ASP.NET MVC 5 with Visual Studio 2012

Announcing release of ASP.NET and Web Tools 2013.1 for Visual Studio 2012 - .NET Web Development and Tools Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs:
"ASP.NET and Web Tools 2013.1 for Visual Studio 2012. includes
 ASP.NET MVC 5, Web API 2, Scaffolding and Entity Framework, etc. 

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F# Functions

Functions (F#) @ MSDN

F# is a hybrid functional language, that supports object-oriented (.NET) and functional concepts. It has very compact syntax.
It is so compact that commas and brackets are not used! It takes some time to get used to...
Here are some C# method declarations:

int add(int x, int y) { return x+y; }
string add(string x, string y) { return x+y; }

Here is equivalent function declaration in F#; F# is strongly typed, and compiler can assign data type of function and arguments based on context! In example below, "add 3 5" will produce value 8 of type int; the next line that is commented out would produce a string; so same declaration can be for int and string, but not at the same time, since compiler decides type based on first occurrence.

let add x y = x + y

printfn "%d" (add 3 5)
// printfn "%s" (add "Hello" "World")

F# functions are just values, and can be assigned and passed around as parameters; For example add'  gets assigned a lambda expression (anonymous function), with same meaning as previous declaration:

let add' = fun x y -> x + y

function can have data types declared:

let add (x: int) (y:int) : int =
    x + y

The compiler can also infer function type of parameter from context;
in example below "checkThis" is function declaration that takes two parameters "item" and "f";
f is recognized to be a function parameter, since in "if" statement it is taking item as argument
When calling "checkThis" , lambda expression is used as a value for "f"

let checkThis item f =
    if f item then
        printfn "HIT"
    else
        printfn "MISS"

checkThis 5 (fun x -> x > 3)
checkThis "hi there" (fun x -> x.Length > 5)

Internet of Things: Open-source framework

AllSeen Alliance adopts open-source framework for the Internet of Things | ZDNet

"The Internet of Everything is based on the idea that devices, objects and systems can be connected in simple, transparent ways to enable seamless sharing of information with coordinated and intelligent operations across all of them...


IDC predicts that by 2020 we'll have more than 212-billion devices connected in a market worth more than 8.9 trillion dollars.

...while AllJoyn needs networking to work, it's not a networking protocol, it's meant to ride on top of the network stack. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G, Ethernet, whatever, AllJoyn will run on whatever network your home or office uses.

M2M and the Internet of Things: A guide | ZDNet

Job Opportunities in the Internet of Things - Dice News


Cisco Launches Business Unit For Internet Of Things - InformationWeek

IBM - A Smarter Planet - Overview - United States