Herding Code 216: Bash on Windows, Angular 2, Surface Book, Kindle Oasis, Windows Phone

Kevin, K Scott and Jon talk about Bash on Windows, Angular 2, React, new tech devices, and whether Windows Phone is alive, dead, or undead.

Download / Listen: Herding Code 216: Bash on Windows, Angular 2, Surface Book, Kindle Oasis, Windows Phone

Show Notes:

Bash on Windows and Windows Insider stuff
- (00:44) Jon mentions the Bash on Windows announcement at Build and asks if Kevin or K Scott have played with it. This devolves into a discussion of Windows Insider previews. Jon likes it and talks about the steps for enabling Windows Insider preview builds. K Scott has been scared to try it, but it sounds like he’s convinced. Kevin is put off by the Insider term – Windows Insider, Visual Studio Code Insider previews, etc. K Scott adds “Windows Insider” it to his e-mail signature.
- (05:15) Jon talks about the steps for enabling Bash on Windows. or Windows Subsystem for Linux (Beta), to use the official terminology.
- (07:08) Feel the excitement of listening to someone type commands into a console window as Kevin asks questions about what’s installed and Jon tries to apt-get it all. K Scott and Kevin wonder about how things like filesystem and processes work, and Jon tries to make up answers.
- (09:50) Kevin says it feels like an admission of defeat to add *nix support to Windows. Jon says it feels practical to him – developers are building for multiple operating systems (especially including mobile), so it’s nice to have it supported.
- (11:19) Kevin’s ready for Cygwin to die in a fire, and Jon’s excited about ssh working less horribly on Windows. Kevin says the race is on to get Wine working on Bash on Windows.
Angular 2 and React
- (12:55) Jon worked on a hands on lab for Build that had master-details using Angular 2 and ASP.NET Core. He said Angular 2 seemed a lot simpler than Angular 1 now. K Scott said the component model is simpler, but he’s seeing some resistance to the ECMAScript / TypeScript updates, new binding syntax, etc. The Angular 1.5 release also includes a component model that’s a much easier programming model. It almost feels like some older Microsoft component-based programming frameworks going back to Visual Basic 6: you’re working with components that have simple properties and events. The guys speculate on how soon someone will build the big visual editor for Angular 2.
- (16:21) Kevin says TypeScript seems like a barrier. K Scott says it’s not strictly required. He rejected TypeScript for a while, but when he was working with Angular 2 and tools and editors supported it he decided he liked it. Jon and K Scott talk about how a lot of things that throw people off about TypeScript are really just modern JavaScript syntax.
- (18:50) The guys discuss how Angular 2 and React mindshare will play out. Jon likes React as long as he never views source. Jon thinks the unidirectional flow is really simple, and Kevin agrees – after years of lower level Backbone, the simpler flow in React saves some mental energy.
- (20:29) Jon mentions that React Native recently came to Windows, too.
Devices: Surface Book, Kindle and big batteries
- (20:56) K Scott got a new Surface Book (after waiting to make sure nothing new was coming out at Build). He says it’s the best piece of PC hardware he’s bought in years – the build quality is good, the keyboard is good, he gives the trackpad of 9 out of 10. He says that the detachable tablet is a bit large as a tablet, so he’s using an older Surface for reading.
- (23:58) Jon jokes that K Scott’s not likely to buy a Kindle and says he gradually stopped using his Kindle when he moved to Audiobooks, and kind of associates reading with work now. Kevin says that’s sad. They talk about Kindles for kids’ books.
- (27:07) Kevin says the two big things he picked up for the new Kindle are physical page buttons and a three month battery. He says the main thing he likes about Kindle for both him and his kids (as opposed to a tablet) is that it forces you to read instead of getting distracted. The guys decide that tripling the life of an already one month battery isn’t a huge win.
- (29:20) Jon says he recently bought a portable battery that can recharge his laptop, which is handy for long flights. (note: he said it was iPad size, it’s a lot smaller but is 1.2 pounds)
- (31:15) Jon asks Kevin about new Apple hardware. Kevin says the iPad Pro screen is apparently astounding – he’s expecting them to be amazing in a few generations. Same for Apple Watch – he doesn’t have one yet, he’s waiting for version two. Jon says the improvement from Microsoft Band 1 to Band 2 was pretty nice, especially in the industrial design.
Lightning Round: Will Windows Phone be dead in one year?
- (33:40) K Scott asks if Windows Phone will be dead in a year. Jon hopes not, as he just bought a Lumia 950 XL. He’d had a budget Blu Windows Phone since September, and the Windows 10 Insider builds were nice, but the camera wasn’t very good. He really likes Windows 10 as a phone operating system and thinks it’s sad that so few people will actually see it.
- (35:55) K Scott got a Lumia 950 XL in January (when he dropped something on his previous phone). He got the docking station, too, and said it worked surprisingly well. The guys discuss how useful docking a phone is; Jon postulates that it could be useful for someone who does everything on their phone and occasionally needs to write a long email or edit their resume – especially if it can be hooked up to a TV.
- (38:30) Kevin says that Windows Phone isn’t dead. it’s undead. It will linger on in a zombie-like state indefinitely.
Scott Koon sends us out with a request for further information by e-mail.

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