Archives
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Scale and Performance
Some thoughts on Scale and Performance on large scale application development from Hugh Pyle (Groove Software Engineer). Worth reading.
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Windows SharePoint Services and Windows Small Business Server 2003 Installation Update
Talking about SBS2K3 from my prior posting - this is an important update: Windows SharePoint Services and Windows Small Business Server 2003 Installation Update. Need it to get WSS running on your SBS2K3 server.
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Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices
SBS 2003 Best Practices book will be out soon. If you get an opportunity to check SBS2K3 out, do so! In one small contained & complete package you get “everything” to deploy for 75 users (max capacity). It is perfect for a small software development shop and is extemely cost-effective.
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C# Corner starts a 'Yukon' & 'Longhorn' development center
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Microsoft CRM SDK v1.2 - Reporting
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Yukon Basics: XML, T-SQL, and the CLR article in MSDN mag
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Sun's Price Wars (revisited)
Randy states it succinctly as “cheap stunts” - the question to ask, is why did it take Sun so long? Java has been available for almost seven years now. In a free market, bringing benefits to the end consumer should be a paramount goal. It may be that Sun's customer has always been the Fortune 500 (& Government) customer and Sun has little knowledge/experience of the WalMart consumer. Their absence in this consumer market segment cannot be an excuse to get into another bout of Microsoft bashing.
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C# Cookbook's Regular Expression chapter
The long-awaited 'phantom' C# Cookbook from OReilly will be available in Jan '04. It has a sample chapter on 'Regular Expressions' available for download.. something to read during the cold Norwegian evenings ;-)
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Architecture of the World Wide Web, First Edition
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Food Movers: Distributed systems development example at MSDN
Brian Travis has a six-part comprehensive series on distributed systems development at theMSDN. It takes a service-centric (”SOA”) approach of distributed applications that is quite illustrative and pragmatic. I commenced on Section 1 but also glanced ahead into Section 6 (Going Live: Instrumentation, Testing, and Deployment) and this looks good - the series should be a *book!
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C# Under The Hood - passing by refs and value
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Cleaning 'Keynes' & 'Adam Smith'
Every 6 or 8 months, I thoroughly clean my most active development boxes. 'Keynes' is undergoing it now, literally from the bottom up - starting with a low-level (quick) format of the hard drive to a complete reinstallation of theW2K3 Server. I use 'Keynes' for Groove and SharePoint services (WSS) development. Over the holidays, I plan to do the same to 'Adam Smith' - my SQL2K Ent Server and also prepare it for the new SQL Reporting Services.
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Free Tools To Get You Started in UML Design
“A quick guide to some great freeware on the Web that gets you rolling with UML, MDA, and other program-design technologies especially important as your Web services projects grow more ambitious.”Try anything once. -
*Visual SourceSafe article at MSDN
A good one from Paul Sheriff and Michael Krasowski that shows how to manage ASP.NET development using *VSS. Recently, I worked on using the VSS Automation to create a XML 'Database'. Getting the records into the tree was fine but accessing and updating it was another matter - something I commented upon in a blog posting.
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WSS (SharePoint) + Groove
My experiments (evaluation) with the WSS (SharePoint) and Groove integration is going quite well. I believe WSS has been completely rewritten as an ASP.NET platform from the prior SharePoint Team Services (STS) and it shows.
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The Journal
There is a new MS development 'Journal' and upon a cursory look at it - I can say this is very promising. From the 'Enterprise' perspective, it was something very sorely missing for corporate systems development. Very timely and a must-read!
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WSS (SharePoint) trial with Groove
Last night, I commenced upon the WSS (Windows SharePoint Services) trial (available from Verio via MS). Hooked it up with the Groove Mobile Workspaces and it all works like a charm (..touch wood..). The only issue is that Verio gives you only one 'administrative' account for the WSS site (I have to look into this one as it sounds very short for an evaluation offering). This little project is an evaluation of WSS+Groove combination for what may become a large scale deployment. My prior SharePoint+Groove deployments were with the SharePoint Team Services (STS) but the new WSS is something else...
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MSDN Jan '04 issue
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Aligning software screws with craftmanship
Maestro Joel Spolsky has an excellent piece on Software Craftmanship.
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C# programmers - grab'em while they are young..
Ephraim Schwartz, an editor of InfoWorld shows how Microsoft is grabbing C# programmers while they are in young (in school). An interesting note also, is how .NET will also propagate over to the non-Windows platforms (via Ximian).
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New graphics card for Friedman (DELL 400SC)
I got a ATI All-In-Wonder 8500DV graphics card for my new DELL 400SC (”Friedman”). The 8500DV was a predecessor to the A-I-W 9x00 series and I got a good (clearance) price for it. I think GAD who has a similar DELL went for the Radeon 9600 Pro (http://weblogs.asp.net/gad/posts/37823.aspx#FeedBack). These cards make a huge difference - the original Dell 400SC card was too lame and didn't do much for a 'Longhorn' installation.
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Software Estimation
A few weeks ago Eli Robillard had an interesting posting:
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Looking for (inexpensive) XML tool for modelling (XSD & ERDs)
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Effective XML & why not to use XML as a relational database
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10 Characteristics of quality Requirements
I had attended a presentation by Borland on Software development and collaboration last month. Within the notes I took at that presentation, I saw a list - '10 Characteristics of Quality Requirements'. I believe it was devised by Karl Wiegers (author of Software Requirments). Here is the list -
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SCO Linux legal battle heats up - Linus served subpeona
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Prior to WinFS - read this paper on Ontology
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Ray Ozzie on Longhorn & Groove
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Top Site Referral (on InfoWorld)
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User Interface Process Application Block version 2
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Patent office to review the Eolas browser plug-in patent
“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has ordered the re-examination of a browser plug-in technology patent that has also been the subject of a legal battle between the patent's owners and Microsoft Corp.” [InfoWorld 11.12.03].
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'Friedman' added to my computer lab
I have a new addition to my computer lab - 'Friedman'. I name my machines after economists. Milton Friedman is a renowned economist who won the Nobel Prize in 1976. 'Friedman' is a DELL PowerEdge 400SC specifically for VS.NET 2K3 & Groove development projects for clients.
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Hewlett-Packard Saves U.S.$1.27 Million by using MS InfoPath, SharePoint & Groove
I got this via Hugh Pyle's posting - Hewlett-Packard Saves U.S.$1.27 Million by using MS InfoPath, SharePoint & Groove.
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Microsoft To Release Virtual PC 2004 To Manufacturing Next Week
Virtual PC 2004 Goes To Manufacturing Next Week [CRN 11.05.03] - “The desktop software, expected to be available within the next 90 days, will allow customers to run multiple versions of Windows on the same desktop, as well as Linux on virtual machines.”
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Simplicity, complexity, sophistication and the XML Banyan tree
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JOLT Awards for 2003 announced
Software Development magazine has announced the open nominations for this year's JOLT Awards. Some of my thoughts would be with (if they are in the nominating chain) -
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Logging Application Block & 'The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle'
The recently released Logging Application Block in the 'Patterns & Practices' MSDN series hits a home-run. It's better to insert instrumentation in the application during its development than trying to retrofit it post-deployment. Also, plan out thoroughly the application exceptions and metrics. I recall encountering a monitoring application that would gather more monitoring data than all the deployed applications' data combined - an example of 'The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle'.
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Code name RTC in Longhorn & DirectX
I read this over 'The Scobleizer Longhorn blog posting - Code name 'RTC'. It's a new way to communicate (including IM). Any more information on this one? Also, what will be situation with DirectX within Longhorn? TIA.
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XML Best Practices for "Yukon"
A nice one at MSDN - XML Best Practices for Microsoft SQL Server "Yukon".
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kbAltertz is with RSS feeds!
I may be the last guy to know about this one - kbAltertz is with RSS feeds! I can unsuscribe to the email alert digests now.
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Longhorn Identity System (presentation at the PDC)
I got this via Jeroen Bekkers' posting - Microsoft eyes ID management [Network World 11.03.03]
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.NET Progress Worries Java
Good little article by industry pundit Andrew Binstock. He has some good insights regarding .NET in the Enterprise market. Worth reading if you are encountering the regular .NET vs J2EE debates that's prevalent in the corporate IT shops.
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COM Interop in Longhorn Architecture?
I was looking at Brad Adam's posting of the Longhorn Architecture diagram. The COM Interop was noticeably absent - perhaps it's under the 'Hosting Layer' within the CLR or a provision within the 'Kernel Mode' layer? Any clues or insights?
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XForms & InfoPath article at OReilly's
A good article by Micah Dubinko at OReilly's - XForms and Microsoft InfoPath.
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PDC 2003: Wasn't There...
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Groove Developer Survey
All right folks! I am putting together a Groove Developer Survey. It'll be for Groove Developers only, i.e., developers of Groove tools & services using .NET (C#/VB.NET, etc), C++, Delphi, JScript (aka JavaScript), etc. and also including the Groove FORMS tool. The FORMS tool certainly counts here as it's used quite profusely and has tremendous potential for growth & for improvements also :)
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If Monty Python had blogged the PDC...
If Monty Python had blogged the PDC... this guy is a riot!
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New CLR Profiler (v2.0) is out...
The new CLR Profiler (v2.0) is out... It gives insights into the GC, call graphs, heap state and also logs the entire profile process. You can profile apps, services and ASP.NET pages with it.
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Open So(u)r(c)e - a dirty little secret?
Jon Udell [InfoWorld 10.24.03] has an eye-opening piece regarding Open Source's dirty little secret. It reminds me of Economics Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman's famous statement - 'There's No Such Thing As a Free Lunch'.
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ISO image to CD-drive converter utility - where is it please?
I think I saw a posting here recently that converts a ISO image into a 'drive'. It was a reference to a utility that's available somewhere....Anyone know where it came from? Thanks.
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MS Office 2003 Product Launch & Groove's integration to it
This week was eventful - Microsoft launched the much-awaited Office 2003. I attended the launch event at the Hartford Civic Center and saw presentations (Developer track) on how to develop and integrate applications with the new beast. Also in the same arena are the new features in Groove that dovetails with the new MS Office 2003, SharePoint and InfoPath - read a small tech note about it in Maestro Hugh's blog posting.
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Making Microsoft Office 2003 mobile with Groove
From a Groove press release - "The integration between Groove and the Microsoft Office System allows individuals to collaborate naturally, even when working across time, company or geographic boundaries. It also further demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to empowering information workers with great software." Kurt DelBene, vice president of Authoring and Collaboration Services at Microsoft Corp. Anytime, Anyplace Information Gathering!
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Network Programming for the MS .NET Framework
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Web Services Security & Monitoring presentation (Service Integrity)
Last night, at the Conn .NET Developer Group meeting, Service Integrity made a presentation regarding Web Services Security (using SSL) and also demonstrated SIFT which is a Web Services Monitoring and Analysis tool. This tool, based on the .NET platform, can extract (programmatically) content from the web services transactions in real-time!
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Submerging technologies
What's sinking and what's swimming? According to ComputerWorld [10.20.03] - Windows 9x and Visual Basic are going out amongst others. "VB 6 is the dinosaur of old. There's tons of legacy code out there, but no self-respecting developer wants to go there anymore".
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Professional .NET Network Programming
I finally received my Professional .NET Network Programming. This book is particularly an interesting one, being part of the WROXified book series done by a gang of authors (7 in this case). It is in a technical category where there aren't many on the subject (.NET Network programming). I must admit, this is one of WROX's better ones and is now out of print (a WROX mishap). You can pick one up for about $12 via Amazon (while they last). Highly recommended - ch. 9 on EMail protocols is quite incisive.
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Sample chapters from Karl Wiegers' book Software Requirements.
Sample chapters from Karl Wiegers' book Software Requirements (2nd ed). Good stuff.
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Removing FLASH pop-up ads
FLASH pop-up ads are getting annoying - they appear to be more prevalent than spam! Tim Bailen's note shows how to get rid of FLASH from IE.
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New in FrontPage 2003
The new FrontPage 2003 has considerable new features including enhancements for SharePoint services and ASP.NET. Stuff like Web Parts, XSLT tools and Dynamic Web Site templates amongst others.
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Collaboration in software development
Last night I attended a presentation by Drew Showers (Borland) - the subject of was 'collaboration in software development'. He spent a good deal of time reviewing RUP, UML and the software development process and less time on his company's product CaliberRM. That's good! Drew has a rich software development experience in (Lockheed-Martin, IBM etc) and his emphasis on requirements management & iterative development hit the right note. The CaliberRM (Requirements Management)demonstration was very interesting - found out that it as an API that can be made to integrate it with Visual SourceSafe!
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No Reservations About .NET
Larry O'Brien, one of the high priests of software development has an excellent article stating why he has 'No Reservations About .NET'. “What I found was that, like the apocryphal frog that sat without complaining in the pan of water slowly heated to boiling, I had been scalded by J2EE.” A must-read!
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Which OS are you?
I took the OS Personality test - I can't say I agree with it. They don't even have the Windows 98 Second Edition version... :-)
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Custom XML Schema Generator & Validator
Dan Wahlin as a great little tool that generates schemas from XML documents using DataSet schema. To complement it, there is a Schema Validator also.
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Free book chapters on SharePoint 2003 development
The supplemental chapters (Appx E, F & G) of Tom Rizzo's book, Programming Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange 2003 (3rd ed) are about SharePoint 2003 development.
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'Feedable' Gear
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Three-day week-end (Columbus Day)
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Comparison of SQL Server 2000 with MySQL v4.1
Fairly comprehensive comparison of SQL Server 2000 with MySQL v4.1. I do a lot of work in *Data Warehousing (Biz Intelligence) and I see no provisions for *DW & Analysis Services, etc in MySQL...
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Microsoft's Project Green - this is BIG
A posting from my blog at Userland:
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The Flowchart Lie (a comment on Ingo Rammer's technote)
Ingo Rammer's current newsletter has an excellent technote on 'The Flowchart Lie'. The subject is about transactional business processes and how they are deployed. Ingo emphasizes the need for messaging systems to communicate between web services. (I call it 'musical conducting' :-) I am grappling with a similar issue while building collaboration systems (e.g., Groove & SharePoint). Collaboration processes are non-linear in nature and its context must be maintained in its entirety - call it 'gestalt' and slicing it as series of 'transactions' does not work.
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'Longhorn Fever'
Yes, there is a 'Longhorn Fever' - stuff that's not just good but great! This appears to be a quantum leap in Microsoft computing. There have been notable efforts to provide information regarding Longhorn (e.g., the exceptional effort by Robert McLaws) and the forthcoming PDC will be awashed in it. Lucky attendees! Question: What is (or will be) the state of 'unmanaged code (& COM)' under Longhorn? To those of us in the 'Orinoco flow' (developing .NET & COM) this is very much an issue. I guess I'll know more on Oct 31st.
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What's New in C# 2?
Just finished reading the article 'What's New in C# 2?' in the C# Pro magazine. Good article describing generics, iterators, anonymous methods and partial classes. The contrast between C# Generics and C++ templates was especially illuminating.
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Tablet PCs are taking off
Tablet PCs are taking off [WIRED 09.28.03]. This is a cool device and even more cooler with Groove running on it. Can't wait to get another TPC to do development with.
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.NET in the press
From my Userland weblog posting -
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ADO.NET comes to Groove development
The forthcoming Groove v2.5i will have ADO.NET as part of its development kit. This is a significant technical milestone in Groove development.
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NUnit vs csUnit testing development
Any thoughts on NUnit vs. csUnit for testing development? Each has its merits but would like to know more...
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.NET Magazine changes its name
.NET Magazine changes its name to 'Windows Server System Magazine' but a posting from Richard Grimes tells more...
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Wireless Hacks
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Graphical NetScan from Microsoft Research
Graphical representation showing the relationships of Newsgroups in the Usenet - brought to you by Microsoft Research. Cool!
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InfoPath: Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 Software Development Kit (SDK)
InfoPath: Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 Software Development Kit (SDK). It'll be a busy week-end.
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Book Excerpt: Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture - The Savvy Manager’s Guide
For convincing your boss about web services - 'Book Excerpt: Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture - The Savvy Manager’s Guide'. Lots of pictures in it... 8-)
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MS' RingCam - Prototype Camera for conferencing
Microsoft Prototype Camera Designed To Enhance Web Conferencing [CRN 09.24.03]. Cool!
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Joe Stagner (Microsoft) presentation on Web Services & Application Architecture
Joe Stagner (Microsoft) gave a presentation last night at the Connecticut MS .NET Developer SIG meeting, His topic was on Web Services and Application Architecture. Very timely and most interesting. Joe is a very motivating (and motivated) speaker who has tremendous experience in web application development and also manages the 'ManagedCode' website.
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John Kelby (Microsoft) presentation on Virtual PC & Virtual Server
Last night at the Connecticut MS .NET Developer SIG meeting, John Kelby (Microsoft) gave a presentation on Virtual PC and Virtual Server. Seeing both these products work live was something else - imagine one physical machine (RAM, CPU et al) running multiple operating systems simultaneously - Virtualization! There's a competing product (VMWare) that does something similar but I don't think it'll do it better at a lower price. V-PC and VS should be out in a few months but worth looking into it now (45-day V-PC trial).
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Software development & Baseball
From my other weblog (at Userland) -
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70% development time gain in using .NET
In building their website, Performance Products achieved a gain of 70% in development time (& also 75% in response time). It's good to track case studies with actual numbers attached to it - of course, there'll be skeptics, etc. but there is substantial benefit even if it were half-true! Keep a portfolio of case studies, it'll help sell .NET to your bosses and clients. The other point to note is the business benefits it brings by deploying .NET (increased sales in this case).
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Feedback on Microsoft Patterns & Practices Workspaces (App Blocks) on gotdotnet
Ron Jacobs is looking for feedback on Microsoft Patterns & Practices Workspaces on gotdotnet (there are several spaces regarding the App Blocks). I think this is a good way to let MS know what you think (& experiences) with the P&P efforts. I am also looking forward to the Security P&P App block that is currently in the works.
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exception handling with a conditional 'catch' using 'when' ???
Question - is there a construct in exception handling where a 'catch' can be conditional with a 'when' ?
e.g., -
MS & IBM collaborate for Web Services standards
This one is quite an achievement and it was even cited in today's Wall St Journal! The MSDN article 'Secure, Reliable, Transacted Web Services' gives the technical details.
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Bill visits Ray
I picked this up from CRN [09.15.03] - "A little bird tells us that earlier this month, Bill Gates took a tour of Groove Networks' facilities and shared some face time with Groove founder and Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie. Microsoft has been a big-time financial backer of Groove, so the meeting isn't a total surprise. But neither of these men gives away their time for free, so let the speculation begin."
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Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tools List
Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tools List from Scott Hanselman - a good selection of very interesting tools. I got the link from Groove Maestro Hugh Pyle.
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'Peer-to-Peer with VB.NET'
Matthew MacDonald's new book 'Peer-to-Peer with VB .NET' was at the local Borders Books. Chapter 12 is devoted to Messenger and Groove development. I think I am going to get this one albeit I wish it had it in C# code though.
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Five Habits for Successful Regular Expressions
A real good one at OReilly's - Five Habits for Successful Regular Expressions. Along the way check out Roy's pages on Reg Exps.
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Don Box & Indian Restaurants
Don Box has a weblog posting about Indian Restaurants. Nice taste. Don, next time you are on the East Coast, let me know - I know quite a few good ones in Boston and New York.
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RTC Client API v1.2 SDK
The RTC Client API v1.2 SDK was released recently - I was wondering if anyone has 'managed' to wrap it for .NET development. There is a mention of creating the interop assembly albeit the samples are for VC++ and VB6 and only one for C#. The RTC (Real Time Comm) is now officially called the Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003 and it's something to look forward to.
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Free W32.Sobig.F@mm Removal Tool
Free W32.Sobig Removal Tool from Symantec.
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Linux cheaper? I don't think so...
There have been far too many cries about Linux being cheaper but this article from a Harvard B-School professor offers insights as to why it may not be so.
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WIRED's XP at H-P
The current issue of WIRED has an illustrative article on XP at H-P. That's Extreme Programming (XP). I was wondering if XP is more prevalent in non-Windows platform or not. Are they any studies that show the correlation between XP and the various development platforms? Inquiring minds want to know.
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Does C# measure up?
Very interesting article in the Windows Developer magazine. A cursory look shows it certainly measures upto Java ... ;-)
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Yet another free chapter - ADO.NET Cookbook (OReilly)
This one is about working with XML.
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ASP.NET Developer's Cookbook - two free chapters
Found two good sample chapters from the ASP.NET Developer's Cookbook in the ASPAlliance website. One chapter is on Custom Controls and the other on Data rendering - I think I am getting this one...
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Crystal (Reports) bought out by Business Objects
The *Crystal (Reports) company got bought out by Business Objects [ComputerWorld]. *CR has been around since the VB4 days. Preparing for the forthcoming Report Services for SQL2K/Yukon servers?
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Certifying Architects
Looks like having a MCSD may not be enough - H-P & Microsoft are working on new certification requirements for Architects as per this article interview of a H-P executive.
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Turning on a DIME
There's a good example of web services development using DIME on the 15Seconds website.
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MMAPPS DAY - Market Management of Advanced Peer-to-Peer Services
MMAPPS DAY - Munich Sept 16th 2003 -
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"The Language of choice" - moving to C# from VB.NET
Back in my Win32 days (~decade ago), one of my tasks was to train/mentor VB developers for VC++. I learned a lot from that experience and was quite successful at it. In quite a few recent weblog postings, I see something similar - the transition from C# from VB.NET (“the language of choice“ matter). I think the issues surrounding a VB.NET transition is a bit different. It would benefit the VB.NET developer to think more about their “comfort level” in using certain language features: operator-overloading, box/unbox and forced-bindings. The latter, with 'option strict' and 'option explicit' mechansims. I think development languages is about “comfort level” that transforms into confidence, which is something most teachers/instructors are looking for in students.
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Sam Gentile blogs again
After a month long hiatus, it's good to see Sam Gentile's weblog active again.
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Security "Bluebricks" (Application Blocks)
I think the “Bluebricks” (Application Blocks) are exceptional (pun intended). They have distilled patterns & practices in code-form and help build robust systems. I see a need for Security “Bluebricks” and since the security subject is relatively broad, developing it in discrete chunks, as mentioned in the GotDotNet PAGS' workspace, would be very conducive in getting the job done. The sections listed in the message forum are -
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Extreme Programming book chapter (from OReilly)
Extreme Programming book chapter - roles in XP development.
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XML Query Language
XML Query Language site is up (at last!). This is something worth taking a look into - I believe it'll be a part of 'Yukon' in the future.
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Dino Esposito's new book on Applied XML Programming for .NET
For over a week, I have been going through Dino Esposito's new book on Applied XML Programming for .NET. A very descriptive and helpful book - I posted a review at Amazon.
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New interface and makeover - kudos & thanks to Scott W.
New interface and makeover to this weblog system - kudos & thanks to Scott W. Great job and much appreciated!
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Building Comment Web Pages under Visual Studio
I am trying to ascertain if the 'Building Comment Web Pages' under the Tool menu in Visual Studio .NET, is available as a command-line invocation (or via a control file). Anyone tried it? I don't mean commenting their code ;-)
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Yet another RSS Reader - RSSConnect
PerfectXML's RSSConnect is a C#/.NET application (with code) that reads RSS feeds.
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Beta chapters of OReilly books
OReilly has released beta chapters from their forthcoming books including - ASP.NET, Regular Expressions & .NET Framework.
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Extreme XML - Extending XSLT
Lately, I have been working with quite a bit of XML within the .NET libraries. In certain cases, I could do a lot with the forthcoming XPath v2 (see prior posting) but that's not yet available for development. I came across Dare Obasanjo's article on EXSLT: Enhancing The Power of XSLT. It provides functions that support regular expressions, set based operations, and date-time processing. This hits the spot (for the moment).
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XML XPath 2.0 in .NET ?
The January '03 issue of MSDN magazine had an excellent introductory article on XPath 2.0 by Aaron Skonnard. Anyone know when it would be available under the .NET libs? Thanks...
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Recursive calls in .NET
I wrote a recursive method in C# that traverses through a nested directory structure within a VSS database. What are the limitations of recursive calls within .NET? Factors like stack size, GCs, etc.?
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GPS Stumped
My GPS library to read and parse NMEA strings is on a holding pattern - I can't find a driver or patch to read USB ports. I need it to map to a virtual COM port as my mapping package expects COM port inputs also. I looked around how other GPS libs do it and can't find an easier solution other than to write a port mapper using the DDK.
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Mindreef releases SOAPscope 2.0 as beta
SOAPScope beta v2.0 - new features include Soap 1.2, WSDL Analyzer and 'XML Diff’ on WSDL and SOAP for debugging.
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Bug/Issue tracking app under ASP.NET
I am looking for an ASP.NET application very similar to the newly released GotDotNet Workspaces v1.0. There are a few WAMP apps under SourceForge - mantis and roundup. Anything under ASP.NET, along the line of IBuySpy or Starter Kits? TIA.
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How .NET's Custom Attributes Affect Design
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Super Geek @ 46.35108%
I took the Geek Test and scored as a 'Super Geek'. I was thinking what would have been my scores several years ago when I worked here and here. I think I have peaked as a geek.
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Notebooks outsell desktops & so does LCD monitors over CRTs
Notebooks outsell desktops for the first time in U.S. Also, unit sales of flat-screen LCD monitors surpassed the sales of tube-based CRTs for the first time.
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Free book chapter - Mastering Regular Expressions - Ch 9 (.NET)
Free book chapter - Mastering Regular Expressions - Ch 9 (.NET). Timely and a $aver...
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Does LINT matter?
I recall a C/C++ project at a major client-site over a decade ago, the tech team leader insisted on compiling with the highest warning level. This would ferret out inconsistencies and mitigate bugs. He really went wild when he deployed Gimpel Software's PC-Lint for C/C++ and peer-review sessions were brutal. 'Lint' was a seperate tool in the old UNIX boxes that checked for language-only anamolies or hinted at it.
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Happy July 4th!
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Unofficial survey: C# vs. VB.NET usage in MCAD/MCSD
There is an interesting unofficial survey showing the preference of C# over VB.NET in taking the MCAD/MCSD Certification exams. The result is surprising.
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802.11 Planet Expo in Boston
I spent the day, yesterday at the 802.11 Planet Expo (Wireless tech) in Boston. MS was there with some interesting demo for embedded tech devices.
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Larry King of Internet Talk Shows
Last night, the very knowledgeable and enterprising Carl Franklin gave a presentation at the CT .NET Developer Group's meeting. The topic was about Objects and VB.NET. Franklins.NET has a radio show called .NET Rocks! This is a terrific show that interviews .NET legends like Chris Sells, Ingo Rammer, Dino Esposito and others. Hmm... I think that makes a Larry King of Internet Talk Shows amongst our admist.
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Amazon sends out Web Services Newsletter #1
I just received Amazon Web Services Newsletter #1. More info here...
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Designing databases prior to development
Database design is very much an intuitive process - so quite a few (I'd say most), just wing it. This would be true for smaller-type applications, i.e., websites or smaller apps but not so, for larger and complex apps that perform healthcare or financial services.
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Application Blocks for .NET
MSDN now has five Applications Blocks for .NET. Two of these have been around for well over a year but three were released within the past two weeks !
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201 Principles of Software Development
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.NET Code Optimization
I got this email from WinDevNet. I couldn't find the content below at their website, so I have excerpted it here. I believe it's written by Richard Grimes and it'll interest the MC++ developers in particular.
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Two free dev tools - AxTools Visual Logger & AxTools VssRecursive Purge
Found two interesting (free) dev tools - AxTools Visual Logger (trace log) & AxTools VssRecursive Purge (for Visual Source Safe).
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.NET Dev Engineering jobs (in Montreal)
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Borland bridges platforms
Mixed-feelings Borland has announced 'Janeva' (that's Java+Geneva, perhaps they are short on their marketing staff). 'Janeva' will be incorporated in Borland's development products and will tie-in .NET front ends to CORBA and J2EE-based applications. This will help bridge the different platforms which is something we have to address in the corporate environment.
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Ballinger's .NET Web Services
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BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service)
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Microsoft to buy an Anti-Virus company
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From the land of Mozart
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Thread pools - article by Jeff Richter
Jeff Richter has an excellent article on thread pools - a must read for any serious development using threads. A real performance booster and am looking forward to a 'sequel' about using thread pools for 'asynchronous I/O requests'.
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UDDI - the need for it
While web services has the limelight now, it's partner in enterprise architecture - the UDDI srevices is slowly getting the spotlight. Peter Coffee has a brief piece that waters down its role for clients and bosses' digestion. I have made strides with the UDDI services in the new W2K3 server albeit it was a slow start due to the MSDE installation problems.
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Performance Optimization and all that
There is an ongoing discussion (cross-references, etc) regarding Performance Optimization. Sam cited the very recent articles in MSDN (excellent ones I might add) but in sharp contrast James Robertson proffers his views. I did respond with a minor (perhaps an inconsequential one) that's excerpted here:
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.NET Content Processing (hardware acceleration)
Tarari Content Processors can now be used for .NET application content. Interknowlogy in partnership with Tarari will have dedicated processor hardware boards for .NET applications. For example - XML content processing can be increased 10-fold! It can also be used for more compute-intensive applications like anti-virus, encryption/decryption, etc.
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New release version 2.5d of Groove Web Services
Groove has a new v2.5d out for Groove Web Services. For an example of what it can do - check out InfoExplorer.
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ADT Mag article on VB.NET transition
Good article in ADT Magazine regarding the transition from VB to VB.NET. Read it and then give it to your boss (it's not too technical but addresses some of the issues regarding the bright future of VB.NET).
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SQL2K SP3a patch and installing UDDI Services on W2K3 Server problems
MS recently released the SQL2K SP3a patch - this is a critical one that addresses a lot of the recent security issues. Related to this, is the installation of the UDDI Services on W2K3 Server. It is difficult (yes difficult) to install the MSDE (desktop SQL2K Server) and have it work with the UDDI Services. Several postings in the newsgroup 'microsoft.public.uddi.general' has garnered no favorable responses nor solutions. I believe the problem is related to the 'sa' account's blank password's vulnerability. Anyone know a workaround this one - installation of UDDI Services with MSDE under W2K3 Server? Thanks in advance.
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Dennis "Dino" Perlot @ Franklins.Net
I have known Dennis for about a decade now - we use to work together for a consulting company, ISR in Hartford, CT in the early '90s. Dennis very recently joined Franklins.Net (that's him about 3/4 way down the page). Congrats on the new postion Dennis and hope to see you in the local .NET dev presentations.
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Adam Nathan's opus: .NET & COM Interop
Lately, I have been working on a client project which entails (after refactoring) "legacy" COM/AcX code for use in the .NET platform. Adam Nathan's opus '.NET and COM Interop' has already paid for itself. If you are building bridges between the two platforms, don't leave home without this book.
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John Giudice's Info Explorer in Groove Web Services & VB.NET
John Giudice's Info Explorer using Groove Web Services. A great example of Groove development using VB.NET.
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My Computer Lab
[UPDATE - more additions and a new picture 01.23.05]
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'Yukon' delayed
'Yukon' delayed to mid-2004 but first beta slated for this summer. [eWeek].
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Always read the book's errata
Going through 'Programming .NET Web Services' (a good book, I might add) I ran across a problematic example. It pays to read the book's errata.
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MSDN Magazine available in HTML Help format
Download the June 03 issue and other back issues.
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ISAPI Extension DLLs
A few days ago, I wrote an ISAPI Extension DLL for my client's web servers. I am exploring ways to use this method to enhance security in Web Services.
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.NET Basics & Glossary
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Groove NewsClient (Weblog) Tool Testing Space
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Great Scott ! Thanks Scott !
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Petshop boys have released v3
Petshop boys have released v3.
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Winpcab lib in C#
The WinPcap packet-capturing library which was used profusely in C/C++ network apps is now (partially) in C#. Sweet.
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Conn MS .NET Developer SIG meeting
Last night at the Connecticut .NET Developer SIG meeting, there were two presentations: DataGrid (via ASP.NET) and *Data Binding. Both were very interesting but the latter presentation on *DB by Curt Koppang stole the show. Curt is the local DotNet Guru with cutting-edge topics - his prior presentation a few months back, on Web Services in .NET was another good one.
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College course in writing viruses
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NETMaster
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Generics for VB?
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Groove DevZone's new look and a RSS Feed
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No Touch Deployment (NTD) in .NET
Looks like NTD is finally seeping through - Builder.com has a reference to it (a brief but good overview). NTD was described within the MSDN and has tremendous potential in enterprise deployments that usually has fairly complex user-interface applications. Will it replace web-based development? I don't know - it remains to be seen. It's certainly well-worth considering for certain type of applications and it also lowers the cost of deployment with added security (using CAS).
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IE Browser development
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Getting MSMQ v3
I finally replaced the RC2 and got the new W2K3 Server up and running. So far, so good - Groove is working well. I have been using WinXP (on my laptop) for some prototyping with MSMQ 3.0, now I can use the W2K3 Server (for more production work). MSMQ v3 is a very significant messaging system, one can use SSL authentication for HTTP/HTTPS messaging. This will help alleviate the 'security fears' of web services as well.
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My 50th Posting
My 50th posting, this one. I have to repeat the content with the posting made in my Radio site.
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Tweaking XP
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busy for a few days...
I am going to be (& have been) busy most of this week at a client site... giving the blog some rest...
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VB gets respect and then some...
Keith Pleas' posting about VB getting respect reminds me of several commercial projects over a decade and a half. Prototypes in VB (to demonstrate to the business folks) often ended up as a production system. Consequently, in a short period of time, more was spent on maintenance than in the actual development. In quite a few of these projects, I was hired to redevelop the system using VC++/MFC.
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XPATH for .NET developers
PerfectXML has a good introductory article on XPATH for .NET developers. If they can post one showing the differences between XQUERY and XPATH, that would be nice.
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Microsoft to license UNIX from SCO
This SCO Unix vs. Linux brouhaha is getting interesting - Microsoft to license UNIX from SCO...
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Free SQL Server monitoring tool
NetIQ is giving away SQLCheck which is a tool that gives diagnostic and performance views of your SQL2K server.
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debugging redux (pt. 1)
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Changes in moving from .NET Framework version 1.0 to 1.1
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Enterprise Instrumentation Framework (EIF)
OReilly has an article on instrumenting your .NET application using the new Enterprise Instrumentation Framework (EIF). This new addition is different - it is an unified model for tracing & diagnostic events, integrate with WMI and also provides near real-time event tracing & correlation within enterprise apps. Currently, it's only available for MSDN Universal subscribers.
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Top Ten Traps in C# for C++ Programmers
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Seeking a ActiveX Explorer
I am looking for a freeware developer tool/utility similar to ActiveXplorer. I need to inspect the internals of some legacy activex/dll components. TIA.
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Free Compuware Profiler tool
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MS Office 2003 System Developer Contest
Microsoft Office, MSDN and Visual Studio Magazine present
The Microsoft Office System Developer Contest -
Hey Dude, you are not getting a Gateway
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Developing for GPS
I started coding some testing examples for GPS - to check out two commercial libraries. Both suck. I am tempted to rewrite the libraries itself and may be it'll suck less. Both the commerical libraries have terrible documentation and one of them has its error messages in German! One is an ActiveX control and the other a static DLL. Both call for marshalling wrappers as my testing applications are with Windows Forms in C#. I still have to modify the library to read the USB ports in my laptop. (Gives a new depth to combating 'war chalking'). I also found out that the bulk of the GPS library really is string-processing - basically, from the port you get a stream of strings in the NMEA 0183 standard and then parse the commands and parameters to update your map/grid locations. Ironically, NMEA is a marine association and GPS was initially deployed for ships & boats. Now we use it for precision-guidance (as shown a few weeks ago) and for checking during hiking trips, if bears really do what they do in the woods...
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.NET Sample Code & Presentation resources
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Favorable review of VS.NET 2003 by eWeek
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My first picture post
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SSWUG - SQL Server Worldwide User Group
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More than bug-tracking - Collaboration
Recently there has been quite a few publications on bug-tracking: a bug-tracking ASP (elemtool) and my recent weblog posting to name a few. I think there is more than bug-tracking in the software development cycle - Collaboration. I dug up an article from the .NET Magazine - there is a mention of integrating Groove within MS VS.NET. Now you are talking!
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Looking for SharePoint Team Services Host provider
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Yeah...why is software hard?
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Phantom C# Cookbook
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Fun with Yukon (coming)
Just read about 'Fun with Yukon' in another blog - this is exciting news. It's being made available outside the doors (albeit in a limited capacity).
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Groove Developer Workspace at GotDotNet
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Getting the right Defect Tracker
Good little essay from the angryCoder' site - Defect Tracking: Why Hasn't Anyone Gotten It Right? The author, Joseph Jones has some relevent statements worth considering. After the IDE and Source Code controls, defect tracking tools are next in importance in development projects.
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Survey: Visual Basic may be slipping
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WMI .NET article at OReilly
As a followup to the WMI posting a few days ago, OReilly has a good introductory article on WMI .NET. If you are into system performance management and metrics, WMI is one way to go.
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MS Office 2003 Beta 2 Kit
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A few more words on YUKON
.NET magazine has a few more words about Yukon. CLR embedded within the database engine has generated a lot of questions, specifically questioning the future of T-SQL. The fact is the that developing with CLR languages in Yukon has its place - Data Warehousing and Data Mining, two very process-intensive features. Both, in almost all cases, are customized applications with high business value and business will pay more for them (so code away in C#).
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Connecticut .NET Developer SIG
I did mention the SQL Profiler presentation in an early posting but what I didn't mention is that the Connecticut .NET Developer SIG meets twice a month (.NET & SQL Server). It's well worth attending - you get to meet the local .NET developers, stuff down pizzas and at the end of the meeting they have a raffle - I won the Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Resource Kit last night. Great way to end that day. Next meeting is on May 27th and is open to all.
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802.11 Wif-Fi Expo in Boston
First time in the area (& about time) -
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Paging Dr. Gentile
Sam Gentile is venturing out (aka 'putting up a shingle'). He is a 'doctor' of .NET development - his work with the VS.NET Groove Toolkit is very deeply appreciated by us in the Groove developer community. Sam's work was recognized & rewarded in the Jolt awards - to those in the software development business that's almost like a Noble prize. Thanks & good luck.
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SQL2K Profiling
This evening I attended Bill Sulcius' presentation on SQL Profiler which is a debugging and performance utility in SQL2K Server. It's something you have to know if you develop for SQL2K. Bill Sulcius is a Senior Consultant at the Microsoft office in Farmington, CT. He is an endless source of information and support regarding SQL Servers. His prior presentation in April on DTS was one of his best and very much appreciated - DTS occupies about 2/3rd of all Data Warehouse project efforts, so knowing more about it is a boon.
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Borland shoots themselves in the foot (again)
Borland has announced their C#/.NET Builder tools along with the prices. $69 for a personal edition and $999 for a professional version. That's fourteen times as much! jeez... I don't see developers flocking for that one. I'll stick with my VS.NET (under MSDN Universal, of course).
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Vot ist das Yukon?
I have spoken with folks who have seen 'Yukon' first-hand. This is one kick-ass product, quite simply nothing like it before. There are two features that'll redefine the database market - 'Reporting Services' (demise of Crystal Reports ?) and the embedding of CLR in the database engine (but no mention of using MC++). The latter feature will finally put to rest Oracle boasts on TPC scores.
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Report Feed Client (via RSS)
Found an interesting example of a Report Feed Client - a RSS like client for use with Crystal Reports. Great possibilities with my SQL2K Ent Server. Can't wait to see 'Yukon' work its magic with its Reporting Services.
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Doctor Watson to become a Corporate Executive
From ComputerWorld [05.07.03] - "Microsoft Corp. plans to offer corporate customers a version of its Dr. Watson error-reporting tool to help administrators pinpoint and solve software problems."
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OReilly's Top Ten list for the W2K3 Server
OReilly has a Top Ten list for the W2K3 Server. Interestingly, MSMQ 3.0 is #8 but not mentioned is another good reason - using HTTP for messaging.
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Let Amazon be the referee in the 'Java vs. .NET' debate
I read a good argument for not having the 'Java vs. .NET' debate and I concur. The debate can be quite misinformed and counterproductive. Let Amazon be the referee -
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New WMI books
APress has released Alexander Golomshtok's .NET System Management Services. Another book in the WMI field is Tunstall & Cole's Developing WMI Solutions. All timely - one has to manage all those runaway distributed objects. I would love to see a WMI agent on one of my favorite software nodes.
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Figuring out CodeDOM
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Fun Stuff
Some fun stuff from the author of BoundsChecker - the tool that saved me many long nights during my Win32 days. Thanks for this and that.
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Performance analysis of CLR languages
Very interesting article in CodeProject - 'A statistical analysis of the performance variations of assorted managed and unmanaged languages'. Interesting title with a good attempt. Particularly note the followups from Bill McCarthy regarding configuration settings. I took a cursory look at it - my concern is with the instrumentation itself, i.e. use of QueryPerformanceCounter for measurements. QPC makes several I/O port calls and this value then needs to be normalized. All this may mar the logging - like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. I will have to look more in depth into this experiment to feel more conclusive.
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Longhorn Alpha Preview #.4015 (w/screenshots)
WinSuperSite has some screenshots of Longhorn Alpha Preview 3: Build 4015. Neat: the Carousel view of the relationships within 'My Contacts' library - a better graphical representation of 'FOAF'.
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IBuySpy bug fix
Spring '03 issue of 2600 describes a security bug fix of IBuySpy. Mixed feelings on that one.
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A preamble to MC++ conversion
First, my thanks to Sam Gentile for providing more trails to MC++ info. This note is more of a preamble to MC++ conversion and why MC++ is here to stay. The reality is that MS does cater a lot for their enterprise customers (wait till 'Yukon' gets here). The enterprise market (aka corporate) contains former UNIX customers who are moving into the MS .NET world and they bring with them hundreds of millions lines of C++ code. MS is making major inroads in the enterprise market ergo we will be seeing more C++ code. Development code contains libraries that are not easily converted - these may range from business logic, data structures & algorithms right down to utility and communications.
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Managed C++ optimization - performance better than C#?
From Sam Gentile's article on MC++ at OReilly - "the C++ compiler performs some optimization on the IL it produces, resulting in code that performs better than code generated from the C# or VB.NET compilers. "
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Brief Bio
The opinions in the Web Blogs are my own -
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First posting - on Managed C++ & Wrappers
My first posting here at DotNetWeblogs - a brief on readings on Managed C++.
