Erik Mork has just launched a new Podcast called Sparkling Client which focuses on Silverlight and other RIA Technology. The site for the podcast can be found at http://www.sparklingclient.com/. The first two episodes are already up, with much more promising content sure to be released in the immediate future. Be sure to check this out and subscribe to the feed.
I listened to the first two podcasts and was very impressed with the content. It was a little wierd at first, hearing Erik talk about Silverlight using a "normal voice". Erik is like me in that he is very excited about Silverlight. When I talk to him about Silverlight I see him light up in a way that can only be described as ELECTRIC. It is very fun to talk with and listen to him, I mean, he's very passionate about this technology. That is very cool, I really like seeing that in other developers. (And here's where the hubris kicks in.) It's almost like looking in a mirror, except he is less fluff and more substance. In truth I'm jealous about how much time he get's to spend with Silverlight.
There is one thing Erik mentioned in the second podcast which I disagree with, but then I disagree only because I think I'm taking a different point of view. (And this will be where I misquote him.) Erik mentioned how he doesn't think people should buy the Silverlight 1.0 books but should wait until Silverlight 2 is released and then get those books. Here I believe Erik is talking from a developer's point of view (not designer), and in that case I do agree with him. Erik is correct and the truth is, if you are a C# developer and you don't do any design work whatsoever, then you aren't going to find any love in these books.
I own the Silverlight 1.0 Wrox book
, and the Silverlight 1.0 Unleashed book, and I see these books as indispensible resources
. For the moment I'm going to pretend to speak from a designer's point of view, even though I'm more of a developer. Both of these are excellent books by excellent authors. The books are short, they include color photos, and the code blocks are in color (just like VS2008 or Blend). The books cover what Silverlight is, how to use it, what-and what not-to use it for, how to do XAML and what are many of the design elements, how to do animations, how to use Blend, etc. Sure there are some Javascript examples in there, but that's how you program in Silverlight 1.0. By and large I find these books to be helpful for developers like myself to start doing design work in Silverlight, or at least enough to get by.
Silverlight is a subset of WPF, no one will disagree with that. Unless you already have a vast knowledge of WPF, then I whole-heartedly recommend insist you get those two books to help you ramp up on this new technology. I also recommend you get the Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed book
by Adam Nathan. Don't put this off, you can't write code-behind forever and you'll have to learn this new technology eventually.
I must say that I recommend the Sparkling Client podcast as a must-listen-to series. The episodes are fairly short at 15-20 minutes each. They're easy to listen to, very insightful, and done with a care and consideration that feels very professional. I know they value my time, and this alone makes it that much more enjoyable to listen to.
Erik is a very active member of the .Net community here in Portland. He has presented at PADNUG, PDXUX.Net, the Portland and Boise Code Camps, and Innotech. You can reach him at http://www.silverbaylabs.org/.