Trumpi's blog

Our daily link (2007-12-29)

My router's WAN port died today. Any recommendations for a good gigabit/s router?

Podcasts

• Hanselminutes #94 - The Worst Show Ever with Chris Sells and Rory Blyth - Dude! This show is bad!

Agile

• Importance of Continuous Integration - integrate early and often - wise words indeed.

PowerShell

• PowerShell Debug Visualizer - this could be a very useful debug visualiser.
• Windows Automation Snapin for PowerShell - create macros using Powershell. No recording functionality, however.

Misc

• Extension methods - how they look like after compiling
• Wondering if Subversion is Good Enough - No Larry! NOOOO! Just believe!!
• Erlang Cheat Sheet - I don't know too much about this programming language, but if you do, here is the cheat sheet.
• Custom Functions with NAnt
• We Were Crashing, DLLs Were Missing, Fusion Log Didn't Help... Now What!?
• 10 Things Most Developers Didn't Know in 2007

Our daily link (2007-12-28)

New year's day is almost upon us!

Blogging

• Three unexpected weapons in the battle against “blogger’s block”

Testing

• Test Smarter, Not Harder - Part 2
• Using Conditional Compilation for UI Testing

SQL

• Using the OUTPUT clause results and INSERT-SELECT
• Another use for SQL Server 2008 row constructors

Agile

• Why Scrum Product Owner is a Hard Job

Our daily link (2007-12-27)

Went to go watch Beowulf tonight. It was ok.

Tech News

• Microsoft and Samba Working Together at Last - looks like Microsoft is making some of their secrets known to the Samba team. Pity that the European Commission had to first force their hand.
• 303 Insanely Interesting Links From 2007 - I'm going to need a while to get through all of these.

Web

• So How Do You Set The Last-Modified Header?
• What is the difference between UriBuilder.ToString and UriBuilder.Uri.ToString - The difference is very subtle.

Misc

• QuickEdit mode in a Command Prompt - How to always be in 'mark' mode.

Career stuff

• How to start and keep your wiki alive [via The Daily Grind]
• Rituals for Results - the word 'kaizen' has been bandied about in the blogosphere recently. It is a Japanese term for continuous improvement. J.D. Meier shares his rituals that help him to achieve kaizen.

Our daily link (2007-12-26)

Blogversations

• Code base size, complexity and language choice and Code Size is - not - the Enemy - Ayende and Patrick continue the conversation about code size (initially begun by Steve, Jeff and Frans)

Podcasts

• .NET Rocks! #301 - Joe Duffy on the Task Parallel Library. (There is an error on the link to the podcast - you can find a link to the podcast here.)

Agile

• When the onsite customer is neither onsite nor a customer - Sometimes software is developed without a onsite customer e.g. most open source software. What then?

Misc

• What's wrong with the Record/Reply/Verify model for mocking frameworks
• Multi threading challenge: can you spot a bug? - Ayende poses difficult question - makes one think about how deep one should go in code reviews.
• A number of annoying Visual Studio 2008 ASP.NET related Bugs - I can't wait for Service Pack 1.

Our daily link (2007-12-24)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Blogversations

• Size Is The Enemy - A response to Codebase size isn't the enemy
• Nobody cares about what your code looks like? Really? - A response to Nobody cares  what your code looks like

Agile

• 10 Signs That You're Not Agile - I think that our team is 50% there.
• But the tests passed on my machine... - this excuse deserves an instant R5 fine. And to comment on point #1, tests shouldn't rely on being run in a particular order.

Misc

• How and when should data decay?
• What is Brownfield? - it is greenfield, but already grazed [via Arjan's World]
• Organise Your Code With base2.Packages
• Exception Handling Best Practices Part 1 - now if only C# had checked exceptions... [via Arjan's World]
• Exception-Handling Antipatterns - eliminate log and throw, throwing the kitchen sink, and other such antipatterns. (Did I mention that C# should have checked exceptions?) [via Alexander Klimetschek's blog]

Career stuff

• Are You Experienced? - three habits of experienced people [via Arjan's World]
• Programmers on Fire: Confessions of a bad web developer - just reminds me of a developer who loves to develop on the web, but hates Javascript.

Our daily link (2007-12-20)

Did all my Christmas shopping today. The shops were really busy. And now I don't feel like commenting on each link. Please forgive me.

Software

• Did it with .NET - Launchy 2.0 Released!

Misc

• Are you handling all your exceptions? - The Problem Solver
• Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters: Checklists
• CLSCompliant is Still Off By Default
• Folder != Namespace - Dave Laribee
• Mocks and the Dangers of Overspecified Software - Ian Cooper [MVP]
• Patiently waiting on Web 3.0... - Jay Kimble
• Cross Site Scripting and letting the framework deal with it

Our daily link (2007-12-19)

Not too many links today. I did win some money at my poker game tonight, though. Woohaa!!

Agile

• Nobody cares  what your code looks like - A simple and obvious argument against over-engineering and general geekery.
• Developing JIRA Studio Part 1 - Get a peek at the process followed at Atlassian.
• Why are standup meetings effective?

Web

• First thoughts on MVC.NET - Oh. You mean ASP.NET MVC. Gotcha.
• ... In which we discuss HTML-Encoding - Prevent HTML injection and XSS attacks.

Misc

• Keep a blog diary to analyse your blogging routine - This will be my new year's resolution!
• Did you know... Visual Studio supports a MDI mode? - No, I didn't. Don't really know whether I care or not. But maybe you do.
• Developer.com: vote for Subversion - vote for Subversion to be product of the year.
• AOP: Be aware where your point cuts are - Ayende demonstrates one of the downsides of AOP - lack of visible functionality.

Podcasts

• .NET Rocks! #299 - Jeff Palermo on ASP.NET MVC

Our daily link (2007-12-18)

It seems to me as though "process" needs to happen more when the wrong "people" are on your project. Your thoughts?

Software

• ViEmu - I'm gonna buy this tool when I have the money.
• Updates: AutoRuns v9.0, PsExec v1.93, New Video, New Site Front-End

Agile

• Why the one-script build is crucial to Agile - Listen to this guy - he knows what he is talking about. I can't even imagin what problems we would have had in our project if we didn't have our build server.
• Value Velocity: A Better Productivity Metric - I first need to get old skool velocity right before I try this one.
• [Songs] Every build you break, Reflection - Roy Osherove sings us some songs (CD nou beskikbaar).

Alt.NET

• Alt.NET Pursefight - new blog showcasing a daily roundup of the altnetconf mailing list; humouously.
• altnetpedia - Your almost official Alt.NET wiki.

Misc

• File and File Container Wrapper Library - now you can unit test the writing of a file without touching the file system.
• Meaningful method names - A discussion on the importance of naming source code identifiers correctly.
• 5 signs your ASP.NET application may be vulnerable to HTML injection - which means that you may be vulnerable to XSS attacks too.
• Creating Windows Installers: Changing the Installation Path Using Registry Search

Career stuff / Life hacks

• Twenty excuses to avoid learning - I've tried all of them (except 'I'm too old')
• Making the most of your commute - aka stuff to do while on the train.

Our daily link (2007-12-17)

Today was another public holiday. It was boring and I tried to hack NAnt to build with multiple threads. I was not successful.

SQL

• 10 lessons from 35K tps [via Christopher Steen]
• Exists vs Count(*) - Andrew Kelly demonstrates the performance differences between these two methods of determining whether a row exists in a table. (This link was posted in the comments - also worth reading.)

Software

• Free Developer Tools [via Christopher Steen]
• soapUI 2.0 has been released [via Christopher Steen]

Visual Studio

• Did you know... How to share code snippets with your team? - Sara Ford explains how to share code snippets with other members of your team. It does not look like we can share them through Subversion, though.
• Spell checker for Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 - No more OpperationResults or Implimintations in our team :D

Agile

• Why use Continuous Integration - Beginner's Overview - Scott answers the question "On a beginner's level, why should one use a Continuous Integration solution?"
• Scrum and XP Practices: Cross Reference - a good bite sized comparison of the two dominant Agile methodologies.

Misc

• Model-View-Presenter seems easier to test than ASP.NET MVC - David Hayden reckons that view-controller testing is complex. He continues in More on unit testing controllers in the ASP.NET MVC Framework...
• Easily extend post-commit hook in Subversion using NAnt - email anyone? - Jeffrey Palermo show us how to use NAnt in Subversion hook scripts. In his example, he shows us how to use NAnt to send emails.
• Hints on how to componentize existing code - Patrick shows us how to use NDepend to identify components in your code.
• Asserts are NOT evil - Yep, they've just moved to unit tests. [via Jason Haley]
• LINQ Standard Query Operators Cheat Sheet - great for beginners like me.

Career Stuff

• Difference between focusing on problems and focusing on solutions - Sometimes solving a problem involves thinking "outside the box."
• Where are all the qualified programmers? - very very interesting.

Our daily link (2007-12-16)

Today is the Day of Reconciliation in South Africa. It used to be called the Day of the Vow.

Misc

• Releasing my code snippet repository - Omer show us his snippets.
• Code Smell: Solution Explosion - when I joined my present employer, everyone was complaining about the "Solution chaos." Now there are less solutions and a lot more productivity.
• Generating compiler warnings for calls to an obsolete methods - Moving off obsolete methods helps keep your code base small and manageable. This method helps identify where the rewriting still needs to happen.
• Common project settings for your Visual Studio solution - How to apply common settings to all MSBuild (VS) project files without repeating yourself.
• Anti-Patterns and Malpractices, Volume 1: Tumbling Data - I saw this anti-pattern quite a lot at a previous employer. I lasted a month. [via Interesting Finds]
• Big solutions can be organized using Solution Folders - one simple way to decrease cognitive overhead in your solution.

Agile

• Inheriting code (that smells) - A nice anecdotal story from Josh that highlights the benefits of XP practices.

Podcasts

• ASP.NET Podcast Show #106 - Phil Haack on ASP.NET MVC - [via Interesting Finds]

Our daily link (2007-12-13)

Not too many links today. I'm feeling really tired.

Software

• VIM Screencast Tutorial Teaser - Aaron shows come kewl skiilz with VIM.
• Time for a new NUnit - The NUnit guys lay out their plans for version 3.0.

Web

• DNS Poisoning used to redirect unwitting surfers - this is pretty scary stuff. Imagine typing in your bank's internet address in your browser and being connected to a spoof site. DNS Poisoning can make that possible.
• Thank You For Helping Me With My Job With ASP.NET MVC - Phil Haack shows his appreciation.

Podcasts

• .NET Rocks! Gael Fraiteur on PostSharp - Carl and Richard chat with Gael Fraiteur about PostSharp, an AOP framework and toolkit for .NET.

Misc

• Indexed - This is kinda like PostSecret, but with index cards instead.
• Who am I to question the value of low quality software to the customer? - The geeks and the suits clearly don't understand each other.
• Cool new way to write more expressive tesing DSL's in FitnesseDotNet - towards automated acceptance tests written in native English.

Our daily link (2007-12-12)

Software

• Parallels CTP - please don't all rush at once to get this. Otherwise we'll have a race condition. [via New and Notable]
• TeamCity 3.0 - the Professional Server Licence is now free.
• Office 2007 SP1 - Yaay! Now we can upgrade. [via Mark Bower]

ALT.NET

• VisualSVN - An alternative to Team Foundation Server - if you don't have the budget to buy Team Foundation Server, then Subversion is a great alternative. Actually, Subversion is a great option even if you do have the budget for Team Foundation Server.  Also check out Subversion and TortoiseSVN tips and tricks.
• Patterns and Practices guidance package for MVP - haven't looked at this one yet, but I definitely will soon. [via Ayende]

Misc

• "cache-control: no-store" considered harmful - Yep, I agree. It amazed me how little I knew about HTTP caching before I found out about this directive. If you're a web developer, then it is useful that you brush up on HTTP caching - it may save you a lot of trouble when your apps become complex enough.
• SOA Rollup - Udi Dahan provides links to all his SOA articles written over the past few years.
• What should you test? - Ayende points out a testing mistake that leads to brittle code. If anyone can figure out what the mistake is, please let me know.
• Is MVC right for you? - '(...) MVC is not the model for people who want the freedom to be creative with their code. It's the pattern you follow if you want to conform with a particular doctrine of programming.' Very controversial IMO. [via Arjan's World]
• Why we still stink at Software Development - by Abhijit Nadgouda
• This code sucks - by Derik Whittaker
• Error Handling - The Practice We Never Talk About - Michael Feathers introduces us to the concept of a Trusted Zone.
• Practical F# Parsing - a recent DotnetRocks episode suggested that F# could be useful in implementing parsers. This article explores an efficient parse buffer in F#. [via Interesting Finds]

Career Stuff

• Laptops in Meetings – Should They be Banned? - Yes Yes Yes! Unless what you're doing is projected on a screen. And please turn off all your IM clients before presenting. Please?
• Are you a doer or a talker? - "Working code attracts people who want to code. Design documents attract people who want to talk about coding." The Coding Horror blogs talks about finding the right balance between designing and coding applications.
• How dialup made me a more productive blogger - Darren Rowse considers the thing that most of us already know: The Internet kills our productivity.

Our daily link (2007-12-11)

I'm replacing my del.icio.us feed with posts to this blog. That way they will appear on the website as well as in my feed.

ASP.NET MVC

• ASP.NET MVC Design Philosophy - Eilon Lipton shares his thoughts on the design of ASP.NET MVC. [via you've been HAACKED]
• Using script.aculo.us with ASP.NET MVC - I really love the fact that these two libraries can work so well together. [via Christopher Steen]
• Writing unit tests for controller actions - Phil Haack takes a look at unit testing ASP.NET MVC controller actions that have hard-to-mock dependencies. [via Arjan's World]
• MonoRail Quickly - Screencast - Mwahaha! Very ALT.NET! [via Tales from the Sharpside]

ASP.NET

• Transparent cookie encryption via HTTP module - will this prevent sniff & replay attacks? Kids, don't use cookies for authentication unless over HTTPS. Useful if a non-secure cookie contains sensitive info, though. [via CodeProject]
• A list of Breaking Changes for ASP.NET 2.0 applications running in Integrated mode on IIS 7.0 - I don't know too much about IIS 7 or integrated mode, but this article should be useful if you want to run ASP.NET 2.0 applications under IIS 7 and Windows 2008. [via Hosam Kamel]

Misc

• Debugging Windows Service without deploying it - Very useful hint from Eric de Carufel [via CodeProject]
• Dependency Injection Objection - This blogger describes his stance on dependency injection. His arguments could apply to other technologies too. [via Tales from the Sharpside]
• Generate Charts On-the-Fly with Google's API - I'm gonna try Google Charts on the NUnit reports on our build server. Will post about it if I get it right.

Software

• NAnt 0.86beta 1 - After a long hibernation, NAnt is back!
• NDepend 2.6 - Now with a sexy UI and support for VS2 008. [via Christopher Steen]
• TreeSurgeon - Looks like a new release of this tool is coming out later this week.

Podcasts

• Demystifying Design Patterns Part 5 - Nothing is as exciting as a junior developer armed with a design patterns book. Now you can listen to the podcast.

Career stuff

• Becoming a credible developer - forward this one to the buzzword beater in your office. (And take the article's advice too -- I know I will.) [via Christopher Steen]
• How to index your paper notebooks - Always keen to improve my note-taking.

A NAnt Christmas

Christmas has come early for me because NAnt has released a new beta. We're still using NAnt and I thought it was lying dormant, so I'm really glad to see this beta come out!