.NET Rocks!

What's it like building an AI-centric application? Carl and Richard talk to Calum Simpson of SSW about their product YakShaver. Calum talks about building a tool that speeds reporting on issues and ideas, so you can spend more time focusing on key issues rather than "shaving the yak." The use of LLMs makes YakShaver far more capable, and the upcoming V2 uses Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to expand functionality and feed information directly into bug reports, such as GitHub issues and feature requests. The conversation also turns a bit more philosophical, focusing on innovative uses of LLMs, properly constraining these tools, and maintaining a transparent chain of responsibility for your code.

What does it take to make more environmentally sustainable software? Carl and Richard talk to Tom Herkhove about Microsoft's efforts to make carbon footprint and emissions visible for applications. Tom talks about the Azure API Management interface as a great starting point, and the ability to shift workloads to low-emission data centers as needed. The conversation also digs into wasted cycles, like automatically fired CI/CD pipelines whose results are never reviewed. It all begins with measuring - what action you take from there is up to you!

How are large language models going to change the way we use Visual Studio? Carl and Richard speak with Leslie Richardson about her work in Visual Studio, starting with the debugger and now focusing on the broader productivity features of the product. Leslie discusses how various Copilots are being integrated into Visual Studio to help users take advantage of the vast array of features available, which can sometimes be difficult to discover. The upcoming Visual Studio 2026 is available as an insider's preview if you want to get a jump on what's coming!

In this talk, Brady Gaster, a Microsoft product manager specializing in Azure and Visual Studio, explores how developers are adapting to cutting-edge tools. He shares insights on app modernization, leveraging AI for migrations, and the role of LLMs and GitHub Copilot in enhancing coding experiences. Brady also discusses the playful side of modernization, like integrating Rust for fun prototypes. The conversation covers both the excitement and challenges of embracing new technology in the developer landscape.

In this conversation, Mattias Karlsson, a Senior architect and Cake maintainer, shares exciting insights about Cake.SDK and its integration into .NET applications. He explains how Cake enhances build automation and facilitates CI workflows. Mattias discusses the benefits of Cake over traditional tools like MSBuild and YAML, as well as its ability to manage environments and security. He also highlights community contributions and hints at future developments, including the upcoming Cake 6.0 and its alignment with .NET 10.

Den Delimarsky, a Principal Product Engineer at Microsoft, dives into the GitHub Spec Kit and its role in specification-driven development with LLMs. He explores how refining specifications can enhance code generation while emphasizing the importance of granular tasks for LLMs. Den discusses strategies like using the Clarify prompt to uncover requirements and the necessity of guardrails to ensure safe, focused outputs. He highlights the crucial balance between AI tools and developer expertise in producing quality software.

The next version of CSLA is out! Carl and Richard talk to Rocky Lhotka about his business objects framework that pre-dates .NET itself! Rocky discusses the surge in development that occurred for version 9, where a company heavily dependent on CSLA contracted developers to clear some of the backlog. The result is a few new long-term contributors, resulting in an increased development candence and a substantial modernization of the code base. The conversation also turns to AI and its role in development, as well as Rocky's experiments with making an MCP server for CSLA!

Chris Klug, a developer architect skilled in cloud solutions and automation, shares his insights on effectively using .NET Aspire. He emphasizes cloud-native architecture, whether in the cloud or on-premises, and explores the interplay between containers and Kubernetes. Chris highlights Aspire's ease of debugging and managing multiple projects while discussing practical telemetry integration and deployment strategies. The conversation dives into testing methods and tools that enhance developer workflows, revealing tips on using Aspire for both new and existing projects.

Egil Hansen, an author and Microsoft MVP, shares his expertise on creating valuable tests for .NET applications. He emphasizes that effective testing is not just for developers but should withstand changes over time. The discussion highlights the four pillars of a valuable test suite and the tradeoffs between integration and unit testing. Egil also dives into using AI for generating and reviewing tests, cautioning against the maintenance burden of AI-generated tests, and he introduces mutation testing to identify weak spots in test coverage.

Joe Finney, a mobile product owner and MVP, dives into the world of local AI models. He discusses the advantages of using models like Tesseract for local OCR and the integration of Windows AI APIs. Joe highlights the potential of Hugging Face models for various tasks and shares insights on managing hardware requirements when running local models. He also weighs the pros and cons of running models locally versus in the cloud, emphasizing security and cost control. His pragmatic advice encourages developers to experiment with local solutions for optimal productivity.