Archives
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[Human Factor] In Honor of a Different Kind of Code Hacker
Francis Crick, who, in 1953, unravelled the structure of DNA along with James D. Watson, died on July 28, 2004. Crick and Watson's discoveries led to our present understanding of the genetic code, which is arguably far more important to all of us than the computer code we celebrate on our weblogs every day.
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[Languages] IronPython is out and OpenSource!
I am *so* stoked! Python, one of my very favorite languages, is now a real .NET language. The incredible Jim Hugunin has just released IronPython-0.6. Furthermore, IronPython is Open Source, under the Common Public License - v 1.0. Here is one Pythoneer's sincere "Thank you!" to Jim!
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[Languages] o:XML Object-oriented XML, the Language
Check out this new XML-based programming language, o:XML. I have long anticipated something like this but am embarrassed to admit that I didn't discover it two years ago, when it got started. Version 1.0.0 was proudly released on the project's second anniversary. I only found about it because it was featured in the Daily Python URL (on 2004-07-23), one of my favorite non-.NET information sources (Rss 2.0 feed).
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[SoftDev] Cleanly start and stop Windows Explorer
See how to cleanly start and stop explorer.exe at Jeffdav's Weblog for some obscure Windows knowledge on how to deal with Explorer crashes, etc.
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[General] Is SBC's cfd.exe Spyware or Adware? SBC says, "No."
Several sources on the net have reported that cfd.exe is spyware or adware. The "BroadJump Client Foundation" software is automatically installed with SBC's DSL kit. I, myself, have wondered about this and was on the edge of uninstalling it when I decided to chat online with SBC support. The SBC support professional has certified to me that cfd.exe is only being used for network management purposes.
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[The Human Factor] OK, I'll byte.
Originating from the demented mind of some bemused induhvidual, the "Page 23 Meme" has been spreading wildly. I was fascinated by memetics, when I first encountered it, so I'll participate in the experiment. However, the real meme I am spreading is the meme of memetics, itself! Oh, and I just recognized that I also seem to be heavily propagating one or more Google memes, as well. Do notice that I have not merely propagated "Page 23." I have also added some sort of content that took some sort of thought. Whenever I become conscious that I am spreading some meme, I usually try to add value.
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[SoftDev] Kent's Rules for Refactoring
Over on the Trivial Thoughts Weblog, Michael Kent posted some very non-trivial thoughts on refactoring. You can do worse than to follow Kent's Rule for Refactoring Code.
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[The Human Factor] Score = 42 to 6 ... oops, make that 42 to 2
I lost! We lost! Who won? spammers! (I refuse to capitalize them).
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[Tools] Visio .NET Enterprise Architect Edition conflicts with Visio 2003 Professional
Courtesy of a kbAlertz RSS feed, I just discovered this alert: "This file cannot be opened because it was created with a newer or unrecognized version of Visio" error message when you try to open a Visio drawing by using Visual Studio .NET.
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[.NET - General] .NET doesen't belong at the Microsoftian Core!
Sorry, fellow .NET aficionados, but this recent advice from Microsoft is highly important: KB# 841927 - Do not use .NET Framework Class Libraries or other framework libraries in core operating system processes. It's only common sense, really, but they gave me a hammer for my birthday and now they don't want me to use it on the OS! Shucks! Durnit!
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[Tools] Monad, the MSH Beta
I have started to experiment with the new Microsoft Shell Beta (Monad) and was going to write a brilliant post about it but it appears that others have paved this road before me. So, I will just recommend that you check out these links:
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[Tools] UMLet, a free UML Diagramming Tool
The new, free UMlet is designed to support the UmlAsSketch concept. While not exactly "full-featured," it will let you crank out useful UML diagrams in a surprisingly short time. Only a few UML diagram types are currently supported but the next version will support more. It's pretty light-weight, too, at about 6.9 MB for the entire Java application.