Browsing theWorld Wide Webhas changed a lot since the early 1990s . Back then , mostWeb pagesconsisted of electrostatic schoolbook , a few range and the episodic iteration ( and often irritating)MIDIsound file . But the Web has farm more complex over the old age . Today , you’re able to visit Web sites that incorporate video , animation , audio and interactive features . With the most advanced Web sites , it ’s almost like getting pull into a movie . But in parliamentary procedure to build , view and interact with these raw features , computer programmer have had to make new coating . One of those applications programme is Microsoft ’s programSilverlight .

Silverlight defy easy explanation . In many ways , it ’s similar to Adobe Flash . Silverlight requires developers and exploiter to download a client – Web web browser app ca n’t process Silverlight subject without this download . It feed Web developer the ability to incorporatestreaming video , sound recording and animation into Web pages . computer programmer can create complex , user - interactive Web lotion using Silverlight technology . On the World Wide WWW , these diligence have a special name : robust Internet Applications(RIAs ) .

­As RIAs become more sophisticated , the difference between desktop applications – platform that live on your hard drive – and entanglement - based programs begins to melt away . connection browsers may eventually develop into fully - fledgedWeb - based operating systemsas we apply theInternetto render our data processing and storehouse needs . Leveraging the net in this way is calledcloud computing– programs and data live in the " swarm " of the net instead of on an private drug user ’s motorcar .

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Silverlight is just one of dozens of instrument plan to help programmer create ripe RIAs . Microsoft engineer built Silverlight as an extension of other Microsoft projects , but the app itself abide on its own . Microsoft promotes Silverlight as a ill-tempered - platform , crabbed - web browser technology . That means Silverlight software should work on either PCs or Mac computers and within browsers likeInternet Explorer , Firefoxor Safari . Silverlight should soon work with Linux computers as well – an open - beginning project call Mono is spearheading the effort to create aLinuxversion .

Although Silverlight is a vernal technology , it ’s no stranger to trouble or controversy . Some developers and user are n’t smashing on yet another World Wide Web technology that requires a downloadable plug - in to work . And a partnership with NBC during the 2008 Beijing Olympics might not have sire as much buzz as Microsoft hoped .

But before we jump into all of that , let ’s first take a closer look under Silverlight ’s exhaust hood .

Silverlight Beta

One of the tricky thing about Silverlight is that there are , as of this writing , two versions : Silverlight 1 and Silverlight 2 Beta . Silverlight 1 supports applications written in theJavaScriptprogramming speech communication . The beta version of Silverlight 2 patronise additional programing speech communication likeC#(pronounced " c sharp " ) andVisual Basic . Both rendering of Silverlight piece of work within the . NET theoretical account .

So what ’s .NET ? It ’s another merchandise fromMicrosoft . The .NET fabric is a programing exemplar . Programmers can construct applications within this simulation – particularly Web covering that rely oneXtensible Markup Language(XML ) .

The .NET Framework ’s two major components are acommon language runtimeand aclass depository library . The coarse language runtime acts like an administrator – it monitor software and allocate the resources those applications necessitate ( like memory or processing tycoon ) to run properly . The class library contains several reusablesoftwareobjectsprogrammers can rely on while creating applications . A software program aim has two characteristic : stateandbehavior . An object ’s state name to the different conditions the object can have . For example , a platform could have the states of " running , " " paused " and " stopped " ( though not all at the same time ) . behavior refer to what an object can do . In our example , that would include " start , " " suspension " and " end . "

And that ’s just the framework that surrounds Silverlight ! Within Silverlight , Microsoft includesWindows Presentation Foundation(WPF ) technology and support foreXtensible program Markup Language(XAML ) . software developers can use both WPF and XAML to create Web applications . Both WPF and XAML work seamlessly within the .NET framework . Microsoft explicate WPF becauseHypertext Markup Language(HTML ) has limitations – Web browsers are capable of execute functions that are too complex for HTML to support .

WPF use a transmitter - based rendering engine to generate graphics for lotion . It can bear 2 - D and 3 - five hundred graphics and furnish developers with the mean to power their app by do work within .NET . The main intention of XAML is to give developers the means to tweak the appearance of their applications . Together , WPF and XAML define the look and behavior of a Silverlight software .

While WPF and XAML determine how an program face and behaves , programmers use other computer speech communication to work up the applications themselves . While Silverlight 1 corroborate onlyJavaScript , the beta rendering of Silverlight 2 support severaldynamiclanguages . Programmers build their applications using these oral communication while act within the .NET model and apply WPF and XAML to incorporate the program into the Web browse experience . All Silverlight applications hunt within a Web browser app .

allow ’s take a looking at the computer architecture for the Silverlight weapons platform to see how these elements all work together to give programmers the platform they require to ramp up RIAs .

Silverlight Development

Like all software program , the Silverlight platform has a finical arrangement of function and feature called anarchitecture . A program ’s computer architecture can tell you a great deal about how the program run . It group tasks together in a logical way and show how the different parts of a program work together to provide the overall avail . Microsoft ’s goal with Silverlight is to create a powerful but simple platform for the next generation of World Wide Web - free-base applications .

Microsoftdivides the Silverlight chopine ’s computer architecture into two major components with an additional installer and update element . The two major components let in acore presentation frameworkand the .NET model for Silverlight . Let ’s look at each in turn .

The core presentation framework contains the following :

The .NET Framework has the following features :

The display core and the .NET Framework interact with one another in the first place through XAML . In a way , XAML acts as a bridge between the two element . The installation and updater element is pretty self - explanatory . It ’s supposed to make the initial installation of an app as suave as potential for the user . It also bring home the bacon a framework for machinelike software updates .

In addition , Silverlight has a few other feature that assist developer make RIAs . Many of these use focus on datum security department and coating management . There are file direction features , an disjunct storage subprogram and XML program library , to name a few .

Next , we ’ll search at the kind of software Silverlight developers will be capable to build .

Silverlight Applications

The coating of Silverlight are nearly boundless . Silverlight ’s tools allow developers to create web - establish programs that range from useful devices to challengingvideo game . Even though Silverlight is still a comparatively young computer programming platform , there are dozens of applications already available on the vane .

It ’s not surprising that developers are using Silverlight to make streaming media instrumentalist . The media musician are standardised to Flash media musician – the kind of program used by WWW sites like YouTube . These program well out video and music from theInternetto a user ’s web web browser . Silverlight lets developers make themed video recording players that provide specific mental object . For lesson , the Futbol Mexicano Silverlight program rain cats and dogs video recording of Mexican association football secret plan to users . But Silverlight can do more than play videos .

Silverlight applications can be relatively simple , likehero bars . Hero cake are Web banners that boast indorsement and connexion to content found deep in the Web web site . Developers can use Silverlight to create a Italian sandwich bar that can take out information and link from anRSS provender . The hero barroom update itself as the webmaster add young content to the site .

Programmers can also use Silverlight to interact with other internet services . Twitterlight is a Silverlight program that exploit into theTwittermicroblog overhaul . With Twitterlight , substance abuser can get at their individual Twitter feed and post fresh content .

The TeamLive onlineproductivity softwareapplication lets Silverlight substance abuser process together on undertaking . TeamLive gives users the ability to take screenshots of applications or World Wide Web sites and share them with other user . This makes collaborationism among squad member in different localisation easier . The team can work together in real metre to fix problems or streamline design .

Games go on Silverlight can crop from the simplistic to immersive adventures . For example , you could retrieve traditional games like Hangman in Silverlight form , but you could also come up arcade - panache games such as Zero Gravity , a space - theme dangerous undertaking game . Like Flash , Silverlight give developer the resources necessary to create racy gaming experiences that drug user can get at through a Web browser app .

These app are just the crest of the iceberg . As the Web becomes more advanced and hoi polloi get access to more bandwidth , users will necessitate more from their browsing experiences . An increase issue of people are turning to the Internet for newsworthiness , entertainment and productivity applications . developer will have to practice tools like Silverlight to meet consumer demand .

Silverlight has already made a freehanded spatter through a few strategic partnerships with more traditional media . We ’ll take a close flavour at these relationships in the next section .

Silverlight Video

Bill Gates was the primary tonic speaker at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Showcase ( CES ) . The language mark his net CES demonstration as chairman of Microsoft . That evening , Mr. Gates unveiled many fresh Microsoft labor , products and services . Among them was a partnership with NBC to circularise theOlympicsonline within the United States .

NBC had already obtain thetelevisionrights to broadcast the Olympics in the United States . In gain to traditional televised broadcasts , NBC , along with Microsoft , offer Olympic coverage online at its World Wide Web site . visitor had to download and install Silverlight to their computers in purchase order to watch the video . Some tech journalists questioned the decision – while Silverlight is a powerful platform , Adobe Flash has a much larger mien in the securities industry . Most PCs already have Flash and relatively few hoi polloi had downloaded Silverlight . It seemed to some journalist that NBC was conducting a risky experimentation .

Was the couple a achiever ? That look on who differentiate the news report . According to an clause in The New York Times , NBC ’s Olympics internet website allow more than 72 million flow of telecasting to viewers during the Olympics [ reservoir : Stelter ] . Butblogslike TechCrunch make out that other sites covering the Olympics – sites that did n’t have any video at all – had more visitors than NBC ’s web site [ source : Schonfeld ] . Some blogs also reported rumors that adman were n’t well-chosen with NBC ’s online carrying into action .

Perhaps NBC would have had more online viewers if the company had choose Adobe Flash as itsstreaming videoplatform . Or maybe more people would have viewed the game on the web if NBC had n’t specify the events beam online . But even if some called the experiment disappointing , Microsoft have it off that millions of mass download Silverlight . In Microsoft ’s book , that counts as a win .

Microsoft has forge partnerships with other expectant names in the United States . In belated 2007 , Major League Baseball ’s pullulate video player switched to Silverlight . CBS chose Silverlight when the company created an interactive entanglement platform for user - render content . And the National Basketball Association chose Silverlight for its online media role player as well .

Will Silverlight become the next big net standard ? It ’s still too former to secernate . You might argue that it ’s more full-bodied than Adobe Flash , but then again Flash has a much deeper incursion in the market . Ultimately , whichever technology hail out on top will provide users with what they want : an immersive vane browsing experience .

To check more about Silverlight and bear on issue , beam a brightness level on the linkup found on the next pageboy .

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