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Nathan said:

There are a few pre-formatted validation expressions available in the VS.NET property editor, including one for email addresses.

If you select the ValidationExpression field of the RegExpValidator and click the [...] icon in the far right you will be able to access them.

Nathan
# December 10, 2003 3:58 AM

Jason said:

Hi nathan. Thanks...I knew about the pre-formatted ones, but it would be nice to see them all rolled into a single server control.
# December 10, 2003 4:03 AM

jason said:

Actually, I got feedback from Scott Guthrie on this one...he's going to run it by the team doing validation controls for their consideration. Sweet!
# December 10, 2003 4:08 AM

Johnny Hall said:

Where do you draw the line though? TelephoneNumberValidator? IpAddressValidator? UrlValidator? You could end up with a very bloated product. There are already a whole raft of controls being added in 2.0. My feeling is that such a control is completely unnecessary. If you really need it, it's a simple task to create a custom server control.

One good aspect of the current RegularExpressionValidator is that developers have to learn (to a certain extent) how regular expressions work (very handy). If this was hidden, then creating regular expressions for validation might not be used so much (use the built-in ones instead) and the skill is "lost".

Plus, the functionality is already in ASP.NET, as has been pointed out. It's no real work to access it.
# December 10, 2003 4:48 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hey Johnny,

Good point and certainly very true. I've been wanting to request that an e-mail validator be available for some time.

Actually, truth be told, I had the same concerns when Microsoft said they were rolling the Login controls all into one. It's helpful, but I found it to be tedious overkill, and maybe just done more for marketing to tout it as "an aggregated feature".

But considering how MS is really working to use as mant declarative controls as possible with minimized code, I thought it would fit into the feature set nicely, since so many other feautres that can be rolled or already have existing APIs are being consolidated.

I agree that it might be a bit much, bu for devs just starting out, it would help...and regular expressions are still arguably really hard for beginners to work with, IMHO. It's all about making advanced web app development possible for the masses.
# December 10, 2003 5:02 AM

Johnny Hall said:

I see the push towards more declarative development, and I don't have a problem with it.

I'm not overly happy about the push to dumb-down web development, if indeed that is what it is.

There are too many poor developers out there already. New controls don't make web development easier, they reduce the amount of code that needs to be written, sure, but the *really* difficult problems don't go away:

- How to design a great UI
- How to architect the back-end to allow for reuse, maintainability and reliability
- How to scale the application for large numbers of users
- How to construct an efficient and usable framework or API
- etc

Having more and more controls worries me, to a certain extent. How much bloat can we contend with?

The features that I like in 2.0 are those which will make it easier for me to construct great applications - better custom control development tools/frameworks, db cache dependencies, integrated SqlXml, ObjectSpaces, MARS.
# December 10, 2003 5:46 AM

Jason Salas said:

Great feedback. Undoubtedly, that's a concern of Microsoft's, too, to stay competitive. However, it's assumedly likewise a goal to make web development - and in particular, advanced web development - available to the masses.

My initial recommendation was to build-in a utility that would speed up development, not dumb it down, although I can see how that it might be perceived that way. I was one of the classically-trained web devs people who got mad when Dreamweaver first came on the scene and Joe Schmo who's been working with a PC (not just web programming) for less than a year, and is able to churn out a database-driven site because of an IDE, all the while remaining ignorant to the processes behind-the-scenes, despite my years of training and toiling.

It's the bigger picture that MS is concerned with, because that's where the money is. Granted, it opens up a whole new arena of headaches, but consider the control is has, too. Some newbies may move over from JSP or PHP to ASP.NET based solely on the fact that ASP.NET offers auto-validation controls. People are weird like that.

If the issue is that encapsulating functionality into server controls dilutes the amount of total control a developer has, then maybe the midground would be to create a framework delivering the best of both worlds - delivering powerful functionality WITH lots of room for extensibility.

On that note, I really like what the ASP.NET team has done with caching - specifically, unsealing the Cache API so that devs can write their own caching schemes. If this was encouraged a bit more throughout other areas of the Framework (validation being another, et al.) this would be great.
# December 10, 2003 6:16 AM

SBC said:

Thanks for the review. I saw the book at the local Border's Books. I have been using Archer's Inside C# 2nd ed.
# December 10, 2003 7:45 AM

Andrew said:

Reason for not wraping dependent controls
seems obvious-two controls can have the same
"manager" but different placement context not
directly connected to it's "manager", think
also about ability to set DataSource/"some kind of manager" from code at runtime.
Where are you placing validation controls for example or any non-visual controls connected with visuals?
# December 10, 2003 9:19 AM

AndrewSeven said:

A regex works, but some things like an email address must adhere to a published standard.

It would be nice to have validators that enforce those standards exactly.

I would also like to see a type validator, it just feels silly to use a compare validator and to say that the compare to do is a type check.

I would also like to see a Required property on all validator so I don't have to always put two validators to require something in a specific format.
# December 10, 2003 9:40 AM

Scott said:

Given that I've got a bunch of "ASP+" books sitting around, I'd rather wait until 2.0 is a little closer to release than have a bunch of outdated books.

Plus, with pre-release stuff who needs a book when there are n+1 blogs, newsgroups, and web sites out there hawking the 2.0 stuff. There are already XAML examples for cryin' out loud and that's not coming out until Longhorn in 4-6 years .
# December 10, 2003 1:05 PM

Jason said:

Thanks! Glad you liked it.
# December 10, 2003 4:44 PM

Jason Salas said:

Good point, but I'm interested in seeing Dino's work, in particular since it'll be after the New Year and hopefully incorporate some of the new features that were developed post-PDC.
# December 10, 2003 4:54 PM

Jason Salas said:

A type validator would be very solid!
# December 10, 2003 4:58 PM

Jason Salas said:

Is this the main reason? I just thought it was initial Alpha design that it "could" be dropped anywhere in the page and didn't have to wrap the WebPartZones it managed. I think that approach would be better design and lead to less problems down the road.

Of course, your point is very well taken - that on complex <TABLE>-based designs, you'd be wrapping essentially the entire document, and this could get tricky if UI stuff was dynamically written within. Great point.
# December 10, 2003 5:02 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

The IE web controls are all pieces of crap that have very bad object models, they should definately NOT be included in ASP.NET 2.0. However, rest assured that you will see a lot of functionality in ASP.NET 2.0 webcontrols that was not in 1.0 (including treeview).
# December 10, 2003 6:14 PM

Jason Salas said:

You think so? I'll agree that their use, either declaratively or programatically is far from simplistic, but you can do some pretty cool things with them.

And, they automate most, if not all, of the DHTML, which I like.

Maybe the suggstion should be:
"I'd like the see variations of the ASP.NET 1.x IEWebControls ship in 2.0, but completely reworked."
# December 10, 2003 6:28 PM

Alex Lowe said:

I haven't checked but you if you are not then you should really be placing these great features/feedback items in either the asp.net forums for Whidbey or the lists at AspAdvice.com to ensure that they are seen by the ASP.NET team.

Additionally, the IEWebControls that were originally shipped were not production quality controls and no one claimed that they were. They were, as I understand it, created to emulate parts of an old version of Outlook Web Access.
# December 10, 2003 8:44 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Alex,

Yeah, actually I split the difference and post comments like suggestions in as many places as I can. You never know who'll run across them, or when.
# December 10, 2003 8:50 PM

Jim Arnold said:

I learnt most of what I know about ASP/ASP.Net from ASPFriends. Of course, I've forgotten it all now, but it put me on the road to becoming a programmer, for which I am grateful.

Jim
# December 12, 2003 5:09 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Jim,

Me, too. I really grew in my ASP.NET knowledge and as a programmer. Exposure was great, amnd I've met a lot of really cool people who I'm happy to call friends.
# December 12, 2003 5:19 AM

Charles M. Carroll said:

I am quit proud of the YahooGroups @ AspFriends - they serve a lot of people well as their archives will show. Guthrie and Howard choose to fund AspAdvice covertly and that is their choice, and I choose to find ways to help the community (with some styles and topic choices I prefer) without their help.

Go to Http://www.aspfriends.com and there are quite a few. A quick look at the archives of
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AspNetAnyQuestionIsOk
and
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AspClassicAnyQuestionIsOk
reveals Mucho help you ignore because of your tendency towards subjective biased statements with little basis in fact.

While it is true some (but not all) of the AspFriends.com groups I "gifted" to others did not become very active that was the choice of the people I gifted them to squander the audience by not priming the lists.

I don't consider you a friend. That assumption is yours. Your story was not researched by the normal journalistic standards of integrity. Once you published that shallow piece that was a mockery of what journalism is supposed to be you lost all credibility as a journalist with me - and as a human who pursues excellence in their career.

You interviewed 2 people, omitted wuch of what I said, and did no research as to whether what each of us said was true, gathered no documents (the MS contract for example), treated Guthrie's words as if they were accurate with little verification. I really enjoy true Journalism (the kind where people actually research dozens of sources, verify facts and actually attempt to determine some truths not just publish portions of 2 interviews and call it journalism.

And not everybody has Blogs - some of us realize that updating and maintaining blogs is a time management trap that eats resources from other non-blog efforts. Read
Drive Yourself Sane
by Susan Presby Kodish, Bruce I. Kodish
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0970066465/learnasp
to learn how you misuse language and make absurd statements that the actions of a couple hundred developers blogging somehow consstitutes the whole community blogging.
# December 12, 2003 11:39 AM

Charles M. Carroll said:

The code @
http://www.learnasp.com/freebook/learn/xmltextreader.aspx
is a great thing to run over any XMLfile. Answrs many questions about what the Reader object emits as messages when it encounters XML strutures.
# December 12, 2003 12:03 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Charles,

Thanks for commenting and for demonstrating the sterling level of professionalism, maturity, and candor that only goes to prove how ASPFriends ultimately went under in the first place.

That's certainly true about what you said about not everyone having blogs. That was a clever exaggeration of the speculation that everyone in the ASP.NET community blogs to prove a point, rather than an outright statement of fact. Apparently, you didn't pick up on that.

Thanks also for the book recommendation...I think one of my producers has this at work. I'll check it out. I'm appreciative of your criticism of my article and I'd like to hear specific recommendations about how you think my station's journalism may improve. I'm always happy to hear from readers how I or the people I manage may get better at what we do.
# December 12, 2003 5:07 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks for the link Charles! :)
# December 12, 2003 5:56 PM

Robert McLaws said:

Visio is dying with Whidbey. Whitehorse will more than likely support all of that stuff.
# December 12, 2003 6:12 PM

Jason Salas said:

Really? That's too bad - RIP. Actually, Visio might not have been the right fit. But some modeling tool would definetly help.

Thanks for the info!
# December 12, 2003 6:21 PM

Honey_BDynamo said:

Yeah, that MSNBC.com, what a crazy web site! Jason - thanks for your hard work. Keep keeping Guam informed!
-b
# December 13, 2003 2:01 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi! Thanks for blogging with me! Where do I know you from...KUAM.COM? :)

I tried your link: http://photoalbums.wdwmagic.com/showgallery.php?cat=500&amp;ppuser=9378&amp;thumb=1 but it didn't work.
# December 13, 2003 2:04 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Definitely looks like ASP.NET. I think they're using HttpHandlers for the articles now, since I doubt each article resides in it's own directory. Pretty slick setup IMO.
# December 13, 2003 3:16 AM

Jason Salas said:

Yep...this seems to be a new trend...prettier URLs!

Either an HttpHandler or perhaps using RewritePath() in Application_BeginRequest in Global.asax.

ASPAlliance started doing the same thing with its articles recently (making IDs directory names) and I implemented something similar a few months back:

OLD:
http://www.kuam.com/news/story.asp?headline=1234

NEW:
http://www.kuam.com/news/1234.aspx
# December 13, 2003 3:43 AM

Jason Salas said:

Just an update...the code for ASP.NET in C# is here:

http://weblogs.asp.net/jasonsalas/posts/43303.aspx
# December 13, 2003 4:07 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Whenever I had to build an app that made heavy use of query strings, I'd pop it up in a window with no address bar after login. Then they couldn't fudge with the app if they knew what they were doing.
# December 13, 2003 6:10 PM

Jason Salas said:

Sweet. I did the same thing on numberous occasions - although a few crafty users were able to point it out from getting into IE's History folder and hovering over the page title.

Even though it's quite frequently recommended, I'm not a big fan of <input type="HIDDEN"/>.
# December 13, 2003 6:15 PM

Waseem Sadiq said:

I would like to add that it's not only the appealing part of the query string that drives site builders to using 'friendly querystrings' but also the fact that search engines treat these url's as directory indexes thus successfully indexing them in contarary to the bla.asp?foo=bar pages.

That was the original concept behind the Apache MultiViews trick anyway, not sure if the search engines have become smarter nowadays,

- Cheers
# December 13, 2003 6:39 PM

Jon Galloway said:

Hiding your address bar is by no means foolproof - Ctrl-N pops up a new window with default settings, including the address bar; if you're relying on hiding a querystring like ?superuseradmin=false, it's not tough to get around that.

We used a similar url rewriting technique on a CMS driven website recently - it's nice for other reasons, too. Search engines and website traffic analysis tools (webtrends, etc.), can catagorize by folder locations (even though they're virtual) a lot better than by querystrings, usually.
# December 13, 2003 6:44 PM

Shahn Hogan said:

Is there an example somewhere showing how to do this? Also can this be accomplished using ASP Classic too?
# December 13, 2003 7:53 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Waseem,

Thanks for the tip...I'd read before that there were certain search engine advantages advantages to not using the query string. :)
# December 14, 2003 1:58 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Jon,

Yeah...totall not foolproof!
# December 14, 2003 1:58 AM

Jason Salas said:

Of note: here's a good link about making search engine-friendly URLs: http://www.codetoad.com/asp.net_ma_searchenginefriendly.asp
# December 14, 2003 2:04 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Shahn,

Here's a sample, borrowed from Steve Walther's seminal work "ASP.NET Unleashed", which runs in the Application_Request event of your web app's GLOBAL.ASAX file:

public void Application_BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string currentPath;
string customPath;

currentPath = Request.Path.ToLower();
if(currentPath.IndexOf("/content/") > 0 && System.IO.Path.GetExtension(currentPath) == ".aspx")
{
// the request is within the /CONTENT/ directory, so re-write the URL to appear to be a filename, rather than a URL with a query string.
customPath = String.Format("/mysite/content/templatefile.aspx?headline={0}",System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(Request.Path));
Context.RewritePath(customPath);
}
}
# December 14, 2003 2:10 AM

denny said:

IMHO what I try to do is:

1) hide the "engine" I am asked to build "Web based applications" not web sites.
in word you don't get to see the name of the cpp files they used so why see the .asp / .aspx / .pl and so on ?

2) reduce the "attack surface"
things I am working on include striping off all the MS / IIS headers that annonuce what kind of server hardware / software is running that application, after killing off the
"IIS 6.0" and the "Powered By ASP.NET" and related headers the next thing is to make the cracker think the pages are just html if ican.
while a dedicated attach will figure out what I have done a casul peek at a site that only uses www.acme.com/this/that/foo/12637gf/at66/
and never serves up a foo.aspx or the like will be a tad less likeky to get targeted for more time cracking it.

and for some apps I toss up a frameset that grabs the /sss/ttt/sss stuff and just lets the user see: http://www.acme.com/
thats it, all the pages are called from under the master frame page thats just a big 100% * 100% frame.
so back to the "application" ness.... you just started "http://www.crm.acme.com/"
so thats all the URL bar should show in that case... as we don't want our customer data to be "Googled" .... so we add in https and no-cache and all that stuff....

# December 14, 2003 7:59 AM

Tim Marman said:

I don't think Google will spider URLs based on querystring...
# December 14, 2003 10:26 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Tim,

When my site's former naming convetion used ID columns in the query string, Google would index them this way, but it was sporadic. I think your chances will be better faking a filename or directory.
# December 14, 2003 4:25 PM

Scott Mitchell said:

Tim, Google will spider URLs based on QueryString quite nicely. For example, ASPFAQs.com - http://www.aspfaqs.com/ - has a single "render" page - ShowFAQ.aspx - which takes in a querystring value to determine what FAQ to show. Google has all the ASPFAQs.com FAQs available...
# December 14, 2003 6:44 PM

kemal said:

hi,

I always wandered how to do the "get rid of the querystring" thing.

does anyone knows how ?

kem
# December 14, 2003 10:58 PM

Jason Salas said:

H, Kemal

Here's a sample, borrowed from Steve Walther's seminal work "ASP.NET Unleashed", which runs in the Application_Request event of your web app's GLOBAL.ASAX file:

public void Application_BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string currentPath;
string customPath;

currentPath = Request.Path.ToLower();
if(currentPath.IndexOf("/content/") > 0 && System.IO.Path.GetExtension(currentPath) == ".aspx")
{
// the request is within the /CONTENT/ directory, so re-write the URL to appear to be a filename, rather than a URL with a query string.
customPath = String.Format("/mysite/content/templatefile.aspx?headline={0}",System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(Request.Path));
Context.RewritePath(customPath);
}
}
# December 15, 2003 12:11 AM

Mark Lapierre said:

For anyone interested, here's an <a href="http://www.alistapart.com/articles/succeed/">article</a> on A List Apart which talks about URL rewriting.

Their's was the method I'd used in the past when building PHP driven web sites.

<a href="http://www.alistapart.com/articles/tacklingusability/">This article</a> talks further about URL rewriting, as used in the redesign of their site not too long ago.
# December 15, 2003 5:27 AM

Mark Lapierre said:

*gulp*

Excuse the messed up links, I should have noted that .Text doesn't permit html in comments :/
# December 15, 2003 5:30 AM

Jason Salas said:

Also, note that in ASP.NET 2.0, you can manually control URL mapping for complex, unattractive URLs to friendlier addresses with web.config.

<urlMappings enabled=“true”>
<add url=“~/dir/dir2/filename.aspx?key=val&key2=val2” mappedUrl= “~/MySite/index.aspx”/>
</urlMappings>
# December 15, 2003 6:46 AM

Scott said:

This is neat, but hardly new. Apache has had mod_rewrite for quite some time now. http://httpd.apache.org/docs/misc/rewriteguide.html

It's nice to see a easy method of doing this in ASP.NET. All of the other methods I've seen were ISAPI based. Ick. I've got some querystring based parameters, nothing like "admin=false" or anything like that, that would be nice to hide from an aestethic point of view.
# December 15, 2003 9:45 AM

Tim Marman said:

I went through the same thought process awhile back, but Don Box made me see the light.

It is, after all, just XML. Why do we need (or even want) specialized classes for dealing with specific XML dialects?

I have a few more thoughts on this which I'll try to post later tonight.
# December 16, 2003 5:05 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Tim.

Good point. Do you not think custom server controls to generate - and now that I think about it, consume - RSS feeds would be a worthwhile addition to the Framework?

I think sometimes web services for this purpose can be a bit too top heavy. I wrote a client-side process of getting data from a remote source (http://weblogs.asp.net/jasonsalas/posts/43257.aspx) just to get around this.

Thanks for your feedback! I'm lookiing forward to seeing your other thoughts.
# December 16, 2003 5:11 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

They already have this, it is called the Xml control.
# December 16, 2003 5:37 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

PS: you would never use a server control to generate an RSS feed. That would imply it was inside a web form, which implies you are going to be outputting XHTML or HTML pages. It takes like 5 lines of code to create a http handler to export RSS from your site, I doubt anyone would really gain much from built in .NET support.
# December 16, 2003 5:41 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Jesse,

Thanks much for the feedback. I agree with what you said about it being tough to use a server control to generate XML only. However, maybe junior developers or people just getting into programming might appreciate the control. A top-notch coder like yourself would probably want to do it by hand, anyway. :)

I think it's possible to change the MIME type of a control to "text/xml", and then bubble up to the parent Page control and set "Page.Visible = false" to negate the default "text/html" headers, so that XML could be written, right?
# December 16, 2003 7:54 PM

Jesse Ezell said:

If junior level developers dictated every framework design, we would all be in a lot of trouble... especially if these junior level programmers you are designing for aren't capable of performing simple string concatenation. Those developers need training, not class libraries.

In any case, server controls are not intended for such things. You can do many unwise things if you really want to.
# December 16, 2003 8:37 PM

Scott said:

No offense Jesse, but thank god you aren't in charge of programming languages. We'd all still be programming in Assembly or punch cards.

I'll tell you the first thing that will happen if you don't include a class in the Web namespace; Someone will write a parsing class. Which is fine if the argument is "Should we include one in the Web namespace or should we include one at all either as a namespace or as a server control." I'd say, it doesn't matter. There will BE one whether Microsoft writes one or not.
# December 16, 2003 9:11 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi again Jesse,

True, if development was left to be dictated by underlings and newbies, we'd totally be in trouble. But remember, the key element here is that the non-expert market is a major demographic to tap, and that means big money if MS can build controls that will get a company to take a small team with people without 17 credentials after their names (big $$$), and can still be productive and build effective apps. If they choose this path over Java, that's a major sell.

I'd venture to say that the majority of programmers out there aren't gurus.

In lieu of any formal marketing push at the moment, ASP.NET 2.0 seems to be about a move towards more declarative programming, which fits in with that crowd perfectly, while still satisfying those of us who like to write everything by hand.

Case in point: Macromedia Dreamweaver, circa 2001. Everyone I knew had a cpoy of that, and were building database-drven apps WYSIWYG-style, without knowing a thing about them or their internal processes.

For some, ignorance is bliss. And again, this can be very profitable.
# December 16, 2003 9:46 PM

TrackBack said:

Dewayne Mikkelson and his Radio WebDog, Shadow
# December 17, 2003 6:14 PM

Rick Strahl said:

Why do you think this wouldn't work? The default output caching mechanism is based on a URL plus whatever attributes you assign to the cache characteristics so there's I don't see a reason why it shouldn't work. Then again I haven't tried it either :-}...

# December 17, 2003 7:35 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Rick,

Thanks for commenting. I was thinking it would going into my little experiment, but I'm now stuck trying to figure out a way to test if it really does. :)
# December 17, 2003 8:21 PM

JosephCooney said:

I'm no expert, but from my understanding remoting has been deprecated in favour of Indigo (which is something I plan to get into in 2K4). I want to understand XML Schema better. I might try my hand at some avalon too. In the coming year I also plan to try get more acclimated with "products" like sharepoint and maybe biztalk.
# December 17, 2003 8:49 PM

Alex Lowe said:

I believe you could use performance monitor to monitor the "Output Cache Hits" counter. This counter should tell you if requests for the text/xml files are being served by the output cache or not.
# December 17, 2003 11:21 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Alex!
# December 17, 2003 11:33 PM

Alex Lowe said:

A few thoughts:

1) Development at Microsoft is done with a number of different end users in mind. In other words, APIs and features are designed and chosen by taking the perspective of (these are just examples of the kinds of things you might see) Fred the VB 6 developer who is really a hobbyist turned consultant for small shops, Jim the experienced developer consultant, and Bob the enterprise architect at a Fortune 500. All of these people have different needs, wants, approaches to development, etc. so we try to cater to all of them as best we can. The important concept here is that no one is lopped off because they are not an enterprise developer, etc.

2) The XML server control does make it fairly easy to consume and display/manipulate XML as Jesse suggests. I'm not sure Microsoft needs to create the RSS consuming control simply because there are other controls that are more critical for customers. I think we'd all rather have the ASP.NET team spend time on something like a sweet menu control, etc. before they build an RSS control or controls. I think someone like Jesse should take the XML control and write a composite RSS control that exposes RSS specific functionality that the XML server control does not have. =)

3) As far as the Framework is concerned, I think the RSS specific implementations should be done by the community (who also controls the RSS spec) as they have been done to date. I don't see anything wrong with using RSS.NET (http://rss-net.sourceforge.net/). When our customers start telling us that they are building and using RSS in a business critical fashion then I know you will see RSS libraries in the Framework.
# December 17, 2003 11:47 PM

Jason Salas said:

Well put Alex...thanks for the feedback! I'm actually almost done writing a custom control of my own to do harvest/publish headlines for RSS.
# December 17, 2003 11:52 PM

Alex Lowe said:

Yes, Indigo is where it (distributed programming in .NET) will be at in the future.

I'm all for learning more about the enterprise server products as well. Office development is high on my list as is Tablet and other embedded/compact development.
# December 18, 2003 12:00 AM

Jon Galloway said:

Agree. If you do want to track links to your domain, you can get a start with google "link:domain" queries: http://www.google.com/search?q=link%3Aweblogs.asp.net

I think it's interesting to track who's linking to you, but I very much agree it's stupid to try to control it.
# December 18, 2003 1:37 AM

Fizgig said:

Or check the logs for all referrers.
# December 18, 2003 2:43 AM

Oddur Magnusson said:

output caching should work for any content types. I am caching dynamicly generator jpeg, png's, xml, text you name it !

tip : use application level tracing when you want trace info on requests other then html.
# December 18, 2003 8:40 AM

Phil Scott said:

NPR tried to have a link policy and the people revolted over it: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,53355,00.html
# December 18, 2003 9:25 AM

John Bristowe said:

Why not incorporate a Creative Commons [1] license into your blog? This should help alleviate some of the legal wrangling that your users endure.

[1] http://creativecommons.org/
# December 18, 2003 11:33 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Oddur,

Thanks! That's very helpful. :)
# December 18, 2003 4:12 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Phil,

That's a perfect example of what I was talking about! The fact that the company's police was called "brutally stupid" cracks me up! Thanks much!
# December 18, 2003 4:13 PM

Jason Salas said:

Just as a follow-up, I spoke with Rob Howard from MS, who confirmed that any data type can be output cached. Awesome.
# December 19, 2003 6:45 AM

Russ C. said:

I thought this one was quite good,

http://www.whitehouse.gov/robots.txt
# December 23, 2003 4:52 AM

Jason Salas said:

Good grief! :)
# December 23, 2003 5:04 AM

TrackBack said:

# December 23, 2003 10:08 AM

dinkum said:

innovative.
# December 23, 2003 3:18 PM

Snorrk said:

I'd like to point out that this could also benefit client side scripting. Instead of having to use hidden form fields the client side script could modify the viewState directly. I'm not sure if this is actually feasable - just pointing out the fact. I remember reading something about v2.0 better support of client side scripting - can't remember where though. Letting controls decide if they want theyre viewState typed could be beneficial - giving controls that require client side code to modify theyre viewState the ability to do so.
# December 23, 2003 7:30 PM

Jason Salas said:

There's a good thought. Whidbey does provide a lot of helpful integration with managing server-side data to the client, but I'd also like to see more of the opposite - supporting client-side data pushed into server-side logic.
# December 23, 2003 7:35 PM

snorrk said:

When the christmas rush is over I'm thinking about sitting down and writing something to make it easier to modify a Control through client side scripting.

I'm thinking a c# control base class that includes a ClientState dictionary (strKey, obj, type) ala example 3 and some client side js code to make working with it easier (as in ClientState[strKey] = value). The base class would write the ClientState into a hidden field (like ViewState is now) - but in a format that the client side js would be able to parse and modify. On postback it would verify that the returned ClientState is valid and pass it on to the control.

In short: Client side editable ViewState.

Anyone interested enough to comment? Or am I trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist?
# December 23, 2003 9:04 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Snorrk,

That's a great idea. I'd be interested in working with you on the theory behind it (after the holidays), but optimally, I'd like to see this ship as part of the .NET Framework, so such could be implemented for other controls.
# December 23, 2003 10:19 PM

Darrell said:

It's interesting that you compare Visio to other products. Rational XDE, while a good modeling tool, sucks up memory like Visual Studio .NET. I shouldn't have to get more memory to support a modeling tool that is based on the code. And Together for Visual Studio right now has locking issues on dlls. Which means it is basically worthless to me (as partners, we are working with Borland to fix it). So while Visio may not be perfect, it does produce valid UML and doesn't crash all the time.
# December 24, 2003 8:40 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Darrell,

Thanks for writing. I have Rational XDE, but can't run it...not enough RAM. I use Visio too, for UML projects, but to be honest with you, as a web dev, the vast majority of my documentation and visual modeling is done with he "UML-by-PowerPoint" method, or quick sketches on paper. In my opinion, again, true UML is a bit much for a typical web project, and makes for more work. I'd like a refined extension of UML wherein we can get our architectures down with a somewhat standard set of symbols and then get to work.

That's what I'm after...a quick and easy convention of modeling that will be understood by ASP.NET developers.

Have you tried PocketUML for VS.NET? (http://www.codeguru.com/net_general/PocketUML.html) It's supposed to be really good for C# projects.
# December 24, 2003 10:42 AM

Alex Lowe said:

In my Christmas Eve browsing, I came across this workspace (http://www.scottonwriting.com/sowBlog/RssFeed.htm">http://www.scottonwriting.com/sowBlog/RssFeed.htm) started/owned by none other than my favorite writer (Scott Mitchell - http://www.scottonwriting.com).

I also noticed that the XmlDataSource control in Whidbey has been modified to read both local *and* remote xml data sources making it ideal for reading RSS feeds. Once you've got the data in the XmlDatasource control, there are a variety of other server controls that making displaying the RSS text a breeze. =)
# December 24, 2003 1:49 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Alex,

Yeah I saw Scott's post yesterday, which is sweet! Thanks for your input...and Happy Holidays!
# December 24, 2003 5:20 PM

Robert McLaws said:

PS: Love your tag line dude. Talk about a jack of all trades! Do you develop while you're on the air?

Anchor #1: And in other news, shots rang out....
<loud screaming off camera>
<camera pans to Jason typing into the inset monitor in the newsdesk>
Jason: Sorry.... I just figured out how to post to my blog from Microsoft Word.
# December 25, 2003 4:48 AM

Robert McLaws said:

You may not want to go into the whole (ASPElite) thing.... as the name intails it was doomed from the start. Just what developers need is to appear to be MORE elitist then they already are.
# December 25, 2003 4:49 AM

TrackBack said:

# December 25, 2003 7:45 AM

Steve said:

So..... DataReader... or... DataSet?!?!??
# December 25, 2003 9:43 AM

Scott said:

re: ASPElite
Not to mention that it doesn't include ALL of the really elite. I know some guys that could program rings around most of the bloggers I read that would never join any kind of user group. :)

# December 25, 2003 3:07 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Robert,

Tell me about it...I've literally had to run at lighjspeed back to my office's workstation and make 7-second fixes to a database thing in the middle of commercials. :)

Or, even worse....make a mad dash back to the PC to put something online that I just teased to 80,000 people as, "if you'd like to see the budget bill in its entirety, visit our website RIGHT NOW at www.kuam.com". It's many hats to wear at once, but incredibly challenging and super-fun.
# December 25, 2003 5:16 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Steve,

Essentially, what I've seen is people debate the merits of each, and find out which one is more suitable for their needs. It was mainly a "forward-only vs. disconnected" argument. At least now people know.
# December 25, 2003 5:18 PM

Jason Salas said:

Just a follow-up...Steve Smith explains how he pulled off this trick with Regular Expressions: http://weblogs.asp.net/ssmith/archive/2003/11/06/36191.aspx
# December 25, 2003 5:40 PM

YvesReynhout said:

Try Enterprise Architect by http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/. It can roundtrip C# code and allows for defining your own UML elements & stereotypes.
# December 25, 2003 8:13 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks!
# December 25, 2003 8:15 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

can someone at MS please five Placewear a free Passport SDK and license so I can log in with having to remember ANOTHER long random username/password?

Or at least require them to put a "forgot your password?" link on the log in page?

Or host the WMV version on your own servers?

Or email me a link so I can download it?
# December 25, 2003 9:52 PM

TrackBack said:

# December 29, 2003 7:21 AM

TrackBack said:

# December 29, 2003 1:52 PM

mike said:

Couple of thoughts, off the record, so to speak. Per the "cheesy examples" :-), if I read this correctly, you're proposing that viewstate also store a token of some sort indicating the type of the value (?). What happens on the getter? Does it pre-cast the value back to that type? E.g.


String myName = “Jason Salas”;
ViewState[“aDudeInGuam”,System.String] = myName;

// ...

String aName;
aName = ViewState["aDudeInGuam"] // works
DateTime aDate;
aDate = ViewState["aDudeInGuam"] // throws ??

As for client scripting, it would be interesting to hear about the scenarios. I don't think typing is the issue as such, since javascript types dynamically. It's really an issue of simply getting to the data in viewstate -- or is it setting? But javascript has access to the page in its client form, with controls populated, so is the issue primarily with being able to access arbitrary, non-control data?




# December 30, 2003 11:34 AM

mike said:

* Robust
* Seamless

# December 30, 2003 2:17 PM

Scott said:

My criteria for deciding to use a DataReader vs. a DataSet usually has nothing to do with the "Forward-only vs. disconnect" It's usually a case of "size of the Result Set vs. What I'm going to do with the Result set(functionality"

# December 30, 2003 4:35 PM

mike said:

And what do "we" think about this topic in the docs?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vbcon/html/vbcondecidingondataaccessstrategy.asp
# December 31, 2003 4:07 AM

sux said:

that sux
# December 31, 2003 3:25 PM

r sux said:

that really sux
# December 31, 2003 3:25 PM

Scott said:

Dude, you can!!

http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~mt/thesis/mt-thesis-3.4.html
# December 31, 2003 9:26 PM

G. Andrew Duthie said:

Jason,

I use an agent for my book projects. It costs me a bit more than 7%, but I've never regretted it, as my agent is very good at negotiating contracts. Of course, given the current state of the technical book market, that's not saying a whole lot at the moment, but my agent has definitely paid for himself in negotiations, as well as in being the go-between when you have something I'd sooner pass off to him to deal with.

That said, I do wish I could use him for contracting stuff as well, but while he's got great connections in publishing, contracting's not his thing. There are, of course, contract placement agencies, but their cut tends to be bigger, often with less personal attention than you get in a one-on-one agent relationship.
# December 31, 2003 11:41 PM

Phil Weber said:

Check these out:
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-981121.html
http://www.talentlab.com/media/media/0002101.htm
# January 1, 2004 12:48 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the links. I remember hearing about the Carerra Agency, but I don't know how well they did. They're out of San Diego, if memory serves, and they contacted me when I was looking for a change of career about 1.5 years ago. Now that I think about it, when they first started out (about the time of the ZDNet article, circa Jan. '03), they only sourced talent for a set number of firms. They kinda bridged the gap between talent agent and corporate headhunter.

I wonder what they're up to now...
# January 1, 2004 12:52 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Andrew,

Good thoughts. I've always done the publishing thing solo, although it's got its ups-and-downs. I get more in the aggregate, but I've also been screwed on a couple of occasions. Thanks for sharing.
# January 1, 2004 12:55 AM

Wallym said:

Jason,

These "agents" are called staffing companies. They squeeze for a lot more than 7%.

The problem is that the majority of developers and programmers don't know how do the basics of running a business and get run over by the people that do.

Wally
# January 1, 2004 5:22 PM

TrackBack said:

# January 2, 2004 9:16 AM

TrackBack said:

# January 3, 2004 4:05 AM

TrackBack said:

# January 3, 2004 4:07 AM

Darren Winsper said:

I'd love to comment, except all I get is a blank page.
# January 3, 2004 5:18 AM

Shannon J Hager said:

It works here, but it's power-point-ish and I didn't make it past the third slide. I don't know that I've ever seen a PowerPoint presentation that was worth posting online without audio.
# January 3, 2004 10:02 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Shannon,

You should try the other slides...the good stuff kicks in after the 5th slide...some interesting architectural approaches used.
# January 3, 2004 10:23 AM

Shannon J Hager said:

I find it insulting when people post their presentation outline like this. PowerPoint slides are rarely more than headlines for sections of a talk. If this were actually "a presentation", then the person who gave this did nothing more than read these words, right? Well, I'm willing to bet that he said a lot more than what is posted there.
I see no difference than this and someone scanning and posting a handful of 3x5 notecards they listed the key points of their speech on and claiming they posted their speech online.
The outline you linked to does look like it could be an interesting one-page document if it were a single Word.doc or html page and wasn't confined to bullet points and the over-sized "see jane run" paradigm.
PowerPoint is fine when a presenter is speaking to a room full of people and wants them to see his notes in big bold letters in order to reinforce the ideas, but that just doesn't carry over into any other area for me. "Dick and Jane" books only had a few big words on each page but they at least had illustrations.


Darren: The page is IE only, other browser get a blank white page. That may be the problem you're having.
# January 3, 2004 11:37 AM

Scott said:

The most interesting thing about OOP is that it allows for a high degree of re-use. The most interesting thing about most OOP code is that it is never re-used.
# January 3, 2004 1:04 PM

SBC said:

Scott Ambler (Software Development mag) had an excellent article recently about 'The Right Tool for the job'. It compares various methodologies - http://www.sdmagazine.com/documents/s=826/sdm0312h/ (may need a free registration).
# January 3, 2004 1:18 PM

SBC said:

I love C# too.. where can one order that cool C# gear you mentioned?
# January 3, 2004 1:21 PM

Nancy Blachman said:

This page provides descriptions of more advanced operators than any
website or book I have run across (besides my own).

Many pages in Google Guide may appear to describe basic concepts, but if you read them carefully, you'll discover helpful insights.

Rather than telling you other things that I think are great about Google Guide, here's what users think about Google Guide. These comments and others can be found at
http://www.googleguide.com/page_1a.html

It might be unofficial, but it's the best online guide on how to use Google I have ever seen. Pay it a visit. --Robert Skelton, Google Answers Researcher and developer of SearchEngineZ and Google Fan

Exquisite and detailed. A treasure for beginners as well as veterans. A serious guide that is easy to use. Highly recommend. --Community Walla, Israel

This is an excellent tutorial to assist folks of any computing background get acclimated to the vast resources Google has to offer. --Bruce Pechman, Vice-President of the Atlanta PC Users Group and President of PowerPartners Computer Services

A comprehensive and up-to-date guide on searching Google successfully. --Kolyom, Israel
# January 3, 2004 1:26 PM

Nancy Blachman said:

Here's the URL I intended to include along with my previous message.

http://www.googleguide.com/page_10.html#advanced_operators

This page provides descriptions of more advanced operators than any
website or book I have run across (besides my own).
# January 3, 2004 1:30 PM

Mike Cole said:


Jason did a good job putting this together. I really like reading this kind of stuff…

I could be critical, perhaps, of 2 of the design patterns covered, however...

** Single Responsibility Principal **

I don’t like the limitation of 1 responsibility per object. I view objects as a collection of cohesive responsibilities. Moreover, an object can have hundreds of responsibilities as long they are cohesive, and we don’t have overriding reasons to decouple them. I believe following this principal can lead to an anti-pattern (whose name escapes me! I think – “Ghost”) which refers to systems made up of 100s of tiny objects which, while flexible (in a pick & choose way), do not provide any type of easy-to-consume façade.

Now, as far as you example goes… I would agree that the serialization of the object should not be a responsibility of the customer. Not because a customer object shouldn’t know how to serialize itself, but because by decoupling this responsibility we could address serialization in a generic way that could benefit all our business classes (not just Customer).

You know what, though? Some of my differences may be about semantics… I think the “packages” you describe are the “façade” that wraps together your single-responsibilty classes… So I think you have built into your process a solution to the anti-pattern I describe above… certainly, I can see some advantages.


** Open-Closed Principle **

I don’t really agree with the use of inheritance as it was demonstrated in the “Open-Close Principal – Refactored”. That is, I don’t agree with the reasoning cited for promoting Customer to a base class.

I would suggest that “fear of breaking the original class” is almost never a good reason to introduce inheritance.

Perhaps, an intermediate developer working on an unfamiliar, and very mature system – might have reason to make such a move. I think the question to ask is, “if I knew about Loyalty points when I first designed this system, would I have made customer a base class?” If the answer is no --- then you should not refactor it in this way to support your new requirements.

What happens when you have a new requirement for a “Preferred” customer? Do we now have classes like: Customer, LoyaltySchemeCustomer, PreferredCustomer, and PreferredLoyaltySchemeCustomer?

Now, don’t get me wrong – this set of classes might be completely appropriate – for example, if the responsibilities of a “preferred” class were so fat they really needed to be separated.

However, I would suggest here that fear of breaking the original class has resulted in an inheritance scheme which may not be appropriate – and may have resulted in a less adaptable and more error-prone system.

To summarize, I just think that inheritance is often an over-used “hammer” – I would think twice about introducing it, unless an original design (based on current knowledge) would have used it as well.

Just my 2 cents... enjoyed the document.
# January 3, 2004 4:54 PM

Edwin said:

I enjoyed the document. Refactoring is one thing that is beginning to interest me. It seems to help make code cleaner and more maintainable.
# January 4, 2004 8:44 AM

TrackBack said:

# January 5, 2004 2:38 PM

Robert McLaws said:

There are too damned many polls and things going on to screw up the system. Make it simple and straight forward like the SuperBowl and the NCAA Basketball Playoffs and the NBA and every other sports league on the planet. They try to convolute it with all this ither crap, and look where it got them: nowhere. HOLY CRAP it doesn't need to be that complicated.
# January 5, 2004 8:12 PM

Darrell said:

The problem with opinion polls is people see patterns that are not really there (is it a natural attempt to create order in the world? I don't know).

Computer polls remove this, but like you said do not take into account the fact that teams play differently on different days. Thus if team A beats team B, and team B beats team C, that does not mean that team A will beat team C, the fundamental fallacy in the computer ranking. I forgot who showed it, but someone created an example team matchup where, based on player ratings, A would beat B who would beat C, and C would beat A. Interesting.
# January 5, 2004 11:05 PM

Scott said:

two words, like it or lump it.

"Playoff system"

# January 5, 2004 11:09 PM

Phil Scott said:

This isn't why college football is so screwed up, it's why college football is so great! Months after the season is over, fans can get in heated arguments over USC vs LSU (vs Miama of Ohio? Boise St.?)

The Superbowl is almost an after thought of marketting and production for most on the US (cities of teams playing excluded of course). The level of debate, the human element and all that goes with it makes College Football one of the most intense and exciting things to play and be a fan of. You are looking at a system where 25% (at minimum) of the fans and players go out winners each year.

I don't know, maybe this is crazy talk from an University of Louisville fan who is resigned to be happy to simply make it to a bowl each year and hope for a win. I like my basketball with the tourney, and I like my football with it's wacky bowls and quirky rankings.
# January 6, 2004 12:26 AM

Russ C. said:

Javascript popups .. Grr

Oh and those little scripts that tell you your IP address and any other normal information that are supposed to make the owner look like an 'leet haxor'.

I hate Javascript slideshows ... If you want to show me a series of picture ... Please give me a forward and backwards button !

# January 6, 2004 3:40 AM

Russ C. said:

Oh forgot to say, regarding Copy and Paste, Whats wrong with using Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V ?
# January 6, 2004 3:46 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Russ,

Thanks for commenting. The site basically negated the copy-and-paste functions, so it basically copy-protected its content, so the keyboard strokes wouldn't work.
# January 6, 2004 3:50 AM

Russ C. said:

Have you got the URL for this site ? Iwouldn't mind trying to see how they did this ?

Purely for research purposes you understand ...
# January 6, 2004 3:59 AM

Jason Salas said:

Here 'tis: http://www.bondbuyer.com. The JavaScript file is at: http://www.bondbuyer.com/js/nocopypaste.js
# January 6, 2004 4:17 AM

Russ C. said:

Thanks for that .. and Yes , that is dammed irritating :)
# January 6, 2004 4:24 AM

Jason Salas said:

Yep...but hey...it does what it's supposed to do. Mission accomplished...to my dismay. :)
# January 6, 2004 4:37 AM

Darren Neimke said:

Clocks that spin!
# January 6, 2004 4:52 AM

David Bossert said:

Hi,

Disabling active scripting in IE's security settings does the trick. What bugs me is when they use redirects to require you to have sripting enabled just to get to the site.
# January 6, 2004 5:31 AM

Dr. Y said:

Hey,

Using firebird does the trick :-))
# January 6, 2004 6:44 AM

Scott Galloway said:

I love stupid little games where you get to build stuff and wage war...so Settlers (1-4), Rise Of Nations, C&C Generals, Emperor Battle For Dune are favourites...
# January 6, 2004 8:18 AM

Kirk Allen Evans said:

While everyone seems to want closure on the season, supporting a single playoff system, I love the duality of the BCS and polls. I love to watch ESPN, CBS, and listen to sports radio on a Saturday afternoon and listen to the rankings of each team. Georgia was #6, #5, and #4, all on the same day (USA Today Poll, Coaches' Poll, BCS / AP poll). If you give credibility to informal (yet recognized and predictable) sources such as the ESPN "College Gameday" rankings by Corso and Herbstreit and your team could possibly represent the entire top 5 teams.

Something that the BCS does correctly is the strength of schedule indicator. The strength of schedule variable is the indicator making it possible to have A defeats B, B defeats C, and C defeats A. The BCS is not some arbitrary points system, it is very statistical in nature.

The coaches' poll includes the intangible and nameless component, sometimes referred to as "style points." Georgia beat Tennessee at Tennessee... it takes a lot for a team to overcome 90,000 fans shouting "ROCKY TOP!" But Georgia didn't just beat Tennessee, they manhandled Tennessee. The BCS considers a win, but does not consider the amount of trouncing that occurred, how effective the defense was at shutting down a consistently succesful running game, how the offense improved over the past several games.

When LSU beat Georgia, some called it a fluke and said Georgia was limping. I watched that game, and LSU was the better team on the field, especially defensively. At the time, coaches' polls put Georgia at #4, as did BCS. When LSU met Georgia again for the SEC playoffs, LSU had drastically improved both in offense and defense and walked over Georgia. Georgia was a much better football team than LSU had seen earlier in the season, but LSU had improved at a higher rate than Georgia did.

And it is that intangible factor that makes the coaches' poll an essential part of the equation. The BCS might indicate that a team improved considering strength of schedule, but the coaches' poll indicates just how much a team improved considering how good the team they were playing is.

Besides, if we boil it all down to a playoff series, how does that improve the system? The only improvement that I see is that we get to see a couple more great games, but it leaves the question open for who the best team is. Should a wildcard game be included? Can a team be in a playoff game that did not win their conference?
# January 6, 2004 8:24 AM

Dennis v/d Stelt said:

Definitly, definitly Metal Gear on MSX

Metal Gear Solid is okay, but Metal Gear definitly ruled my world! Other great games were Usas and... oh, gotta go... really important meeting! Hahaha! ;)

Konami rules the world, as does MSX!
# January 6, 2004 9:04 AM

Tim Marman said:

Of all time? That's a tough one.

There's two games back on C64 which I've wanted to play again for the longest time: Mail Order Monsters (one day, I WILL do a remake if no one else does!) and Bruce Lee.

I had an NES, SNES, and N64, but I was usually more into PC gaming (I always had a better computer).

The Zelda series has always been a big favorite. Baseball Stars on NES - I love games that you can "build" with, so even for sports games where you could improve your team over time and there was some GM-esque strategy.

For similar reasons, the original Civilization, the original Railroad Tycoon... Hero's Quest 1: So You Want To Be a Hero (what later became the quest for glory series).

Police Quest 1, Gold Rush....

In fact, me thinks I will be going home to play one of these classics now that you put it in my head.

Moving forward, I wasted a hell of a lot of time in college playing Goldeneye and Red Alert 2, among other things.

Right now I have Madden 2004, C&C Generals and Civilization III installed on my machine.

Oh and Rise of Nations, but I haven't given it a proper playing yet. Seems promising, though - it's like a mix of an RTS and Risk.


I'm sure I'm missing a ton.... but.
# January 6, 2004 9:12 AM

Tim Marman said:

David beat me to it, but if you disable scripting you're all set :)
# January 6, 2004 9:17 AM

Josh Robinson said:

Still have to say that even with all the incredible games out now, I have spent more time playing the original Tecmo Bowl on NES than any other game. I used to have a whole notebook full of codes for each game of the season with each of the teams. Modern day replacement for Tecmo Bowl - ESPN NFL Football 2k4.
# January 6, 2004 9:18 AM

OmegaSupreme said:

My favourite pc games are Battlefield 1942, Americas Army and Call of Duty.

On the PS2 its pro evolution soccer 3.

Cant wait for half life 2 either, thats gonna rock.
# January 6, 2004 10:05 AM

Ed Kaim said:

My favorite RPG was "Final Fantasy I" (in the US series--I never played the Japanese versions). It was very simple and straightforward, but flexibile enough to feel like I was playing. RPGs I've played since (especially in the FF series) are all movies with a little bit of button pushing every now and again. I'm currently protesting the whole FF series because they've released a game with two version numbers ("Final Fantasy X II").

I also loved a game called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms III" by a company called KOEI. It was a turn-based empire strategy game that included battles with hexagonal, turn-based strategy combat. They're probably up to version 12 by now.

I was a big fan of Quake II. Even though games like Halo and Counterstrike have surpassed it in graphics, the simple gameplay of using a keyboard and mouse can't be matched with a console controller.

Currently. I spend most of my video game time playing "NHL Rivals 2004" on Xbox Live. It's the best sports game I've ever played, but I guess I'm biased as a hockey playing Microsoft employee.
# January 6, 2004 11:51 AM

Scott said:

Civ 3, it's the only game that gets consistantly re-installed every time I rebuild my machine. (hey, it's Windows!)

Well, now that I say that I notice that I've got Bejeweled installed on my PC and my Treo and I play it all the time going to work. hmmmmmmmm.
# January 6, 2004 11:52 AM

Josh said:

I was addicted to Superstar Ice Hockey (Mindscape) for C64. It was way ahead of its time. It featured multi-season franchise play (trades, drafting new players) which has just been added to most console games in the last couple years. It also had a great feature (depending on your perspective) that kept track of when you started a season game. If you lose the game and turn off the computer before it had a chance to save the results, it would detect that and count the game as a forfeit. And you couldn't just turn off every game in a season in hopes of getting last place (and therefore the most "improvement points" for draft picks, etc) because forfeits counted against your improvement points. Today's games give you the "option" to save your results, meaning you can go undefeated every season if you so choose.

Oh yeah, and I also spent countless hours on:
Kings Quest 1 & 2
Empire!
Civilization 1-3
Bard's Tale 1-3
Wasteland (pre-cursor to Fallout)
Railroad Tycoon

The list could go on. I'm still a big videogame fan, but I don't play them nearly as much as when those games were in their prime. My most recent addictions were Medal of Honor online multi-player (PC) and the Tony Hawk series (PS2).
# January 6, 2004 1:01 PM

Josh said:

Or how about File | Save As... (Html). Sure, its not as quick as CTRL-C, but you can still get at the content (by opening the saved file in a text editor).

The point being, they aren't really "protecting" their content, so why bother? It's just annoying.
# January 6, 2004 1:14 PM

Andy Smith said:

Every protection scheme I've ever seen is easily foiled by attaching a script debugger to IE. Sure that's beyond most people... but sure isn't going to stop me for more than a half a minute.
# January 6, 2004 1:39 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Ed,

Thanks for sharing! The Finaly Fantasy game that Suqaresoft put out for the oroginal GameBoy was way beyond its time. I got it for Christmas in '90, and I didn't as for it, and it blew my away at how deep it was. I've also got Final Fantasy X for the PS2, and it's amazing. Gran Turismo 3 ain't bad, either. :)
# January 6, 2004 4:15 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Josh,

Tecmo Bowl ruled! I played the 16-bit Ninetendo copy all the time.
# January 6, 2004 4:16 PM

Paul Glavich said:

My Favs :-

Mouldy Oldies (ie. from way back) include :-
Grid Runner by Jeff Minter on Commodore64
Elite on Amiga

Current titles include :-
Halo (Xbox)
# January 6, 2004 4:18 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Tim,

Gosh, the Bruce :ee title you mentioned makes me remember "Kung Fu" for the 16-bit NES, which was based on the same storyline as Bruce's movie "Game of Death" (I think...whichever one it was that featured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Classic!
# January 6, 2004 4:18 PM

Jason Salas said:

Anyone into Dark Forces for the PC (although I think they later made console games out of them), the Doom knockoff with the Star Wars theme, or WarCraft/SratCraft? I've only ever played WarCraft on a Mac, but it's hours of fun.
# January 6, 2004 4:19 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Paul,

Wow! I rememebr GridRunner! Almost makes me long for the days of the original Tron and ExciteBike.
# January 6, 2004 4:21 PM

Paul Laudeman said:

Battlefield 1942 and the arcade classics from yesteryear.
# January 6, 2004 6:09 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

chromeless pop-up ads are my least favorite JS trick.

I don't mind when people disable the right-clicks as long as they don't give me that "haha! you can't do it!" dialog. That kills me.

Anything that scrolls automagically usually bothers me, too, mostly because it is rarely done well.
# January 6, 2004 7:50 PM

mike said:

Another kind-of javascript trick is redirecting so that you can't use the Back button, or more accurately, if you do, you end up on the same page. Technically not necessarily a javascript trick (though it can be), but way annoying anyway. :-)
# January 6, 2004 10:59 PM

Cory Smith said:

Let's see, how about the following (honestly, this started as a short post ;-) ):

Amiga -
Jumping Jackson
Killing Game Show
Beast and Beast II

Atari 2600
Breakout
Space Invaders
Missle Command

Sega Genesis
Sonic Series

TurboGrafix 16
Bonk

Sony Playstation
Tekken

PC (yesteryear)
Bouncing Babies (a really old one ;-) where you are a fireman saving babies bouncing out of a window onto one of those catcher things three times into the firetruck - silly, but was fun)
Black Cauldron (one of the first Sierra games that made me say Wow! Adlib Sound! - probably the first game on the PC that made me think games on a PC could be great.)
Commander Keen (a lot of time wasted on this game)
Raptor (one of the coolest, even by todays standards vertical space shooter)
Wolfenstein (had to be on the list)
Doom (well, you know, had to be on the list)
Duke Nukem (was just downright fun with all of the vocals)
Need For Speed (first racing game that was fun)

PC (a little newer)
Quake Series
Warcraft
Dungeon Keeper
Age Of Empires (series)

PC (today)
Halflife/CounterStrike
Halo
Tron 2.0
Neverwinter Nights (with expansions)
Dungeon Siege

XBOX
Halo (duh!)
Dead Or Alive 3
Project Gotham Racing 2
Ghost Recon / Island Thunder
Magic The Gathering: Battlegrounds
Rainbow 6 III

I'm amazed at the responses you've gotten so far with the lack of XBOX game references. The games/graphics/sound are extremely impressive. Only one other person mentioned it. On top of this, XBOX Live is probably one of the most impressive game 'technologies' that have come along in a long while. It's just too easy to jump on, find someone to play against (don't get me wrong, it can use some improvements in the friends management department, but overall, it's pretty cool).
# January 6, 2004 11:16 PM

Nicholas Sabinske said:

DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR! DDR!

Dance Dance Revolution, on the Jap PSX and PS2!!!!!!!!!!

I'm the second oldest person I know that's still into DDR, but I do owe it giving my lazy butt some physical activity.

Anyhow, I'd have to say the ultimate SYSTEM for developers is the Gameboy Advance, which has a great games library and can sit there on your desk next to you every time you need to take a break ;)
# January 7, 2004 10:38 AM

Josh said:

Having never used XBOX live, and honestly scared away by fees, what makes it so much better than the free (Gamespy) alternatives we are used to with the PC and PS2?
(not trying to start a debate, genuinely curious)
# January 7, 2004 11:25 AM

Cory Smith said:

XBOX Live... consistant interface and performance across all titles. At $50 per year, not a bad deal. Also, since all games are using the same service, it drives the whole platform forward and ensures that cheating will be held at bay. Any vulnerabilities found, thus address, can take effect across all of the games. Gamespy does offer a consistant interface, so to speak, but not all games use the same mechanism. With PS2, each game is responsible for their own online content, connection and delivery. XBOX Live puts all of this into one package and ensure that you are getting what you paid for when you see the XBOX Live logo ;-) For the price of one game per year, I don't see that as being a bad thing.
# January 10, 2004 12:22 AM

Jay Goldsmith said:

Some of these comments here seem to be criticisms of PowerPoint rather than the material itself. I had no problem at all following the content and the examples, and can't see why you would need someone to actually stand up and talk about the slides. They look pretty self-explanatory to me.

If you look at the UML tutorials on the same site you'll see very few bullet points and lots of diagrams and sample code. I suspect Jason's avoided using UML here because he doesn't think a lot of .NET developers will know it - not that they need to understand design principles or refactoring.

The OCL tutorial and UML for Customers is good stuff :-) Never seen anything like that before. The advanced stuff like Test-driven Analysis & Design is a new idea, too, I think.
# January 15, 2004 10:28 AM

Jayson Knight said:

i played the original Legend of Zelda on NES for a small percentage of my life from age 9 on. metroid was also a big hit w/ me.

currently Halo has dominated most of my console experience, and i can'w wait for Halo 2.

i still feel obligated to drop a quarter or 2 in whenever i see galaga :-)
# January 15, 2004 11:22 AM

Paul Wilson said:

Seems like a case for clustering.
# January 17, 2004 8:39 AM

Christoc said:

I lived on guam for a few years, when I was 8-10, 86-88 I believe. For some reason I knew the submarine ride was closed, but I don't know why, as I haven't been to Disneyland since 95.... Maybe it was closed back then, I can't recall.
# January 21, 2004 1:17 AM

Christoc said:

oh, BTW :) Congrats on the MVP!
# January 21, 2004 1:18 AM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks! Yeah, it was a real polar day...happy then sad! Oh well, the world could be worse...maybe EPCOT's in the future. I haven't been there since '87! :)
# January 21, 2004 1:22 AM

Brian Desmond said:

Congratulations & Welcome aboard (no pun intended)!
# January 21, 2004 1:23 AM

Jason Salas said:

Clever! Thanks Brian!
# January 21, 2004 1:48 AM

Doug Reilly said:

Bummer about the Sub ride, but congratulations on the MVP!
# January 21, 2004 8:01 AM

Rob Chartier said:



Awesome about the MVP award Jason!
# January 21, 2004 12:50 PM

TrackBack said:

# January 21, 2004 8:16 PM

Chris Frazier said:

This sounds like an opportunity to build your own submarine...you do everything else, right? :P Congrats on the MVP award, Jas.
# January 22, 2004 10:30 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hahaha! Thanks Chris. Yeah, I guess I'll be having to recreate it if I want to see the sub ride again. Congrats to you, too!
# January 22, 2004 6:34 PM

Wallym said:

At least they didn't close DisneyLand like WalleyWorld..........

Wally
# January 22, 2004 10:11 PM

Phil Weber said:

Have you seen SNL's "Behind the Music" spoof featuring Blue Öyster Cult? ("I've got a fever... and the only prescription is more cowbell!")
# January 24, 2004 3:22 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Phil...yeah! That's a classic skit with Christopher Walken as "Bruce Dickinson" which they keep repeating, which was an off-handed reference to Iron Maiden's legendary frontman.

Also, the Simpson's spoofed BTM, doing "Behind the Laughter". Did you see that one? Hilarious.
# January 24, 2004 3:27 AM

Dave Chan said:

I agree. I found these very useful.
# January 24, 2004 5:50 AM

Ajay Juneja said:

I personally remember watching the original "Triumph of the Nerds" in 1996 instead of studying for my U.S. history final! I still got the second highest grade in the class on my U.S. history final somehow. But man, that thing was so valuable for me it's not even funny. I got to see the personalities of those who dominate silly valley (as I affectionately call Silicon Valley) -- and it's a great historical documentary. I read Nerds 2.01 when it came out in 1999-2000.

Knowledge of your industriy's past helps one figure out how to strategize one's future.
# January 24, 2004 6:28 PM

Ricky Dhatt said:

Admittedly, I haven't seen several of the episodes you listed, but for me the quintessential Behind the Music episode was TLC.
# January 24, 2004 9:36 PM

Manjeeva said:

Are u interseting Cricket ?
# January 25, 2004 6:09 AM

mike said:

I have Nerds 2.01 but have not read it. Now it's next. :-)

Some others I have read that I think everyone in the industry should read:

Accidental Empires by Robert Cringely
Catty, sometimes hilarious history of the PC industry, highlighting many of the occasionally odd characters who made it happen. This is the basis for the program "Revenge of the Nerds," but Cringely is a funny writer who's well worth reading in the original.

Hackers by Steven Levy
The definitive history of the rise of hacker culture. Although the book is old by now, he describes the ethos that eventually gave rise to what we now call the Open Source movement.

Insanely Great by Steven Levy
History of the Mac, which captures the phenomenon of Apple.

A Brief History of the Future by John Naughton
Account of the invention of the Internet, with clear and interesting stories about the development of the ARPANET, packet switching, USENET, etc.

Go To by Steve Lohr
History of programming, which is recent enough to touch on .NET.

Code by Charles Petzold
A layman's guide to how software works.

The Code Book by Simon Singh
History of cryptography, from ancient times through Enigma and into public/private.

The Chip by T. R. Reid
History of the invention of the microprocessor. We take it for granted now, but this book describes how remarkable it was that you could put an entire computer on one chip. Very readable.
# January 25, 2004 1:46 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Manjeeva,

Not really...I'm more interested in American football, baseball and basketball scores.
# January 25, 2004 5:31 PM

Brian Swiger said:

It's not down...but they are requiring partnership with them. You have to email or call and they will send you a differing URL with a sponsorship number as a querystring value that you pass to get the valid XML. The tech I spoke with did talk of bringing it down and replacing it with pay-only service. That'd suck for me.
# January 26, 2004 2:54 PM

TrackBack said:

# January 28, 2004 4:00 PM

TrackBack said:

# January 28, 2004 4:37 PM

Dennis v/d Stelt said:

Here's my hug!

And we get a bottle of cheep wine ;)
# January 29, 2004 7:39 AM

SBC said:

Quite a few of my clients have bought me lunches and gift certificates, the latter, which I promptly exchanged for books.. :-)
# January 29, 2004 7:51 AM

Paul Wilson said:

I worked for a consulting company about 5 years ago that pushed me to first get my MCSD. I was the very first one for this company in their Atlanta office, and the first overall on the new MCSD track of the time. Again, they pushed it, claiming that it was super important, so I did expect to really be thanked for it. What did I get -- movie tickets! What did they get -- I immediately started looking for other jobs and got my recognition (and raise) elsewhere.
# January 29, 2004 8:12 AM

Brad said:

That's an easy one ... they don't. We slog on in relative obscurity, being assigned more work and more responsibility for which we have demonstrated ability, but that's about it ...
# January 29, 2004 8:18 AM

Russ C said:

Congratulations on the MVP but reading your blog just made me realise that I've never heard the term 'core competency' outside of a Scott Adams book until today :)
# January 29, 2004 9:11 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Russ,

LOL! That's 2.5 years in graduate school for ya...
# January 29, 2004 9:16 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Brad,

Yeah..the tecnhies get more work, while the marketing morons continue to wear sunglasses inside, take 3-hour power lunches and play golf. :)
# January 29, 2004 9:22 AM

Jason Salas said:

One thing I do know about getting technical achievements...I may not get recognized for it, but they sure are quick to push me to doing talks and sales calls. Funny...
# January 29, 2004 9:26 AM

Ian Cooper said:

Well I'm working my way towards an MCSD.NET and I know of others that are. I think there has been a delay caused by the depressed market - why get the certs if there is no one to sell them to. .Net arrived when there were precious few new projects for folks to cut their teeth on. But that seems to be changing, new projects are emerging and certs seem once again to be a valuable addition to a resume.

So I think pronouncing the death knell for certs is a little premature
# January 29, 2004 9:53 AM

Derick Bailey said:

You guys are lucky. I get a "why didn't you get this done last year?" and a "sign this form that says you won't leave or quit for the next year, or we'll make you pay us back at the highest possible interest."
# January 29, 2004 10:11 AM

Derick Bailey said:

correction: "won't quit or get fired for the next year"
# January 29, 2004 10:11 AM

Scott said:

News flash Jason (har har, pun intended) :)

Certs are and always have been useless! Read on true believers!

http://www.lazycoder.com/article.php?story=200401291020509
# January 29, 2004 11:24 AM

TrackBack said:

# January 29, 2004 2:36 PM

Scott said:

Derick: That's exactly why I never let my work pay for any training, unless they force me to go, or certification tests I take (only happened 3 times). I knew a guy who was a CNE and refused to put that on his business card because the company he was with wasn't paying him enough to get the extra cred his cert would have given them. The CNE cert was one of the few that required you to actually KNOW something non-trivial.
# January 29, 2004 3:01 PM

David Eichner said:

Can you give me the contact info to get a sponsorship number?
# January 29, 2004 4:43 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Derick,

I've heard & read that IBM had a serious turnover problems becauses of this...people got jobs there and just worked there, and as soon as they got the comp,any to pay for training/certification, they split. A former empployer of mine made all staffers sign an agreement that said that we had to agree to work there as long as it took to get trained or certified, if the company provided for it.
# January 29, 2004 5:01 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

Good point. Many ocmpanies I know could care less if the people they employ have credentials, but they do pay for certification and training to use their people as sales drivers.
# January 29, 2004 5:03 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

I read your counterpoint, and I really enjoyed your thoughts.

Sure, the MVP program has taken off due to more people being awarded it than in the past, and with greater frequency (it apparently used to be only a few people selected annually, now it's several quarterly, if memory serves). It’s on paper an acknowledgement of one’s commitment to using and sharing knowledge of Microsoft products, and indirectly acts as a way of ensuring external promotional push, which is an invaluable asset in any industry.

Not a bad idea, and a classical approach to marketing dominance we’ve seen time and again from all types of businesses – I’ve been doing this for years with having people outside my newsroom link to stories on our site to get us free exposure.

There are pros and cons to which is better/more superior/carries more clout – the MVP program or genuine Microsoft certification – or if either is even worth it in the real world. Foremost among these is that the MVP is, as you pointed out, by selection only from Microsoft staffers, so one can't buy their way in like one can with certs. The MVP program is, when you think about it, that same model in reverse – Microsoft is not only rewarding the commitment of those who use its stuff, but it’s also securing their brand loyalty.

However, you’re right...this very reason makes the program suspect for political favoritism. There's certainly a justifiable argument that those granted MVP status (myself included) are MS kiss-ups and not really gurus. Still (and granted I can only speak for ASP.NET), I’ve yet to meet a person who’s been selected as an MVP who’s not what would be considered an expert and professional, being extremely knowledgeable, competent and conducting themselves in a mature, civil, friendly, helpful manner. So there is some distinction in the designation.

But in the end, you’re right – certs and credentials don’t really make the developer, its skills and the ability to use them that separates the men from the boys in programming. In the meantime, it’s all about stacking Ye Olde Resume in the hopes of opening a door with a good company or landing a sweet contract.

At any rate, keep up the good work...I enjoy all your blog posts...especially this retort! Write me back at jason@kuam.com if you want to rap about this some more, or if you post other comments to this subject. I'd love to read them. :)

Jas

Note: I got certified several years back and was just awarded MVP status myself a couple weeks back, and it's interesting to see the differences between the two programs first-hand. However, in either case I’m no more “Rah Rah, Microsoft” than I have been (or have not been) in the past because of it. And neither makes a developer that have them superior to those who don't.
# January 29, 2004 8:48 PM

Scott Mitchell said:

I've gone through the interview process twice - once for an internship and once for a full-tiime job. The vast majority of the questions I got were technical, and not brain teasers or riddles like those listed. There were some typical college CS classes, like, "Write the code to do a postorder traversal of a binary tree," "Given an list of words as an array of strings, write code to find all the anagrams," "Write code to implement C's atoi() function," and "Write code to determine if there exists a cycle in a linked list."

I also had some typical questions - where do you see yourself in 5 years, why do you want to work for this company, blah, blah, blah. Both interviews, though, were a boatload of fun - one up in Redmond and one in Silicon Valley.

>assume you have to market a new alarm clock for the
>deaf. How do you do it?

"Market" or "create?" If it was market, I dunno, run some ads in "The Deaf Quarterly," and on deaf-related sitcoms.

>suppose two spaces occupy two distinct values.

I know those words, but that sentence makes no sense. A space occupies a value? Usually things occupy spaces, not the other way around, no?

>how can we make Word better to lawyers?

What's funny, my lawyer uses some ancient version of WordPerfect that is DOS-based, he has to drop to the command line to run it and gets 80x25 resolution. No WYSIWYG, no mouse. But, man, he knows the keyboard shortcuts like nobody's business.
# January 30, 2004 12:50 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

Yeah, part of the challenge was sussing out what was trying to be said. I think you're right about the "create" over "market" question, but I do remember vividly one hiring manager asking about spaces occupying values, which I took to mean variables. It was basically a math question to have X, Y and Z, and have Z at some point assume X's value. Or something like that. I found the answer in a book I bought in the Seattle-Tacoma Airport "How to Get A Job At MIcrosoft"...on my way back home after the interview. :)
# January 30, 2004 12:55 AM

Uffe said:

The company where I work dont like to pay for the courses and tests nor the cert itself anymore, cause they believe ( the new boss anyway ) that " the only reason that we want certs is that it`s more easy for us to get another job" . Wouldn`t you ?
# January 30, 2004 1:14 AM

Jason Salas said:

Good point Uffe,

Why train when it's just setting you up for departure?
# January 30, 2004 1:18 AM

M. Keith Warren said:

I got asked to describe 5 server controls the ASP.NET team should add; then once I was done answering I had to tell the interviewer why they should not add them.

Another memorable one...Design an object model for poker :)
# January 30, 2004 1:27 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Keith,

I forgot about that one! I was also asked to describe a new server control for the ASP.NET team and break down the object model, and add in new features. The big challenge was that the hiring manager kept shooting these rapid-fire conditions at me while I was in the middle of my sentences.
# January 30, 2004 1:31 AM

M. Keith Warren said:

We must have been interviewed by the same woman! She kept interrupting me trying to guide (or misguide) my path of reasoning. Twas frustrating but considering the position, very neccessary.
# January 30, 2004 2:19 AM

Jared Evans said:

I was in talks with someone over at Microsoft about a possible interview and she had a tip for me:

Read this book: Programming Interviews Exposed: Secrets to Landing Your Next Job

There would be questions related to thing such as insert/delete a node or reverse a singly linked list. Also, you should be able to do the same for a doubly linked list. (To reverse a doubly linked list, just swap the next and previous pointers -- it's a trick question.) Other types of questions are to determine if a b-tree is valid (nodes on the left are less than nodes on the right), to reverse a text string, etc.
# January 30, 2004 2:36 AM

TrackBack said:

# January 30, 2004 2:43 AM

M. Keith Warren said:

...another popular book...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316919160/qid=1075449567//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-5929800-7631059?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
# January 30, 2004 3:00 AM

Scott Galloway said:

Personally, always found it about as funny as a nail in my hand...but I guess my cultural perspective is different...I don;t think it's quite as appreciated in the UK as it seems to be in the US
# January 30, 2004 7:05 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

Yeah, I've heard that Benny has a bigger fan club to the left of the Atlantic. :)
# January 30, 2004 7:35 AM

Cameron Reilly said:

a few of us were talking recently about how benny died a broke, lonely old man... he was dead for a week or something in his flat before someone noticed...
# January 30, 2004 7:43 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Cameron,

I've read that despite his success, at the time of his death Benny didn't own his own house or car.
# January 30, 2004 7:45 AM

Scott Galloway said:

But he wasn't broke...he left £7.5M, he was just really mean (http://www.vgernet.net/tpelkey/bennyhill/bio.htm)
# January 30, 2004 8:09 AM

Scott Galloway said:

I had a couple when I interviewed - One was about the number of cars going over the golden gate bridge, another was about telling which was the heaviest out of n balls in the fewest moves. I had a security one about secure key exchange (public / private key stuff) and an odd one about 'the perfect alarm clock'. Unfortunately, I was sick and jet-lagged, they may as well have asked me to count up to 10 in sumerian for all the sense they were going to get from me (I spent the next 2 days in a Seattle hospital)
# January 30, 2004 8:47 AM

Tim Marman said:

Or you could have a bunch of gay guys make-over the ne.... oh, right. Has to be original.

I hate reality television as well, but the one that let me down most was Joe Millionaire. As I've said in the past - they should have found a Bill Gates look-alike and brought HIM on there.

It's like put Halle Berry or Heidi Klum etc up there and tell me she's rich. Then tell me she's not. Big deal, she's still hot, you know?
# January 30, 2004 10:21 AM

Scott said:

I feel dirty knowing this but....

They always make sure that the reality people don't have access to a TV or radio and limited access to the internet. Every time I see that I think "that would never fly with a geek in the house. He/she would have some kind of proxyless WiFi connection leeched off the house down the block using a Pringles can."
# January 30, 2004 12:18 PM

Scott said:

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts."
# January 30, 2004 12:47 PM

Scott said:

Hi Jason,

Thanks for reading my dinky little articles. :)

My point, which I may or may not have made, is that certification is being replaced by the MVP program. I hope my retort didn't come off as slagging the MVPs. I have to say that MOST of the MVPs I've seen blogging would get my respect anyway. They don't need a title. I didn't need to see the little MVP logo at Scott Hanselmans site to know he knew his stuff. I knew it when I downloaded his TinyOS sample. I can't fault them for accepting the title, they get swag with it. Swag is like air to a geek. :) That being said, it seems to me that there is a wide margin for questionable MVP selection and a lack of clarity in what being an MVP actually means. For example, Chris Pirillo was recently made an MVP for "Digital Media". (http://chris.pirillo.com/archives/2004_01.html#008768)
I have no idea what that means? I should contact Chris if I'm having trouble getting WMP to play my MP3's? If I wanted advice on internet marketing, Mr. Pirillo would be one of the first people I would think of as a resource. If I wanted advice on SVG, I think DonXML(http://weblogs.asp.net/donxml) would be a better choice.

I've noticed questionable code and design posted on some MVP blogs which has made me think, "How in the heck did THEY get MVP status? What does MVP really mean?". (a an aside I see some of the same things in the Microsoft blogs) I realized that MVP doesn't mean any more or less than the old MS certifications. Some people seem to actively campaign for the title, which tends to give it a popularity contest type feeling.

Like I said, it's a win-win situation for MS. The carrot is dangled for people who aren't participating and the people that win have to keep participating to maintain the status. It's a lot cheaper than the cert program.
# January 30, 2004 1:18 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott! No sweat, and like I said, I agreed with the majority of your rebuttal, and you're right in the end. And no one's more surprised that they landed the MVP than me. Keep up the great work and great thoughts!

Jas
# January 30, 2004 5:53 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

Yeah, my jetlag had a little to do with the rapidity of my responses...coming from Guam, I'd been on planes for 19 hours straight, and then got into Seattle at 5AM, with the interview at 7AM. But nothing like yours. Hope everything worked out.
# January 30, 2004 6:05 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

Not like I want to talk bad about a man that gave me so much laughter, especially after he's passed on, but there was a big controversy about his politics and the fact that several people thought he was a bigot.
# January 30, 2004 6:09 PM

Alex Lowe said:

My old company put out a press release to the Associated Press. They also included a blurb about the award in a "Meet the company" presentation they did with new customers, etc.
# January 30, 2004 7:19 PM

Scott McCulloch said:

My Company uses it in all there marketing brochures, presentations, and uses it for requirements into the various partner programs at MS.

The only help I got towards the certification was the company paid for my exams after I passed each of them, which is okay since they are so expensive now.
# January 30, 2004 11:03 PM

Tejas Patel said:

Jason, sounds like a very good idea indeed. I think you should or someone else should approach a techie producer and director and start something up. Very nice idea indeed.

# January 31, 2004 1:04 AM

Tejas Patel said:

Although I cannot say what the task was and are assigned on a daily basis, I can say that my Boss allways comes up with work and which is "just very urgent" and "ASAP". People in my company comes up with problems and want the answer or solution straight away (they think computer people are God).

Well I quite enjoy the level of respect I get when I get it but I also enjoy the challenge that I face and the innovative ways I come up with to meet those challenges.
# January 31, 2004 1:12 AM

TrackBack said:

# January 31, 2004 1:26 PM

asdf said:

asdf
# February 1, 2004 3:13 AM

mike said:

Not sure what you mean by "rename" the GridView. GridView is a new (in 2.0), improved version of the DataGrid control. (What's to rename?) We'll also get a DetailsView control that allows you bind to a data source and to scroll through individual records to view and edit them, *and insert new ones*, yay.

As you probably know, the data controls will (can) use a new model whereby you put a data source control on the page that handles the connection and the query. You then bind controls to the data source control. IOW, data access is abstracted into a component (technically still a control) that you can bind any bindable control to. This will apply to the new controls like GridView, etc., as well to the older controls like ListBox, etc.

The new model is easier also in that the data source control and the control bound to it can talk and determine when it's time to data bind. No more 4-line Page_Load snippets to perform data binding.

And just to be clear, all old data-binding technology will work just fine.

Hmm. Got off on a tear there, sorry about that. :-)
# February 1, 2004 8:24 AM

Colt said:

Just add on Mike, we can always use (backward compatabile) DataList, DataGrid, GridView and DetailsView control in ASP.NET v2.0. FYI: http://aspalliance.com/88

Moreover, just want to mention 1 point and the subject of this blog might be:
The evolution of a control: DataGrid ==> MxDataGrid ==> GridView ...

(MxDataGrid is an "enhanced" DataGrid control and work like a GridView control and come with the ASP.NET Web Matrix project)

# February 1, 2004 9:03 AM

Colt said:

ooops...typo: backward compatible instead of backward compatabile
# February 1, 2004 9:05 AM

mike said:

True -- Web Matrix is a pretty good peek at many of the new Whidbey features. :-)
# February 1, 2004 3:40 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Mike,

It's halftime during the Suepr Bowl, so I've got about 30 minutes with which time to respond. :)

I know of the GridView control (a souped-up baby brother of ASP.NET 1.x's DataGrid), and I enjoy it, as well as the DetailsView for ASP.NET 2.0. But check out the article I linked to in the blog (http://weblogs.asp.net/rprabhu/archive/2004/02/01/65777.aspx) in which Raghavendra indicated that for WinForms, GridView has been renamed to "DataGridView". I'm not sure if this was just for WinForms or not.

Go Pats!

Jas
# February 1, 2004 8:23 PM

Raghavendra Prabhu said:

My post referred to just the WinForms control, not the ASP.NET one.
# February 1, 2004 10:59 PM

Christian Nagel said:

Jason,
Read my weblog entry and sample about extending CultureInfo. I've done a sample to create a Klingon culture (et-Klingon):
http://weblogs.asp.net/cnagel/archive/2003/07/06/9753.aspx
http://weblogs.asp.net/cnagel/archive/2003/07/06/9751.aspx
http://weblogs.asp.net/cnagel/archive/2003/07/06/9750.aspx
# February 2, 2004 1:39 AM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks much Christian! I was gonna mess with Pig Latin as a sample project, but I'll check out your stuff. :)
# February 2, 2004 4:09 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 2, 2004 5:19 PM

TrackBack said:

# February 2, 2004 5:19 PM

Mark Hurd said:

I'd guess it is something more simple like you can't inherit static (Shared) methods, so it's hard to fabricate the proxies.
# February 3, 2004 7:55 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Mark,

Yeah, I figured it was something like that. :)
# February 3, 2004 8:15 AM

Jay Glynn said:

I've been working with Wiley since they picked up some of the Wrox titles. Pro C# should be out in March. I have to say that working with Wiley has been a joy compared to others. Best of luck.

Jay
# February 3, 2004 9:18 AM

Tejas Patel said:

Good luck Jason.
# February 3, 2004 12:50 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Jay! IO'm still steamed at not being paid and being ignored when trying to collect, but I've got some reliable friends that work there now, so everything should work itself out.

Jason
# February 3, 2004 5:30 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Tejas!
# February 3, 2004 5:30 PM

Jason Salas said:

Here's the actual code for extending the CultureInfo class Christian mentioned in his reply above (thanks, Christian):

using System;
using System.Resources;
using System.Collections;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Threading;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace Nagel.Demos.Enterprise
{

// derive from CultureInfo, so it can be used as a CultureInfo
public class EnterpriseCultureInfo : CultureInfo
{
private string name;
private string displayName;

public EnterpriseCultureInfo(string extendedCulture) : base("en-US")
{
if (extendedCulture != "et-klingon" && extendedCulture != "et-vulcano")
throw new NotSupportedException("The culture " + extendedCulture + " is not supported");

name = extendedCulture;

switch (extendedCulture)
{
case "et-klingon":
displayName = "Klingon";
break;
case "et-vulcono":
displayName = "Vulcano";
break;
}
}

#region Overridden properties of CultureInfo
public override string DisplayName
{
get
{
return displayName;
}
}

public override string Name
{
get
{
return name;
}
}

public override string EnglishName
{
get
{
return displayName;
}
}
#endregion

// also needed for a full implementation: date/time format, Klingon calendar, number format...

}

}
# February 3, 2004 7:19 PM

Dody Gunawinata said:

I started in 2000 on the PDC bits and Code Behind never grow on me. I still hate it with the same vigor now as it was then :)

# February 4, 2004 5:26 AM

Scott Galloway said:

Wow...never had that experience, I use to code ASP with VBScript classes, I always hated in-line coding - especially as in ASP 2.0 they had a big performance hit (the context-switching issue). I jumped from ASP to Jave then to ASP.NET - sode behind seemed far more straightforward to me...
# February 4, 2004 8:06 AM

Scott said:

All the ASP projects I worked on, at least the large projects, all used the code-behind paradigm anyway by placing all the business logic in VB COM DLL's and calling them from the ASP page. Most of my ASP pages looked like this.
<%
set oBO = Server.CreateObject("ApplicationName.BizObjects")
oBo.doStuff() ' paraphrasing, I often had several different methods for each piece of functionality

set oBO = nothing
%>

Well, I usually had some ASP code in the page as well to manipulate the HTML. But most of my drop down list creation waas handled with a call to "createDropDownList(byVal rs as ADODB.RecordSet, textFieldName, valueFieldName)". A short stint in the Java/JSP world made the transition to C$ and ASP.NET a lot easier; Helped me get into a more pure OOP state of mind although you can still see some procedural linerarity in my code.
# February 4, 2004 9:50 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 5, 2004 4:09 AM

Frans Bouma said:

"...therefore completing the “Wine, Women and Song” trifecta."
:D
I don't think a lot of people call the E-A powerchords hetfield is hammering on his jackson V guitars 'songs' ;)
# February 5, 2004 5:00 AM

Jason Salas said:

Ouch...that one hit home...I've been covering Metallica songs since I was 12 (I'm 29). Keep in mind that most blues music (from which lots of metal, including Metallica, is derived) is based on the 1-4-5 chord progression, which by its nature isn't that complex, but leaves lots of room for improvisation. =-)
# February 5, 2004 5:06 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 5, 2004 10:48 AM

Tejas Patel said:

That's a bit of pity Jason. Well atleat you can access it at office. i am sure it won't be that difficult for you as you would be found in the office 80% of your time :). While having heard your story I will try to have a bit more patience why my ADSL connection is playing up.
# February 5, 2004 7:53 PM

Cameron Reilly said:

i saw a stat yesterday stating that only 8% of Australian homes currently have broadband. Even though I've only had access to it for about a year, I can't imagine life with out it. Or without my 802.11G home network either.

But, let's look at the upside of not having broadband... oh wait, I can't think of any! :-)

Dude, have you ever thought about moving?
# February 5, 2004 8:38 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Cameron,

Yeah, I've thought about moving somewhere else on island, but I live in a really nice, quiet, crime-free neighborhood with stores and schools close-by (and I'm only 5 minutes away from work), so it wouldn't offset not having broadband to ship out.

It's funny...Guam is growing in broadband use...about 11,000 people have it locally out of the 30,000 potential customer base, so it's gotten better (I used to work at a large ISP here).

However, if I do make it out to the States...
# February 5, 2004 8:48 PM

Jason Salas said:

**UPDATE**

Thanks much to Paul Murphy (http://blogs.aspadvice.com/pmurphy/) for confirming my theory about the requirement for an instantiated object. He responded in the ASPAdvice mailing list:

--------------------------------
You can not create a Context around a static method (since there is no instance how to you wrap it?). Therefore the wrapper attribute that does the serialization can’t be applied to the method. If you want to read more about it dig into the System.Runtime.Remoting.* namespaces.

Paul
# February 6, 2004 2:28 AM

Scott said:

Yeah, your only other choice besides moving is probably a satellite connection. Those aren't that great though, lots of latency.

re: great thing about not having broadband. - when I first moved to Seattle, I didn't have anything but a local free ISP for dial up. I noticed that I tended to be a lot more picky about what I surfed. Quality over quantity. I spent a lot more time reading and programming. hmmmmmmmm, maybe I should call Comcast and cancel?

Using SQL Enterprise Manager over dial up is an experience not unlike being on the receiving end of a root canal without the benefit of novacane. Heck, the same could be said for using EM over broadband.
# February 6, 2004 9:58 AM

Paul D. Murphy said:

yeah. I agree. I've been in the email marketing business for 3 years now and the 1% that does things wrong has grown to about 20%. It has made it virtually impossible for us legitimate marketers to deliver campaigns while ensuring that only those who are willing to be deceptive and criminal are operating with impunity across the world.

It's a massive problem and it won't go away until companies subscribe to personal data instead of people giving a copy of personal data to companies.

I can't wait for Longhorn.

Paul
# February 8, 2004 3:17 PM

TrackBack said:

# February 11, 2004 3:35 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 11, 2004 4:37 AM

Wallym said:

Jason,

The reason that I see why they aren't using FreeText and such is that MS's fulltext engine in Sql2k is not very good. It takes an amazing effort on the part of the CPU to get it working. Yukon's full text engine is suppossed to be much improved.

Wally
# February 11, 2004 5:46 AM

Derick Bailey said:

The actual indexing may take some cycles, but it only happens on the schedule that you set. Any good DBAmin should know how to setup the schedule to run during the lowest traffic times, and create a good fulltext index for searching.

As for the actual fulltext searching in SQL Server 2K, it's actually part of Indexing Service that gets called to do the searching. If someone complains about SQL 2K fulltext, but also uses the Indexing Service, then that person is full of crapp.

I personally think that the fulltext searching in SQL2K is quite nice. But then, I actually spent a few minutes to write a query parsing engine that builds proper fulltext search queries based on user input.
# February 11, 2004 9:24 AM

AndrewSeven said:

Never whistle while you are pissing.

-Fictional character in a book by R-A Wilson.




# February 11, 2004 10:53 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 11, 2004 10:53 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 11, 2004 10:53 AM

Scott said:

I've got two, one inspirational and one that simply reminds you of the "big picture" in any project.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Albert Einstein

"When you are up to your ass in aligators, it is difficult to remember that your initial objective was to drain the swamp." - Unknown
# February 11, 2004 11:16 AM

David Cumps said:

If they make better or worse managers, no idea. But the mental if then structure probably exists in a lot of us programmers.

But sometimes, thinking with logic isn't always good, there seems to be different kinds of logic. What seems logic to you may be completely wrong to someone else, and vice versa.

I do believe programmers are a lot mor goal driving, with long term plans (like when you code something, you think in the future as well) and also, our minds thinks in a form of statements, which kinda creates order (or chaos in the eyes of others)
# February 11, 2004 2:40 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi guys,

Good thoughts. I'm pondering moving to FTI myself, but in doing so I'll need to migrate the entire SQL Server DB we use now (only about 9,000 records, with multiple NTEXT fields) to a different database server.

Has anyone seen any creative alternatives to using a good classical search?
# February 11, 2004 6:59 PM

Jason Salas said:

Here's one of my personal faves form the late Benny Hill:

"The wise man believes only 50% of what he reads, but it is the genius who knows what 50% to believe."
# February 11, 2004 7:02 PM

Scott Galloway said:

Hmm...although the Microsoft way of interviewing is often seen as the pinnacle of Tech Interviewing, it's not perfect by any means. Have a look at "How Would YOu Move Mount Fuji?" - it gives some decent insights into this method of assessment as well as some pretty decent opinions as to what works and what doesn't with this approach...
# February 11, 2004 7:09 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

I agree, the MS interviewing process is admired by many, but certainly its still a fallible machine (is anything perfect these days?). However, I did learn a lot from my trips to Redmond, about asking questions and really pushing a candidate to think.

My biggest challenge is getting someone to really experience what it's like to work in our hectic environment, and really expose them in some fashion to the problems we've got, as they're likely being brought on to solve some of them.
# February 11, 2004 7:43 PM

Stephane Dubois said:

Thanks for the good word on our web service test page design. It may not serve much purpose for the guy who goes straight to the WSDL but it helps those less familiar with it.
Best Regards
-Stephane Dubois
Xignite
# February 11, 2004 9:01 PM

Jason Salas said:

**UPDATE**

I wrote Juval Lowy directly and he confirmed that this would not work, as (1) returning a type from a WS call requires the assembly to be local to the client, and (2) such would arguably be a major violation of most security and versioning models.

I was actually thinking of using this as the basis for an app I was going to share with the members of my user group - developing a core API and letting them derive from it for their own implementations.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. 1 out of every 10 every crazy ideas I get like this actually works. :)
# February 11, 2004 10:38 PM

TrackBack said:

# February 12, 2004 1:31 PM

TrackBack said:

# February 12, 2004 2:18 PM

James Geurts said:

Via an article on This is Broken (http://broken.typepad.com/b/2004/02/frontpage_banne.html) there is an error in the HTML code in the ad. There should be no slash in the <p> tag on line 28.

Kind of makes me want to believe that FrontPage will be better...
# February 12, 2004 7:36 PM

Jason Salas said:

Ha! I wonder who created this ad - a technical firm or an ad house. Ifd it's the latter, that's what happens when you leave a technical ad to artistic people.
# February 12, 2004 8:15 PM

R said:


Not the first time I've seen typos in Microsoft Ads. There's one that keeps appearing in DDJ magazine, and CUJ that not only mis-spells webService as webServce - in a code sample; it has done since the advert has been out (several months).

I sent a mail to feedback@mic.... but it's never been fixed. Guess they just don't care ..
# February 13, 2004 2:08 AM

Ron Miller said:

Hi Jason:
I appreciate you quoting my post, but you should know that I wrote that based on a news story about the impending release of FrontPage 2003.

I haven't actually looked at or reviewed the program, so I can't say with any authority that these changes made it in, or that they lived up to the pre-release hype.

Regards,
Ron Miller
# February 13, 2004 7:23 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Ron,

No problem..I figured that. No intention to hold you responsible for the features the program did or didn't have. :)
# February 13, 2004 7:35 AM

Michiel said:

Well, what about WebML? http://www.webml.org
# February 15, 2004 11:03 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Michiel,

WebML is great, but NOT specific to ASP.NET, which is what I'm after.
# February 15, 2004 11:23 PM

Jeff said:

I agree... it'd be nice to see something with a little more meat to it. I was really interested when MS published the "case study" on Match.com and its conversion to .NET, but it was really weak in terms of getting to what they were really doing with architecture. I suppose there's only so much you want to reveal in that case (the dating site market is pretty competitive), but something more than an assembly and server count would've been nice.
# February 17, 2004 8:30 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 17, 2004 2:02 PM

Mike Gunderloy said:

Don't worry, you'll find the new AdventureWorks sample database to be just to your liking, I think. If you want a preview, download the SQL Server 2000 Reporting Services evaluation, which includes the first (I think) public release of AdventureWorks.
# February 17, 2004 10:04 PM

Jason Salas said:

Good news to know! Thanks Mike.
# February 17, 2004 10:48 PM

mike said:

The problem for those of us creating samples that talk to a database is that we often don't want to focus on the underlying database, but rather on whatever it is we're illustrating -- ADO.NET code, whatever. So we pick a database that we figure the largest percentage of our reader base will be familiar with. IOW, Northwind. Even when Yukon comes out with AW, Northwind will still be the best-understood database out there, and so we'll probably continue to use it for examples that need to use just any old database you happen to have handy. Unless, of course, the point is to illustrate some specific feature of Yukon or of AdventureWorks itself.
# February 17, 2004 11:21 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Mike,

Oh sure....and I agree, testing with the Northwind or Pubs DBs is a snap because they've been in use for so long that we can recall the recordsets from memory, so if we connect and call data, we can be sure a script works.

I was just hoping for a new set of data from perhaps a different industry, using a different DB schema and table configuration - just to be honest. :)
# February 18, 2004 12:30 AM

Robert McLaws said:

Northwind sucks. It has table names with spaces, it has stored procedures prefixed with sp_... it's a horrible example of how to design a database. Good to know it's gonna get better. Thanks for the heads-up Mike!
# February 18, 2004 1:12 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 18, 2004 4:30 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 18, 2004 4:30 AM

SBC said:

go for the DVD instead of CDs - you get a $300 rebate and lighter mail packages..
# February 18, 2004 6:25 AM

Jason Salas said:

Lucky me...I got the DVDs. I should have mentioned that. :)
# February 18, 2004 6:28 AM

Dennis said:

Too bad Microsoft has filed patents on their use of XML in Word....
# February 18, 2004 9:12 AM

Scott said:

You're right about the table names with spaces Robert, but not about the sp_. At least not on any of my installs of SQL 2000.

I think that pubs is fine to use for an example. Like Mike said, you don't want your "student" spending 1/2 their time or more trying to figure out your DB schema. But neither Northwind nor pubs are good examples of what SQL 2000 can do. Neither of them use user defined functions or types. Heck even the views in both of them are pretty simple. I'd include at least one partitioned view, those are pretty powerful IMO.
# February 18, 2004 1:56 PM

James Geurts said:

You might want to take a look at Salamander .Net Linker and Mini-Deployment tool (http://www.remotesoft.com/linker/index.html). It looks like it'll turn the IL into native code. "The framework appears as an integrated part of your own application"
# February 18, 2004 11:59 PM

mike said:

BTW, this seems to be a popular topic. Joel Spolsky wrote a piece on "can we have a linker?", which generated lots of commentary. Just a sample, starting with Joel himself:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/PleaseLinker.html

http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=108812

http://weblogs.asp.net/pleloup/archive/2004/01/29/64541.aspx

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2004/01/29.html#a6440
# February 19, 2004 12:32 AM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Mike! I'm thinking about working on a consideration note to the ASP.NET team to possibly make this available.
# February 19, 2004 12:46 AM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks a bunch James. Good tip. I've been thinking about this more and the possibility of having a somewhat-portable runtime and hosting environment, and if it could fit on a disk or somewhere around there.
# February 19, 2004 12:48 AM

Jason Salas said:

**UPDATE**

Here's a good article that's along the lines of what I was talking about:
http://www.microsoft.com/belux/nl/msdn/community/columns/desmet/hostaspnet1.mspx
# February 19, 2004 1:41 AM

Jason Salas said:

**UPDATE**

A Microsoft PM that owns the Globalization subset of the ASP.NET feature set was nice enought to point me to a working sample of how to add new custom cultures in order to tap into resource files: http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/UserSamples/Details.aspx?SampleGuid=a193b952-2e44-45ed-811d-c1fabf2f6e8a
# February 21, 2004 12:28 AM

Christian Nagel said:

There is a List class in the namespace System.Collections (this is what the error said). This List class is private.
# February 22, 2004 7:06 AM

Jason Salas said:

Yeah...I got that part. Again, I understand about the List type being inaccessible, but the error code didn't really imply that. :)
# February 22, 2004 8:46 AM

Christian Nagel said:

The error code said "'System.Collections.List' is inaccessible due to its protection level". I think this is completely fair, because System.Collections.List is a private class.
However, you just wanted to use the class System.Collections.Generics.List. This list was inaccessible because you didn't include the namespace.

Maybe the error should say something like "if you want to use 'System.Collections.List' this class is inaccessible due to its protection level. If you want to use a List class from another namespace, import the namespace" ;-)
# February 22, 2004 9:42 AM

Rex John said:

Hey Jason Salas & M. Keith Warren ,
What position did you guys interview for?
Rex John
# February 22, 2004 9:55 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Rex,

At the time, I was up for a product manager position on the Office team.
# February 22, 2004 6:11 PM

Jason Salas said:

Right - I agree, the error code makes sense, but it's confusing as to the real nature of the problem with the code.
# February 22, 2004 6:12 PM

Gavin Joyce said:

Great idea Jason, I'd buy one in a snap.
# February 23, 2004 6:01 AM

Firoz Ansari said:

You can use any key mapping tool for this purpose.
Take a look at WinKey 2.8. You can download it from http://download.com.com/3000-2344-913626.html?tag=lst-0-1
# February 23, 2004 8:33 AM

Scott said:

Yeah, but you have to remember what the keys are Firoz.

Maybe we should pressure this company to release an overlay for Visual Studio and the different languages?

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/gaming/5fed/

I know they have overlays for Word and Excel.
# February 23, 2004 12:39 PM

Dumky said:

Why change the hardware?
Add a C# "mode" to a regular keyboard using a rarely used key as the toggle, or more generally use macros...?
# February 23, 2004 3:24 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Firoz,

Oh sure...but I'm one of those people who would prefer a set piece of hardware that had specific purposes in mind.

Also, should anything ever happen to my PC and the settings get erased (perish the thought), I'd have to do the whole thing over again. I wouldn't mind paying extra for new hardware that someone built that laid everything out for me.

Case in point: varying joysticks for flight sim and racing games.

In other words, I'm an idiot, I need help and I'm one the people who would buy this type of thing. :)
# February 23, 2004 7:23 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Scott,

Now there's an idea...I might shoot this by a couple of product managers I know for their input....
# February 23, 2004 7:24 PM

Mike Tanguileg said:

Yes, Jason, I'm still at Microsoft. I'm very interested in your localization project, as I have had to do some localization frameworks myself here. I'd be very interested in what you come up with.
Also, I'd certainly make my web service available to you, or anyone else for that matter. Got to keep the Chamorro culture alive, and this is one way I can do it.
# February 25, 2004 5:03 PM

Paul said:

Hi guys, I'm applying for an internship (summer) as a software design engineer. I have amazing background in mathematics and problem solving. I was a former International Mathematical Olympiad participant.

But the problem is, I've only experienced C++/programming for a year. So my computer knowledge really isn't THAT great. My worry is that they ask me some technical things about C++ or computer knowledge and I wouldn't have a clue.

I can ace the riddles/logic questions with ease, but technical C++ questions I don't think I can do too well. I've taken 2 courses in C++ so I know everything up to linked list/polymorphism...ect. But I really haven't delved too deep into techniques/tricks.

Am I in a bad situation?
# February 26, 2004 10:46 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Paul,

Just be yourself and answer honestly. Try and work out whatever strange problems they throw at you and give it your best shot. The worst thing you can do is try and lie your way through it or give up right away. Good luck!
# February 26, 2004 5:41 PM

Paul said:

I've sent in my electronic resume about a week ago and haven't heard a phone call yet. Does this mean there is no hope? Generally how long is the time between sending out the resume and receiving a phone call (if Microsoft is interested)?

Thanks.
# March 1, 2004 10:16 AM

Jason Salas said:

Paul,

This is the gray area. I've known people who've sent their resumes and get nothing back for months. The company is constantly shifting and evolving, and departments get new hires positions and close existing ones all the time.

Remember, Microsoft is a huge corporation, so they literally get thousands of applications a day, which stack up over time.

Sadly, the only thing you can do it wait. :(
# March 1, 2004 7:36 PM

ware said:

well all i know is that benny hill has to have been one of the funniest comedians of his time, i still really crack up laughng when i see a skit involving Fred Scuttle.
I think it's a shame the way he died alone but can't we just remember the man for how funny he was and how he managed to bring a smile to everyones face?
# March 2, 2004 4:41 AM

Paul said:

Is it also the same for interns? When do people applying for summer interns (college student) get interviews?
# March 2, 2004 1:29 PM

Jason Salas said:

I think if you have to openly apply for an intern job (i.e., you're not contacted by a Microsoft recruiter or your school doesn't set it up for you), it's a waiting game.

Good luck!
# March 2, 2004 4:38 PM

swc said:

(IE users) If you have edit text software.. no need for file/save as.. just "Edit button" and select which tools you want to use to view the source. And then save it right into your hard drive. So far I have not seen any site can prevent that.
# March 6, 2004 10:05 PM

MihaK said:

OK, let me start with some simple model for ASP.NET apps:

4 class stereotypes:
- <<ClientPage>> (represents the stuff that comes down the wire and renders/executes in the browser)
- <<ServerPage>> (represents the .aspx page on the server that builds the ClientPage)
- <<CodeBehind>> (represents the .cs or .vb code that is referenced by ServerPage
- <<JavaScript>> (represents the stuff that executes locally when runs-on-client events triggers)

4 relations stereotypes:
- <<builds>> (the relation from ServerPage to ClientPage: "ServerPage builds the ClientPage and sends it down the wire")
- <<event>> (the reletation from ClientPage to JavaScript - "ClientPage triggers the execution of JavaScript" or from ClientPage to ServerPage - "ClientPage triggers the submit up to the ServerPage")
- <<redirect>> (the relation between ServerPage and ServerPage - "ServerPage redirects to another ServerPage")
- <<include>> (the 1:1 relation between ServerPage and CodeBehind)

At design time you build ServerPages, which automatically include specific CodeBehind-s for every ServerPage. At run time browser calls ServerPages (event) that generate ClientPages (build) that fire events either locally (to JavaScript) or back to ServerPages.

If you agree with this, we can move on to Web Services model.
# March 7, 2004 6:57 PM

Scott said:

I had hella problems with it under Windows 2000 (IIS 5 I think). Things like images coming up rex'ed, CSS missing, all sorts of stuff like that. I'll have to try it again if I ever get to work on at IIS 6 server. :(
# March 14, 2004 3:24 AM

Robert McLaws said:

That's funny, cause the CODE directory is my least favorite feature. I hate the fact that Microsoft is continually dictating to me what my directory structure should be. That folder should be configurable on a web-by-web basis.
# March 19, 2004 6:19 PM

Jason Salas said:

Ahh...so you're one of those people who instead of using the default "images" directory, changes it to "pictures" just to be non-conformist? :)
# March 19, 2004 6:26 PM

Robert McLaws said:

LOL.

No, actually, I have a folder called "Common" that hold all the items common to the different parts of the site. I then have several nested folders underneath. They are:

-Components (Code)
-Controls (User Controls)
-Images
-MenuData (ASPnetMenu XML Files)
-Scripts
-Stylesheets

You shouldn't have .VB (or.CS) files strewn around your site for no reason. If it's not an ASPX page, it doesn't belog outside the common folder. When several sites depend on the same files, I have a "Common Folder" outside of the main web, and link it into the web directories using NTFS junctions. That way, if one file changes, all directories get updated.

I'm extremely anal about website organization. Mostly because most people aren't. I got fed up with inheriting projects with no organization whatsoever. So I came up with a predictable system that I use every time. Has served me very well.
# March 19, 2004 8:31 PM

mike said:

The good news, I think, is that the further you are beyond that first critical job, the less the degree and institution matters. Lots of high-tech firms recruit directly out of such universities (and many more), but when hiring someone with experience, the experience count about 1,582% more than the schooling. Just as with high school -- that GPA mattered when applying to colleges, but who cares now?
# March 19, 2004 8:34 PM

mike said:

I vote for the Code folder. :-) It's actually double-good, although that's my opinion. First, no need to compile classes -- just run and go. We could have used this feature w/ Web Matrix, heh. Second, the Web page designer in Whidbey gives you IntelliSense on anything in the Code folder. How cool is that?
# March 19, 2004 8:37 PM

Jason Salas said:

Excellent points! (Although, those dang Ivy League fraternities seem to stay eerily close-knit...)
# March 19, 2004 9:01 PM

Jason Salas said:

Sweet. I know people that sing the praises of Microsoft technologies up and down the street, but change absolutely every default setting and recommended coding convention just to prove they can.

These type of people setup an MS-driven site and then proceed to make the default documents something different than "index.html" or "default.aspx", rename all the provided dirs and other quirky stuff.

I'm in the middle...I change some things, and leave others the way they were set up. I always create several directories:

/images
/css
/modules
/customcontrols
/usercontrols
/servercontrols

Hey, it takes all types...
# March 19, 2004 9:06 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Mike,

I'm very pleased directories like /code, /themes and /resources got the treatment they did for V2 on a functional level. However, I was surprised at the naming convention used. It makes sense to keep things simple, and undoubtedly the engineers took the fact that legacy apps may have those dirs named already and so would allow files and folders within those spaces to be served and/or non-compiled, but I think for some it creates a headache.

I would have opted for some other naming system...something most people woulnd't be using to rule out not technical incompatability, but confusion for webmasters running migrated sites.

Think about how many people out there right now have a /code and/or /resources folder one step down from root containing sample source files.

I guess it's a self-defeating argument...you can't really pick a name that's easy to remember and short enough that someone out there isn't using already.
# March 19, 2004 9:12 PM

Jason Salas said:

And for the record (and for any corporate recruiters reading this now), I once got 3 gold stars and a complementary puffy sticker for drawing The Pokey Little Puppy for my 4th grade book report. :)
# March 19, 2004 9:13 PM

Cesar said:

One great email validator is one that, after performing the string expression validaton, check if the domain name exist (using dns query), get th MX for this domain and check if the user exist in SMTP server. Theses validations may be anabled/disabled by properties of this validation control.
# March 20, 2004 11:40 AM

Rich Storaci said:

Jason-

Very well-expressed. Remember what you have going for you more than any platinum-level diploma is your technical competence and quality work experience. You're one of the most brillant men I know, especially with all the varied and demanding hats you wear at KUAM. Keep smiling, Jason, as you're going places!
# March 21, 2004 7:52 PM

Jason Salas said:

> Keep smiling, Jason, as you're going places!

Thanks Rich...hopefully sooner than later! :)
# March 21, 2004 11:45 PM

TrackBack said:

# March 23, 2004 1:52 PM

TrackBack said:

# March 24, 2004 3:45 PM

TrackBack said:

# March 24, 2004 3:52 PM

Jason Salas said:

**UPDATE**

They made the change. Cool. :)
# March 25, 2004 5:50 AM

Jeff said:

I'm impressed. I got out of broadcast years ago because the pay and consolidation (in radio especially) made it not very fun anymore. I still miss it, being behind or in front of the camera. Good times!
# March 25, 2004 9:34 AM

Tim Marman said:

Non sequitor: Why must Stuart Scott adopt a "hip-hop vocabulary"? He's not ghetto - does he have to pretend solely because he's black? I don't get it.

:)

# March 26, 2004 7:11 PM

Darron said:

I write better code when listening to "lounge music" like Sinatra, and Deano.
# March 26, 2004 8:04 PM

David said:

Actually for me Techno or Hard House is the way to go - must moving at over 140 beats per minute have proven to wake you up. (better than caffeene) Allows me the same sort of clear focus you observed. Code becomes much easier and productivity goes way up.
# March 26, 2004 8:48 PM

Mark Erikson said:

Techno / electronic type stuff. I highly recommend www.modarchive.com . There's a big mixture of stuff there, all sorts of styles. I've barely sampled it myself, but I've found plenty that works good for me.
# March 26, 2004 10:40 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hey David & Mark,

Cool. I think because I grew up listening to metal, it's more conducive to the way I work. Like I said, I know people who CAN'T work without techno.



# March 26, 2004 11:02 PM

mike said:

Jazz, man. Late night work + late night jazz = true productivity. And the guys at the radio station must know that, too, coz they just keep the good stuff comin'.
# March 27, 2004 12:43 AM

Jason Salas said:

Now that's the ticket! I can also code pretty well to the blues...Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn, mostly.
# March 27, 2004 12:52 AM

Chris McKenzie said:

ALl kinds of music: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Beethoven, Sarah McLachlan, Crystal Method, Mudvayne, Slayer. I dig it all.
# March 27, 2004 10:18 AM

mike said:

The mobile story in Whidbey uses so-called adaptive rendering; each control has an adapter that can render the markup appropriate to the browser request. This works something like browsercaps, but rather than just set various switches based on the user agent, the control can instiate entirely different classes to render the markup. It's both tons more powerful as well as extensible. (New device? New adapter class.)

Whidbey also introduces device filtering, which you can apply at the property level. For example, you can have default text (maybe terse text for all devices) and override the Text property for desktop browsers with more verbose text.

So these features are in the service of making it substantially easier to create single-source pages that work for many devices. (Rather than having to author MMIT pages separately.) That said, adaptive rendering and filterin aren't going to make the need (or desire) for separate desktop and device pages go away altogether.
# March 27, 2004 12:43 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Chris,

Beethoven ==> Sarah McLachlan ==> Slayer

Now that's an eclectic list! :)
# March 27, 2004 5:03 PM

Trench said:

Sounds like a great idea man. Looking forward to see how things turn out.
# April 5, 2004 9:37 PM

Sean McCarthy said:

Have you found anything that is relatively easy to use or easy to program yet?

I found a java applet on Johnny Damon's website ...
# April 6, 2004 12:19 AM

PatF said:


If you can change the 404 page used on your site to a .aspx page, you can effectively have the .net framework process any path you want (as long as that path doesn't actually exist).

You could use this to have your asp.net pages look like .html pages or directories, or anything you like :

protected void Application_BeginRequest(Object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string strPath=Request.RawUrl;

if(strPath.IndexOf("404.aspx") > 0 && strPath.IndexOf("mypage.html") > 0)
{
Context.RewritePath("realpage.aspx");
}

}

This would translate any request with the string mypage.html in it to the page realpage.aspx.

# April 6, 2004 11:39 AM

Garrett Baker said:

You could look up the user's ip address in whois to find the owner of the IP block.

This would provide the company information. Usually this information includes email addresses and URLs. Of course, this is more complex than using a web.config file.
# April 6, 2004 8:57 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Garrett,

Interesting tip...although I'm pretty sure the default homepage URL for mobile splash pages wouldn't be available from within a WHOIS query.
# April 6, 2004 11:42 PM

Sachin Patil said:

Guys!!!

I have an interview in another 2 or 3 days. That is a phone interview of 20-25 mins. Please do tell me the ways. What is generally asked in the initial Phone interview.

# April 8, 2004 5:45 AM

Jason Salas said:

Just keep some of the comments on this post in mind...and check out Chris Sells' post at: http://www.sellsbrothers.com/fun/msiview/default.aspx?content=question.htm

Good luck!
# April 8, 2004 6:02 AM

Sachin Patil said:

Thanks Jason,

I will let you know my performance !!!!
# April 8, 2004 2:39 PM

Bill Hayes said:

Hi Jason,

If you were interviewed on MS campus by less than 6 interviewers, is that a bad sign?
I read from web resources that 6 interviews (the last one being the project manager) is a good sign.
But my recruiter said it doesn't have to be 6 interviews....


Thanks,
Bill
# April 13, 2004 7:12 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Bill,

I'd say that's typical. I've met people that say they've been through the wringer as many as 9 times in a day, and I've also seen people who have only gone to 5 hiring managers. And of course, executives typically have one high-level talk and they're in :)

Good luck!
# April 13, 2004 8:59 PM

Santos said:

I got an on-site interview with them on friday, and Im excited and scared at the same time. I know that its quite a challenge to get a job and I also know that there are a ton of really smart people applying also. I managed to get passed the phone interview and get a shot with the oncampus trials. It'd be awesome to get a job there but I look at stuff like, XSLT drawbacks and ASP.NET controls, and I have little to no knowledge about either technologies. I'm applying for a fulltime Sofware Design Engineer (I graduate in June), but considering these questions, I dont know that I have much of a chance.
# April 14, 2004 5:23 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Santos,

Just be yourself...talk about the stuff you know and they won't harp on areas that you've got no experience with. You'll be expected to give deep opinions on the areas you are interested in and that you do work with, so just concentrate on being strong on working with what you do know.
# April 14, 2004 5:26 AM

Prashanth said:

Can any one help me for accessing the viewstate contents thro javascript code.
Kindly mail me at prashanth.k@sonata-software.com
# April 23, 2004 8:56 AM

Dan Kelly said:

I have an interview for a director level marketing position at Microsoft. Please guide me with any inputs to face the interview successfully. Thank you
# April 23, 2004 2:00 PM

Jeff said:

Couple of reason why advertisers may user flash or standard GIF... If you are simply displaying text and maybe a few images, flash may yield a smaller file size. On networks like AOL:AIM advertisers use flash to display short movie previews simply because most people have flash and it does not require any extra download. It may not be of the best quality but it is extremely light weight. Also, I don't know of any publisher who would allow anything but flash or image as an interstitial.
# April 26, 2004 9:23 AM

Shannon J Hager said:

I just had a conversation with a designer about this Friday. He was forced to use an animated .gif when the client really wanted Flash. The effect was nowhere near as nice and the file size was outrageous. Flash would have done the trick with ease.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you don't really know what is going on besides the animation you see. There could be all kinds of client/server communication going on and/or dynamic building of the text and animations. Most aren't doing this, of course, but Flash is still (usually) smaller and better looking than a similar animated gif (except for simple "blink" type animations).
# April 26, 2004 3:00 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Shannon,

Good comments. I guess admittedly one thing that's nice about Flash is that you can also prevent someone from *easily* copying a resource.
# April 26, 2004 7:28 PM

Adam said:

Does anyone have the wav of that skit. Preferrably the, "I got a fever, and the only perscription is more cowbell."? Or atleast know where I can find it?

Thanks

Adam
# April 27, 2004 9:45 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Adam,

I found this floating around in great volume before...on Kazaa, AudioPlanet and Napster when it was "legit" to use those services.
# April 27, 2004 9:36 PM

Jason Salas said:

Actually, I think the SNL Blue Oyster Cult sketch w/Christoper Walken and the Jimgleheimer Junction sketch w/Cameron Diaz are the funniest bits to have come from SNL in the last 10 years.
# April 27, 2004 9:37 PM

TrackBack said:

# April 29, 2004 7:38 AM

Barb said:

Interesting comments, Jason. :)

I still don't like Mike Hall, I don't think he deserved to win, and I think ESPN cheated the viewers by not counting the audience vote at the end of the first hour of the finale.

If they had, Zach Selwyn and Aaron Levine would have been tied, and it would have been up to the infamous "red phone" guy as to who got cut. Zach probably would have been axed anyway (even though I thought he was better than Aaron was in the first hour), but at least it would have been a bit more upfront. (btw, only way I know about the audience's vote was a crawler at the bottom of the screen at the end of part 1. Votes to cut Zach were lower than the votes to cut Maggie -- how did she last so long, anyway, except for her writing? -- and to cut Aaron.)

Be that as it may, I still enjoyed what you had to say about the show -- and appreciated reading your comments, as they're more informed than most because you've actually done the job before.

Barb
# April 30, 2004 3:32 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Barb,

Thanks! yeah, I really enjoyed the show. I had a feeling it would be between Aaron and Mike...although it's a reality show, ESPN still is a business, and those two fit the mold of prototypical sportscasters best. But trust me...Zach's going to be picked up by someone, and damn if he doesn't ESPN down because of it.

Maggie's also got a brilliant career ahead of her...hell, I'd hire her. :)
# April 30, 2004 3:42 AM

Phil Scott said:

I saw that show and they installed a chandeller, a makeup kit and a coffee machine. I guess the equivalent would be a bunch of java applets, rotating graphics and a flash intro.
# April 30, 2004 9:33 AM

Greg Pyatt said:

What about blinking text? You can't forget blinking text! Teh <bink> tag t0tlly r0x0rz for teh intarweb! LOL!!!!11111eleventy

Seriously though, I think it's a great idea and it couldn't hurt to inject a little more humor (note: GOOD humor, not groan-inducing nerdo-humor, m'kay?) into some of those MSDN videos.
# April 30, 2004 11:42 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Phil!

LOL! Yeah, and they could migrate a slow site from the Zeus web server to IIS 6.0 with HTTP compression!
# April 30, 2004 11:12 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hey Greg! Oh sure...how could one neglect the <BLINK> tags? Maybe something very DHTML-heavy and very Flash friendly.
# April 30, 2004 11:14 PM

Damian said:

But it's free here http://tinyurl.com
# May 2, 2004 11:18 PM

Francesco said:

It may be free at TinyURL, but they do not offer any of the advanced features coming soon to URL123.

# May 3, 2004 12:39 AM

anonymous nerd said:

Isn't bigger, better? http://www.hugeurl.com/
# May 3, 2004 2:27 AM

Francesco said:

LOL. Seriously though...

No where else can you edit the URLs after you create them, view statistics on hit counts and browsers, delete them when you're through with them, set them to be active for x number of days, password protect them, require a user to enter an email address before being redirected, and best of all...customize your own subdomain, giving you guaranteed access to all possible character combinations for your subdomain, for example:

http://jason.url123.com/news

instead of the harder to remember:

http://url123.com/5w2e3
# May 3, 2004 10:57 AM

Sonu Kapoor said:

Good thing pal. Pretty cool to write articles for MSDN. Keep it up !

Sonu Kapoor
# May 3, 2004 9:36 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Sonu! Yeah, I've already got another one on the way I'm hoping will be published, too, on pagination concerns with mobile apps. Should be a scorcher!
# May 3, 2004 9:38 PM

Robert W. McLaws said:

Where the bloidy hell have you been? LOL. Good to have you back.,
# May 3, 2004 10:24 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hey Rob! Working on mobile apps, and getting ready for my station's coverage of the upcoming local elections in the 3rd quarter.
# May 3, 2004 10:26 PM

Nyt Q. Crawler said:

I think that it would be a good idea if it were actually educational and they left the code somewhere on a website for others to download and use.
# May 8, 2004 9:41 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Nyt,

Great site! It'd be a great way to do something positive for someone...get really good guys to come in and really revamp a project.
# May 9, 2004 1:32 AM

James said:

I watch espn daily. Where is this Mike Hall its time to see him in action. I heard Dan Patrick saying not so nice things of Hall. I guess that 95.000$ dollar salery before he even worked for it could rub you the wrong way! On the other hand he beat out 10,000 people for the job, not a everyday situation when applying for a job. Espn i luv it!.
# May 10, 2004 11:35 PM

Jason Salas said:

ESPN's letting Mike start after he graduates from the U of Missouri in May. Dan Patrick said on his radio show that he really didn't agree with the Dream Job concept...saying something like "it's like letting the winner of the punt, pass and kick competition land a starting job in the NFL". Funny!
# May 10, 2004 11:51 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

I want to see a talented, responsible group of developers (and managers, etc) get together and tackle the reliable, secure electronic voting problem. There are too few players in this arena or else they would not be able to produce such terrible products. I refuse to believe that coming up with a Microsoft Access-based eVoting application that *works* and meets currently accepted security guidelines is as hard as Diebold and other companies are making it out to be. Electronic voting *is* going to happen; I think the use of defective products in the last election is evidence of that. I live about 15 miles from where (according to Diebold memos) someone had to do "some fancy footwork" on the .mdb in an election last year. As a developer, I refuse to believe that such things are acceptable.
# May 15, 2004 6:10 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Shannon,

Good ideas. In my role in the media now, we're essentially building 3 types of systems, each of which serving a distinct purpose:

1) marketing/promotional (candidate bios, issue information, voting registration, etc.)
2) internal DSS tools to help us track issues and for live broadcasts
3) election-night broadcast systems (real-time results generator, multi-platform data rendering)

I'm not sure Access would be the way to go for a large, distributed, high-volume app. :(
# May 16, 2004 1:07 AM

Paul Wilson said:

Unfortunately ASPAlliance is losing its simplicity.
# May 17, 2004 8:08 AM

Dave Burke said:

Paul, thanks for the yucks! Jason, I haven't seen this WS-based formatting and layout approach to article submissions, but I enjoyed reading about it. Thanks!

# May 17, 2004 9:40 AM

Steven Smith said:

Yeah, and unfortunately the web service thing didn't scale at all, so as the site grew more popular, it had to be replaced. And now that the site is part of the Codewise Community and is searchable via VS.NET and the Codewise Federated Search, it requires a few more fields from authors submitting works.

But, hopefully, the extra traffic from and usefulness for VS.NET users will make it worth it. Thanks for the plug, Jason.
# May 17, 2004 11:25 AM

Chris Howell said:

Good Job and Congrats, Jason. I enjoy your participation in the .NET community.
# May 17, 2004 12:38 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Chris! Your efforts are appreciated, too!
# May 17, 2004 7:06 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

I am CERTAIN Access would NOT be the way to go. Diebold, however, thought/thinks otherwise. They have used and abused Access in their buggy, insecure voting machines that are currently used across the US, that is the only reason I mentioned Access: as a point of reference.
# May 18, 2004 7:41 PM

Larry Osterman said:

Fubar as an acronym dates from at least world war two, and probably before.

I've actually heard it as f*ed up beyond all recognition, but it's the same idea.
# May 18, 2004 11:59 PM

Jason Salas said:

Really? Interesting. I wasn't aware that the "F" word existed that far back in American history. :)
# May 19, 2004 12:01 AM

Phil said:

Check out the Jargon File entry: http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/F/foo.html

foo and bar predate Tango and Cash by a good 45 years, back to at least WWII. They've been used in programming circles since at least the 60s.

Many, many hours can be productively wasted browsing the Jargon File. Highly recommended.
# May 19, 2004 12:05 AM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Phil! That's what I was after. I just turned 30 last month, so tragically my popular culture frame of reference doesn't go back any further than 1974. :(

I appreciate the help!
# May 19, 2004 12:08 AM

denny said:

try this link:

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci748437,00.html

or this one:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fubar


also in the USAF we have the "BUFFF" which is a B-52
I'll start it out for you as "Big Ugly Fat Flying F*"
and a C-141 in green cammo paint is a "Leaping Lizzard"

# May 19, 2004 12:08 AM

ron said:

http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3092.html
Enjoy!
# May 19, 2004 12:59 AM

mike said:

I echo the earlier recommendation of the Jargon File, which rarely fails me, although just today I came up dry on "hork." :-(

Although per Raymond and the Jargon File "foo" and "bar," do not appear to be related to the military slang of "fubar," I thought I'd add a selection of terms that are related to the latter sense. These are from "Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words." The first is probably familiar to most folks.

snafu adj/n. Situation Normal: All F*cked Up
fubar " F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition
fubb " F*cked Up Beyond Belief
fumtu " F*ucked Up More Than Usual
janfu " Joint Army/Navy F*ck Up
sapfu " Surpassing All Previous F*ck Ups
susfu " Situation Unchanged: Still F*cked Up
tarfu " Things Are REALLY F*ucked Up

# May 19, 2004 1:32 AM

Scott said:

Don't forget "cluster fucked" meaning someone in charge of something is making stupid decisions.

Check out this link about "foo", it's an RFC. http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3092.html
# May 19, 2004 2:19 AM

Heinz said:

I think I have heard it in another movie called "Forrest Gump" (one of the Vietnam scenes, if I remeber right).
# May 19, 2004 4:53 AM

Johnny Hall said:

And Saving Private Ryan (the "desk jockey" is told that it's German!).
# May 19, 2004 5:38 AM

Cobra, Cobra Commander bitch... said:

http://www.geocities.com/doctordoom27/classic_blue.html?1085110503770
# May 20, 2004 11:57 PM

TrackBack said:

# May 26, 2004 12:00 AM

Martin said:

I want one of thoseeeeeeeeeeeeee. But not only for Visula Studio.NET (puff). One for programmers, with {} $ etc easy access!!!
# May 27, 2004 10:24 PM

Skar-Skream said:

Everything, or at least more links to find, you need for the coolest character ever, Snake-Eyes.

Check out the costumes he made !
# June 1, 2004 2:10 AM

Skar-Skream said:

Oh, here's the site!

http://www.neoengel.com/snakeeyes

Check out the Snake-Eyes costumes http://www.neoengel.com/snakeeyes_costumes

And I found more GIJoe costumes there too http://www.neoengel.com/costumes
# June 1, 2004 2:12 AM

Pimp Master said:

I had a similair Idea...as I love the show aswell...

and gee...guess what????

I ran with it!

I had to make it marketable...Id like to eventualy have it more like im pimpin someones site...hard to find that target market though so I had to offer web dev for someone who just plain needed a site to begin with...

but hey!

Its a start! Good things to come...

check it ou!

http://www.pimpmysite.com

Pimp Master
# June 5, 2004 3:22 AM

Jason Salas said:

I love it! Great job!
# June 5, 2004 3:25 AM

Sreejathh S. Warrier said:

Jason,
When I read that you are using SPs instead of T-SQL for speed, I was reminded of Frans Bourma's post on the topic.
I suspect you would already have seen this, but just in case you havent.
http://weblogs.asp.net/fbouma/archive/2003/11/18/38178.aspx
Cheers,
Sreejath
# June 7, 2004 7:46 AM

David Crowell said:

I implemented my own search functionality for a site here at work also.

I took a slightly different approach. I have a base page class that overrides the Render method, and builds a keyword list from the HTML. I have two tables to stored indexed data, SearchedPages and SearchedWords. I also use the database and caching to store the last time a page was indexed, and don't index it again for 24 hours.

It's actually very fast, the results leave a little to be desired though. I'm probably not smart enough to write the next Google, so I'll look into using full text searching next time.

As far as stored procedures... That's a topic for a religious war (again). Use whatever you are comfortable with :)
# June 7, 2004 8:29 AM

Scott Galloway said:

Check out Lucene.NET (http://sourceforge.net/projects/lucenedotnet), this is a high performance file-based search engine...coincidentally, it's also used in .TEXT 0.96...
# June 7, 2004 8:29 AM

TrackBack said:

Take Outs for 7 June 2004
# June 7, 2004 8:31 AM

Phil Scott said:

I was stuck with the same problem with our site. I took the easy way out and just stuck a branded google search with a site:www.blahblahblah.com around it.

Honestly, it works great. I still feal a bit guilty about "cheating," but I've actually had a couple of people inquire on how I did it because it works so well. I've had no compliants either.
# June 7, 2004 10:00 AM

David Crowell said:

I would have loved to use a branded google search. The client would not go along with it though. We could have saved some serious time (and we were overbudget as it was).

At least I got to learn something along the way.
# June 7, 2004 10:39 AM

Brad said:

Puppy!
# June 7, 2004 7:17 PM

Addy Santo said:

Err.. Dude.... Nothing personal, but about half of those scenes are on my "Worst scenes ever" list... The Swordfish and Matrix Revolution scenes especially.

Want some *really* good scenes? Neo's kung fu training in Matrix (1), virtually any dialog from Fight Club, Lilloo's jump in Fifth Element, Bryant's monologue at the end of Bladerunner, the Tatooin canteen scene from Star Wars.

# June 7, 2004 7:26 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Andy,

Ahhh...good point, but remember, film is art, and art is interpretive. So, one man's trash may be another man's treasure.
# June 7, 2004 7:29 PM

Alex Papadimoulis said:

One must concede the ubiquitious anoriphication encompasing the essense of "The Architect" is superceded only by the deplorication of Neo's uburbulous mortification with the dichotomy of the "real" reality (naturally juxtaposed with that of the faux reality) and implications that qualify the intermediary reality provided within the context of the train station.
# June 7, 2004 8:22 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

Addy: I think you probably meant Roy Batty's monologue at the end of Blade Runner ('tears in rain').
# June 7, 2004 9:23 PM

Scott C Reynolds said:

Um...Alex? I'm submitting your comment to thedailywtf.
# June 7, 2004 11:40 PM

Jason Salas said:

Good one Alex!
# June 7, 2004 11:43 PM

Phil Weber said:

Jason: Did you see Will Ferrell's spoof of The Architect on the MTV Video Music Awards? Classic! (Ergo.)
# June 8, 2004 1:31 AM

Jason Salas said:

Phil:

Oh yeah, I actually saw Ferrell's version before I saw the moie, so I was cracking up in the most critical scene while everyone was trying to concentrate. :)
# June 8, 2004 1:42 AM

TrackBack said:

Take Outs for 8 June 2004
# June 8, 2004 2:42 AM

Lotas Smartman said:

the home server part i agree with. i cant sleeep if my workstation, 2 servers and imac are dead. i hate power failures! i never walked into work and found cables being run from one end of a building to an other, yet.
# June 8, 2004 5:03 AM

Pimp Master said:

Check out the new talking pimp I just added.
# June 8, 2004 5:44 AM

Jason Salas said:

Nice touch. :)
# June 8, 2004 6:24 AM

christoc said:

ah yes, the days as a kid watching TV shows that were 2 weeks behind! I remember them fondly! I really need to take a trip to Guam again in the next few years. When we moved (Air Force father) we stayed at The Pacific Island club? I think that's the name....
# June 8, 2004 10:32 AM

TrackBack said:

# June 8, 2004 11:45 AM

TrackBack said:

# June 8, 2004 11:47 AM

TrackBack said:

# June 9, 2004 3:07 AM

Thomas Tomiczek said:

Yeah. Nice tool.

Just tried it here.

Guess what - it did NOT find ANY of the fake email addresses that I tried :-)

But then, we run a honey pot system - all email addresses are accepted by our public relay, and used as input into our anti spam thingy.
# June 9, 2004 3:17 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Thomas,

I saw it delete some test aliases I had put in there, but generally it was spot-on.
# June 9, 2004 3:58 AM

TrackBack said:

# June 9, 2004 10:28 AM

TrackBack said:

# June 9, 2004 10:28 AM

Scott Allen said:

A little more information: http://www.napanews.com/templates/index.cfm?template=story_full&id=752CCF63-B020-4EE7-9602-8CBE24033AA3
# June 9, 2004 9:20 PM

Phil Scott said:

Zach was also reading e-mail on PTI
# June 9, 2004 9:41 PM

Jason Salas said:

Yep...I mentioned Zach's cameo in the link above.
# June 9, 2004 9:42 PM

Phil Scott said:

Hmmmmm...how did I miss the first sentance of the post. I think it's time for bed.
# June 9, 2004 9:52 PM

Heather said:

Hmmm, what's that? I can't hear you....my head is to far up my...oh well, nevermind. ; )
# June 11, 2004 1:13 PM

Robert W. Leu said:

I only caught his first show on Tuesday...he seemed a little weak from the get-go, with no control over the panel. Did he get better as the week went on?
# June 11, 2004 9:07 PM

TrackBack said:

Take Outs for 12 June 2004
# June 12, 2004 2:32 AM

TrackBack said:

# June 12, 2004 12:04 PM

TrackBack said:

# June 12, 2004 12:07 PM

Jeff said:

I don't know what broadcast medium you work in, but my experience in "the biz" was that your customers were the idiots at the other end of the hall that sell ads. They only understood Arbitron or Nielsen, and therefore thought they understood programming. It seems to have only gotten worse since I left that horrible "profession." I miss it the work like hell, but I'd be in no rush to back to the environment.
# June 13, 2004 12:05 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Jeff,

Oh yeah...that's an entirely different issue unto itself. Recall Billy Crystal's line from "City Slickers" where he describes his role as a radio ad salesman as someone who really doesn't sell anything tangible, therefore he sells air.
# June 13, 2004 12:39 AM

Jeff said:

You inspired a rant of sorts... not entirely related, but you indirectly got me thinking!
http://weblogs.asp.net/jeff/archive/2004/06/13/154500.aspx
# June 13, 2004 12:49 AM

Jason Salas said:

Glad to have shaken up the system!
# June 13, 2004 1:44 AM

Rodrigo Pineda Icaza said:

what a piece of Boloney, You do that in most business are and you gonna be OUT of BUSINESS in no time.

Television MEdia is a Goverment regulated MONOPOLY and you may get away with that but not in mosost business.




# June 13, 2004 9:27 AM

michael said:

The "I love the 80's" really did put VH1 back on the map (Was it ever really there to begin with?). If I'm flipping channels and come across any of the 80's shows, I'll usually take out the batteries in my remote and hide them from my girlfriend.

I joke about the 90's show with my friends because we're only four years removed. What will be next? "I love the year 2001"?

In any case, I'll be watching all of those episodes as well.
# June 13, 2004 6:55 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Rodrigo,

I agree that TV is subject to *some* government dictation, but most industries are, too. I argue the last point that in most businesses using an aggresive stance wouldn't work...I've done this for years in retail, in telecommunications, in provate consulting, and in the hospitality industry.

So try it for yourself. If you wind up getting fired or go out of business...well, then, maybe you're right. :)
# June 13, 2004 7:43 PM

Jon Galloway said:

I hate to URL Slap, but could it be this?
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=OvgkSVlDCHA.1548%40tkmsftngp05&rnum=3&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522Error:%2BA%2Bsevere%2Berror%2Boccurred%2Bon%2Bthe%2Bcurrent%2Bcommand.%2BThe%2Bresults,%2Bif%2Bany,%2Bshould%2Bbe%2Bdiscarded%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26selm%3DOvgkSVlDCHA.1548%2540tkmsftngp05%26rnum%3D3
# June 14, 2004 7:15 PM

Jon Galloway said:

Oh, and also note that ADO.NET hides the root cause of the error a bit. You can probably get more info from the Event Viewer. I realize this doesn't answer your real question as to whether the patch caused it, but may help you in solving the problem.
# June 14, 2004 7:19 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Jon,

Thanks for the link. That's interesting, although I'm using a field of type TEXT, so I'm not sure I'd have to explicitly state the size of the data being INSERT'ed...would I? I'll keep this in mind.
# June 14, 2004 7:23 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi again Jon,

Yeah, my web host took a look at both the Error Log and the Event Viewer, and the precise message in the latter that was returned had something to do with "bad buffer recieved from client." I've never gotten this before...this is totally weird. :(
# June 14, 2004 7:24 PM

Jason Salas said:

To be precise, I think this would be it, from the link you posted:


---------------------------------------------------
Error: 17805, Severity: 20, State: 3
Invalid buffer received from client.
---------------------------------------------------
# June 14, 2004 7:25 PM

JOE SHMO said:

I'M THRILLED THAT HE IS HOSTING IS HE IS AMZAING
# June 14, 2004 8:39 PM

Jason Salas said:

I think I may have found the culprit...but this is supposed to be a fix?!??!

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=839523

"To work around this problem, do not use a stored procedure to update a text column in a table." This sucks for in-place systems that have been using such processes for years! Argh!
# June 15, 2004 1:04 AM

Jon Galloway said:

Yikes. Well, it does mention there's a Hotfix available by request. I was wondering why we never hit this, but we don't have an INSTEAD OF trigger on the table. Text fields are like BLOB fields in that they're just a 16 bit pointer to an external file, by the way. They're stored separately because they can be huge - 2GB if I remember correctly - so that wouldn't work with the file structure in SQL Server.
# June 15, 2004 1:19 AM

Jason Salas said:

Yeah...it's a bummer, alright. I'm not sure as this is *the* definitive problem, as our issue stems in INSERTs as well as UPDATEs, and the KB article mentions the latter exclusively. I also don't use INSTEAD OF. This is weird. I'm going to petition my web host to just uninstall the HotFix. Wish me luck!
# June 15, 2004 1:23 AM

TrackBack said:

# June 15, 2004 2:26 AM

TrackBack said:

# June 15, 2004 2:29 AM

Jason Salas said:

I'm hoping to have solved the problem: http://weblogs.asp.net/jasonsalas/archive/2004/06/16/156513.aspx
# June 15, 2004 5:29 PM

Jerry Pisk said:

You couldn't be more wrong. If you don't specify the type of your parameters they will default to whatever you pass, nvarchar for string, int for int, bigint for long, uniqueidentifier for Guid, datetime for DateTime and so on. They are not converted to strings when passed to the server...
# June 15, 2004 9:34 PM

Jason Salas said:

Right - that's my point. It WAS working without type information as a TEXT, but now it's forcing me to specify that it's a NVARCHAR with a limit of 4,000 characters.
# June 15, 2004 9:56 PM

Robert W. Leu said:

Typical Microsoft style.
# June 16, 2004 7:55 PM

Raza said:

synergy
cognizant


# June 19, 2004 11:20 PM

caroline said:

i grew up int he 90's not the 80's so i'm excited i'll know what they're talking about! but i fell off the couch when i saw the commercial i was very excited i marked July 12th on my CareBears calendar and everything. and i really do have a carebears calednar that just coincidentally has to do with the 90s wow im so cool
# June 20, 2004 11:15 PM

mike said:

If the file is 6K, there's got to be something in it. What do you see if you open it in Notepad or equivalent?
# June 21, 2004 11:11 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Mike,

This is what literally the full content within the file:

<%@ Page%>

...then, there's about 55 lines of blank space, but it can be highlighted, implying that there is/was something there, and that the text doesn't stop at the Page declaration.
# June 21, 2004 11:14 PM

Colt said:

I'm sorry to hear that Jason, but eating code is a common habit of Web Matrix.

Apart from power failure as in your case, I personally do face this problem occasionally, that is, the page was blank when I opened it in WM or some other rich editor. However, it'll become normal if I open it in *Notepad* again.
I know it looks weird, but I hope you can resume your codes in this way.
# June 22, 2004 12:13 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Colt,

I did think of that, and right after I opended the file unsuccessfully in WM, I tried it in Notepad, with the same result (actually, the Page declaration wasn't even visible). Everything worked out OK, but I seriously hope this is one event I'll not repeat anytime soon. I've been hitting CTRL-S like a madman today while working. :)
# June 22, 2004 12:27 AM

mike said:

Well, all in all, that sucks. :-( Nothing like that sinking feeling of realizing that that file is gone, man. Sorry you weren't able to recover it ...
# June 22, 2004 3:30 AM

AndrewSeven said:

Source Control?
# June 22, 2004 9:37 AM

Jason Nadal said:

Dumb question, but if this had been in a compiled dll somewhere on your pc, couldn't you have reflected it to get back something close to your source code?
# June 22, 2004 12:37 PM

jmj said:

Very funny!

I had the same problem too
# June 22, 2004 3:41 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Andrew,

If you're asking if I was using source control at the time of my accident - nope. Completely un-networked PC, just running Web Matrix independently. If yo're asking if I *should* be running it, yeah, I probably should. :(
# June 22, 2004 4:34 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Jason,

I didn't think of that. Good call. Actually, the one upside that came out of this is that because I recalled most of the core logic for the process, the second version came out better than the first, which is typical. The bitch was building the damn thing again from scratch.
# June 22, 2004 4:35 PM

Jason Salas said:

Yeah...why doesn't anyone just come out and say the "action" is the method name and the "destination" is the name of the class to be instantiated? Weird.
# June 22, 2004 4:42 PM

Francesco said:

Tiny url does not provide editing, custom domains, password protection, or hit reporting. URL123 does. And it's free.
# June 22, 2004 11:13 PM

Sassy said:

Fulltext searching on SQl2k is a pathetic joke. Not because of CPU cycles, because it _simply _dont _work. Once again, garbageware from Microsoft
# June 23, 2004 6:33 PM

alison said:

I love the 90's is going to rock(i.e. the subject but whatever). I can't wait until they go over clueless and there's something about mary, Naile imbrusia, titanic, baggy pants, and other importnat things that still rule our pop culture today. If i ever had a pop culture class, then I would have them watch this series, and the other I love series becuase they would learn so much. The commercial for this was so funny! She's like talk to the hand and hal sparks as hilarious(and slightly hot)
# June 26, 2004 11:08 AM

Jason Salas said:

Just an update...Microsoft Support tried to reproduce the error, installing the Hotfix on a server with the same build of ASP.NET and version of SQL Server 2000. They couldn't get it to replicate my error. Huh. Anyone else ran into something like this?
# June 26, 2004 10:46 PM

Jeff Perrin said:

Notepad2, my friend... Join the revolution ;)

http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html
# June 27, 2004 11:13 PM

Raj Kaimal said:


Jason,

What is the name of the virus you got infected with?

Is it this one? http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.rusty@m.html

-raj
# June 27, 2004 11:22 PM

Jason Nadal said:

There's nothing quite as annoying as rewriting code you had gotten to work and lost, I can feel your pain there... a little something I like to call "computer imposed refactoring" :)
# June 28, 2004 8:00 PM

Bart Segers said:

Great taste of music. Here in Belgium it is difficult to get those songs but 90% is known to me...
I made some cassettes in the 90ths with a lot of your list on it...
As far as I can remember following songs were also on these cassettes
Journey - "Faithfully"
Journey - "Send her my love"
Whitesnake - "Ain't no love in the heart of the city"
Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe -" The meeting"
Magnum - "The last dance"
Gary Moore - "Empty rooms" - Get the live version from "we want Moore"
Queensrÿche - "I will remember"
Damn Yankees - ?
I will check at home and make a list :-)

# July 1, 2004 8:17 AM

Scott Galloway said:

Possibly the most depressing post I've every read.
# July 1, 2004 8:30 AM

Simon Owen said:

You have the Scorpions - so add Wind of Change to the list :)
# July 1, 2004 8:37 AM

Scott said:

Oh shoot me now!

Motley Crue - Home sweet Home
Winger - Headed for a heartbreak
Kiss - Reason to live
Kiss - Forever
Van Halen - When its love
Van Halen - Love walks in
Guns n' Roses - Sweet child of mine
Whitesnake - here I go again
Whitesnake - Is this love
Poison - Every rose has it's thorn
Poison - I won't forget you
Poison - Something to believe in
Bon Jovi - Bed of roses ( 80's? maybe 90's)
Warrant - Heaven
Cinderella - Don't know what you've got (till its gone)
Skid Row - I remember you
Def Leppard - Love Bites
Lita Ford/Ozzy Osbourne - Close my eyes forever
Ozzy Osbourne - Mama I'm coming home


That's all for now, all done from memory. I feel dirty. I'm going to go take a shower now.
# July 1, 2004 9:12 AM

David Findley said:

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters.
Firehouse - Love of a Lifetime.

:):):):):):):):):):):):)
# July 1, 2004 9:23 AM

Matt Berther said:

Lita/Ozzy - Close My Eyes Forever
Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead or Alive (This is the best rock ballad of all time)
Bon Jovi - Prayer '94 (Crossroads)
GNR - Patience
Mr Big - To be with you
Ugly Kid Joe - Cats in the cradle
Heart - Alone
Meatloaf - Anything for love
White Lion - When the children cry
Extreme - More than words
Damn Yankees - High Enough
Alias - More than words
Motley Crue - Without you

Hope this helps you a bit...
# July 1, 2004 11:56 AM

Dave Burke said:

Greatest 80's Monster Ballads! What a riot! I happened to recently start listening to my 80's rock cassettes again, so I'll keep this post bookmarked in case I can provide any contributions to what is obviously a VERY worthy effort!
# July 1, 2004 11:59 AM

Jason Salas said:

Bart - excellent! I also forgot a couple now that you mention White Lion. Thanks!
# July 1, 2004 3:17 PM

Jason Salas said:

Simon - good call, but I actually grew tired of that one, as MTV completely overplayed it. For that very reason, I left out a bunch of Bon Jovi and Motley Crue, too. :)
# July 1, 2004 3:20 PM

Jason Salas said:

Scott - "depressing" as in good or bad? Yeah, these songs will set you back emotionally a bit, if you're not in the right frame of mind. Break-up music, anyone?

Funny comment you posted, coming from a guy with the domain name "MostlyLucid". :)
# July 1, 2004 3:23 PM

Jason Salas said:

Scott Koon (LazyCoder) - EXCELLENT! OUTSTANDING! Man, I knew I could count on you! I had a strange feeling I left some Kiss and Ozzy off the list. :)
# July 1, 2004 3:25 PM

Jason Salas said:

Matt, good call with Heart...how the heck could I have left a Seattle band out? (Actually, I had Queensryche, but you can't neglect Nancy & Ann Wilson for too long).
# July 1, 2004 3:27 PM

Jason Salas said:

Dave - thanks! Like I said, this is more about me finding something to do while keeping creative. Man, if Napster, AudioGalaxy and the rest of the audio P2P crowd were still free & legit, I'd be having a field day with this...
# July 1, 2004 3:28 PM

Jason Salas said:

ALL - obviously, some of the songs I posted on my original list weren't Top 40 friendly (i.e., Scorpions' "Always Somewhere",Winger's "Miles Away" or Steelheart's "She's Gone), but trust me on this as a lifelong balladeer - if you've never heard of any of the songs, check them out. They're awesome work, if a little underappreciated.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!
# July 1, 2004 3:31 PM

Emily said:

I've never agreed with anyone more on anything in my entire life.
# July 1, 2004 5:29 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

Faster Pussycat - "House of Pain"

Not sure how I missed this one the first time around, it was the favorite hairmetal song ever of a gf of mine in college and is never very far from being stuck in my head these days.
# July 1, 2004 10:33 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

oh yeah, there is NO song more fun to play by yourself than GnR's "Patience". My 4-guitar/4-vocal track solo version of that song was probably the funnest and funniest I ever recorded.

Thank God it was lost in a move.
# July 1, 2004 10:36 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hey Shannon,

Great story! Kind of reminds me how I butchered Dokken's "heaven Sent" in high school when I tried to do the whole thing. Thank goodness I've matured as a musician. George Lynch wouldn't be very flattered. :(
# July 1, 2004 10:45 PM

Bart Segers said:

Okay,
Here are some additions that were on the casette's. They were made initially to prove that hardrock had a lot of beautifull ballads:
Journey - "Who's crying now"
Journey - "Open arms"
Foreigner - "I want to know what love is"
Foreigner - "I don't want to live without you"
Triumph - "All the King's Horses/Carry On the Flame "
Night Ranger - "Sister Christian"
Night Ranger - "Hearts away"
Rush - "Closer to the heart"
WASP - "Hold on to my heart"
Extreme -"More than words"
Extreme - "Tragic Comic"
Marillion-"Seasons End"
Marillion - "Lavender"
Europe - "Carrie"
Boston - "Amanda"
Damn Yankees - "Silence is broken"
Thunder - "Low life in High places"



# July 2, 2004 6:25 AM

Bart Segers said:

OK the next cassette...

Tyketto - Standing alone
Tyketto - I won't cry
Toto - Mushanga
Toto - I won't hold you back
Toto - A thousand year
Toto - Roseanna
Foreigner - Out of the blue
Bad English - When I see you smile
Bad English - Time stood still
Bad English - Savage Blue
The Babys- Everytime I think of you
The Babys - Isn't it time
MSG - Nightmare
Giant - I'll be there when it's over
Giant - Without you
Lou Gramm - Just between you and me
Dare - Under The Sun
Dare - Return The Heart

If you like this kind of music check out: http://www.frontiers.it/indexbis.html
# July 2, 2004 8:26 AM

Bob Harrod said:

I've run into the same problem, but from the beginning our code has assigned SQL Types to the SQLCommand's parameters. Any other thoughts? This is happening pretty frequently and we cannot determine where to start.
# July 2, 2004 11:01 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Bob -

I was able to get around this by typing the SqlParameter, and that worked for me. I haven't had any problems otherwise, and Microsoft wss unable to replicate the error in their labs. What type of error(s) do you get?
# July 2, 2004 5:40 PM

Darron said:

Wow, you must have had a day like mine.

I totally understand where you are coming from. Been there, still there, will be there tomorrow.
# July 2, 2004 8:42 PM

jonpoon said:

I precisely know how you feel too! You practically mirrored what i felt at times of frustrations, especially the part on the random questions.

I got people that practically thought that i was the data source for google. Silly me.. how could i not realise that!
# July 2, 2004 10:59 PM

Felix said:

Ok Jason,
I'm learning C# - I've got some weekend time. Send me your blog code, I'll enhanced and send you the update. I'll send you a note through my SBC mail.
regards,
Felix
# July 3, 2004 1:06 AM

Stefano Demiliani said:

I'm interested to your application... maybe to do a VB.NET translation. If you want to share it... demiliani(at)gmail.com
# July 3, 2004 6:00 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 4, 2004 11:17 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 5, 2004 4:36 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 5, 2004 4:36 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 5, 2004 4:53 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 5, 2004 4:53 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 5, 2004 4:53 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 5, 2004 4:55 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 5, 2004 10:11 AM

DonXML Demsak said:

Here's what you are looking for: http://www.powertabs.net/pta.php?page=tab_download,4794,21,387153265 . To read this file, you will need the cool Power Tab Editor for Windows ( http://www.power-tab.net/ ), which is shareware/freeware. I prefer Guitar Pro (it has more bells and whistles), but for a free program, PowerTabs is pretty good.

Now, I'm going to have to break out my guitar and find my archive of all the tabs I downloaded over the years.
# July 5, 2004 9:53 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks a million Don - you're a life-saver! I downloaded another copy of the track produced in PowerTabs, but it was literally the guitar/piano transcription, so it didn't have the intro pieces for guitar. Thanks again...I owe you one!
# July 5, 2004 11:34 PM

Fox said:

Dude, RegEx is the way to go...

http://www.foxcorp.org/archive/2004/06/14/ASPNET_URL_Rewrite.aspx

(Some URL rewriting stuff)

And this is what happens when you DO NOT use RegEX hehe...

http://thedailywtf.com/archive/2004/06/24/399.aspx
# July 6, 2004 2:46 AM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks! That's a trip!
# July 6, 2004 2:58 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 6, 2004 4:14 AM

Jason Salas said:

Man...if only I could recall all the Spanish I took 14 years ago in high school! I should be able to suss it out, but thanks for the link!
# July 6, 2004 4:30 AM

Kris said:

Y&T - I believe in You
# July 6, 2004 8:05 AM

Tony said:

okay.. I LOVE LOVE LOVE 80's hair bands and I've gone to painstaking efforts to collect the best songs of the times and make my own mix cd's. So far I have 4. Here's some songs... some are ballads, some are blistering guitar tracks, some you may have, some you may need. Do with it what you will

Somethin For The Pain - Bon Jovi
Wild Is The Wind - Bon Jovi
You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
Dont' Know What You've Got Til It's Gone - Cinderella
Nobody's Fool - Cinderella
High Enough - Damn Yankees
Love Bites - Def Leppard
Photograph - Def Leppard
Carrie - Europe
The Final Countdown - Europe
All She Wrote - Firehouse
I Need You Now - Firehouse
Love Of A Lifetime - Firehouse
When I Look Into Your Eyes - Firehouse
Once Bitten, Twice Shy - Great White
Alone - Heart
What About Love - Heart
Cold Blood - Kix
Don't Close Your Eyes - Kix
Home Sweet Home - Motley Crue
Without You - Motley Crue
Dr Feelgood - Motley Crue
Kickstart My Heart - Motley Crue
She's Gone - Steelheart
After The Rain - Nelson
Love And Affection - Nelson
House Of Pain - Faster Pussycat
Give It To Me Good - Trixster
Bark At The Moon - Ozzy Osbourne
Goodbye To Romance - Ozzy Osbourne
I Just Want You - Ozzy Osbourne
Iron Man - Ozzy Osbourne
Mama I'm Comin Home - Ozzy Osbourne
Road To Nowhere - Ozzy Osbourne
Shot In The Dark - Ozzy Osbourne
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne
Mr Crowley - Ozzy Osbourne
Nothin But A Good Time - Poison
Every Rose Has It's Thorn - Poison
Round And Round - Ratt
Closer To The Heart - Rush
I'll See You In My Dreams - Giant
Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon
Rock You Like A Hurricane - Scorpions
Winds Of Change - Scorpions
18 And Life - Skid Row
I Remember You - Skid Row
Crying - Vixen
I Don't Want To Lose You - Steel Dragon
Honestly - Stryper

Growin On Me - The Darkness
Cherry Pie - Warrant
Heaven - Warrant
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
Is This Love - Whitesnake
Screaming In The Night - Krokus
Love Song - Tesla
When I'm With You - Sheriff
When The Children Cry - White Lion
Goodbye - Night Ranger
Amanda - Boston
Poison - Alice Cooper
Up All Night - Slaughter
Never Tear Us Apart - INXS
Fly To The Angels - Slaughter
Come On Feel The Noise - Quiet Riot
I Just Died In Your Arms - Cutting Crew
Surrender - Cheap Trick
Heat Of The Moment - Asia
Seventeen - Winger
Night Ranger - Sister Christian
Love Is On The Way - Saigon Kick
Edge Of A Broken Heart - Vixen
Still Loving You - Scorpions
Send Me An Angel - Scorpions
Always Somewhere - Scorpions
Miles Away - Winger
Alone Again - Dokken

There you are man.. Months of work on the same type of project. Hope it helps!








# July 6, 2004 4:10 PM

Jason Salas said:

WOW. Tony, you are the king! I've got most of those, but also add in Nelson's "Only Time Will Tell". It was also really good to see some not-so-metal ballads in there like Cheap Trick and Cutting Crew. I think my next project is going to be compiling a list of my favorite new wave songs (Depeche Mode, Erasure, New Order, etc.).

Thanks a lot!
# July 6, 2004 6:45 PM

Tony said:

that sounds like an awesome next project... You'll have to put up your list when you've got that one too. Good choice on the Nelson... can't believe I missed that one!
# July 6, 2004 11:14 PM

Jason Salas said:

cool! i'll keep you in the loop. i also figured out that i neglected to include pantera's "this love" and "cemetary gates" and megadeth's "in my darkest hour" off my list. :)
# July 7, 2004 12:09 AM

Scott Allen said:

What do you think of using Context.Items versus query string parameters? For example, a class with ID, MonthFilter, City, and Attendant properties that is instantiated and put in the Items collection for the detination page to retrieve?
# July 7, 2004 10:55 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 8, 2004 9:27 AM

Tony said:

Cemetery Gates is an Awesome Song! I'm adding that one to my list. Good call. Also.. you can't have a good 80's rock compilation without Megadeth. Metallica also even did a couple good ones with Nothing Else Matters and Unforgiven!
# July 8, 2004 10:42 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Tony,

I'm one step ahead of you - I added in "In My Darkest Hour" by Megadeth and "Unforgiven II" by Metallica. Must haves!
# July 8, 2004 11:27 PM

mike said:

What were the errors? It seems to me that what should happen is a process reset.

# July 9, 2004 12:34 AM

Matthew Meyer said:

I'd just expect process restart too. We cautiously and sparring modfiy web.configs on live sites and basically just observe sessions getting abandoned...could depending on session state that suddenly isnt there be behind the errors youre seeing?
# July 9, 2004 12:44 AM

Scott said:

I've changed the web.config files on sites while I still have them open in my browser, hit refresh, and had no problem with the site.

The asp_net worker process doesn't restart. I'm pretty sure the framework supports reloading the web.config on the fly.

# July 9, 2004 12:55 AM

Jason Salas said:

Actually, I think it may have neen a combination of things. I've made changes to web.config and/or Global.asax before, without problems, but this is the second time I've had something negative happen.

Both time have resulted in deadlocks, so maybe Matthew's right...it might have been Session data that needed to expire. It may have been a glitch that somehow I got caught in the middle of.
# July 9, 2004 12:59 AM

Jason Salas said:

On second review, I noted that when I swapped out a web.config file I had locally, it may have used "localhost"-based database connection string(s), hence the problems between the data and business tiers.

I'm still in the dark about the initial inability to get the site to serve content. :(
# July 9, 2004 2:14 AM

Jason Salas said:

Also, I big thanks to Pam from ORCSWeb for being there...although the problem was something I ultimately resolved, it was great to have a patient, friendly voice guiding me through a very stressful process and keeping me sane.
# July 9, 2004 2:15 AM

Tony said:

Nicely done! If I'm ever in Guam we'll have to check out each other's cd collections. You've got good taste in music. My dad was stationed in Guam during Vietnam while he was in the Navy. He hated. Hope it's really not as bad there as his stories. haha
# July 9, 2004 2:19 AM

stefan demetz said:

i think that the web.config should be versioned like the metabase so that one always can go back ...
# July 9, 2004 3:06 AM

Wim said:

Stay the hell out of config files on live boxes? So we might as well just hard code things like appSettings values... ;-)

I'm happy to say I haven't had any problems doing this. Yet...(touch wood)
# July 9, 2004 5:31 AM

Scott Allen said:

The worker process might not restart, but a fresh application domain will spin up with a new copy of the application.
# July 9, 2004 2:35 PM

Lee said:

That's actually an extension of what we use in our branch offices. Our most recent system build allows for us to copy and paste resumes directly from emails and have them parse through an HR-XML based program to create our candidate folders. Candidate replies to job posting are completely automated using this process. It greatly cuts down on our data entry time and allows us more time to recruit. We also have Monster.com completely integrated in to our system allowing us to have a one stop shop for recruiting.
# July 9, 2004 3:54 PM

TrackBack said:

# July 10, 2004 2:27 AM

Scott Galloway said:

Tainted Love - Soft Cell
# July 10, 2004 5:40 PM

Jason Salas said:

Ahh...how could I forget?!? :) Thanks Scott.
# July 10, 2004 5:41 PM

bilbo said:

new edition - popcorn love
# July 10, 2004 8:42 PM

Jason Salas said:

hi bilbo....funny...never heard of that one...i'll check it out.

how could i have also forgotten white lion's cover of "Radar Love"? :(
# July 10, 2004 9:20 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

Alice in Chains - "Love, Hate, Love"
# July 10, 2004 9:30 PM

Jason Salas said:

hi shannon,

ahhh....seattle had to be represented at some point! that also reminds me of the group "Love Spit Love." :)
# July 10, 2004 9:33 PM

guam rules said:

Tesla is my favorite of all 80's bands. When I was stationed at Anderson in 89 and 90 I had seen that Tesla was there in 85. Missed that by just a bit. I believe they make a comment about it in the liner notes of Great Radio controversy. Are there many programming jobs in Guam, man I would love to make it back there some day. Beautiful place.
# July 10, 2004 9:52 PM

Jason Salas said:

Guam is where I grew up, so I remember Tesla playing the Pescador. The name of the band was something like "Young Kid Jet" back then (I can't recall at the moment). Guam isn't too big on programming jobs, but if you make the right connections, you can do very well for yourself. That;s the hard part.
# July 10, 2004 10:05 PM

denny said:

Queen -- Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Pat Benitar -- Love is a Battlefield (sp?)

Hmmm.... must set wayback machine to when I was 18-25 to recall more of them days....

can't recall full names but:

Love STinks ?

or something like that....
# July 11, 2004 2:49 PM

Jeff said:

Cheesy 80's songs, comin' right up (browsing the "Cheesy 80's" folder in the MP3 lib)

Air Supply:
* Lost In Love
* All Out Of Love
* Making Love Out Of Nothing At All
* Young Love
* The One That You Love

REO Speedwagon:
* Keep On Loving You
* That Ain't Love

Doobie Brothers: Real Love
Foreigner: I Want To Know What Love Is
Fleetwood Mac: You Make Loving Fun
Taylor Dayne: I'll Always Love You
Spinners: Could It Be I'm Falling In Love
ABC: Look Of Love
Corey Hart (and Elvis): Can't Help Falling In Love
Lionel Richie: Love Will Find A Way
Pet Shop Boys: Love Comes Quickly
Psychedelic Furs: Love My Way
Robert Palmer: Addicted To Love
Will To Power: Baby, I Love Your Way


# July 11, 2004 7:40 PM

guam rules said:

I believe Tesla was known as City Kidd before they changed their name. Is barney's beach bar still there? The coconut olympics used to be a good time.
# July 12, 2004 12:24 PM

Jason Salas said:

City Kidd - There you go! Barney's moved to at least one other location in Tumon, and then eventually closed down after getting wrecked by a typhoon. Shame...I used to play beach volleyball there all the time.
# July 12, 2004 5:55 PM

KT said:

OMFG!! I just watched it! It is hilarious!! I <3 Hal Sparks For Life!!!!
# July 12, 2004 11:03 PM

Jason Salas said:

oh, man! here on guam out TV programming is tape delayed by two weeks, so i won't be able to catch it! bummer! i knew it was going to be good!
# July 12, 2004 11:06 PM

shadylady said:

I love those series. I am watching it now and it is AWESOME!!
# July 13, 2004 10:36 PM

Jason Salas said:

Damn...I have to wait another 2 weeks until the tapes get here....I CAN'T STAND IT!!!
# July 13, 2004 10:41 PM

Bart Segers said:

Yes - Real Love
Journey- Send her my love
# July 14, 2004 11:17 AM

Jason Salas said:

Good one Bart! I also forgot L.L. Cool J's "I Need Love" and about every song Air Supplr ever recorded. :)
# July 14, 2004 5:34 PM

Justin said:

93
"Tonight on COPS we search a field for the penis"

I love this show now! I was rolling around for like 20 minutes after I watched 93
# July 15, 2004 2:14 AM

nicole said:

thank goodness tony put some reo speedwagon on there! you can't have a power ballad compilation without them. though i notice "keep on loving you" is missing...too sad.
# July 15, 2004 3:16 PM

Joe said:

NEED TO ADD:
Scorpions - Wind of Change

the other 3 scorpions songs don't matter without this one!
don't grow tired ...

Anyway, thanks for the list. It's a good compilation.
# July 15, 2004 6:58 PM

df said:

The George Wallace bit was classic. "Just what I need, something to remind me of the Civil War", and my favorite "when did *pewter* become a precious metal; pardon me madame, that is a beautiful ring, might it be pew-TAH". I honestly think of the George Wallace anytime I see any non-traditional chess piece.
# July 15, 2004 9:48 PM

Matt said:

Don't know if this is faster or slower performance wise, but this was my first thought on this:

SELECT * FROM tablename
WHERE DATEPART(d,[Date]) = DATEPART(d,'7/7/2004')
# July 16, 2004 6:38 PM

Jason Salas said:

Also, someone [ESquared] was nice enough to note the following after I posted my code:

• the first select statement will also return records from 7/8/2004 12 am because BETWEEN is inclusive. In any case you can just do @QueryDate + 1, no need to use DateAdd.

• In the second select, it is unnecessary to add +'00:00:00' because that is truly adding zero.

• smalldatetime does not store seconds. So, adding '23:59:59' ends up adding 24 hours and thus it is identical to the previous select. Change it to '23:59' for correct selection.

• the leading space character is unnecessary. The query engine is not adding a string to a string, it is adding a date to a date. Because of the way dates are stored internally in SQL server, '23:59' is equivalent to '1900-01-01 23:59', (and 23:59:59 is 24 hours) so you're really doing: '1900-01-02 00:00:00' + @QueryDate

This would be a revised version of the query:
SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE [Date] >= @QueryDate AND [Date] < @QueryDate + 1

Note the second comparison is not <=.
# July 16, 2004 6:45 PM

Lucky said:

I've always written it like this:

SELECT * FROM Orders Where CAST(CONVERT(varchar,OrderDate,101) AS DateTime) = '7/7/2004'

Convert the column to 'mm/dd/yy' (101) style and CAST it back to a datetime.
# July 17, 2004 1:15 AM

Millard j. Castroe said:

"I Love the 90's" is my favorite show, i love it. I wish that they had a marothon of "I Love the 70's, 80's, and 90's" that would be so cool
# July 17, 2004 1:34 AM

Jay Zea said:

This show would be so cool on DVD and/or VHS. I'd buy all three DVD's
# July 17, 2004 1:37 AM

shiantoo lee said:

i Agree with millard, and jay, they should have a marothon, and have dvd's.
# July 17, 2004 1:39 AM

Homie the clown said:

this is going to be the BEst show since "I Love the 80's"
# July 17, 2004 1:42 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 17, 2004 3:18 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 17, 2004 3:18 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Lucky,

Someone advised me against that:

"the conversion must be done for every row in the entire table and to boot may not use any indexes. Selecting with the >= AND < method has neither of these problems."
# July 17, 2004 3:37 AM

omen said:

As much as possible, avoid having computations on the column side of a comparison...shift the computation over to the "constant" side:

WHERE CAST(CONVERT(varchar,OrderDate,101) AS DateTime) = '7/7/2004' would be suboptimal and won't directly work for say, GETDATE(), as you must have the time stripped out

instead do:

DECLARE @Date datetime
SET @Date = FLOOR(CONVERT(float, GETDATE()))
..
WHERE OrderDate BETWEEN @Date AND @Date + 1

This will be more efficient and will take advantage of an index on OrderDate if one exists. @Date + 1 and FLOORing a date works in SQL Server 7 and 2000 and is faster than DATEADD and a CONVERT to a varchar with a style. It might produce different results (it might even be illegal) in future versions or other RDBMSs. I forgot if it worked in 6.5.
# July 17, 2004 2:50 PM

Scott said:

Where [date] like '7/1/2004%'

? Does that work, I think it should. Don't have Query Analyzer here in front of me to test it with.
# July 17, 2004 4:47 PM

Jerry Pisk said:

Scoot - no:

match_expression [ NOT ] LIKE pattern [ ESCAPE escape_character ]

match_expression
Is any valid SQL Server expression of character string data type.

a datetime is not a character string data type. And it will only work with US-English locale, which may be a problem as well.

And to comment on Jason's note: DATEDIFF will also use indexes. That seems to be the best way to search on dates belonging to one day - DATEDIFF(dd, @datetomatch, [date-column]) = 0. Matt's method of using DATEPART is flawed as it will match the same dates in different years.
# July 17, 2004 6:05 PM

Jason Salas said:

and if you love the 80's, you'll surely remember this:

http://weblogs.asp.net/jasonsalas/archive/2004/07/18/186216.aspx
# July 17, 2004 6:18 PM

Jason Salas said:

...and if you love the 90's you'll love this:

http://weblogs.asp.net/jasonsalas/archive/2004/07/18/186216.aspx
# July 17, 2004 6:18 PM

Jason Salas said:

I was actually surprised that VH1 didn't cover this in "I Love the 80's". They did other urban myths, but they missed this one. Huh.
# July 17, 2004 6:19 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks all for your input. This is actually the code I used in the end to get what I wanted to do. I realize that the @Date + 1 might not be the fastest way to get things done, but in my code, wherein I have to return records for a successive number of days, it works:

CREATE PROCEDURE GetWeeklyStories
(
@QueryDate SMALLDATETIME
)
AS
DECLARE @incrementor INT
SET @incrementor = 1

-- get the first story for the latest day in the week
SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE a.Date >= @QueryDate AND a.Date < @QueryDate + 1;

-- now, get the remaining stories for the week, counting forward
WHILE @incrementor <= 6
BEGIN
SET @QueryDate = @QueryDate + 1
SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE a.Date >= @QueryDate AND a.Date < @QueryDate + 1;
SET @incrementor = @incrementor + 1
END
GO
# July 17, 2004 6:33 PM

Andrew said:

Thanks for just scaring the **** out of me ;-)
# July 17, 2004 6:59 PM

Jason Salas said:

For real...the only thing more offsetting than talking about it is showing the picture. :)
# July 17, 2004 7:01 PM

Scott Galloway said:

Did you actually read the snopes link: http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/3menbaby.htm
It's just a cutout of Ted Danson which appears elsewhere in the movie - and was part of a deleted scene...
# July 17, 2004 8:31 PM

Jason Salas said:

yeah...that's one of the theories, but other sites i've found dispute it. yikes!
# July 17, 2004 8:32 PM

Jason Salas said:

actually, that's the conspiracy theorist in me....just propagating the myth...
# July 17, 2004 8:32 PM

Jerry Pisk said:

Jason, use DATEDIFF. That's what's it there for. Adding numbers to dates may break at any moment, DATEDIFF is guaranteed to work.
# July 17, 2004 11:41 PM

omen said:

although using DATEDIFF on a column will use a clustered index on that column if one exists, it will perform an index scan which can be very costly

using "BETWEEN @Date AND @Date + 1" and a clustered index on the concerned column will will perform an index seek, which is potentially much faster than an index scan

in the sample I have right now with 5000+ rows, DATEDIFF produces 65 logical reads while "BETWEEN @Date AND @Date + 1" produces only 2 logical reads

if you have a table with few rows this might make little difference but if you are dealing with tables in the hundreds of thousands or millions of rows then it will be a big deal

additionally, it seems both approaches wont use a non-clustered index so make sure your index is clustered. clustered indexes should be SOP on columns that heavily participate in range queries like this one
# July 18, 2004 2:44 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 18, 2004 3:02 PM

M. Keith Warren said:

Jason,

For your hard work, I hereby nominate you to the SVP Program. More can be read about the SVP Program below.

http://weblogs.asp.net/kwarren/archive/2004/04/13/112411.aspx


# July 19, 2004 12:14 AM

Jason Salas said:

hahahaha! good one! maybe i should change mine to "mediocre" valuable professional. Thanks for the laugh. :)
# July 19, 2004 12:25 AM

balamurugan said:

Can any one give me free downloads of all the benny hill comedy collection in this website. I am really an addict of him. i really wanna his show. Here in Germany, i can't see this shows. so please some one put his collections in this forum or website.


Bye

Balamurugan
Germany.
calltobala@spymac.com
# July 19, 2004 2:28 PM

SHERLY said:

FUCK YALL
# July 19, 2004 9:55 PM

TrackBack said:

# July 20, 2004 3:26 PM

TrackBack said:

# July 20, 2004 4:49 PM

Jason Mauss said:

It's funny reading this blog entry - I got the same email about an hour ago - read that headline and thought the same thing. "tab" controls = repeater, datalist, datagrid? huh?? I thought they were talking about tabs in the way you have tabs with the .Text admin tool or something.
# July 20, 2004 5:21 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hey Jason!

I really thought this was strange...maybe this was an overzealous intern getting the first cover story headline duty, or - perish the thought - a non-techie writer being assigned to write a strong headline. Bad things normally happen with the latter, in my experience (being a former non-techie myself). :)
# July 20, 2004 5:24 PM

Jason Mauss said:

Yeah - whoever it was, I don't think they understood how differently "tab" and "tabular" can be interpreted. I too think of the tabstrip concept by default whenever I hear the term "tab" used.

But hey, who knows, maybe "tabular" is old and busted, and "tab" is the new hotness. *<[:-)
# July 20, 2004 5:27 PM

Jason Salas said:

Bad things happen when marketingfolk enter a room for of technical people and say, "Hey...I've got an idea!".

Trust me...I've been on both sides of the equation. ;-)

Come to think of it. the term "tabular" is only one part of the List controls. If that were the case, why not include other databound controls like CheckBoxLists and RadioButtonList, which of course, allow for tabular HTML to be generated in their presentation? That would be more accurate, I think.

The only List control that is naturally "tabular", in the classic sense of the word would be the DataGrid's natural implementation. DataLists and Repeaters can be formatted linearly, so this rules them out somewhat.

But of couse, I'm preaching to the choir here, no?
# July 20, 2004 5:32 PM

Jason Mauss said:

Yeah - preaching to the choir indeed. IMO, tabular = at least 2 columns and at least 2 rows.
# July 20, 2004 5:55 PM

TrackBack said:

Lazycoder weblog &raquo; tight code and more RAM
# July 20, 2004 7:09 PM

Jeff Lewis said:

Just as a side note, AngryCoder.com doesn't have an rss feed, but I've provided one (from their xml feed) at http://consultutah.com/angrycoderrss.asmx/GetRss

# July 20, 2004 7:34 PM

Dave Burke said:

This post is almost as inspirational as your 80's Monster Ballads post. :-)

Heck yeah, I agree 100%. eZine was RADICAL! I learned a ton, coding my .NET butt off like it was 2001. All thanks to the aC. Thanks for posting this. Flamers to this post are lamers.

Thanks for giving Jonathan Goodyear's eZine source its due recognition.
# July 20, 2004 11:34 PM

Jason Salas said:

The corollary of this is that it's a shame FTP botched the headline...it took away from what was otherwise a brilliant piece of work by Doug Thews: http://www.ftponline.com/vsm/2004_09/magazine/features/dthews/

Then again, based on the implied message, it may have gotten a lot more views - albeit based on the wrong assumptions - than it normally would. :)
# July 21, 2004 12:44 AM

Jason Mauss said:

weird...I'm writing an article for angryCoder at this very moment...and I took a break to read some blogs and stumbled upon this. That's twice today that your blog has grabbed my attention because of some similar thoughts/ideas. too eerie.
# July 21, 2004 12:45 AM

Jason Salas said:

Umm...great minds think alike? Or at least people with the same name do? :)
# July 21, 2004 1:23 AM

Jason Mauss said:

heh, I'll go with both. Just don't tell me you had a bday recently or I might have to refer to you as my doppleganger.
# July 21, 2004 2:18 AM

Jason Salas said:

Well, April 24th...not too recently. I turned 30, sharing my big day with Barbara Streisand and Kelly Clarkson.
# July 21, 2004 2:30 AM

stefan demetz said:

probably the ASPNET process was paging on your pc with little RAM
# July 21, 2004 4:06 AM

Jason Salas said:

geez...256MB ain't what it used to be...
# July 21, 2004 4:43 AM

Scott Galloway said:

To be honest I'm pretty much the same, I came to web development from Perl and security apps (which were pretty much all command line). I still remember the time when I thought I'd never get the hang of HTML and Javascript was a strange and scary place. Windows forms stuff was something I seriously got into first time round during my VB6 / VC++6 days and I did not enjoy it at all...this time though I have to say, .NET does significantly improve the experience. Chris Sells' book on Windows Forms with C# is excellent and gets all the basics out of the way pretty quickly. For the apps I've tended to write I really haven't bothered much with going beyond what .NET offers (so very few DLLImports or calling native libraries). The way I got a handle on it was to have a relatively simple app in mind that I could do really easily in ASP.NET (so I had a grip on the basic structure), I then implemented it in Windows forms then enhanced it with sruff like threading, progress bars, multiple menus and tabs etc...
What I notice in developing Windows Forms apps was how trivial the actual interface building is in comparison to ASP.NET - the designers are just so much more powerful. Anyway, long reply, sorry! Anyway, give it a go, you might like it!
# July 21, 2004 5:31 AM

Martin Spedding said:

Hi,

maybe it is because I have been in this business for a long time but instinctively I build a win forms app. Sometimes, I will put a web interface on the application. Howver, I always feel like I am comprising when I do a web app, the experience is just not rich enough.

I think it really depends when you came to development, before or after the internet age.

I might expand on this in a blog entry as I have been thinking about this for a while.

Martin
# July 21, 2004 5:43 AM

Joe said:

I've found gems in films that otherwise tanked, and I've sat through movies that were perfect overall but contained little real substance in individual shot scenes.

I've found this too! For some of the movies which are great overall, I'm surprised that I can't find even one great scene. Then there are the crappy movies that do contain moments of what i consider to be most excellent scenes.
# July 21, 2004 6:32 AM

Søren Lund said:

I share your pain. I really want to make WinForms applications but the fact that you spend so much time just trying to get the UI elements placed just takes the fun out of it. That is why I am looking forward to Avalon which brings the ability to create WinForm GUIs in XAML much like we do with web pages today.

We only have to wait 5 years before XAML and Avalon is standard Windows functionality :)
# July 21, 2004 8:23 AM

Jay Glynn said:

I have just the opposite feeling. Everytime I have to do an ASP.NET app I feel like I'm developing with one hand tied behind my back.

Oh well, to each his/her own....
# July 21, 2004 8:44 AM

Nathan Allan said:

I found this when doing a google search for this very thing (a programmer's keyboard). I would buy one. Forget just remapping keys, how about adding a bunch of keys so we don't have to use exotic cords for things like "set bookmark", "collapse definition". It would also be nice to figure out away to reduce the stretch for things like parens. More than anything, however, I would like to see simpler navigation... some way to navigate the cursor quickly to a certain column/row without having to leave home position.
# July 21, 2004 12:06 PM

Tony said:

nicely put. I can tell by your extensive music knowledge and your wonderful gift of the pen that you must be a highly respected music critic for a magazie the caliber of Rolling Stone. Thank you so much for your input. If there is anything else we can do please don't hesitate to coach us and show us your wisdom
# July 21, 2004 1:06 PM

Jeff said:

I feel your pain. It's not that coding the app is difficult it's formatting the app. I can't stand that part of it. I'm bidding on a project right now that could easily do five figures, and I'm wondering if I really want to commit to it.
# July 21, 2004 1:22 PM

Shannon J Hager said:

The practice started on paper before it existed on screens, I think.
# July 22, 2004 9:07 AM

Alex Papadimoulis said:

For sure. Think of that awful, old green-white barred feed paper!

I think it's just a natural way to separate information visually.
# July 22, 2004 9:24 AM

chadbr said:

Always look to the mainframe... greenbar is almost as old as printers...

http://www.formspro.net/propane/images/sup_greenbar.gif
# July 22, 2004 10:52 AM

Ken Cox [MVP - ASP.NET] said:

Alternating table rows have probably been patented. Someday, the alleged inventor will surface in a lawsuit against Microsoft.
# July 22, 2004 11:53 AM

Jon Galloway said:

This can be done on the client side with Javascript and CSS, too: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/zebratables/.

And, someday, when we get browsers with CSS3 support, this can be done completely in CSS: http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-selectors/.
# July 22, 2004 12:01 PM

TrackBack said:

# July 22, 2004 5:07 PM

jason salas said:

i'm posting thiis now w/ the Tthera phone with Pocket PC 2004. SWEET!
# July 23, 2004 6:56 AM

Jason Salas said:

I can't velieve I'm saying this, but I'm finding that I like the Treo's web features better than the Thera. The PalmOS browser is always-on, as opposed for the need to connect to the Verizon-supplied proprietary network interface on the Thera. Also - and this was a shocker to me - I enjoyed the user experience a lot more with the PalmOS browser compared to Pocket Internet Explorer.

The latter didn't have a status bar, so you've no idea where a page is in terms of its loading completeness. Also, graphics appeared to be richers and supported more cleanly on the Palm device.

Wow...
# July 23, 2004 8:22 AM

Sam said:

The only time I say anything to my code is to swear at it. But usually I guess I'm swearing at myself for a silly mistake.
# July 23, 2004 8:41 AM

Scott Galloway said:

On occasion writing state management code can make me variously religious and outright obscene...
# July 23, 2004 9:06 AM

Dave Burke said:

Jman, I had a Thera for a few weeks and took it back to Verizon. It was a crappy phone (more like a walkie-talkie) and because its battery life was so pitiful, not a decent PocketPC either. I loved the idea of an integrated device that I could use as a phone AND read Pollyanna on while waiting for my food at Friendly's, but I'm happy with my Dell Axim and Motorola V60i combo since they both do what they do well.

Here's my original thera post if interested. That's when I still thought it was cool.

http://weblogs.asp.net/dburke/archive/2003/10/20/32724.aspx

As for the man purse, hey, why not go with a waist pouch? They rock!
# July 23, 2004 9:54 AM

Jerry Seinfeld said:

Get a European Carry All
# July 23, 2004 10:21 AM

Salman said:

Could the eZine be really called a blog? eZine is more of a content management system than a blog, just for the lack of RSS feed. I'm not an expert of blogs, but I guess the discussion comes down to "what is a blog application". Anyhow, it was a great app and I also download and learned from it in my early stages....
# July 23, 2004 11:50 AM

Tim said:

OK. You're weird.
# July 23, 2004 1:00 PM

Dave Burke said:

Jerry, with a puffy shirt, it'll be Boffo!
# July 23, 2004 1:13 PM

AlEx said:

On '96 it was soo funny that Hal Sparks did Forrest Gump and Karal from Sling Blade
# July 23, 2004 1:51 PM

Jason Salas said:

I'm also coming to learn that the browser on the PalmOS-enabled Treo does graphics a heckuva lot better than PocketIE. The former displays them just about as nice as they'd come up on the desktop WWW, while the latter shows severely pixelated renditions of images and graphics. Ouch. In IE's defense, there is a menu option to not load graphics, which helps.
# July 23, 2004 7:09 PM

Jason Salas said:

I found the solution to my woes....cargo pants!
# July 23, 2004 7:11 PM

marcy said:

you guys rock...these songs totally rule...love the site...wanna chat sometime hit me up yahoo messenger sevgarden27....name ismarcy im 27...any hotties out there? hehe laters
# July 24, 2004 5:50 AM

Smarter than you said:

Honestly, are all you guys Dorkwads??? I mean, honestly, who wants to watch ppl type html codes for 30 minutes? And if you were hoping for a rapper to host this show....u'd be out of luck! That's a truly sorry idea for a show. sorry if i crushed your dreams, but maybe next time. Then again, maybe not.
# July 24, 2004 3:37 PM

Kirk Linell said:

Hey guys i LOVE L.L. Cool J!!!!!

Oh guys!!!
# July 27, 2004 9:16 PM

agneta said:

*cough*
I want to join in and add the following.

Black Velvet /Alannah Myles
Lover of Mine/Alannah Myles
Love is a Killer/Vixen
Eye of the tiger/Survivor
# July 28, 2004 9:37 AM

agneta said:

(Eye of the tiger might not be a "ballad", but it's just so damn great!)
# July 28, 2004 9:38 AM

nvbnvbn said:

vbnvb
# July 29, 2004 7:22 AM

TrackBack said:

# July 31, 2004 7:06 AM

Jason Salas said:

If anyone's interested in what I thought about the smartphones, check out: http://www.kuam.com/news/10361.aspx
# July 31, 2004 5:25 PM

Jason Salas said:

It seems I spoke to soon...the iPaq charges up fine while in the cradle, but won't hold a charge on its own. Dang.
# August 1, 2004 2:27 AM

David Cumps said:

These are great! :p
# August 1, 2004 3:38 AM

Jason Salas said:

Glad you like them. I've used a couple of 'em in my day, and I've been hearing them for many more years. :)
# August 1, 2004 3:44 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 1, 2004 5:34 AM

JosephCooney said:

Steve Maine has a soap transport for WSE2

http://hyperthink.net/blog/CommentView,guid,d337a6f5-a0c8-45b8-920e-132391eedc31.aspx
# August 1, 2004 7:35 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 3, 2004 8:12 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 3, 2004 10:08 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 3, 2004 10:09 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 3, 2004 10:16 AM

Scott said:

I think looking cross-ways at your application causes a complete site recompile. It's annoying. The nice thing is, it's annoying across all platforms and languages. You have to recomp your entire JSP application if you change a JSP file too. So at least the entire web development world is annoyed and not just ASP.NET (except for those friggin' PHP devs, DAMN THEM!!)

I'm interested in finding out how the ASP.NET worker process decides what files are part of an application. If it just gathers up ALL the files with extensions it knows in a given directory and sub-directory and compiles them or if it makes some kind of association between the files and JITs them based on that.
# August 3, 2004 8:35 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hey Scott!

AFAIK, the ASP.NET DLL will track any changes application-wide and then JIT-recompiles any/all files that are mapped to it for handling. I had assumed that this would force my homepage to be recompiled, forcing it to load a tad slower upon the first page load after the change was made, but I was really surprised to learn that my Cache API entries had apparently been invalidated, as well, if that's what really happened.
# August 3, 2004 9:13 PM

TrackBack said:

# August 4, 2004 2:53 AM

Scott said:

I've seen that kind of a switch thrown whenever the ASP.NET cache is changed. It's not a full process restart, but the application does seem to restart, resetting session vars and what not One of our sysadmins had a virus scanner actively scanning the asp.net cache directory, which modified the files, which then caused the application to recompile. The worker process still showed a date a few weeks back for the last restart.
# August 4, 2004 3:04 PM

Thomas Williams said:

G'day Jason, nice list, I agree with all (haven't seen Swordfish yet, and I can barely remember Tron). You could go further and list TV shows that use technology, my favorite being two episodes of the Simpsons, one where Homer starts "hyperglobalmegacorp" (or something like that), the other where he becomes overweight and works from home (one scene where he's frantically looking for the "any key" is pretty funny). Classics.

Is the bio here what you really do? Sounds like a lot!
# August 5, 2004 3:25 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Thomas,

Yeah, I do all that and a little bit more. When you find a job that you love, you never have to work a day in your life. :)
# August 5, 2004 4:31 AM

Bill Evjen said:

Man ... even the Wrox publisher, Joe W., told me that I HAVE to redo my photo as I am not smiling! :)

BUT ... you should have seen this lady taking my picture! I was nervous about her ... she was quite strange. I had about 6 huge lights pointed at me as well and was wiping the tears from my eyes between each shot. ... maybe I do need to redo it! ;)
# August 6, 2004 7:41 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 6, 2004 9:05 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 6, 2004 12:20 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hahaha! I did think that picture looked a little uncharacteristic of you, Bill! Maybe the book's content isn't the only thing in beta! Ha! I'll have your review posted soon.
# August 6, 2004 10:58 PM

Jason Salas said:

Well, here's the review for Bill's V2 book: http://weblogs.asp.net/jasonsalas/archive/2004/08/07/210356.aspx
# August 7, 2004 12:05 AM

Scott Mitchell said:

http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=chappelle
# August 7, 2004 1:46 AM

jayson knight said:

agreed.
# August 7, 2004 1:53 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 7, 2004 7:57 AM

Bruce Johnson said:

You can't tell me that his idea for airtight security isn't an appealing one. ;)
# August 7, 2004 11:14 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 8, 2004 2:19 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 8, 2004 2:28 AM

Nasser Jasim said:

that was Big !!!


just one thing
"with Microsoft having successfully acquired Adobe"
what is that supposed to mean ?
# August 8, 2004 3:44 AM

Jason Salas said:

Just a theoretical projection. :)
# August 8, 2004 3:49 AM

bpo company india said:

As technology is developing the new softwares are customized to meet the user needs. This has been an important factor for the worldwide recognition of the software and its usage.

The more user friendly it is .. the more interest it generates
# August 9, 2004 12:40 AM

Andy said:

-------------------------------------
Well, people don't change. And it would be stupid for us to try to get them to change their expected behavior, lest we lose their interest in our product and stop using it altogether. Better doesn't always necessarily mean bigger.
--------------------------------------

Once the product highlights are announced the people are certainly going to recognize and adapt to it.
# August 9, 2004 12:44 AM

Joe said:

I just navigated to your FamiliarFaces page.

At first glance, the only way to interact with it is to click on "Click here to send your Familiar Face" (no I won't think to scroll down at first glance).
At the next step (signup page) the only visible way to interact is to signup.
a) people often don't read: so may miss that they can browse the gallery without signing up
b) there is no indication of how to browse the gallery if the user doesn't want to sign up. Maybe "browse the gallery" should be a hyperlink to the gallery browser.

Even if someone does manage to find their way to clicking on "See Classic Familiar Faces" they are immediately exhorted to "Click here to get started and submit your pictures...".
# August 9, 2004 5:39 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 9, 2004 6:02 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 9, 2004 6:02 AM

Jason Salas said:

Just a comment...at the end of the show, Craig closed the show with a "Get well soon, Keith, I'm proud of ya!" Doesn't take a genius to deduce that Keith Olbermann making a hurried, albeit non-scheduled appearance would be appreciated by a helluva lot of people.

Me included.
# August 9, 2004 6:41 AM

dan said:

Yeah, caught the "Get well Keith" line at the end. The funniest bits were flashbacks of goofy Charley Steiner giggling like a schoolgirl. Apparently, the persons on the other end of the earpieces just knew how to crack Charley up, and once he started, he couldn't stop. :P<br>

http://www.wooba.com/archives/2004/08/08/espn-old-school-makes-a-comeback
# August 9, 2004 3:41 PM

Jason Salas said:

Trust me...I can attest that on certain occasions when producers or co-anchors feel giddy...they'll do anything to make you laugh on live TV. I once was reading sports highlights when a co-anchor paraded into the studio and posed like David in front of the camera with his "naughty bits" adhered to his thigh with duct tape. That was a hard highlight to read through and keep a straight face.

Half of me wanted to crack up, the other half was in shock.
# August 9, 2004 5:08 PM

Sonu Kapoor said:

All the best for the job pal!
# August 9, 2004 10:02 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks!
# August 9, 2004 10:29 PM

Sazzad said:

take a loot at http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/dotnetbandobjects.asp

this probably what u r looking for.

or if don't have the time to do it either mail at djad442@yahoo.com. this can be a small project for me.

cheers

Sazzad
# August 9, 2004 10:55 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Sazzad,

I was looking for more of a toolbar embedded within IE, not the Windows Taskbar. That's a good start, though.
# August 9, 2004 10:58 PM

mike said:

As for the photo size limit, many people have two problems. One, a lot of people have no idea what size a problem is. Folks who use Windows Explorer in Details view know those kinds of things, but that's the kind of information that a person can easily not see.

And even if they do know what size their .jpgs are, a lot of people have no idea how to make them smaller. Outlook (and I assume other email clients) will ask whether you want to reduce the size of a picture "for the Web" or some such friendly phrase. But without an automatic tool like that, most people are lost. You surely don't expect them to use Paint, do you? :-)
# August 9, 2004 11:44 PM

Heather said:

I don't mind all the questions, so you are welcome...and good luck!
# August 10, 2004 12:31 AM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Heather!
# August 10, 2004 12:42 AM

Danish Sami said:

Hi Jason,

You need a IE toolbar? just simply send your requirements along with the urls and other stuff you want to add to the toolbar.

I'm happy to make those $$$

Cheers,

-Danish Sami
sami_danish@yahoo.com
# August 10, 2004 1:15 AM

Michal said:

Good luck!
I went through the same few weeks ago, but after answering those entry questions I received a reply that there are no visas at the moment, so Microsoft doesn't consider international candidates (I'm from Poland). So, I'll try again later...

Again, best of luck to you. Maybe we will someday work together there...
# August 10, 2004 5:36 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 10, 2004 9:02 AM

Jason Salas said:

i'm lucky that i'm from Guam and therefore I'm a U.S. citizen.
# August 10, 2004 9:44 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 11, 2004 3:47 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 11, 2004 3:47 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 11, 2004 3:55 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 11, 2004 6:48 AM

Luciano Evaristo Guerche said:

Jason,

I'll bet here: ASP.NET 3.0 = XAML

What do you think about?
# August 11, 2004 4:45 PM

Andrei said:

Here is a small list : (i gave you a link to the SmartPhone aggregator)

PC : SharpReader, NewsGator sau RssBandit
PochetPC : Pocket RSS
SmartPhone : SPRSS (http://www.codent.com/smartphone/sprss.cab)
iPOD : Ipod Agent
Symbian : FeedBurner
Palm : HandRSS
Macintosh : NetNewsWire
Linux : Syndigator

Hope this helps
# August 12, 2004 1:26 AM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Andrei! I downloaded HandRSS for my Treo and it's great! Just what I was after. It's sort of a pain setting up, as I've got to manually unsubscribe from all the default newsfeeds, and it's a bummer that the read can't parse XML feeds larger than 64K, but otherwise it's a sweet product, and worth the $14.95.
# August 12, 2004 7:34 AM

Darrell said:

I don't think it is a question of is it applicable to web devs or architects or windows devs, but of the skill level of the developer. I looked at the book's target audience, and I am definitely not in it! So, considering my free time (asymptotically approaching zero), there are other books that were a better use of my time. What I *really* appreciate is Mike clearly delineating the target audience.

And the problem with a review of this book is any nuggest one person mines and posts will probably not be what another would mine and post. I think the book is a great idea and I wish Mike all the best. One day I'll probably write a book and I'll bet Mike won't buy it because he's already familiar with the subject matter! :)
# August 12, 2004 10:59 AM

mike said:

I'm curious what you think the literary impact (as opposed to political impact) "The Satanic Verses" has been. Salinger is widely read and taught and, arguably, refreshed a traditional genre with a new voice. Rushdie (inadvertently?) stirred up a lot of political trouble, but I can't say I know anyone who's actually read the book.

I also suspect the readership of Gunderloy and Dan Brown overlaps quite a bit. :-)
# August 12, 2004 11:25 AM

Satan said:

Heaven? You guys are dreaming. Welcome home Ricky! The fire is waiting!

NOTE: The criteria used to determine that Rick James is going to hell is the universal rule of good vs. bad which has existed since the beginning of time. Being that Rick was known to experiment with crack, cocaine, and other undoubtedly wrong substances, he is not a prime candidate for Paradise. Sorry to dissappoint you.

See the link below for more information about Rick James' crack cocaine escapades:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=rick+james+crack&btnG=Google+Search
# August 12, 2004 4:06 PM

matthew said:

coder to developer is for programmers with less than 3 years experience who probably do not read & research a lot (in which case they are the very people least likely to be exposed to the book). For anyone that actually knows what source control and bug tracking is, you will get very very little from it.

Code complete ii is twenty times more interesting (although not the bible it comes close to being), for a semi-experienced progrmmer.
# August 12, 2004 4:25 PM

Mike Gunderloy said:

Darrell: I'll just get your publisher to send me a review copy - go ahead and write!

Mike: I'd be happy if I just got some overlap from readers of the Illuminatus! trilogy; I go back to an earlier generation of conspiracy books. There are, of course, no secret in-jokes or conspiracy references in C2D.

Matthew: You've delineated my target audience fairly well, though I don't couch it in terms of number of years of experience so much as type of experience. It's perfectly possible to have five or ten years of experience coding without having looked out to larger issues of development, and then to have to make the change in a hurry. Those are the people I'm primarily writing to. In addition, as others have noted, my focus is .NET-centric (at least, in this edition), so it's most useful for developers in .NET shops. I don't think it competes with CODE COMPLETE; the two books have different purposes.

Now, on to the original question: how applcable is it to Web developers and architects? Certainly less than it is to desktop developers and coders, just as it's less for J2EE hopefuls than .NET beginners. But one thing I would point out is that the book is inexpensive and your time probably isn't. How many leads on useful tools and techniques do you need to get to make skimming the book worthwhile? Probably not a whole lot. If anyone is still trying to figure out whether it's the right book, there's more info over on http://www.codertodeveloper.com to help you decide.

# August 12, 2004 5:39 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Mike (Pope),

I haven't read The Satanic Verses, nor do I plan to anytime soon; I was postulating that for us newly-minted 30 year olds, the only significant literary works in terms of cultural impact that have come out in our lifetimes would be the mentioned titles (and possibly "Tuesdays with Morrie").

Where is the "Hamlet" or "To Kill A Mockingbird" of my generation? Sadly, I don't think we've been fortunate to have been blessed with such a contribution from anyone yet. :)
# August 12, 2004 6:05 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Mike (Gunderloy),

Thanks for the feedback. I'm anxiously awaiting to read your book, as I mentioned, it's all the rage with devs these days. I understand that in general the concepts and principles are more adhered to desktop devs, but then again, I've found in having read so many books that if the reader attacks a work with an open mind, you can find a gem and make it work for you in any title. I'll drop you a line when I post a review. :)
# August 12, 2004 6:09 PM

Jim Bolla said:

rock on indeed \m/
# August 13, 2004 11:02 AM

TrackBack said:

# August 14, 2004 1:44 AM

Geoff Appleby said:

Well thanks for the kind words :)

It's coming along swimmingly, by the way. The only major job i have left is to refine my custom controls into something prettier. Got any good references on custom control creation? :) Yeah yeah, i know, you're a web guy :P
# August 14, 2004 6:25 PM

Jason Salas said:

Very well deserved, I assure you. :)
# August 14, 2004 7:06 PM

William Luu said:

Cool, Aussies taking over the world :)

I'd like to check out this project sometime, is the source code going to be made available or?

Goodluck with it guys!
# August 14, 2004 10:07 PM

Geoff Appleby said:

William: If you keep up to date with Jason's posts, you'll see that we're rolling back to a non dotnet solution for this.

However, I've still developed vb.net only ie toolbars (and explorer bars) - i'll be releasing these as a generic downloadable set of controls and a full write up of how they were implemented and the source will be available. Where these get published (my blog, or codeproject, or a gotdotnet workspace) is something i'm yet to decide.

Contact me directly if you're interested, and i can send you a mail when i have something up and viewable :)

--Geoff
# August 15, 2004 10:16 PM

Leonard said:

So, is there any chance that a .NET compiled project be run on a machine without the framework ?
# August 16, 2004 10:23 AM

Jason Salas said:

As I understand it (anyone with more accurate knowledge than I feel free to jump in anytime), the only OS that ships with .NET support is Win2003. To get a .NET-compiled program to work on a machine without .NET installed requires downloading the 23.5MB .NET Framework Runtime.

It's bascially .NET or .not. :(
# August 16, 2004 7:04 PM

Torley Wong said:

I enjoy a diverse variety of music myself... I myself am a Technomusicologist so my bias towards the electronic/electronica/techno field is obvious, but it is such a big blanket. Some techno is repetitive and monotonous while other genres are quite the opposite and spastic and hectic and ever-varying. There's all sorts of hybrids too, even techno-metal! Cheers.
# August 16, 2004 8:02 PM

Darrell said:

Spider soliataire works well if your team at work has a "high scores" web site, like my old job used to. :)
# August 17, 2004 3:46 PM

Geoff Appleby said:

That's an interesting list you have there. Buggered if I know how who'd be on mine, but...

I like people 2, 4, and 8.
I'd change 3 to Kurt Cobain, most likely :)
Kirk Hammet! Yeah! I'm a metallica fan from way back, and he's most definately one of the best guitarists I've heard. Cant' say i think much of thier last album tho.
# August 17, 2004 9:06 PM

don@ghostdev.ca (Don Newman) said:

I wouldn't mind myself and without any events in Canada either I might as well be in Guam... Winter IS coming, maybe I can get work to send me to Guam...
# August 17, 2004 11:14 PM

TrackBack said:

Ping Back来自：blog.csdn.net
# August 24, 2004 3:08 PM

TrackBack said:

# August 26, 2004 8:39 AM

Ron said:

The Net -- kinda hokey, but still pretty cool.
# August 28, 2004 3:49 PM

TrackBack said:

Ping Back来自：blog.csdn.net
# August 31, 2004 3:32 PM

TrackBack said:

Ping Back来自：blog.csdn.net
# September 9, 2004 8:35 PM

TrackBack said:

# September 17, 2004 5:17 PM

Jeff Julian said:

Very interesting idea.
# September 18, 2004 12:31 PM

Douglas Reilly said:

I would add Susan Warren, perhaps, to the list of folks you have.
# September 19, 2004 11:39 AM

TrackBack said:

# September 19, 2004 3:34 PM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks for the suggestions...it may be the literary equivalent of VH-1's series "When [TOPIC] Ruled the World", in this case, TOPIC being ASP.NET developers. :)
# September 20, 2004 8:06 PM

RyanH said:

Hi Jason,

Nice post - i've extended this slightly and provided below the textbox class we use throughout our applications ;)

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On

Imports System.Web

Namespace InstantASP.Common.UI.WebControls

Public Class TextBox
Inherits System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox

Private m_Focus As Boolean = False
Private m_DefaultValue As String

Public Property Focus() As Boolean
Get
Return m_Focus
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As Boolean)
m_Focus = Value
End Set
End Property

Public Property DefaultValue() As String
Get
Return m_DefaultValue
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As String)
m_DefaultValue = InstantASP.Common.Globalization.ResourceManager.GetKey(Value)
End Set
End Property

Protected Overrides Sub OnInit(ByVal e As System.EventArgs)

If m_Focus And m_DefaultValue Is Nothing Then
RegisterFocusScriptBlock()
ElseIf Not m_DefaultValue Is Nothing Then
Me.Attributes("OnFocus") = "clearValue(this);"
Me.Attributes("OnBlur") = "resetValue(this);"
Me.Text = m_DefaultValue
RegisterDefaultValueScriptBlock()
End If

End Sub

Private Sub RegisterDefaultValueScriptBlock()

Dim strUniqueScriptName As String = Me.ClientID & "_DefaultValue"
Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder
sb.Append("<script language=""JavaScript"">")
sb.Append("function clearValue(objTextBox) {if (objTextBox.value == """ & m_DefaultValue & """) {objTextBox.value = """";}}")
sb.Append("function resetValue(objTextBox) {if (objTextBox.value == """") {objTextBox.value = """ & m_DefaultValue & """;}}")
sb.Append("</script>")

If Not Me.Page.IsClientScriptBlockRegistered(strUniqueScriptName) Then
Me.Page.RegisterStartupScript(strUniqueScriptName, sb.ToString())
End If

End Sub

Private Sub RegisterFocusScriptBlock()

Dim strUniqueScriptName As String = Me.ClientID & "_SetFocus"
Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder
sb.Append("<script language=""JavaScript"">")
sb.Append("document.")
sb.Append(InstantASP.Common.Enumerations.EnumFormName.frmInstantASP.ToString())
sb.Append(".")
sb.Append(Me.ClientID)
sb.Append(".focus();")
sb.Append("</script>")

If Not Me.Page.IsClientScriptBlockRegistered(strUniqueScriptName) Then
Me.Page.RegisterStartupScript(strUniqueScriptName, sb.ToString())
End If

End Sub

End Class

End Namespace
# September 30, 2004 6:55 AM

Jeff Coon said:

I've only recently begun my switch from classic ASP to ASP.NET. Can I ask you to elaborate on your statement about best practices when you denounce "passing DataReaders between application tiers"? I haven't yet written a multi-tiered application, as I'm still using VB 6.0 COM components and laying .NET as the presentation layer on top of that. But I'm beginning to envision what that might look like and was wondering why specifically you pointed out this example as something not to do? Thanks Jason.
# September 30, 2004 11:52 AM

TrackBack said:

# September 30, 2004 4:21 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Jeff,

In the early days of ASP.NET development (circa 2001), it was generally thought it to be a bad thing way to transfer data in n-tier web applications by passing DataReader objects between the data tier and business tier. This was due to the fact that because DataReaders are fast, forward-only reader, they stay open until explicitly closed by a call to their Close() method at design time.

So if anything were to happen in code, by way of an adverse situation kicking in - like an exception or just negligent programming - the DataReader would pass between tiers, with the reader itself and the underlying database connection still open, unnecessarily occupy a database connection that could be used for better purposes with another user. The .NET Framework would be smart enough to release the connection eventually on its own as a means of housekeeping, but this would usually be to the detriment of the app.

For this reason, it became more advisable to use disconnected DataSets between app tiers. This is because the DataSet.Fill() method not only puts data into the DataSet, but it automatically closes the underlying connection to a data source (typically a relational database).

This became a topic of much debate, and people generally said that it's safer programming to just pass DataSets and leverage their disconnected nature. The only downside is that working with DataSets results in slower performance than DataReaders.

That having been said, I will compliment author Cristian Darie on coming up with an intriguing way of what seems to appear to be safely passing passing DataReaders between a data and business tier. He uses this general construct throughout the middle tier:

SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection("DB_CONN_STRING_HERE");
SqlCommand comm = new SqlCommand();
try
{
return comm.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection);
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
conn.Close();
throw e;
}
finally
{
// do anything else required in code
}

Darie explains how this takes full advantage of the speed of a DataReader, while ensuring to close the database connection should anything unexpected happen. It's a pretty cool concept.

Hope this helped!
# September 30, 2004 7:55 PM

Cristian Darie said:

Hi Jeff,

I’m Cristian Darie, author of “Beginning ASP.NET 1.1 E-Commerce”. I’ve come across this discussion and I’d like to share my opinion on the subject.

So ... I do agree with Jason that passing DataReader objects between application tiers should be discouraged in many circumstances. However, there are circumstances where this solution may prove to be your best option. Let me talk a little bit about both possibilities.

In theory, each application tier should comply to the “black box” concept – every object should communicate with the other objects only through their publicly exposed interfaces, while not being aware of the other objects’ internal workings.

The bad news about passing DataReader objects between application tiers is that it breaks the “black box” principle. The DataReader is indeed the fastest way to read data from your database, but it requires an open database connection to operate. When passing a DataReader object to the presentation tier, you also delegate to the presentation tier the responsibility to close the database connection used by that DataReader. This means that the lower tiers aren’t well protected and independent, since their integrity depends on the presentation tier. The consequences of ill behavior on the presentation tier side can be keeping database resources locked, which can result in a slower (or even malfunctioning) application. This problem is especially sensitive in the context of a web application, where an error that happens in one visitor’s session can result in the application malfuctioning for all the other users.

The good news is that in practice you can trick the system to take advantage of the full power (and speed) of the DataReader, while keeping risks low. Microsoft was smart to offer the CommandBehavor.CloseConnection option (have a look at the code snip provided by Jason), which tells the DataReader to also close its connection when it closes. At the same time, the ASP.NET web controls that take the DataReader object as data source are careful to close the DataReader object immediately after reading its data, thus ensuring the database connection isn’t kept open longer than necessary. These details, combined with a clever error handling strategy, can lead to a very reliable and very fast web application.

In my opinion, the main problem with passing DataReaders is that, in case of complex applications, breaking (even if just for a little bit) the “black box” concept can affect the application’s flexibility and extensibility on the long term. For this reason I would not recommend implementing an architecture based on passing DataReader objects for building large applications. However, I did find this solution to be the optimal choice for building small to medium web applications, such as the one presented in “Beginning ASP.NET 1.1 E-Commerce”.

BTW. the code snip provided by Jason is in C#, although the book actually uses VB.NET.

Regards,

Cristian
# September 30, 2004 10:42 PM

Cristian Darie said:

Jason, thank you very much for the great review! I did enjoy writing the "Search" chapter at least as much as you enjoyed reading it (especially because I couldn't find any other book on the market to present the same information).

I'm the most recent fan of your weblog :)

Cristian.
# October 1, 2004 7:18 AM

Jason Salas said:

Thanks Cristian! Both for the compliment and for helping Jeff with his query!
# October 1, 2004 7:22 AM

mike said:

I assume the first implementation will be in your blog, where you can refer people to other posts they might like. :-)
# October 1, 2004 11:01 AM

Jeff Coon said:

Wow, excellent replies - thank you! I didn't realize when posing the question that DataReaders left the connection to the database open. Knowing that, I understand the reasoning for discouraging passing them between tiers. Were I writing only a single tier responsible for passing data, I wouldn't want to leave it up to another developer to close the connection to my database.

I can envision using the trick you provided to safely pass a DataReader for a personal project where I could be certain the DB connection would be closed, but any such applications I can think of wouldn't have the sort of traffic necessary to warrant the performance boost of a DataReader over a DataSet.

I'm finding the actual programming aspects of .NET fairly easy, but questions like this about best practices are tough to find answers to. I can Google up articles on how to code a DataReader and a DataSet, but it's much harder to find articles explaining when to use one or the other. (actually, it's probably easy for those particular objects, but I was just trying to illustrate a point about finding it hard to find articles on best practices) I guess the best way to learn that is just to keep reading as much as possible and asking questions.

Thanks again for the great replies.
# October 1, 2004 12:10 PM

Jeff Coon said:

Access freaks can be database gurus?! (kidding) (kind of) ;)
# October 1, 2004 12:12 PM

Jason Salas said:

Jeff, check out the book "ASP.NET Best Practices" or look for articles on DataReader vs. DataSet on MSDN or in ASPAlliance.com. I recall there being several such pieces written on the topic. Most ADO.NET books for ASP.NET will mention this at some point.
# October 1, 2004 7:01 PM

Cristian Darie said:

Jeff,

Good to hear you found the answers helpful. I have just one note regarding your answer. Many decisions you will make about the architecture of your application will be driven by the complexity of your application, and not necessarily about the expected traffic. A small e-commerce website can get much more traffic than a very complex web application with lots of features, etc. That's it, have fun playing with ASP.NET :)

# October 2, 2004 2:43 PM

larry said:

a few years back Microsoft Research slipped one of their projects into the box with Commerce server 3.0 called the predictor which (If memory serves) does some of the functionality that your are referring to. Here is some info on it http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/comsrv2k/htm/cs_mmc_predict_shmu.asp
# October 3, 2004 1:41 AM

TrackBack said:

# October 4, 2004 4:05 AM

TrackBack said:

# October 4, 2004 4:06 AM

Wallym said:

Sql Server Full Text Search. Use the rank feature. also, apply your aggregate function over sales back against the menu.

Wally
# October 4, 2004 8:52 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Wally,

Thanks, but my DB schema is such that I'm storing restaurant items so that they can infer their own relationships numerically (by a separate Categories table including fields for PRIMARY, SECONDARY and TERTIARY categories to which each item belongs, each of which contains the ID of another item). I'm hoping to figure out what constant(s) to use and in what formula to develop my own ranking scheme.

So essentially, I'm looking to get the main jist of developing a ranking algorithm down, and then tweak it for my own needs.

I did consider running FREETEXTTABLE queries against the product names, but it would come up lame much of the time. I'd like to be able to tweak this directly. :)
# October 4, 2004 8:57 PM

Dave Burke said:

Great review, Jeff. This may be the next nerd book I should buy. I appreciated Cristian's input here as well, another strong selling point.
# October 4, 2004 10:54 PM

Jeff Coon said:

Ooooh, excellent. Thanks for the best practices book info, Jason. I'll be picking this up at lunch!
# October 6, 2004 11:36 AM

Raj Kaimal said:

Jason,
You might find this useful.

http://weblogs.asp.net/justin_rogers/archive/2004/03/29/100982.aspx

# October 7, 2004 9:41 PM

Geoff Appleby said:

Hey man,

Yeah, so many things that appear to be 'vb only' are really just classes and methods in the microsoft.visualbasic.dll

On this same tracvk, just remember that when whidbey comes out i'm pretty sure you'll just as easily be able to reference and use the My namespace. Of course, i'm still undecided just how much of the My namespace i want to touch. :)
# October 7, 2004 10:46 PM

Daniel Auger said:

After reading this, I poked around through are utility code here at work. I found some C# emulations using the standard methodology that you see where if it isn't the datatype, an exception is caught and a false is returned. I know this form of emulating is relatively accepted in the community, but I also know that you should not, whenever possible use exceptions as logic flow. I would hope that the VB classes are not doing this internally. Does anyone know of any metrics of the VB code vs the try catch emulation?
# October 8, 2004 10:51 AM

Justin Rogers said:

Yes, if you read the link posted by the guy above, there are actual numbers for int.Parse versus VB's IsNumeric...
# October 8, 2004 2:27 PM

Richard Tallent said:

Not sure exactly what you are getting at here, but I did suggest awhile back the idea of creating a P2P "meta-web" using web browser clients, abstracting the P2P part inside a proxy server:

http://www.tallent.us/blog/CommentView.aspx?guid=94bf85ef-f2d5-46cd-915d-38f81ba6a519
# October 9, 2004 2:38 AM

Max said:

big deal!!
# October 27, 2004 1:56 AM

Michael Sumerano said:

KUAM-TV definitely has a better, more readable interface. I was instantly turned off by the PDN site. You know it's bad when you actually get angry. :)
# November 4, 2004 8:29 AM

Bill Evjen said:

That's so funny .... they put no thought into that ... it looks like it was a copy and paste from Excel.
# November 4, 2004 5:46 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hey Bill,

Yeah, they did...except they forgot to include the headers, so one doesn't easily know that the unbalanced columns with inconsistent spacing represents vote tallies by individual districts. :(
# November 4, 2004 6:07 PM

TrackBack said:

# November 8, 2004 5:14 AM

David Crowell said:

Are you checking for Page.IsValid before calling the code? That will make sure the validation runs on the server side also.
# November 8, 2004 7:42 PM

Jason Salas said:

That's probably it...it's not working like that in any other browser, but you're probably right on. :)
# November 8, 2004 7:45 PM

Jeff Perrin said:

You should always check if the page is valid no matter what, anyways. Client-side validation only works if Javascript is enabled, so even users with IE will be able to bypass your validation if they really want to.
# November 8, 2004 8:25 PM

Jeff Perrin said:

After a little digging:

http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/051204-1.aspx

ASP.NET uses the non-standard 'document.all' script function to get validation working. IE seems to be the only browser that implements it.
# November 8, 2004 8:41 PM

Jason Salas said:

Christian Nagel gave some insight on this conundrum:

> Connecting from all over the world is a big issue against multicasting. Many Internet providers don't route the multicast protocol.
# November 9, 2004 7:17 PM

Jason Salas said:

Looks like I may have to go the route of using TCP Binary-based .NET Remoting as a transport.
# November 9, 2004 7:18 PM

TrackBack said:

Ping Back来自：blog.csdn.net
# November 16, 2004 6:27 AM

Senkwe said:

Boy that Pistons-Pacers was wild. This only elevates the rivalry though (which I daresay is needed in the NBA anyway)
# November 21, 2004 3:03 AM

khines said:

Pistons and Pacers brawl with fans is by far the worst thing ever to happen in sports. In fact, you can't even call it a brawl between two teams, it ws a brawl between two thugs on the Pacers and FANS of Detroit. Ron Artest should be arrested and banished from the NBA for life. A true disgrace for a league that has done nothing but promote thugs and criminals a real low point for society.
# November 22, 2004 10:06 AM

TrackBack said:

# November 23, 2004 1:58 AM

MAXAt said:

i ve same problem with pp2002 emulator, also i am searching solution.
# November 30, 2004 9:47 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Max,

Here's something that might help...I got word back from Microsoft on non-supported devices:

----------------------------
Motorola V710 doesn’t show up in the list of supported devices so I hope you have added a config section for this after profiling the device [the device profiler is available at http://www.asp.net/mobile/profile/default.aspx ]. The issue you are seeing happens when the capability “requiresUrlEncodedPostfieldValues” is wrongly set. The default value is false. Please browse to a page which prints the capability value [Response.Write(Request.Browser["RequiresUrlEncodedPostfieldValues"]);] for this device and then reverse it in config.

Note: As the issue is related to post field encoding you do not run into the issue on GET but only on POST [that is why the first browse is working and 2nd to nth pages are throwing].
# November 30, 2004 5:45 PM

Jason Salas said:

SOLVED!!

Thanks much to Kashif Alam at MS for his help for sussing this out. The following blcok goes within the <system.web> element in web.config to get the content to properly render after page postbacks on Motorola V710s:

<!-- ADD-IN SUPPORT FOR NEWER MOBILE DEVICES -->
<browserCaps>
<use var="HTTP_USER_AGENT" />
<filter>
<!-- device support for Motorola V710 -->
<case match="MOT-8700_/00.62 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2.156 \(GUI\) MMP/2.0">
requiresUrlEncodedPostfieldValues="true"
</case>
</filter>
</browserCaps>
# December 3, 2004 4:58 AM

Kieran Lynam said:

Arsenal Football Club complete a full Premiership Season undefeated... first team to do so in over 100 years! :)
# December 7, 2004 4:53 AM

Aidas (LTU) said:

USA beats Lithuania in Olympic small basketball final :) I wish that was different :)
# December 7, 2004 7:34 AM

Geoff Appleby said:

Wow. I dont' much about the guy, but I can so often recognise his guitar work.

It's a shame. Pantera rocks a lot of butt.
# December 9, 2004 10:45 PM

Sports Fan said:

I have heard of the Red Sox victory (nice comeback) and the Ryder Cup - what is the rest of this crap? Has anyone outside of some crappy insular stateside community ever heard of any of it? It is not like football (that is soccer) or any other games the rest of the world play.

BORING!
# December 10, 2004 12:17 PM

Jessica said:

I've been into Pantera for 6 months and didn't know the members well, but when I heard the news it hit me like a ton of bricks. It's a shame he was killed and three other innocent lives were taken. It filled me with rage, saddness and disbelief when I heard it, it's a shame we have to celebrate another death date on a life that ended so tragically and had an even more promising career ahead of him and it was cut short by some deranged, envious person.
# December 10, 2004 7:10 PM

Jarek said:

IT'S OVER!!!IT'S OVER!!!IT'S OVER!!!I CAN'T BELIVE IT!!!WHY DARRELL???Ten ktos kto to zrobil jest gnojkiem!!!Nie zasługuje na to zeby byc nazywany człowiekiem!!!Pewnie miał kompleksy bo DARRELL był kims wielkim!Kims kto powodował że u wielu ludzi pojawialy sie ciarki na plecach!!!DZIEKUJE CI DARRELL!!!
# December 10, 2004 7:25 PM

Bob The Builder said:

Rofl, that guy got owned!
# December 10, 2004 7:29 PM

disasterpiece219 said:

i'm glad they shot the fucker that killed Dimebag
# December 10, 2004 7:29 PM

brian kletzka said:

he was one of my heros . i have ben playing guitar for 10 years or so and he is a god. i can not belive that this happen what the hell is wrong with people .. R.I.P. DIMEBAG ..
# December 10, 2004 7:40 PM

Metal_Man said:

I cant beleave it dude i cried when i heard the news man R.I.P Dimebag Darell Abbott
# December 10, 2004 9:00 PM

wallace said:

Rock In Peace Dime. You were a god, now even more up above
# December 10, 2004 9:05 PM

wallace said:

I'm speechless, so speechless.anywhere you are, you're still the best. love you Dime
# December 10, 2004 9:07 PM

nz dimebag said:

I have been a fan for the past 14 years have learnt to play most of dimebags songs on the gat and i was absolutely flawed when i heard the unspeakable news, dimebag is a god, He will be missed RIP Bro!!
# December 10, 2004 9:24 PM

Chasu said:

damn so sad i cried too man my favorite guitarist died damn shame RIP dime
# December 10, 2004 9:32 PM

Brandon "disto" White said:

such a tragic loss, not much for a christmas present, Rest In Peace, Rock In Peace Dimebag Darrell Abbott, the god lives on as a higher being
# December 10, 2004 9:44 PM

Robbo said:

if it wasent for Dimebag and Kirk Hammet i wouldnt play the guitar right now. I remember one of the first real technical song i learned from them was cemetary gates. I have Dimebag to think for my rising hobby of playing the guitar. I was on the way to school when i heard on the radio that Dimebag got shot at his concert. When i heard that i almost ran off the road because of the shock. I dont think ill ever forget about the awesome guitarist Dimebag was. Metal will never be the same without Dimebag Darrell Abbott
# December 10, 2004 10:00 PM

Mickey said:

man i cant believe that dime is gone hes my role model he was the reason why i started playing guitar and to the guy who killed dime you can rot in hell
R.I.P Dime Bag Darrell
your spirit lives on
# December 10, 2004 11:25 PM

Jason Salas said:

The same problem/fix (those devices not supported as of ASP.NET v.1.1 Device Update 4) applies for Motorola V265 phones, too.
# December 10, 2004 11:34 PM

groovemetalhead said:

fuck this, i loved pantera, i loved damageplan, i love dime, i never got to meet him but i feel like i've lost a brother!!! metal will never be the same! DIME, i love ya bro! R.I.P.
# December 10, 2004 11:35 PM

RCF said:

When will Americans understand that the only people in society who need and should be allowed to own guns are the police, security forces, Farmers & hunters? Why was this lunatic ever allowed to own a gun? Why does anyone in a city need a gun? Why can't we just punch each other a few times, shake hands, have a beer and go quietly. Guns are for cowards, real men use their fists. This should have never happened. What a tragic loss, such a gifted musician and a wonderful human being.
# December 10, 2004 11:45 PM

Christian Roberts said:

im glad the cops killed dimes murderer. because if he wasn't dead id have to kill him myself. that was a sad time for the metal world. you were the best. and will always be. if i ever become deaf i will still be able to here your shreddin solo's ringing in my head. ROCK IN PEACE. just ROCK IN PEACE. you will always be a legend. your talent will never die.
# December 10, 2004 11:57 PM

lobu said:

R.I.P dimebag the music never dies u will rock forever!! u are god but higher in power!
# December 11, 2004 1:11 AM

felix diaz said:

it is so sad,sorry dude i am still in shock,wherever you are Dime STAY HEAVY!!!!!!!!!!!!
# December 11, 2004 1:21 AM

Ryck Zarick said:

Thanks for the detective work here! My V710 had those errors while trying to access the wap.geocaching.com site. People on the forum there found your solution and geocaching.com has applied it.

I have access to the new Cingular GSM Motorola V3 Razr, and plan to test the above site with it too.

Thanks!

Email addy at my site
# December 11, 2004 1:51 AM

Jason Salas said:

No problem Ryck! You can see what devices are supported by ASP.NET v.1.1 Device Update 4 at http://www.asp.net/mobile/testeddevices.aspx?tabindex=6
# December 11, 2004 1:55 AM

Dave M said:

Dimebag was one of the best ever. He could do things with a guitar that most musicians will never be able to do. The metal world will miss him forever. My prayers go out to Vinny. Stay strong man, your brother is sadly missed by many.
# December 11, 2004 4:07 AM

cory said:

i never met him but i knew someone who did and she was so shook up like ive never seen her. He was an amazing musician but from what ive heard an even more amazing friend and person. R.I.P. dimebag
# December 11, 2004 6:19 AM

Dave, undefined said:

This is shit, what the hell did he do to any one. I've been into Pantera for 8 years, and finding out he died, i have nothing but visions in my head of what he would have looked like in the aftermath. I wish they didn't kill the bloke who did it. I whish they arressted him so every fucker in jail and the world could find him and make his life hell.
See you up there man!! R.I.P DD.
# December 11, 2004 7:18 AM

Rach said:

R.I.P Dimebag, you will be greatly missed in the world of metal, and whoever shot you deserved to have his life ended. Love you man!
# December 11, 2004 9:45 AM

MARIO said:

I CAN HARDLY BELIVE THIS HAPPENED !!! REST IN PEACE DARREL !! THE BEST MAN AN GUITAR PLAYER!!

MAY GOD BE WITH YOU!!
# December 11, 2004 9:52 AM

eric said:

rip
# December 11, 2004 10:17 AM

D said:

that killer is lucky he died. if he went to jail, where there are hundreds of pantera fans i'm sure, you know exactly what would be happening every single day. that fuckin' dumbass. i'm sorry, i live in columbus and i can say that damageplan was playing in the smallest club in columbus. there is no security there, none practically. i always stay out of the pit because i always thought about how it would suck if some psycho brought a knife in and started slashing people, and know look what happened. dime didn't belong in the alrosa, that place is for underground metal bands. damageplan could have taken a bigger venue easily. RIP to those who lost their lives. Dime, and especially the fans who just wanted to see their heroes.
# December 11, 2004 11:50 AM

JP FI said:

Since Cowboys from hell was released, me and many of my friends (most of them musicians) have been devoted fans, Dimebag´s killer sound and riffs made the music feel like you´re in no holds barred bare knuckle fight taking blows all over the body and LOVING IT the whole time.Right after we heard the shocking news,depression and anger took over , because for decades there has been at least one safe place for bands and artists: THE STAGE and that line is not meant to be crossed EVER!! Riffmeister Abbott, remembered and respected- R.I.P.
Our condolences to all the families who lost a member and to those who were injured and/or traumatised on that night.
# December 11, 2004 12:05 PM

Charles said:

Unbelieveable !!! First off, Vinnie, Rita,and Jerry... I feel absoultly hollow inside at the thought of your loss! I know how much Darrell ment to countless friends,and fans. And to his family, and loved ones this is an undescribeable tragedy ! My heart ,and prayers go out to you all ! I live in Arlington TX. I have been a avid Pantera fan for 21 years. I am exactly 3 days older than Darrell. I first saw Pantera in the spring of 1983. It was at a little club in Fort Worth (Savvys) .I had just recently bought their newest album " Projects In The Jungle" . And I could'nt believe my ears when I heard the shear wizardry of Darrell's playing, and the total kick ass grove that is Pantera. From the frist time I saw them live I knew Darrell ,and Vinnie were going to reach the highest peaks in the metal world. Darrell's gifts were beyond belief. The guitar was'nt an insturment for him, it was an extention of his body, and spirit ! At 17 years old he was undenyably the most creative, and talented guitarist to walk the earth !!! And in the 21 years to follow, his gift to us all, his passion for his craft only shined brighter, and brighter every time he entered the studio, or took the stage. As a guitarist Dime you are without a doubt my all time favorite !!! Simply Untouchable !!! And I am lucky to say that I am fortunate enough to have many awsome memories of Darrell off stage as well. I would go and see Pantera 3,4,5 nights in a row when thay would play Savvys. And the 3rd ,or 4th time I saw them i had been standing against the stage in front of Darrell Banging my head .and air guitaring the whole night. As they were taking a break ,and leaving the stage I yelled " Darrell You kick ass!" He turned to me , and reached to shake my hand ,and said "No dude you kick ass, you 've been banging it out the whole time ! Fuck em up, bang ! " Well as you can imagine I was in a state of disbelief, There my guitar god was giving me props ! And for the next year I adopted his saying " fuck em up, bang ! . And I honestly have at least 100 other stories of times that I got to hang a little, or drink a beer , or black tooth, shoot the shit, talk music,and guitar,or smoke one in the old suburban behind Savvys during stage break. I saw them at Rascals, Raffels, Joes, Bronco bowl, Ricks, The Electric co. ,Savvys, On The Rocks, Starplex , The Denver Colisuem. Mile high Stadium, and I know I am leaving out so many other venues. But everytime , every show, every encounter, it was a unforgetably awsome , and exciting experience ! The "Abbott brothers" are truely wonderful people !! Who care, and love their fans. So many people can testify this to be true . All around the World they have welcomed us all to stop ,and say howdy, shake your hand, sign your cd's , take a picture, or share a beer. They are the perfect example of how a Rock Star should treat their fans. No bullshit, just mutual gratitude between a couple of dudes from Texas who love to play their insturments, and millions of fans across this planet who love to listen to them do it ! Dime, Vinnie, I cant thank you enough for what you have given to us all, We will never forget, we just wish there was more to come ! I'll play my cd's ,and watch my videos, and show off my autographs, and tell my stories to anyone who will listen. Darrell's legacy will never fade ! And his guitar will echo throughout time !!! THANKS FOR EVERYTHING BOYS !!! And thank all of you who took the time to read this . Its been 21 years for me folks , and I just needed to tell someone how I feel . It hurts like hell , but I feel A little better now ! Dime,& Vinnie I love you guys.... You are the greatest !!! GOD BLESS YOU ! FUCK EM' UP , BANG !
# December 11, 2004 12:11 PM

Renzo said:

es lamentable y triste que existan locos de mierda que te pueden matar cuando estas en le escenario, me uno al dolor mundial pro esta terrible perdida.
# December 11, 2004 12:19 PM

PhiL said:

man im 14 and like Dimebag was my idol and i cant belive that this happend i mede a tribute page on my site to Dimebag if any one wants to look at it http://28phil28.piczo.com/?g=2393025. "Dimebag"Darrell Abbott was one of the best metal gatiuar players of all time and he will e missed but never forgoten
# December 11, 2004 1:19 PM

sid h said:

An icon, a hero, an idol, a god .. he was larger than life.

Truly, the great metal era has ended.

It's sad..


RIP Dimebag Darrell
# December 11, 2004 1:23 PM

tommy said:

if you think it's a good thing dime is dead you are a fagot muthafuckin cock sucker that s.o.b who killed him i hope he rots in hell like the fucking piece shit he is
dime was the shit.
fuck you im out
# December 11, 2004 2:05 PM

tommy said:

r.i.p dimebag
# December 11, 2004 2:06 PM

Adrian said:

"I'd bust the punks that rape steal and murder" anselmo should write hollow part 2. he lived by his guitar and died whit it R.I.P
# December 11, 2004 2:06 PM

Shredmaster said:

I'm just passing by, but allow me to express my thoughts on this.

Just been told of this terrible, TERRIBLE news by a friend of mine. As a musician and a metalhead, I've always loved Pantera's work. Truthfully, I don't know what to say other than that I'm so very sorry about what happened. God, how this all had to happen to one of the most influencial musicians in the modern heavy music scene is completely beyond me.

R.I.P. Dime... And I thank you for being one of my musical influences.
# December 11, 2004 3:36 PM

shocked said:

wow....i cant beleive it....how could a ture metal head kill one of the best metal guitarist is ridiculouls...so what pantera broke up...this was senseless..i dont really know what to say except that i wish the cops didnt kill that guy cause that motherfucker should have been tortured!!! as a bassist he inspired me as well..i want to do what he did on guitar on bass.he made me really look at other instruments for inspiration...metal hasnt been as popular as in the past....it has been getting better...but my point is...he stayed true to metal never even slowed down never sold out....shit he just got heavier and sicker!!! and how da fuck did someone get in there with a gun anyway? they need to shut down that club for ever and make sure he never opens another venue again and he should pay for the rest of his pathetic life...man i'm so pissed i could write about this for hours...i'll just stop right now..dime i'll miss you...but at least your music will live on bro...:(
# December 12, 2004 3:15 PM

David said:

If only I could go back in time to that show and stop this. Then I'd have some fun with that Gale motherfucker who killed him. I can't even begin to explain the pain I'd put him in. Never the less, I can't, and all I can do is mourn. Dime was the best Metal guitarist of the past 20 years, possibly the best of all time. It's people like his killer and those Columbine bastards that ruin our country. No matter what, if you kill it's bad, but when you're such a worthless, pathetic piece of shit, to kill over some bullshit, like "They took my songs" which I bet isn't even true, you deserve to be up there with people like Bin Laden. I kind of wish the police didn't kill him, so he couldn't go to prison, and get the shit beat out of him every day. My condolences go out to all of the Abbot family. Vinnie you're an awesome drummer as well, you're one of my biggest influences. Also, I wish everyone luck in getting through this, and just remember, in instances like this, a good beating can do the trick, but don't fucking kill someone. This really sucks. R.I.P Dime.
# December 12, 2004 3:30 PM

Marco said:

I remember seeing Pantera first time long time supporting, I think, the Monsters Of Rock tour at some enormo-dome in New Jersey. Was for 'Cowboys from Hell'. That was great...and I became a fan from then on. But for their next two albums I had the sweet pleasure of seeing them at NYC's Roseland Ballroom (and kept the ticket stubs like a chick does), a 750 to 1000-person standing-room kinda place, where I have seen a ton of other bands if all kinds, especially heavy ones. I have never seen a venue turn into such a monstrous mosh pit in my life. Pantera were just soooo fucking heavy...I mean...I've seen Celtic Frost, Slayer and VoiVod in tiny shithole clubs, back when the heavy music was heavy, before it started to fucking suck for a long while, which Pantera then came around to save. And Dimebag was a singular reason for that rescue...with that god-size guitar tone....fucking love and death in every riff....those weigh-more-than-ten-tons sized riffs...let alone what Vinnie and Phil and Rex were adding into the mix. But that mammoth guitar....like the middle section in 'Floods' before the acoustic guitar and Dime-solo...sounds like a prehistoric fucking creature coming out of the woods, in slow sludge steps. Dimebag's tone. And at those Roseland shows...sweet Christ the place went fucking apeshit bananas. Awww God...it was just so beautiful and heavy. And perfect...cuz they played all the tracks as if they were playing the record. I didn't know how Dimebag would pull that shit off live....and he was a monster...thrashing, banging his head, 'acting like a maniac', and nailing every lick, every twisted, screaming solo, every bestial, fucking hollowed-out bent E that reminded me of why I needed them so much in college to get me through my fucking shit at the time....bodies were flying everywhere...they did 'Fucking Hostile' at both shows and I thought nothing would be left. They were just soooo fucking heavy...and real. A no bullshit band. No bullshit players. No toning down. For love. For love of the feeling of such fucking beautiful, heavy music. Shit man...the opening riff to 'New Level'...awww man...Dime...I hope you know what you have done to set
heavy music right...to put the teeth back in guitar after years of fucking falsies.
In the long line of musicians in history, Dimebag will be that landmark where it all pivoted around. Like that other Texan before him, a certain little Stevie Ray Vaughn, he changed how it all should be...how it could be done and how it could be. I'm glad I bore witness. Condolences sincerely to the Abbott family.
Bless your son.
# December 12, 2004 4:34 PM

Kaino said:

DIME!!............why man, WHY??? to me this is the single most tragic thing to ever happen! I cant understand why some little bitch of a piece of shit excuse for a man would ever want to hurt Dimebag, or metal for that matter. I dont blame any single person in general, other then that fucken worthless piece of shit that is, but i dont think that his murder should of ever been allowed to happen! but i wont go any further then that. I would just like to say to all metal fans out there who loved pantera or damageplan, all you fucken awesome guys and girls out there just keep remembering what Dime did for us and to never say he's dead, cause he wont die in our hearts and minds if we dont let him. RIP "DIMEBAG" Darrell Lance Abbott. I'll miss you buddy!
# December 12, 2004 5:05 PM

Jason said:

I met him once, just a few months ago. They were just about to start the Damage Plan tour and they were at my local radio station. I drove to meet them and Dimebag was the nicest guy. He joked with me, signed an autograph and gave me a hug telling me he appreciates that im a fan. Nobody could have deserved this less.
No offense to Phil Anselmo, but he was an asshole when i met him. He acted like he was higher than me, Dimebag is on the same pedistal and he never forgot why he was there. He died playing, he'll play from beyond. RIP Dimebag Darrell.
# December 13, 2004 5:30 AM

TrackBack said:

# December 13, 2004 10:28 AM

TrackBack said:

# December 13, 2004 12:08 PM

TrackBack said:

# December 13, 2004 4:11 PM

TrackBack said:

# December 13, 2004 4:15 PM

Brian said:

I feel so bad about what happened.Pantera was one of my favorite bands and how could one of thier fans kill one of the members.I just dont get it.They were one of the greatest metal bands ever and someone had to end DimeBags career in an instant.
# December 13, 2004 7:03 PM

TrackBack said:

# December 13, 2004 8:30 PM

Jason Salas said:

I just did a more formal article to remember Dime: http://www.kuam.com/news/11879.aspx
# December 14, 2004 7:17 AM

Tom. M said:

Allow me to get this off my chest...

I saw Pantera only once in my life, sadly beacuase I don't think I had any friends cool enough to introduce me to them...it was in 2001 at Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia. I rocked up tipsy and relaxed after many cans of jim beam and coke, with some friends.....and that night I can honestly say was the best day of my life. Even though Philip Anselmo had drunk way too much, and was being a dirtbag to the audience, and not even trying to do the songs very well, it was still the best day of my life, and I'm forever greatful for it.

I think it makes sense that Darrell stated the bastard of a song to put together, 'I'll cast a shadow' ended up for him being , '"It's my favorite now, the most badass song on the record." .

-- Darrell Abbott, you have died... and you ARE casting a shadow, over the whole metal world.

Darrell was the "whole package", guitar skill and mastery of movement with the instrument.

May your father, brother, wife and son have the strength to carry on.

Your death will get more people interested in your music, and hopefully one day just one day. we will see another gentle giant like yourself with an amazing ability to play axe, have fun, and give joy to millions of metal heads.

Quote Darrell Abbott - "Alright brother, rock on!"

Hope to see you again some day, wherever you are. Maybe you could pour me a black tooth'? Cheers, wheewwww!
# December 14, 2004 7:55 AM

ishfaque , abu , omra said:

tor maire chudi khanki maggir pola jaita darell dimebag re marse hala tui na morle tore ami maire feltam.....shala go to hell the murderer.....
# December 14, 2004 9:20 AM

Todd said:

RIP Dimebag.. wish I could hear your duet with Randy Rhoads at the pearly gates.. theres some major shreddin goin on in heaven tonight.
# December 14, 2004 1:15 PM

Pantera fan said:

I can't believe that dimebag darrell was killed by some lunatic. What an a**hole. Dimebag had a lot ahead of him. He was a very good guitar player. The guy who did this should be shot to death the same way he did to dimebag. I cannot believe this s***. He was probably a linkin park and hoobaskank fan. It's not dimebags fault he is a good musician. Linkin park and hoobaskank aren't alrite. They suck a lot.
# December 14, 2004 5:02 PM

Pantera fan said:

Man! its all over now that dimebag is dead. Now Pantera can't get back together. And now there ain't gonna be a reunion tour for Pantera. F*** that dirtbag. When I see him he'll know watsup when I f*** him up s***.

R.I.P dimebag darrell much love for you!
# December 14, 2004 5:06 PM

Damon said:

Pantera fan your right man. This guy is a linkin park and hoobaskank fan. Why would he do this shit man. Just because linkin park and hoobaskank suck doesn't mean he had to do this shit. He should've came up to me instead and fought me instead. I would've fucked him up. It's all about Pantera shit. dimebag darrell one of the best guitarists in the world man. Fuck all those ass hole hattin. Better pay your respects for dimebag.
R.I.P
# December 14, 2004 5:13 PM

kelelle said:

I was and still am floored at the passing of Dimebag Darrell. May he rock forever with best who have passed before him.
REST IN PEACE DIME!!!!
# December 14, 2004 7:39 PM

Mr. K. said:

R. I. P.......
# December 15, 2004 12:31 PM

MetalLord said:

This is just insane, the rock world is empty without Dime Bag in it. Yeah its a real good thing that killer got shot because his ass would be had. Rock on Darrell!
# December 15, 2004 4:29 PM

pacs said:

I sympathize and deeply saddened with the loss of a great metal guru of our time. Thanks for the music and inspiration... You're truly one of a kind... Your legacy will continue and your music will live on... Rest in peace man, rock on!
# December 15, 2004 7:53 PM

metalfukdemon666 said:

i'll kill that pice of shit that killed dime fuck him
# December 16, 2004 6:50 PM

Josh Murchison said:

I think that Ron Artest shouldnt of hit the piston fan and i hope the nba would fire im or something.
# December 17, 2004 11:53 AM

Josh Murchison said:


I have seen things bad in my life and i have never seen sometrhing this stupid.
# December 17, 2004 11:55 AM

a paul pierce fan said:

i hate ron artest because of what he did to the piston fans and i think hes a whimp if he will hit a fan and not ben wallece
# December 18, 2004 12:24 PM

Richard said:

Dime is one of the Best metal Guitar players out there. he's My Hero. He was living a great life. I'll Drink a beer and a shot of whiskey in remembrence of dime. I know your rockin out in heaven as i speak. R.I.P Dime and good bye you cowboy from hell Youve made Guitar History
# December 31, 2004 6:51 PM

Sid said:

RIP Dimebag
# January 2, 2005 7:58 PM

JDC said:

Shouldnt there be mention of the disappointing choice of Oklahoma over Auburn for the #2 spot in NCAA football BCS standings?
# January 5, 2005 2:26 PM

Jason Salas said:

Depends...if you think OU played better during the season than Auburn. I've said on my radio show that Auburn should have played for the national title, but the BCS is so screwed up that it wouldn't allow it.
# January 5, 2005 6:30 PM

Jason Salas said:

Actually, this is what I'm thinking in pseudocode now:

(1) have a user login and have them select the winners of the first 32 games in Round 1. Persist these values (the winners w/game scores) using Session variables or ViewState to Round 2 and post the page back unto itself. This will allow the winners to "advance" to the next round.
(2) repeat the above cycle for the remaining Rounds all the way to the National Championship as the elimination of teams reduces the # of games played (16 games, 8 games, 4 games, 2 games, 1 game).

Huh.
# January 26, 2005 11:47 PM

Todd said:

I built one. We are in the process of giving it a face lift. You can see it at http://deucemadness.martron.com/. I used the Tounry Logic control at: http://www.tourneylogic.com/. It was a god send. I could concentrate on the DB stuff rather than worrying about drawing the brackets etc. Email me if you want more details: twlichty@gmail.com
# January 27, 2005 11:18 AM

TrackBack said:

# January 29, 2005 6:49 AM

Steve Hall said:

Having been an athletic trainer/manager in a former life, I would presume that it's the local gym/arena's "floor policy": no hard-sole shoes allowed, to prevent scuff-marks. (I'm kind of surprised you didn't catch this one, being a sports producer and all...)

Most support personnel (coaches, managers, trainers, team doctors) of high school and college basketball and wrestling teams wear either cross-trainers (aka "gym shoes") or what appear to be "dress shoes". Those dress shoes are usually really rubber-sole shoes. For example, almost all wrestling coaches wear a hybrid shoe at wrestling mathces that almost passes for a black dress shoe, but is rubber-soled so that they can walk on the ultra-expensive wrestling mats without tearing them...but still look formal enough to go with their sports jacket and slacks. Basketball referrees wear a similar kind of shoe that appears like a dress shoe, but is really rubber-soled. High school and college basketball coaches usually wear the same shoe as the referrees to conform to the "floor policy". As a trainer or manager, I always wore either a Nike cross-trainer or rubber-sole "ref. shoes".

The reason NBA coaches get away with wearing hard-sole shoes are due to two factors: 1) the floors are temporary floors, and 2) the NBA has money. Since most NBA arena floors are not permanent floors, they're continuously reconditioned since they're put together and taken apart routinely. I.e., damanged pieces can be easily replaced each week. Permanent floors (at all high schools and colleges) are much more difficult to care for...and thus, the "floor policies" exist to make sure they last for 30-50 years. (Local citizenry are loathe to pay for new high-school or cellege gymnasiums every 10-20 years...)

At my own high-school gym, which was built in 1968, we had a 3'x10' section of maple floor that warped upwards over 6" from an under-floor water leak near a back door. That repair in 1972 cost over $10K, which if normalized to today's dollar value would be >$100K. (Today's high-school and college gyms with hard-wood floors are running well into the millions of dollars due to the floor costs.) In order to prevent floor-scuffs from idiots who walked on it with hard-soled shoes, the janitors put a half-dozen coats of varnish and 3 coats of wax on it during the summer, and a coat of wax on it weekly during the school year. Anyone caught scuffing the floor was given 3 demerits. Back then at most college basketball games, security guards wouldn't even let in people under 30 with hard-sole shoes...on the premise that at the end of the game, they'd end up on the floor scuffing it up during the post-game melee...

Once a college coach told me that the way to gauge whether or not the a college's alumni association cared about their basketball team was by the condition of their main basketball floor. If it was covered with scuff marks that were quasi-permanent, then this indicatd the alumni weren't "taking care" of the janitors (by tips and paying them enough) to keep the floors perfect or were being cheap about raising funds to replace the 30-year old floor.

Just remember, scuff-marks are the bain of every high-school and college janitor!

I haven't heard of any sort of fund-raising or "cause", but that's an interesting angle...
# February 6, 2005 1:46 AM

Jason Salas said:

hi steve,

i thought about that...that the NCAA might have imposed a new policy to give coaches better grip on the floor. i also thought it might be a particular brand running a promotion, given the fact that Duke and Cincinnatti are Nike schools. but, it looked like another coach elsewhere wore New Balance, of all brands. huh.
# February 6, 2005 2:09 AM

Bryce said:

It gets mentioned in this article...

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=250360150

"...part of a promotion for the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society."
# February 6, 2005 4:17 AM

Steve Hall said:

Back in the 70's and 80's the NCAA had no policies for or against any shoe styles, that I remember (although I seem to remember they had a sports jacket requirement for coaches). But in this era of selling out to corporate interests for sponsorship funding, it wouldn't surprise me any if there's a whole slew of policies about shoes and uniform markings to allow such funding. If these large sports outfitters have somehow coerced coaches into wearing only their products, then I think this source of funding has gone too far! (Making coaches become shills for a sports outfitter is unbecoming of the coaching profession, esp. since coaches are supposed to be instilling "can't be bought" values into their atheletes by example. If a coach is shilling for say Nike, then this teaches the wrong lesson to atheletes, e.g., tells them its alright to throw a game if someone like a Nike rep. tells them to...)
# February 6, 2005 4:32 AM

Steve Hall said:

Oops! Didn't see that last post until after posting... Sounds like an interesting promotion. At least it doesn't cause the coaches to compromise their ethics. The story about the coach near-fainting was interesting. I've never seen a basketball coach do that in the hundreds of games I've attended. Usually it's a ball player that's needs some nitrates and oxygen to continue playing...
# February 6, 2005 4:40 AM

Jason Salas said:

A-ha...

"[Coach K] jokingly blamed his lack of balance on the running shoes he was wearing instead of his normal loafers, part of a promotion for the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society".

Good cause.
# February 6, 2005 6:31 PM

TrackBack said:

# February 8, 2005 9:44 AM

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# February 8, 2005 9:44 AM

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# February 8, 2005 9:44 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 8, 2005 10:29 AM

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# February 8, 2005 10:32 AM

Johnnie Walker said:

I like the latter too. You may need to run 63 updates statements, but wouldn't be it for all user's? I'm probably not reading this correctly, but couldn't you run a single update command for each team, something like....UPDATE RESULTS SET SCORE = '64-62', WINNER = 'Villanova', LOSER = 'Providence' WHERE HOMETEAM = 'Villanova' AND AWAYTEAM = 'Providence' AND ROUND = 1.

Very simplified and probably wrong regarding your dataset, but I would much rather have multiple linking tables than 1 big flat table. I guess that's my relational nature.
# February 10, 2005 2:23 AM

John Galt said:

Since every game only has two participating teams, how about having predictions recorded in a single 63-character string of 1s and 0s and using that as an array? This is assuming that you're only tracking which team is predicted to win.
# February 10, 2005 5:38 AM

Alex Papadimoulis said:

I think the 30-minutes-or-its-free thing got canceled after drivers were constantly running over people while trying to deliver pizza.

I'll usually just pick it up. It's done in 10-15 minutes, and I save $3 on a tip. But then again, I've got three 'za places within 1/2 mile of me ... although, I've always wanted to get delivery from the place that's 5 houses down ...
# February 10, 2005 8:49 AM

Dean Harding said:

That Blockbuster deal is a bit of marketing hype. Instead of charging a "late fee" they make you buy the movie outright if you're more than 7 days late... or if you *do* return the movie instead of buying it, they refund the cost of the movie with *store credit* minus the cost of the rental, minus a "restocking" fee (not a late fee, mind you: a "restocking" fee. Obviously, that's completely different).

Check it out: http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/20/technology/techinvestor/hellweg/index.htm

Anyway, I still agree on the 30-minutes-or-it's-free thing. And like Alex, I usually do a pickup as well cause it's generally much quicker. I've been told in the past that to get it delivered I'd have to wait over an hour, but I could pick it up in 15 minutes...
# February 10, 2005 7:45 PM

Jason Salas said:

Hi Dean,

Oh yeah, the campaign is brilliant...I went in one day to Blockbuster and asked them to explain it to me and this all harkens back to a "policy" the company's been using for years - the longer you let a customer keep a video, the longer they won't watch it. So, by doing some slick sleight of hand (or mouth in the case, it being a marketing promo), they've been able to cash-in in the tens of thousands of irresponsible customers who won't return the products within a given timeframe. Brilliant!

That's why I majored in marketing...
# February 10, 2005 8:08 PM

Dean Harding said:

It definately pays to read the fine print in these things... nothing is ever free.

Plus I guess it also stops the situation I've found myself in a few times in the past. I'd go to one video store for a while, until one day I'd forget to take a video back. Now, generally by the time I realise I've forgotten, it's be so long since I hired it in the first place that the late fees would be so high that I'd just keep the video and start going to a different store.

It was probably easier back then since the big video-store chains have only recently started coming to Australia, and back in my uni days (when I was poor and this happened a lot ;) there were lots of independent stores that I could just join...
# February 11, 2005 2:00 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 15, 2005 7:00 AM

Wallym said:

Hey Jason. How is Guam? Long time since I have heard from you or sent anything to you. I hope all is going well on the other side of the world from me. :-)

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the command builder myself. I've looked at the commands that it sends to a database, and all I can really say is yuck. I haven't looked at in Whidbey, but I should.

Wally
# February 15, 2005 7:03 AM

TrackBack said:

# February 15, 2005 7:04 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hey Wally!

Yeah....it's been awhile. Wow...a data access guru like you not getting into the next ADO.NET is major! :)
# February 15, 2005 7:05 AM

Jason Salas said:

Hopefully, someone from the MS ADO.NET team will see this and either say my rquest wasn't unique and that the changes are in the works, say it's not possible, or say they'll look at it. Cool by me either way.
# February 15, 2005 7:07 AM

Charles Chen said:

There are tons of better open source tools out there that do exactly this and can support much more complex queries.

NHibernate comes to mind as one of the better ones that I've seen. It does involve writing some XML, but the initial preview of ObjectSpaces works on a similar concept (object XML, mapping XML, and table XML). The nice thing about NHibernate is that it's based off of the relatively mature Hibernate framework for Java. There's plenty of documentation (albeit for Hibernate, but the two are mostly compatible), there's good tool support for auto generating schemas and classes from mapping XML files, and it's highly flexible.

Two good intro resources:
http://www.theserverside.net/articles/showarticle.tss?id=NHibernate
http://www.theserverside.net/articles/showarticle.tss?id=NHibernateP2

NHibernate homepage:
http://nhibernate.sourceforge.net/

Scott Bellware on NHibernate:
http://geekswithblogs.net/sbellware/archive/2004/12/19/18084.aspx
# February 15, 2005 8:25 AM

Jeff said:

The idea of best practices and there are few universal truths is something I think I mentioned several times in my book, and in fact right up front in the preface. The hardcore academic types seem to want to kick you in the nuts when you say it, but it's so true, the bit about skinning a cat (though I've never understood why you'd want to skin a cat).
# February 15, 2005 10:26 PM

Geovanny Tejeda said:

Excellent comment!
And excellent subject to prove it, that's one of the most abused subjects in ASP.NET (Paging/Sorting example with the datagrid), i heard Microsoft a consultant destroying some friends for using Text SQL's on their data tiers, of course, Stored Procedures provide another level of abstraction blah, blah, blah, but creating a temporary table sometimes can create an even larger overhead than not using the optimized dataAdapter.

Keep 'em coming!!!
# February 15, 2005 10:28 PM

Jason Salas said:

HI Jeff,

I'm looking forward to giving your forthcoming book a spin and do a review on it! When does it come out again?
# February 15, 2005 10:52 PM

TrackBack said:

# February 16, 2005 4:54 PM

Wallym said:

Hey Jason. I've actually been involved with ADO.NET V2 Whidbey/Yukon for a while. I just haven't looked at the commandbuilder specifically as I prefer to write my own commands to send info back to the database. Here is the link to all my data access posts. I really like the async support (drool, drool). http://weblogs.asp.net/wallym/category/553.aspx

Wally
# February 17, 2005 7:59 AM

Wallym said:

Guru? Where, where. More like a legend, in my own mind.

Wally
# February 17, 2005 7:59 AM

mschaef said:

That's a little odd.

Most Ph.D. level papers I've seen primarily cite either papers in referreed journals, or maybe working papers. Your own posts in a totally unreferreed forum are a little lightweight to be a source in a serious paper, I'd guess.
# February 17, 2005 9:08 AM

mschaef said:

"Your own posts in a totally unreferreed forum are a little lightweight to be a source in a serious paper, I'd guess."

BTW, don't take this to be an indictment of your writing or research skills, just the nature of the forums involved.
# February 17, 2005 9:09 AM

mike said:

I think it would depend entirely on what it is you're writing about and citing. If you're writing about comunications and new media, I can imagine citing a blog post and follow-up comments. If you're writing about populism in politics, of course. The linguists over on the Language Log (and various sites they point to) frequently cite blogs and email, since they represent a rich source of contemporary language usage.

What IS your thesis going to be about? I think I missed that part.
# February 17, 2005 10:29 AM

Scott said:

The only background I have is in writing scientific papers so this may not apply to other academic writing. One of the first "BS Tests" that my professors taught me to apply when reading a scientific paper was to look at the citations and see if the author cites his other works more often than they cite works by other people. Unless the author is truly doing groundbreaking work, they should cite others more than they cite themselves. "If I've seen farther it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants" and all that. I was also taught to only considers citations from peer reviewed sources.

That being said, I'm not sure if a weblog counts as a peer reviewed source. You might be better off incorporating your blog writing into your disseration rather than using the posts as citations.
# February 17, 2005 10:37 AM

Derick Bailey said:

I'd generally agree with mschaef.

My wife is a Ph.D. in Psychology (teaching at Baylor in Waco, TX, FYI) and from what I've heard from her, and in my own experience with paper writing (limited, that it is), i'd elaborate by sayin it depends on how you are citing.

I would personally think it's not good to just go around quoting your blog all over the place, since it's not a "well known" publication like a Psy journal, etc. However, I would say some moderation in the use of it is not a bad thing. As long as you have the proper data, references, etc. listed in your blog, I think it would be fine to say something along the lines of "building on previous research from ...." or something in that fashion.
# February 17, 2005 2:32 PM

TrackBack said:

# February 19, 2005 3:00 AM

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# February 19, 2005 3:02 AM

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# February 19, 2005 7:09 AM

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# February 19, 2005 7:20 AM

Jason Salas said:

well, Ray Allen's out, and i got the "finalists' wrong...it's the top 3 advancing. good sniping, Voshon.
# February 19, 2005 9:42 PM

Jason Salas said:

DEPAUL IN THE HOUSE! Good round, Q.
# February 19, 2005 9:50 PM

Jason Salas said:

Round 1's best dunk definitely goes to J.R. Smith. That was COOL.
# February 19, 2005 10:24 PM

John Cavnar-Johnson said:

I actually prefer a legal pad and a box of 8 Crayola crayons for software modeling. You can quickly iterate through designs, backtrack if you need to, and the crayons help you stay at the right level of abstraction (you can't draw too many shapes with crayons on a legal pad).
# February 19, 2005 11:42 PM

heller said:

http://kghsjg.k1.xrea.com/ ,http://hls.k2.xrea.com/ ,http://eom.k2.xrea.com/ ,http://www.soudown.net/ ,http://www.998guide.com/ ,
# February 19, 2005 11:49 PM

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# February 20, 2005 9:00 AM

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# February 21, 2005 4:00 PM

Joel Ross said:

Jason,

You can see the Tourney Pool Manager (and the Tourney Bracket Control) in action at http://pools.tourneylogic.com/AccentureMatchPlay/. Thought you might be interested.

And hey, you can win $25 if you win the pool!
# February 21, 2005 4:08 PM

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# February 22, 2005 9:59 AM

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# February 22, 2005 12:40 PM

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# February 24, 2005 11:59 PM

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# February 26, 2005 9:59 AM

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# March 6, 2005 6:09 PM

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# March 6, 2005 6:45 PM

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# March 9, 2005 2:59 AM

Ron Krauter sa