.NET Rocks!

Happy New Year! Dive into the dynamic world of energy generation with insights on the rapid growth of solar and wind power. Explore breakthroughs in perovskite panels, the rise of lithium-ion batteries, and innovative storage solutions. Discover the challenges of grid regulations and the impact of AI on energy procurement. Also, hear about geothermal advances and the future of nuclear reactors. The energy landscape is changing fast, and there’s much to be excited about!

In a thrilling recap of the year in space, the hosts dive into the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS and its non-alien origins. They celebrate SpaceX's record-breaking Falcon 9 launches while discussing United Launch Alliance's struggles. The International Space Station marks 25 years, yet faces a watery end soon. Excitingly, new space stations and lunar missions are on the horizon, including Blue Ghost's success. Plus, the impact of James Webb's discoveries on our understanding of the universe heats up the conversation!

Jeff Fritz, a Principal Program Manager at Microsoft and creator of live coding streams, joins Bill Wolf, a seasoned community organizer and enterprise architect, to discuss AI's transformative potential in software development. They dive into listener concerns about AI costs and dependency, exploring productivity trade-offs. The conversation highlights how AI is changing workflows, the importance of templates and prompts, and considerations for integrating AI into user-facing applications. They also predict a future where smaller, local models enhance reliability and efficiency.

How is package management changing? Carl and Richard talk with Gary Ewan Park about his view of the package management landscape in the Windows world. Gary talks about the array of open source and free products out there today to do package management - you really have a lot of choice! There are also retail enterprise products that focus on features companies need to support larger numbers of machines, including virtual machines and cloud containers. The challenge of security and supply chain attacks is a key part of the modern landscape - and there are tools to help you get things right!

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.