Null Pointers: Recent Episodes
Gerald, Mark & Steven
War of the keyboards?! .NET turned 20?! A new movie coming out?! This episode is packed with things to talk about!
This week we are joined by our good friend Daniel Hindrikes. Daniel shares his experiences writing Blazor apps. We talk about Web Assembly vs Server hosting, integration into .NET MAUI apps, bindings in Blazor and using Razor Pages to write your UI. Does Daniel miss XAML? Tune in and find out.
Today we cover a lot of different things going on in our lives and the tech world. What kind of gadget did Mark get from his wife for Christmas? Find out!
In this weeks episode we talk about making stunning mobile apps. Shaun tells us how he created Super Wordsearch with the help of tools like Skia Sharp and Lottie while using Xamarin Forms.
Coded UI in Xamarin.Forms is not as popular as using XAML, but if you ask our guest Brandon Minnick we're all crazy for liking XAML so much. Join us in learning why!
So .NET Conf happened a few days ago. Steven visited a conference in person. So perfect time to look at all the new shiny stuff that just was released.
Today we talk about all the different things that go into making a UI that's component-based instead of just mashing it all together willy nilly. Future you will thank us!
It is this time of year again, so much new tech is released. Not only devices, but also software. So tune in to find out our thoughts on MAUI .NETs latest release, the Microsoft device updates and the new Apple hardware that has just been dropped.
Last week we had an awesome conference about all things Xamarin and MAUI, let's talk about it! Also, stick around until the end because there will be some sad news. Number 5 will shock you!
Virtual Machines are nothing new. They have been around for many years. Maybe you have even used some in the past as a development environment. But these days, virtual dev environments are making a significant comeback. Powered with Docker and using Visual Studio Code in the Frontend, the cloud is the limit. Is it time to make the switch?
In this pod we talk about the current status and future of Xamarin.Forms. Everyone is talking about .NET MAUI nowadays, but is Xamarin.Forms also still getting some love? And why is Forms becoming .NET MAUI anyway? And why is there a baby crying?!
Today we sit down and discuss learning new coding languages. We've all been programming in C# for a while now, but what new languages are we looking to pick up? And is it even easy to start to learn a new one? What does it all entail? Let's find out together!
Today we can write websites that run as desktop apps. Such hybrid apps are usually built using HTML, javascript and CSS. But with .NET 6, Blazor will provide a solution for writing hybrid apps in .NET. Crazy right? But it gets even better. Using .NET MAUI, you can extend your website with native features. Sounds great? Well, let us tell you all about it and our opinions on the topic.
Managing e-mail is such a chore. Especially when you come back from vacation, and a humongous pile of it is looking straight at you. Is a Tinder-style application THE solution here? Find out in this episode!
Some of us (only Mark) have been on a holiday, so we have things to catch up on! .NET MAUI, Visual Studio, all the things!
It's summer, and we are taking this week off to enjoy the sun, the family, friends, bbq and the summer life.
We quickly touch upon Visual Studio 2022 for Mac, which is in private preview at the time of recording. Then we face the question as old as time. How can you work with different people on one code base without starting flamewars whenever you review pull requests? We discuss our experiences, helpers and mindsets in this episode.
A new preview of .NET 6 and therefore also .NET MAUI is out: preview 6. So of course, we have to talk all about what is new in this preview and what to expect from preview 7.
In this episode we're talking about the different things we are currently tinkering with in and around the house. From BBQs to Kindles, and lights to airconditioning.
After quickly discussing if we still have a job once GitHub Co-Pilot goes public, we discuss the ins and outs of versioning software. From semantic, new-newer-newest to other version strategies we have seen along the so far.
Between the three of us, we have quite some experience with public speaking and going to conferences. In this episode, we will share our experiences, fears and more. Also, what is up with all the Windows 11 panic?!
Being in IT means that automation is always something that's top of mind. Be it something in your development pipeline or something at home. We cover a range of automation bits and bobs in this episode.
Since early 2020 online conferences have become a thing we have attended, presented, and even organised. So what have our impressions been, and how do we compare them against in-person events? So tune in, and feel free to share your experiences with us on Twitter.
The pandemic slowly seems to be contained, time to go out and get fit again! At least, we have been home much which didn't always treat us right. In this episode we talk about what we do to get fit and how much it hurts!
You have your app idea; you got a picture of the design, even found that gradient. But don't stop there. What about your fonts and icons? In this episode, we talk about fonts, icons, where you can get them and what to look out for.
Microsoft Build has traditionally been the place where all new shiny things for developers get announced. And while this year's edition was a bit more Azure heavy, we still managed to find a few nuggets of information that we'd love to share.
Documenting what you're building is one of those things that isn't every developers favorite activity. However, doing so helps everyone from yourself to the people who might take over your project in the future. Today we talk about why that is and what you can do to help people.
Universal Windows Platform (or UWP) is an interesting platform with a lot of potential. Yet, for some reason it doesn't really take off, at least not for cross-platform developers. In this episode we talk about what is up with UWP, a bit of history, some hopes for the future... It's all in here and more!
In this episode, we leave the wired space and talk about connecting devices and sending information through thin air. So get ready to hear all about WiFi, Bluetooth, BLE, Airtags and more.
Things used to be better when we were growing up, but is that truly the case? In this episode we'll be looking at old tech that isn't around anymore to see if our memories might be a bit clouded!
Hooray! Episode 50! Normal people would probably wait until 52, but we like round numbers, deal with it. For this special episode we talk all about our experience so far. What do we love, what do we hate and how do we do it.
Authenticating a user is often more than meets the user's eye. In this episode, we discuss the challenges, options and our experiences with said topic. We dive into some OAuth, do our best to pronounce Auth0 and discover the passcode to Geralds top-secret studio vault.
The IDE is your friend, or at least we assume it is. It's where your spending most of your time as a developer, most likely. In this episode we discuss our first memories of them, our favorites and things we don't like about them.
Tune in while we talk all about object relational mappers. OK, mostly Entity Framework because of the .NET developers we are. But also we touch on Dapper, document databases, our migration nightmares and even Steven and Gerald's mothers... Now if that doesn't convince you to listen I don't know what will!
In this weeks pod Mark, Steven and Gerald discuss becoming a Generalist or a Specialist. What pays more? What are the pros and cons? Oh and of course Ts are discussed. So tune in and enjoy this special episode in a general sense.
Apps process data. A lot of data. But how do apps ensure that that data isn't shared with people that you don't want to share it with? That's what we're diving into today.
So it is 2021, and creating a website and running a website can still cost you a small fortune. Do you really need a web server, database and whatnot for a simple blog? In this episode, we discuss static websites and how you can use them on a budget to create websites for big and small demands. So tune in and enjoy the opinions and stories.
You can't really have missed it: Microsoft Ignite 2021 edition happened and there was a lot of great announcements. New shiny things for HoloLens, Teams, Azure and... Pokemon Go? Tune in for our highlights and takes!
The recently released .NET 6 Preview 1 comes with a lot of new bits and bobs. We will use this pod to go over them and see what's useful for us and what isn't. Also, hairdressers are a booming topic right now.
A question we get asked is: how do you have time to do all these things?! Spoiler alert: we have no clue! But we have opinions, tips, pointers (get it...?) and bad jokes, so we're going to talk about how to be productive and not get distrac... Is that a unicorn?!
Writing code can be fun, especially when you start a new project. But then time passes and all of a sudden adding or changing existing features gets hard. Things begin to break unexpectedly, and stuff starts to feel messy. But it does not have to be that way. A well-structured app and a few guidelines are here to help us all. If we follow the SOLID principle and all the other Clean Code acronyms, everything will be just fine right? Well, tune in and find out our opinions and experiences all around writing Clean Code.
Apps perform a lot of tasks for you, even ones you might not know about. Where do they do them you ask? Well, in the background of course! Today you will learn all about how to do that yourself!
Crashing apps, everyone hates them! So in this episode we talk about all the things you might want to think about to make your own apps as resilient as possible. From versioning your APIs to tricking your users, we got you covered!
The idea of being able to have a conversation with our computing devices is nothing new. Going down memorylane to early IRC days all the way back to the present using AI to try and pass the Turing Test. In this episode we discuss our experiences, opinions and give our best Bot beep impression.
Messaging apps are all around. Look on your phone and you might have more of them than you'd initially think. With the recent Whatsapp privacy discussion we thought it'd be good to dive into this topic a bit further. So join us for the ride!
Multimedia is all around us! We can't think of a single app that does not have some form of multimedia: images, sounds or even videos. We don't even notice anymore! But how hard is it to use it in your own app? Find out all about it in this episode!
Steven is currently in the process of localizing the unofficial Microsoft MVP App. So we took this opportunity to discuss I18N and L10N. What is there to look out for and what things can you localize within your app. And is using Icons cheating? Well tune in and find out our opinions.
We are taking a break this week and are enjoying our time - indoors with the family. That does not prevent us from eating just a bit too much. But just in case you missed the soothing sound of Geralds Voice - here is a short episode for you, dear listener. Stay safe and until next week. 🙂
The holiday season isn't complete if you can't sprinkle some nerd on it. In this episode, we talk about all things we do or have for the holidays that sprinkle just a little bit of nerd on top.
It's great that all the technologies in the world now let us write once and run anywhere. But how does that work for designs? In this episode, we are talking about responsive mobile design. Did we ever deal with it? How do we feel about it and how to go about it? All of this and Xboxes, a bit of F# and advent beer calendars too! And what's with Mark and his tiny fingers...?
In this episode, we discuss mobile payment. Since COVID-19 has made contactless payment the prefered standard, so has mobile payment been used by more and more people. In this episode, we discuss mobile payment challenges in our everyday life as humans, tech-enthusiasts and developers.
Did you ever wonder about why you should build your own controls and not just grab the ones on the shelf? So do we! So in this episode we will explore this topic a bit further to see what our experiences are and we take a look at some do's and don'ts.
With the Apple M1 chip coming out in their latest line of Macs, all focus is back on ARM. This non-compatible competitor of Intel is blowing everyone away with power efficiency as well as speed. Could this be the final blow for Intel? And are we getting some new hardware ourselves anytime soon?
Staying up to date in our ever changing techworld is no small feat. It may even feel a bit overwhelming at times. In this episode we discuss how we like to stay informed while trying to miss out on purpose. How we do it? Well you will have to tune in to this weeks episode.
Getting insights into how your application is doing once it's out in the wild is essential if you want to act on problems quickly. That's where logging and monitoring comes into play! Tune in to this weeks episode to learn more.
Xamarin.Forms 5 is announced to be the last major version of Forms in its current form. From here on out, it will evolve into the .NET framework and continue to bring us joy that way. But, what is actually in the Forms 5 package? What can we look forward to? Find out in this episode!
In this episode, we are discussing what approaches you can take to test your hard coded work. From TDD to BDD, we discuss a few of the common Acronym Driven Development approaches and what benefits you want to expect when writing automated code.
In this episode, we are talking about WebAssembly and a bit more specifically about Blazor as well. With this hot new technology, you can get rid of JavaScript and just write C# that runs everywhere. Frontend, backend, topend, bottomend, happy end! Oh, and by the way... Did you decide on a new iPhone yet?
In this episode, we finally talk about .NET Maui, also known as the future of Xamarin.Forms. What's coming and more importantly, when is it coming? We will tell you all about it!
In this episode, we talk about writing cross-platform apps. What are the approaches? What are the pros and cons you might want to consider? And is there a right way? Well tune in and find out.
In this episode we talk a lot about our love for Ubiquiti network equipment, Raspberry Pi's, backing up data, how Mark is always last to say his name and some smart home stuff. It was supposed to be about our Home Office Setup, but I think we drifted off into all things we find awesome.
Version control. A thing of beauty or a thing of frustration? Or maybe even both. In this episode, we try to demystify some of the things around Git, share our war stories of yesteryear and try to make sense of why everyone should be using it.
Artificial Intelligence or AI for short is all around us it seems. Is it here to solve all our problems or are we looking at the next Skynet? Ever wondered what is behind all of the AI talk? What would it take to add some AI to your apps? Well, in this episode we will talk about all those topics and how you can get started today without having to through years of study.
The next big thing since sourdough bread is here, and it's called GitHub Codespaces. With Codespaces, you can go from looking at a bug to contributing to the repo in a matter of minutes. Or how about onboarding a new colleague? Hours looking at installers to get the right workloads? No more! With Codespaces, you can get to a successful build before your first coffee is done. Learn all about it in this episode.
All episodes of Null Pointers are great, and this episode is no exception. In this episode, exceptions are what it's all about. Why should you care? How does exception handling even work internally? Should you care about handling exceptions? All good questions which are answered with a fair amount of dad jokes that get some pity laughs.
In this episode, we talk about the Xamarin Community Toolkit. You will get a scoop of the origins and how it came about. What the intentions are behind it and how it differs compared to the other well known Xamarin Essentials library. Be sure to tune in and have all the knowledge ready should the Xamarin Community Toolkit become the discussion topic of your next (remote) party.
Dark Mode seems to be a trend that is getting more and more momentum. It has taken over designs on the interwebs, desktop computers, tablets and even the beloved phone in your pocket. But what is it all about? Save the planet due to reduced power usage? A design fad? Well, join us in this weeks episode where we discuss our thoughts on Dark Mode and go off on some history tangents of the good old days. Or were they that good? Whatever your take is, we hope you enjoy this dark episode!
If you own a mobile phone, the chances are that there is data stored on it somewhere. Few apps are around these days that don't store data in some form. But how is that done? What caveats are there to it, and what about caching or syncing data back to a backend? All of that and more on this episode!
Episode number twelve and we are putting on our architecture outfits to discuss the Model View ViewModel, or MVVM for short, pattern. We discuss the advantages, libraries, touch on some good old Inversion of Control. And to make sure you stay until the end - Gerald was so kind to provide us with an Easter egg.
Episode number eleven is all about gadgets. Are they all absolutely necessary? Definitely not. Are they fun? YEAH! We talk about some of the most essentials ones like phones and headphones, but also smart speakers, watches, sports and even some non-digital gadgets. Don't trust your devices with Steven though, he will destroy it.
In our tenth episode, we talk about C# - the programming language that allows us to pay our bills. In this episode, we reminiscent about when we first started using C#, what features had the most substantial impact on us and what we are looking forward to in the upcoming version of C#.
In this ninth episode, we talk about creating our apps in either coded UI using C# or using a dedicated markup language like XAML. We highlight the advantages and disadvantages and our personal preferences.
In this episode, we share some things we know about security in general, but also specific to mobile apps. Gerald had a hacking incident on one of his web apps which triggered us to explore what we actually know about security. It's quite easy to make a mistake, and the internet is very unforgiving, people (or bots?) will exploit it in no time. Other than that we talk about SQL injection, open redirects, Have I Been Pwned, certificates and more!
After sharing our thoughts on the news from Apples WWDC 2020 event - including our take on the new macOS design and icons, we will pick Stevens brain on how to approach designing a mobile app. What are the things to be aware of and what tools do we use. Also, a good design is not only what meets the eye but should also keep in mind how to enable to use the app for visually impaired users.
We're all mobile developers here and to get our apps out there for the world to enjoy (we hope) you can do a lot of manual labor or automate it. That's what we're going to be talking about today: automating your entire app lifecycle using DevOps: the good, the bad and the ugly. Since it just so happens that there are three of us, we'll leave it up to you to decide who's who 😉
Ever considered contributing to an Open Source project? In our fifth episode we discuss about contributing to open source projects. We discuss why and how to get started, what different ways there are to contribute and some of the interpersonal pitfalls that can arise when taking part in your open source endeavour.
Azure Functions have been around for a while and are Microsoft's implementation of serverless computing. In this episode, we learn what Azure Functions are all about. Also, we will share with you our war stories from our own experience.
In this episode we will talk about all the stuff that was announced at Microsoft Build 2020. Features like Windows Terminal, Microsoft Learn, Codespaces and Azure Static Web Apps and even more awesome stuff all make an appearance in this episode.
With a new .NET release just around the corner, what does this mean for .NET Core? What will it mean for mobile, desktop or library developers. Should you adopt the new Framework? Tune in and find out what you can expect. Also join us on a trip down memory lane. Where we will have a look back at where we came from and what we personally expect from the upcoming release.