Rob Miles

http://twitter.com/RobMiles

Hull, Great Britain

Windows Phone expert, trainer, author

Areas of Expertise:

  • C#
  • Visual Studio
  • .NET Micro Framework
  • Windows Phone
  • speaking
  • training
  • writing
Rob Miles has been teaching computer programming for more than 25 years. An expert on Visual C# and a Microsoft MVP for Device Application Development, Rob enjoys inspiring new and experienced programmers. As well as writing his own games, programs, and poetry, Rob has consulted on a wide range of commercial software projects.

Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 4.0: Learn Programming Now! Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 4.0: Learn Programming Now!
by Rob Miles
February 2011
Print: $29.99
Ebook: $23.99

Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 3.0: Learn Programming Now! Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 3.0: Learn Programming Now!
by Rob Miles
Second Edition June 2009
Print: $29.99
Ebook: $23.99

Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 2.0: Learn Programming Now! Microsoft® XNA® Game Studio 2.0: Learn Programming Now!
by Rob Miles
February 2008
Print: $29.99
Ebook: $23.99

Embedded Programming with the Microsoft® .NET Micro Framework Embedded Programming with the Microsoft® .NET Micro Framework
by Donald Thompson , Rob Miles
June 2007
Print: $44.99
Ebook: $35.99

Rob blogs at:
http://www.robmiles.com/

Chris Wooding and the Ketty Jay

February 05 2012

If you are looking for a bit of escapist Science Fiction/Fantasy stuff then take a look at Chris Wooding. I’ve just read the first of his Ketty Jay series and it is a rollicking good fun. If you enjoy Harry Harrison, Blake's Seven, Firefly kind of stuff then you’ll… read more

Cameras and Lumps

February 04 2012

Here’s a tip. If you are buying a digital camera which is not completely new, point it at a white piece of paper and take a photo. Then look at the result. The photograph will show you if there is any dirt on the sensor or the lens. I… read more

Tutorials, Objects and References

February 03 2012

We are doing objects and references in the First Year tutorial today. Great fun. Well, at least I thought so. I asked the class whether big objects in memory have larger references than small ones. They don’t – the size of the tag is always the same – no… read more

When is a number not a number?

February 02 2012

Pop quiz. What would the following C# code do? float x = 1; float y = 0; float result = x / y; Console.WriteLine(result); Fail to compile. Throw an overflow exception. Print “Infinity” Cause the universe to explode. Here’s the thing, the code prints the word “Infinity”. Dividing any floating point variable… read more

XNA Ebook Deal of the Day

February 01 2012

Lovers of fine literature (and those who read my books) will be thrilled to know that my XNA 4.0 book is half price today on the O’Reilly site. This is the latest version, that also covers Windows Phone game development and features words of wisdom from “The Great Programmer”.… read more

Living in a Box–Oh Yes

January 31 2012

I actually own this single on 12” vinyl. I bet it is worth a fortune now…. One of the nice things about having a Zune Pass is that I can track down old bands that I used to listen to in the old days. Like Living in a Box. I’m sure… read more

Rob on the Road

January 31 2012

I’m off on my travels again next month. I’m doing sessions about Windows Phone and Kinect at TechDays in Belgium and the Netherlands and then hopping over to SIGCSE in the USA to give some sessions there too. The plan is to develop and maybe even publish a complete… read more

Back in Lecture Mode

January 30 2012

The students came back to lectures today. A chance to use all those great jokes that I’ve been practicing over the break. Or something. read more

Crayola ColorStudio Pen

January 29 2012

Drawing with your fingers on an iPad is fine, but not natural. The Crayola colouring pen gives you something to hold on to as you draw, which is nice. I first thought it was just a pen that works on a touch screen, but there is more to it… read more

Lego Star Wars Battle of Hoth

January 28 2012

Lego Star Wars Battle of Hoth is a neat little game which they say is for up to four players but works best with just two, light against dark. You take it in turns to move and attack your little Lego snow speeders and AT-ATs in an attempt to… read more

Degrees of Fun

January 27 2012

Did my Graduands Marshal thing this morning. As usual I took a picture of the audience and it mostly came out OK, sorry if you are in the blurry part of the audience… There are some more of the other ceremonies on Flickr. Click on the right to find… read more

Read Verity Stob

January 26 2012

I have a few hero/heroines in my life. One of them is Verity Stob. She has been writing about computers for about as long as I’ve been playing with them. I’ve mentioned her before, and now I’ve discovered to my great joy that she is still writing for The… read more

Hull Digital for Breakfast

January 25 2012

Had a chat with Jon Moss today. He’s one of the movers and shakers behind Hull Digital. I’ve been to a few of their events, which are usually (and very sensibly) held at one of my favourite eating places in Hull, Fudge in Princes Ave. If you want to… read more

Chapter 12 is finished

January 24 2012

If you’ve wondered where I’ve been for a week. Or why I’ve suddenly just had time to suddenly produce seven blog updates (ahem) it’s because I’ve been writing. Book stuff. Twelve chapters on having fun with your Kinect using the Kinect SDK and your PC. I’ve been squashing pretend… read more

Three Thing Game Three is Coming

January 23 2012

Keep your diaries free for the weekend of 17th 18th March folks. You know why…. read more

Lightroom Rocks

January 22 2012

Last week I sold a MacBook and bought a camera. And got a free copy of Adobe Lightroom. And it is wonderful. Up until now I’ve been muddling through managing my many photographs, keeping them in folders and using Windows explorer to find and look after them. This mostly… read more

Bought a Red Robot USB Hub

January 21 2012

These are really neat usb-hubs from Red5. I got the red one. Now I feel a need to own one of each…. read more

Nokia Blue Case

January 20 2012

I think my Lumia 800 is turning me into a fashion victim. I got the Nokia blue case today. Looks pretty good too, as you can see. Special prize for naming the person in the back of the picture. I love the way that the case doesn’t look like… read more

Escape Characters in XNA fonts

January 19 2012

I’m making a sister application for the PlayMusic application. The PlayMusic program doesn’t do much, it just starts playing a random playlist when you run it. Not a lot of functionality, but it does mean you can start music playing by issuing a spoken command. I’ve had nearly a… read more

Get your apps out there….

January 18 2012

I had one of those happy/sad moments today. Someone showed me a stunning little game they’d written for Windows Phone. Snappy graphics and fun to play. “Is it in the Marketplace?” I asked. “No” was the reply. Some people hold back until their game is “finished”. This is a… read more

Hash Tag Revision

January 17 2012

I said that anyone revising the Software Development exam could tweet their question with the tag #08220revison and I’d answer as best I could. Here are some of the answers. Good luck in the exam folks. Multiplicity: A library can have lots of books. The multiplicity is one library… read more

Free Windows Phone Curriculum

January 16 2012

This DVD arrived in the post today. It contains a whole bunch of Windows Phone curriculum content, some of which was written by me.  It includes stuff about Windows Phone development and Windows Azure on the phone. If you want a DVD of your own, or to download the… read more

TV Gone Backwards

January 15 2012

I’m always impressed by how clever modern things are. But I’m also perplexed how some people take all this cleverness and make things that aren’t very useful. Take my telly. I’ve got a Sony PS3 plugged into a Sony amplifier which is connected to a Sony TV. When I… read more

Expensive Tools

January 14 2012

Bought four of these today. Very expensive, but they did each come with a free chair. read more

Lumia 800 Going Red

January 13 2012

Got a spiffy red case for my Lumia 800 today. I like the way that it really looks part of the phone, even to the way that the buttons show through holds in the case itself. I’ve got a blue one on order so that I can change the… read more

Making Kids Creative with Computers

January 12 2012

This seems to be the year that the education system woke up to the fact that getting kids to make things with computers is a good idea. Excellent. I’m sure it was my blog post yesterday that tipped the balance…. Anyhoo, if you’ve got kids and you want to… read more

Virtual Bug Splatting with Kinect

January 11 2012

This is me “holding” my virtual mallet. I’m writing a chapter of the Kinect Book about Augmented Reality. All I need to add now is some bugs to splat… read more

Computer Science is Creative. Fact.

January 10 2012

The Guardian has just produced an article with the rather depressing title “Britain's computer science courses failing to give workers digital skills”. You can read it here. The gist of the text is that ‘poor quality training’ and ‘sausage factory’ courses are not providing the skilled and useful people… read more

Kinect Pop Art

January 09 2012

This is the output from my XNA “Kinect Pop Art” program. I’ve had it running up to 100 frames each way and it just keeps going…. read more

A Slice of History

January 08 2012

I was up in the loft again today and I happened across something of great historical interest. I found a Computer Science Departmental Prospectus from 1978, the year that I graduated. I’d kept it because, ahem, I’m in it. This is the cover. Any idea which language this is? ..and… read more

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

January 07 2012

Went to see the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo today. I read the book some time back and enjoyed it. Then I read the sequel and enjoyed it somewhat less. Then I read the third book in the series and finished it because I’d paid for it and I… read more

1000 Downloads of TipLight

January 06 2012

Some time last year I had a silly idea for a program where you could control the colour of your phone screen by just tipping it around. I spent around an hour making the code and adding some averaging so that the colour didn’t flicker too much when you… read more

A Computer that talks to itself…

January 05 2012

I’m still working on the Kinect voice controlled human painting program. First thing I need is a shorter name… Today I added a feature I thought would be really cool. Voice response is one thing, but I also wanted the computer to talk back when I issued a command.… read more

Kinect Skeleton Drawing Fun

January 04 2012

I drew these pictures myself. With myself. This is the first ever picture from my Kinect Drawing program. This lets you use your arm to draw on the screen by waving it around.. You can use voice commands to select the colour you want to draw with or you… read more

All Terrain Robot

January 03 2012

I also got this awesome “All Terrain Robot” kit for Christmas. Once you have spent a happy couple of hours building the individual components you can fit them together to make either a six tracked all terrain robot, a forklift truck or my favourite, the beer stealing ‘Gripper bot’ that… read more
Rob Miles