight in Linux
B. Browser, OS, and other compatibility information

After a few minutes in line, the mother tells her son to tie his shoe. So he bends down and slowly starts to arrange the laces. I watch him for a few seconds and realize that he’s chanting a rhyme under his breath — over, under, around and through, that’s how Baloo ties his shoe. Not the one I grew up with, but amusing all the same.

So he finishes up and starts fidgeting again. As I’m standing there wondering why in the world the line is taking so long, I happen to glance down and realize that my sneaker is untied. I bend down to tie it. About halfway through, I suddenly realize that I’m muttering the same rhyme. That startling realization causes me to pause halfway through the exercise.

Just as I’m hoping that nobody noticed, the little boy turns, pats me on the head, and says, “Don’t worry, I always forget what to do there too.”

The story evolves from there, as “Jack” re-enters the world after being locked away for the safety of society.  Vivid flashbacks of his past and crime serve as a poignant counterpoint to his attempts to start his life anew.  As the tabloids print articles about “evil coming of age”, men who look like an age-enhanced photo of his mug-shot are lynched, and the posting of a £20,000 internet bounty for information as to his whereabouts, Jack struggles to keep his past a secret from his coworkers, friends, and girlfriend (Lyons).

Ultimately, the choice is not his to make, and no matter how much he claims “I am not that boy,” Jack is forced to face the harsh reality of a world that cannot forget what he did as a child.

The soft-spoken, eager, shy Jack Burridge presented by director John Crowley is so far from the usual tough-as-nails ex-cons of modern cinema that it causes the viewer immediately to sit up and take note. When we first meet Jack, he is not “Jack” at all — he is a nameless young man, asked to pick a name for himself. It is very hard for him to make a decision; after all, for the past ten or more years he has been institutionalized told exactly what to do and when.

The big-ness of the world terrifies Jack, though Terry is quick to reassure him that it’ll get smaller right quick. He doesn’t know how to act around his co-workers or the beautiful young dispatcher Michelle who immediately catches his eye. And when two men begin to pick on one of his friends and coworkers, the angry young boy who was no stranger to violence and who had found it within himself to kill a girl, rises up within him to step in and beat at the thugs.

But at the same time, Jack is haunted by flashbacks of the world he came from. The world where his mother was dying of cancer, he was bullied every day, and where he found a friend in an abused young boy named Phillip. Phillip, who beat up the bullies, skived off of school with him, helped him steal candy and soda, and who built fishing poles out of sticks and string. Phillip, who was ruthless and angry, and who dragged their final victim under the bridge, calling for Jack to hurry up and come along.

As he slowly works his way back into society, easing his way into being “Jack” rather than a murderer, the urge to tell those closest to him the truth about his past becomes stronger and stronger. But society has not forgotten the horrible thing those two young boys did all those years ago, and the tabloids begin printing articles asking about his whereabouts. “EVIL COMES OF AGE” reads one headline, along with an age-enhanced image based on his mugshot. Somewhere in the country a man is severely beaten and his house set on fire in a case of mistaken identity. A £20,000 bounty is placed on the internet for information as to his location.

And when his secret is finally revealed, no one can see past the crime of his childhood. Jack’s claims that “I am not that boy” remain unheard. The good he has done since his release, including the heroic rescue of a young girl from a traffic accident, is all for naught. Even his friends and coworkers, once they realize who he really is, turn their backs on him.

The movie highlights a number of important social and moral issues, including the imprisonment of children and the effect that growing up institutionalized has on their mental and social development,  society’s inability to let bygones be bygones, “second chances,” and ex-convicts’ rehabilitation and reintegration with society. By presenting Jack as a sympathetic character, a former convict who is genuinely remorseful and wishes to re-enter society and start anew, the film speaks out against societal prejudices against criminals and supports the idea that criminals, even murderers, can be rehabilitated successfully. Though it provides a very moving and emotional position in regards to Jack’s successful institutionalization and rehabilitation, it does little to present information about convicts’ predilections to violence and the “cycle of violence” in which previous offenders offend repeatedly.

“Boy A” is a well-written, beautifully produced, and emotionally moving film about a sensitive and politically relevant subject matter. As an independently produced film, it escapes the usual Hollywood cliches and downfalls (sex, violence, gratuitous explosions and fx, and little plot) while still producing a seamless whole.

The Fives

Top Five

1. The ambiguity of the ending made it altogether more poignant.
2. Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Jack is nothing short of masterful. His shy, quiet eagerness to become a new, good person makes the counterpoint of society’s inability to forget all the more painful.
3. The filming locations. When Jack’s secret is finally discovered and he flees his apartment, the stark, grey streets of Manchester reflect beautifully the bleak turmoil going on inside him.
4. The juxtaposition of flashbacks with reality. The troubles of Jack’s delinquent childhood, culminating in the horror of his ultimate crime, shown alongside the utter normalness of his current life and his abnormal courage in rescuing a young girl from a car crash.
5. Jack’s telephoned suicide note(s).

Bottom Five

1. At the end of the movie, Jack takes the train to the very end of the line and then wanders down to the boardwalk. He turns around and — bam! — there’s Michelle. They just so happened to both take the train to the end of the line and meet up at the same boardwalk? Right.
   Or, on second though… Was that just his imagination?
2. Michelle calls in sick the day before the tabloids print all the stuff about Jack previous identity. How did she know before the fact? Did she just figure it out on her own?
3. Terry would have found out earlier than he did in the movie. And it took him forever to track down his phone. How can a social worker as dedicated as him not freak out at having “misplaced” it?
4. The “flashback” that involves the prisoners killing Phillip. Is that an actual flashback or is that a dream? I wasn’t quite sure of the significance of that one.
5. The sex scenes were a bit much. The result of them, ex. Jack’s breakdown, was important. It just took an awful lot of buildup to get there.

Links:

• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• Watch online at TVShack

This article discusses how to install the 1995 version of Warcraft II — that is, not the Battle.net edition. The Battle.net edition installs perfectly nicely using Wine. For more information about installing the Battle.net edition, please refer to WineHQ.

Since Wine is out of the question, we’ll have to turn to a DOS emulator to run Warcraft. The most popular and best supported is DOSBox.

1. Installing DOSBox

There are three ways to install DOSBox: via the add/remove programs dialog, through the Synaptics package manager, and via the Terminal. I’ll go over all three options so you can pick the one you are most comfortable with.

1.1 The Add/Remove Programs Dialog

To get to the dialog, go to the main menu and click Applications > Add/Remove… . In the searchbox type “DOSBox”. One of the results should be “DOSBox Emulator.” Click the checkbox so that it is selected, and click “Apply Changes”.

The program should subsequently install. If you get any sort of error, try another of the methods mentioned below.

1.2 The Synaptic Package Manager

Open the package manager by navigating to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. Enter your password when prompted. In the Quicksearch box type “dosbox”. There will be one result. Click on the little square to the left of the dosbox program and select “Mark for Installation” from the drop-down menu. Then click “Apply.” You will be told that you’ll need to install a number of additional packages. Agree.

The program will subsequently install. Alternatively, you can use the Terminal to install manually.

1.3 The Terminal

Open the terminal by accessing Applications > Accessories > Terminal. Type sudo apt-get install dosbox. When prompted, type “Y” (or “y”). It installs. Viola.

1.4 Alternatives

If you so choose, you can download the .rpm package here and then convert it to a .deb package using Alien or a similar utility. Why you’d want to do this is beyond me when considering your three alternatives, but if you really care to do so….

2. Configuring DOSBox

Running DOSBox straight out of the box (no pun intended) works. But it won’t successfully run Warcraft II. (Feel free to try, though.) We need to tweak the configuration files a bit.

First we need to make a folder where we’re going to stick all of our old DOS games. I put mine in a new directory I called dosbox in /home/username/dosbox/, but you can put it wherever you want to. (I’ll just assume you used the same directory that I did in these instructions. Just be sure to replace it with the path to the directory you actually used.)

Next open up DOSBox. It can be found in Applications > Games > DOSBox Emulator. Yes, it’s a silly place for it, but that’s where it installs. Now we’re going to mount the directory we just created as the C: drive. Type the following command: mount c /home/username/dosbox

Next we’re going to have DOSBox generate an automatic configuration file for us to manipulate. By generating a configuration file we won’t have to reset the proper configuration every time we run DOSBox. To generate the configuration file type: config -writeconf /home/username/dosbox/dosbox.conf.  Change the directory if necessary, and the filename if you want to.

Close DOSBox by typing exit. Navigate to the /home/username/dosbox/ directory (or wherever you saved the configuration file) and open the file in a text editor. We’ll be changing a number of variables. Set the following variables to these values:

• memsize=16
• priority=normal
• core=dynamic
• windowresolution=800x600
• output=opengl
• scaler=none

If you set memsize higher than 16mb, some of the older DOS games will have heart attacks and die premature deaths because they were created back in a time when computers only really had 16 mb to work with and they have no idea what to do with a glut of memory. Priority=normal keeps DOSBox from being a resource hog like it is in its default configuration. Feel free to set windowresolution to something higher (or lower) than 800×600; that’s just what I prefer.

Additionally you’ll need to figure out what your midi device is in order to get sound. To do this I used a program called pmidi, which you can install in the Terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) using sudo apt-get install pmidi. Once that’s installed, type the command pmidi -l to find out your midi device. In the dosbox.config file, in the [midi] section, set device= to your midi device. For Warcraft II you’ll want to set cycles=20000.

If you want to play more with the configuration files, the DOSBox wiki does a fairly good job explaining how to modify the configuration file without royally screwing yourself over.

At the very end of the configuration file, you have the ability to enter commands to automatically be executed so you don’t have to remember exactly what to write and when. You’ll want to write the following:

mount c /home/username/dosbox/
C:
cls

This will automatically mount your /home/username/dosbox/ directory and navigate you to that drive.

3. Running DOSBox From the Configuration File

To run DOSBox from the configuration file, you’ll need to modify the text used to launch. To run DOSBox from the Terminal, type: dosbox -conf /home/username/dosbox/dosbox.conf.  This will launch DOSBox and immediately execute the configuration file at dosbox.conf.

To modify the link in the main menu, right click on the Applications menu and select “Edit Menus”. Navigate to the “Games” submenu, click on the DOSBox Emulator link, and click the “Properties” button. Modify the Command field to read dosbox -conf /home/username/dosbox/dosbox.conf.

4. Installing Warcraft II Using DOSBox

Now we’re ready to install Warcraft II. (Yes, this seems like a lot of work, but once you’re done, starting up Warcraft II will be a snap.) Start DOSBox from the configuration file. You should see a black screen with a prompt that looks like C:\>.

Make sure you have your legal Warcraft II CD in your CDROM drive.  On my computer, the direct path to the CDROM drive is /media/cdrom/. It may be different for your computer, so check.

In DOSBox type the following commands:

mount d /media/cdrom
d:
setup

This should start up the Warcraft II installer in a small popup window. (Don’t worry, the game will run in a much larger window.)

If you are prompted for the location to install the game, remember that “C:\” is really /home/username/dosbox. So if you install to “C:\WAR2\” you’ve actually installed to /home/username/dosbox/WAR2. For the rest of this tutorial, I will assume this is what you did.

The installation is pretty much self-explanatory. If you can’t find a sound card or midi device in the offered lists that works well, or works well enough that you wish to listen to, you should select “no sound” from the list. Though I personally find the helium-filtered orcs highly amusing, others might not appreciate it as much as I do. And a malfunctioning sound card/midi device can and will crash the game.

Anyway, click through all the instructions and return to DOSBox. When you get back, the installer will have quite kindly defaulted you to the C:\WAR2\ directory, and will inform you that all you need to do to run Warcraft is to type WAR2. Do not do this.

Before you run the program, you first need to mount the cd drive so that DOSBox recognizes that you have the Warcraft cd. This is necessary as you cannot play single-player games without the cd. In DOSBox, type mount d /media/cdrom -t cdrom. (If the path to your cdrom drive is different on your computer, substitute the correct path for /media/cdrom.)

Now type war2. The game should load successfully in a new window.

5. Custom Configuration File for Warcraft II

The dosbox.conf configuration file has default configuration settings for dosbox in general. In order to keep from having to type a number of tedious commands every time you load up dosbox when you want to play Warcraft, you could create a seperate configuration file.

Navigate to the directory where your dosbox.conf file is located. (In the examples used in this tutorial, it should be /home/username/dosbox/.) Select the dosbox.conf file, create a copy, and rename the copy to something along the lines of war2.conf. This will be your Warcraft II configuration file.

Open the file in a text editor. Edit any values to specific settings for your Warcraft II playing preferences (some people like to speed up the mouse emulation, for example.) At the end of the file, where the executable commands are listed, make sure you have the following:

mount c /home/username/dosbox/war2
C:
mount d /media/cdrom -t cdrom
war2

When you load DOSBox with this custom configuration file (that is, load using the command dosbox -config  /home/username/dosbox/war2.conf) it will automatically start Warcraft II.

6. Troubleshooting

After installing Warcraft II, I ran into the problem that no matter how I mounted the cdrom, Warcraft kept insisting that there was no cd in the drive, and wouldn’t let me play a single player campaign. After a bit of fudging around, I realized that when I inserted the cd into the computer, Ubuntu (for some reason) considered it two seperate cds: an audio cd and a software cd. It loaded one to /media/cdrom and the other to /media/cdrom0. When I was mounting cdrom drives, I only mounted one, because since I only one cd I assumed that the computer only wanted one cd.

Wrong. In order to get Warcraft II to recognize that there was a cd in the drive, I had to mount both:

mount d /media/cdrom -t cdrom
mount e /media/cdrom0 -t cdrom

Only then would it run at all.

If you are still having difficulties, it is possible (and I have successfully done it) to run Warcraft in DOSBox in Wine. Download the Windows installer for DOSBox, install it in Wine, then run DOSBox and follow the instructions as shown above. Though you won’t be able to run Warcraft directly in Wine, by following the instructions as previously stated you’ll be able to run Warcraft in DOSBox in Wine.

7. Creating a Launcher

To create a launcher, right-click on the desktop and select “Create a Launcher…” The resulting dialog should look like this:

Fill in the dialog as follows:

1. Type: Application
2. Name: Warcraft II

If you do have a special configuration file for Warcraft II, type the following in Command: dosbox -conf /home/username/dosbox/war2.conf.

If you do not have a special configuration file, type the following in Command: dosbox -conf /home/username/dosbox/dosbox.conf.

The second version of the Command line simply loads DOSBox with the default configuration file. To change the icon from the DOSBox default, click on the image and navigate to a location with an appropriate icon.

To add a laucher to the main menu, right click on the Applications menu, select “Edit menus”, navigate to the appropriate submenu (ie: “Games”) and click the “+ New Item” button. Select “Create a Launcher…” from the list, and fill out the dialog as described above.

Addendum: Installing the Expansion: Beyond the Dark Portal

Installing the expansion set is very similar to the installation of the original, though it takes much less time, especially because it uses the existing warcraft configuration file (if you have one).

1. Open DOSBox. Mount the cdrom using the command mount d /media/cdrom.
2. Type install.
3. Follow the installation instructions. It is strongly recommended that you let the game install to its default location.
4. Unmount the cdrom using the command mount -u d.
5. Remount the cdrom using the command mount d /media/cdrom -t cdrom.
6. If necessary, mount the second image of the cdrom using the command mount e /media/cdrom0 -t cdrom.
7. Make sure you’re in the war2 directory. If you’re not, use the command cd war2 to change.
8. Type war2 to run.

Now that I’ve switched to Ubuntu 8.10 “Intrepid Ibix”, I’ve started finding ways to re-install all of my Windows applications. I figured that Celtx should be a good start since it’s actually got a Linux installer.

In high school I made several new lists. I’ve tried to consolidate them all here below, but I keep finding old ones in weird places. Just this past June I found one wedged between the pages of my old geometry textbook.

Anyway, since I’ve been in college, I’ve actually been doing a pretty good job of crossing these items off the list. Of course, after I do it, I tend to get on AIM and tell my friends, “I crossed another item off my list!” Just recently, one of my friends asked, “Is there a real list or is that just a figure of speech?”

So I wrote this blog post. Because there really is a list. And this is a pretty good place to keep track.

THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE

1.Go to Asia.

2.Go to Hawaii.

3. Go to Alaska.

4. Be on TV.

5. Be in a movie.

6. Learn a new language (not Spanish or Polish).

7. Go into space.

8. Run the bases on a major league ballfield.

9. Learn how to rock climb.

10. Shave my head.

11. Walk on the moon. Or mars. Or both.

12. Build a robot.

13. Start a club.

14. Run across a highway interchange.

15. Build a popular website.

16. Read Atlas Shrugged, War & Peace, and The Communist Manifesto.

17. Go skydiving.

18. Go hang-gliding.

19. Blow something up. For real. No fireworks.

20. Go to a hookah bar.

21. Write a song.

22. Learn to play guitar.

23. Play an instrument in a band.

24. Write a novel.

25. Invent something.

26. Get a patent.

27. Learn to surf.

28. Swim with sharks.

29. Go wingsuit flying.

30. Learn to fly a plane.

31. Dust for fingerprints.

32. Direct a movie.

33. Pull a spectacular prank in college.

34. Grafitti something.

35. Get laser eye surgery.

36. Shoot a gun.

37. Run in a marathon.

38. Visit all 50 states.

39. Visit all the continents.

40. Go on a submarine.

41. Climb to the top of the Empire State Building.

42. Be a coal miner.

43. Be a bartender.

44. Steal a street sign.

ADDENDUMS

The following items were added after they were already done, when I thought to myself, “Dude, that should totally be on the List.”

1. Make faces on live terrorist TV.

Wait — I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start from the beginning.

People started arriving on campus at 5:30 AM for the 9:30 AM speech. Oh well, you’ll have to remember there were people in line for tickets at 4:30 AM when they were only going to start giving them out at 10:00 AM, so I guess it takes a special kind of zealot to actually get into these things.

All that aside…. So they closed off pretty much my main route to get into the main part of campus. Now to just get to the cafeteria I have a choice of either running the gauntlet of rabid Obama supporters, cops, and secret service agents, or going three blocks out of my way just to get to a building two blocks away.

Went for a run early morning, dodged a bunch of cars, was yelled at by the cops about half-a-dozen times because aparently my usual route runs through “restricted areas.” Got glared at by a bunch of secret service men in dark suits. Went to breakfast. Passed John Hickenlooper on the way to breakfast. I blinked in astonishment, he smiled and continued walking on his way. Half expected to bump into Governor Ritter too but apparently I missed him by like 10 minutes.

I followed a horde of TV reporters in and checked in at the media table. Was quite impressed they actually gave me press creds. Went inside, found that pretty much all the good spots were taken, so went down to the guys with the TV cameras, chatted one up, and got invited to hang with them down on the ground floor. Had an amazing view for the speeches.

As for the speech itself, I’ve found two youtube vids of it. It was all about the economy, so I understood most of it, though probably not in as much detail as I should. I suppose that’s why I’m in Principles of Economics.

Here’s the first video. It was made by a student, I think, who was up on the bleachers on the right-hand side of the court.

And the second video, actually provided by BarackObama.com:

Of course, now that it’s over it’s hard to concentrate on something as trite as school. I think it’s all the adrenaline or something.

They reserved 150 tickets for Mines students. 150 tickets for distribution — somehow — to approximately 4300 students. I stood in line at lunchtime to put my name down for the lottery. Alas, I was not one of the lucky 3.5%.

My name’s still down for a press pass, though. Don’t know if it’ll actually go through, especially since they say they don’t give credentials out ahead of time (you need to pick them up at some sort of media registation table), and they only contact you if you are denied. I suppose the fact that they haven’t called or emailed me is a good thing, but not having some sort of confirmation is still rather disconcerting. I really hate leaving things to chance.

I got up at 6 AM, walked 2 miles down Route 6, and stood in line for 3 hours. It was 45 degrees out and raining and miserable. They ran out of tickets in 20 minutes. Guess who didn’t get one.

But then I saw just how many Mines students were left standing in the line and I thought: this isn’t right. It’s our school, and maybe a dozen students actually got tickets.

Problem. But I have a solution. It came to me after about two hours standing in the rain.

Obama’s speech is at 9:30 AM on Tuesday. I’m a DJ. My show starts at 9:00 AM on Tuesday. I made some phone calls, went back to the campaign, begged my case. After sweet-talking several campaign workers (though I might’ve overdid the Southern drawl), all I’m waiting for now is a call back about my request for a press pass. The suspense is killing me.