Robert Hurlbut's Blog

As with my previous post, I am working on my FreeBSD 4.8 Release tonight.  Last week, I had problems getting the CD-Rom to mount correctly (which, of course, doesn't make sense since I used the CDs to install the OS).  I was trying to transfer the Rotor code from the CD to my VMWare drive, but kept failing for some reason.  Tonight, I used my Win 2000 OS to set up an FTP server and transfered the Rotor code to my VMWare/FreeBSD drive.

Building Rotor was a snap.  It took less than an hour to build (I am currently allocating 272 Meg of memory to FreeBSD through VMWare).  After the build, I ran the PAL (Platform Adaption Layer) tests -- 100% pass.  I am currently running the SSCLI quality tests.  So far, it looks like all the tests are coming back with a “pass”.

Update:  The SSCLI quality tests completed after 3 hours 23 minutes.  Out of 2281 tests, 2250 passed and 31 failed.  That's a 98.6% success rate for Rotor on FreeBSD 4.8 Release (when it was released, Rotor was verified for FreeBSD 4.7 Release).

Over the weekend, I also installed RedHat Linux 8.0.  I tried to use the port that Andrew mentioned last week (confirmed to work on RedHat Linux 7.2), but was unsuccessful in getting it to build.  After I play around with this version on FreeBSD for awhile, I am thinking of looking at the PAL for Linux to see what's involved in porting Rotor to RedHat Linux 8.0 and 9.0. 

Of course, I also pulled down Mono and tried a build on RedHat Linux 8.0.  I ran into an error regarding a missing compiler.  I will try this one again later after I get the compiler.  I also have RedHat Linux 9.0 and will try the Mono build on that one as well.

Last night, Sam and I went to the New Hampshire .Net User Group to hear Larry Kim speak about XML Schema and other topics concerning Advanced XML Data Modeling.

Afterward, we had an opportunity to talk with Larry.  He works as a technical director at Altova (XMLSpy is their premier product).   For his presentation, Larry used the soon-to-be-released version of XMLSpy 2004.

Larry is a remarkable guy, having written four (4) books in the last 2-3 years.  His latest is The Official XMLSPY Handbook:

From what I understand, the book provides a 90-day evaluation CD version of XMLSpy 5 Enterprise Edition (that's 60 days longer than the version you download).

Ingo is starting a new book.  He is also blogging about it:

If you want to track the progress of this book, head to http://www.ingorammer.com/BookBlog/ or subscribe (RSS 2.0).

Subscribed.

Ingo has just become a Microsoft Regional Director:

Regional Directors aren't Microsoft employees--they're independent developers, architects, trainers, and other professionals who provide a vital link between Microsoft and the developer community. These technical experts can give you the insight and informed perspective you need to start developing .NET-connected software today--whether you need help learning about the .NET Framework, training developers, or implementing all aspects of a solution. Contact a Microsoft-endorsed Regional Director to kick off your project today.

This is great news.  I still remember our WinDev blogger dinner in Boston when I got a chance to meet Ingo.  If you get a chance, listen to what Ingo has to say (in print with Advanced .Net Remoting and in person).

Last week, I tried to install my new FreeBSD on my new laptop as a dual boot partition, but ran into problems since my first bootable partition had already been formatted as an NTFS drive (Windows 2000 Server).

I thought all was lost, but then remembered VMWare.  I have heard great reviews from others, and decided to give it a try myself.  I downloaded the 30-day evaluation copy, and installed the software without a hitch.  I set up the virtual machine environment for my FreeBSD, and presto -- I was on my way to installing FreeBSD.

I have had to re-install FreeBSD a couple of times because I didn't allocate enough space for the root directory the first time.  Easy enough, though, to wipe out the virtual machine and start again.  One of the great things about VMWare (among many others) is that I am able to use VMWare as my DHCP server and set up the virtual machine networking with NAT to route the network connection through my server connection to the internet.

I have spent a couple of late nights doing this.  I didn't get a chance to compile Rotor yet, but that's tonight.  Last night, while waiting for everything to install for my FreeBSD, I listened to David Stutz talk about how they intentionally targeted FreeBSD first as the platform (other than Windows, of course) to demonstrate the portability of the CLI specification.  The video I watched came from his book on the Rotor code.

After I get Rotor working and tested, I am thinking of installing my Red Hat Linux version with VMWare in order to install and test the Mono code base.  I will let you know how that goes as well.

Anyone else have experiences with intalling Rotor (or Mono) on non-Windows systems?  I would like to know what problems and/or solutions you have encountered. 

I know Sam has written recently of his experiences of compiling and testing Rotor on his new Mac (using Mac OS X, a flavor of FreeBSD).

I picked up another book on secure programming today.

This one is Secure Programming Cookbook for C and C++ by John Viega & Matt Messier.

Even if you don't program in C or C++, this looks to be a very good read.  There are sections on Cryptography, Authentication, Input Validation, and one of the best sections on Random Numbers I have ever seen.

O'Reilly has some sample articles from a chapter in the book:

Basic data validation techniques

How to evaluate URL encodings

Validating Email Addresses

Update:  John Viega (one of the authors) has noted that there will be new and updated recipes on the site http://www.secureprogramming.com.  Take a look.

Just got back from listening to Don Box give the keynote at the Boston Dot Net Users Group meeting tonight.

Don talked about Generics, and some new items for C# in Whidbey (yes, Don confirmed that Generics is available for VB.Net).   A great talk and opportunity all around.

At the end of the evening, I met Don and mentioned that I originally was going  with Sam that evening, but he is at Microsoft this week.  Don mentioned that he saw Sam at Microsoft earlier in the week, as Sam mentions.   Sam in Redmond, and Don in Boston.  Full circle.

Someone in the audience asked where they could get more info on Generics.  Don said go to PDC in October.  Of course, I am so there.

Both Doug and Sam talk about taking responsibility for our own professional development careers.

Like others, I am paying my own way for PDC.  No one else.  I determined a long time ago that I am responsible, as a professional developer, for my own career.  No one else.  When I worked as a full-time employee, I bought my own books, learned new technologies (at the time, .Net)  on my own time, and paid the cost of moving forward out of my comfort zones.

As for me, this is my commitment:

1.  As a professional developer, I will be responsible for my career.

2.  As a professional developer, I realize that responsibility comes with a cost.  I will pay that cost.

3.  As a professional developer, I will read books, read magazines, take classes, learn from others, attend conferances, and strive to stretch my comfort zones by learning new things.

4.  As a professional developer, I will rely on myself, not my company, to further my personal and technical growth.

5. As a professional developer, I will work hard at everything I do.  I will work to use my strengths, but I will also work to strengthen my weaknesses.

I could go on, but you get the idea.  It's about commitment.  It's about cost.  Are you willing to pay the cost?