In this episode Jim and Mark talk about the recent release of Visual Studio 2010 SP1 and the new web related features included in the SP. They also describe a few new approaches to testing - engaging in feature development early and focusing on using their product like a customer. Learn how they’re able to achieve this, why it’s important and some of the value they’ve already seen in this approach.

This Week’s News:

• Visual Studio SP1 released
  • IIS Express, Sql Compact Edition (SqlCE) tooling support
  • MVC, SqlCE and ASP.NET Web Pages bin deployable assemblies
  • HTML5 and CSS3 support
• Developer Experience Testing
  • Engaging in feature development early. It’s possible if you’re not stuck dealing with test debt from the last release
  • Broad product knowledge helps
  • Ties in with our application building experience
• Application Building and Being the Customer
  • Focused application building is better than forced application building
  • '”Wishlist” application released as a template for ASP.NET Web Pages
  • Highlights design issues that would frustrate users
  • Requires significant time investment
  • Need to balance test value versus getting an application to “product quality”
  • Critical issue discovered involving interaction between three technologies
  • If you don’t know how your customers use your product, you need to figure that out.