Tag: developer

Microsoft offers developers “promotional codes”

Posted on August 25, 2015 by - News

Microsoft campusIn a move to push its marketing to the grass roots, Microsoft has started offering developers promotional codes

Developers generate codes from the Dev Centre from section found in the Monetisation tab on the sidebar of the app page.

They can select an app or in-app purchase and the number of code they want to generate, and then click Order Codes. The codes are generated and then downloaded in the form of a .tsv file (tab-separate value file). The file has all the codes, expiration dates, and URLs to share the codes with customers.

The developer then provides customers, testers, and reviewers with the promotional code or URL that leads the customer to a code redemption page. If the developer wants to give the customer a code instead of the URL, he or she can inform the customer that he can redeem the code at microsoft.com/redeem.

Once the customer has redeemed the code from the promotional URL code or the microsoft.com/redeem page, the customer will see a link to take them to the app in the Windows Store. If the code is for an app, the customer can click install without getting charged; if the code is for an in-app purchase, the customer can download the app to use the code.

Developers can monitor code usage, unredeemed code quantity, and see exactly when the codes expire.

Vole is asking for people’s opinions about its cunning plan.

 

 

Microsoft knows you are rubbish

Posted on July 17, 2014 by - News

Microsoft campusResearchers at Microsoft think they have found the secret of when someone is accidently introducing a bug into the software they are developing.

Microsoft researcher Andrew Begel said that instead of trying to go through a developers rubbish code looking for bugs it is possible to tell by looking into the developers eyes.

He hit on the idea of measuring the attributes of the developers themselves to see what cognitive or emotional issues lead to buggy code or lowered productivity.

This would enable employers to intervene and stop them from causing developers to make mistakes in the first place.

Begel has carried out tests using psycho-physiological sensors to measure developers’ reactions to tasks. He used eye-tracking technology, electrodermal-activity sensors (which measure changes in the skin’s ability to conduct electricity), and electroencephalogram sensors (which evaluate electrical activity in the brain).

Using this data, Begel was able to predict the difficulty of a task for a new developer with a precision of nearly 65 per cent. For new tasks the precision was even greater – almost 85 per cent.

Begel suggests that reducing the contrast on the display and making the fonts harder to read would force the developer to apply more brainpower to read and understand the code.

He added that Begel’s system makes no distinction between critical mistakes and minor mistakes, inevitably leading to unnecessary delays.

“I’m pretty sure that the industry could take pieces of the research that would help us understand better why mistakes are happening and when, and therefore how to try and avoid that,” said Shulman.