August 2004 - Posts
I spent a couple of hours last night listening to an interview with Charles Petzold that was conducted by Carl & Rory on DotNetRocks. I particularly enjoyed the first 45 minutes or so where Charles talked about his interest in the history of the computer. Both Carl & Rory gave very high marks for his book (Code: This Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software) discussing the inner working of computers. After reading some reviews and discussing the book with some of my colleagues that have already read it, I decided to order a copy of the book today. It sounds like this book should be a staple for anyone wanting to learn about how the guts of computers work.
Carl & Rory . You did a great job getting Charles to open up a bit. He did not seem like the easiest subject to interview. I especially enjoyed the story about how he was an accomplice in writing a virus and placing it on the PC of a senior editor (I think he was an editor anyway) at PC Magazine. Hilarious stuff!
I highly recommend you all have a listen to the interview. This is truly a great interview with a quality individual.
Click on the book for details.
I have tried all three of these media players on my PC and I have been very disappointed with the performance when working with large lists of media (30,000+ items (Mp3, Mpg, etc...) It takes a long time (minutes) to load and save playlists etc). Windows Media Player seems to be the worst. I have plenty of CPU power and a GIG of RAM.
Am I expecting to much when dealing with such a large volume? Are others having similar problems? My guess is that I am just going to have to create smaller playlists.. oh well.
So what media player software are you using?
Frustrated and looking for a decent media player!
The long awaited Channel 9 videos are now available for download.
Download Channel 9 Videos here
If you are looking for a good high level introduction to TDD in .NET then I recommend you walk through the example from Chapter 2 of Test-Driven Development in Microsoft .NET. In this example you will also get a feel for how NUnit fits into the picture. If that does not wet your appetite and leaves you wanting more then stay tuned for an updated real work example from James Newkirk (one of the authors for this book).
I think I am officially hooked to TDD... time to buy another half dozen books! <sigh>
Every once in a while I stumble across a great article. This article, discussing Continuous Integration, by Martin Fowler ( a geek God ) is one of them.
As developers and managers we should all strive to streamline the software development integration process. Time and time again, I see wasted cycles spent on tracking down integration issues. The ideas brought forth by Martin motivate me to consider adopting such techniques on future projects.
I'd be interested on your comments, good and/or bad, for those who have adopted some form of process which closely resembles Continuous Integration,
Some related items to investigate:
James
I am all signed up for ASP.NET Connections in Las Vegas for the week of November 6, 2004. I decided not to stay at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, and instead opted for the world class Bellagio Hotel and Casino. Also booked "Row A" seats for "O" - Cirque Du Soleil. Can't believe may traveling colleague forked up that type of jack to get drenched! Who's complaining though. Man the conversion from Canadian to US dollars really hurts!
Anyone else signed up yet or planning on it? Instead of a Geek Dinner I am proposing a Geek Gambling Night. Let me know if you are interested.
I will also be providing up to the hour blog entries while at the conference to keep those of you interested up to date.
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