April 2008 Entries
I posted earlier that I'm switching to blogengine.net, as part of this I've been fiddling around with the code (as is my way..I'll contribute back to the source when I've finished). One of my major pet hates is poor use of the singleton pattern, especially as there's a definitive article on the pattern in .NET and how to do it well. It's actually likely that this pattern is overkill in this case and a ReaderWriterLockSlim could be better (though it has it's own problems) . Anyway, on the assumption that a Singleton is the best choice here, let's look at...
This site currently runs on SubText but with my recent coding rebirth I'm looking to start playing with this site's platform a lot more; with this in mind I've decided to switch to blogengine.net; it's a .NET 2.0 based engine which has a lot of nice toys to play with as well as a really nice extensions model. So, there you go...SubText has been great (and I share an office with Phil the guy who maintains the project) but it's time to move to something which is easier to fiddle with. The only constraint I have is preserving the current...
One of the nice things about being on the ASP.NET team is that I finally get to scratch the various itches (on that topic, Poison Oak...very itchy!) that have been bugging me for a few years. I finally get to play around with the source and see what effect changing various bits and bobs has on how stuff works. I really do recommend spending some time spelunking in the .NET Source code. You can actually get this source (in a very non-official and non-supported way) using .NET Mass Downloader. This is just such an awesome resource...want to see how a...
I had a comment on this blog the other day which I really got to thinking about following a discussion on a private list about how we market technologies. This is one area I'm really not qualified to talk about in any kind of 'semi-official' way but it's one of the things which bubbles under the surface of my day to day job.
It's a constant irritation working at MS...frankly some people hate us, with a passion. A fair number of the people I've talked to at work are confused by this...day to day we really do work hard to...
I was reading the excellent interview with Donald Knuth on InformIt and it led me to reflect on my own thoughts on programming. I learnt development under the gun...I wrote websites for a pure and simple reason, to make money for my employers. The best techniques to use when creating this software were those which led to the best result for my clients. Oh, sure I experimented with Patterns, read just about every book on coding and general techniques over the past 10 or so years and I've worked with some of the most inspiring designers, coders, scientists and business...
I posted this stuff before but this is a new one which is just stunning...I wish I was this talented! Weird Fishes: Arpeggi from flight404 on Vimeo. .
follow scottgal at http://twitter.com  Let's see how it goes!
Before I write this I should add a disclaimer...this works 'for me', and for my particular lifestyle / psychology... After Christmas and being ill way too often just because I was chronically unfit and weighed almost 300lbs I made a decision...that I would lose 100lbs. Now, I didn't set a limit for *when* I'd do it by but the trajectory I was on should point in that direction. I started by looking at why I'd gotten to the point I was at...why had I put on so much weight and let it get as bad as it was....
What about Code Gallery? I'm changing this post slightly. The consensus right now is that Codeplex releases must have source, the ASP.NET site is the right place for release (mainstream, public stuff). What about the non-mainstream, early preview, binary only releases? Would you prefer these to stay on Code Gallery (e.g., like Dynamic Data) and just link to the site from somewhere on ASP.NET site or should we create a 'special area' on the ASP.NET site (like 'thelab' or somesuch) and provide details and link to specific downloads...or do you prefer these stay on Connect? So, dear customer I...
Inspired by this post, only covers simple cases but it's a start. Essentially this is an extended version of Response which only allows redirection to pages within the same site...so allows /default.aspx, does not allow http://www.evildomain.com/default.aspx. I've also ripped off a member of my team's excellent work on Response.Redirecting to a new window. This method uses extension methods, to use it just drop the file in App_Code and Response gets two new members. Oh and it's incomplete because I didn't account for encoded / obfuscated URLs...I'll update when I do... Â using System; ...
I've posted about this before but one of my main functions on my new team is managing all of our releases. We have a large number of these both public and private (to closed groups like ASPInsiders). Of course I really just do the bit at the end, people like Phil, Eilon, Scott and David (to name but a few) do 99.9% of the actual work. Anyway, I mention this by way of an opening to our latest release of the MVC source code complete with Unit Tests, Visual Studio Templates and just some great changes which my boss3 Scott...
Spent most of the day not doing what I should've been doing. I have a number of balls in the air at the moment and it feels like I've just added a spinning plate act at the same time...noisy disaster may ensue. Right now I'm working on another Codeplex release, working on a private build of some beta bits for the Insiders, getting our bugs migrated to the right place so we can get cracking on ASP.NET v.Next, getting the notes together for the last meeting (before the next one happens!) as well as getting the Hands-On-Labs ready for this...
Well, through (partly) my own choice I now have a whole heap of time back. Time to rejuvenate the blog...first stop updating the increasingly boring look of the thing. Second, a series of posts on some of the newer ASP.NET technologies. Third, some ideas for ways forward for the framework...Realizing I have a whole server in my house, a 3mbit upstream speed and am doing nothing with it! Hmm...
To A...it was great while it lasted. I envy people with self confidence...there was a time when I had it but it slipped away over the years. Now I spend more and more time faking it; I'm sorry I couldn't keep up the pretense...
Found this through Notcot, absolutely stunning graphical accompaniment to a brilliant song... Solar, with lyrics. from flight404 on Vimeo..
Ok, deliberately provocative title but I was reading Rob Conery's blog and stumbled across this comment to a recent screencast he put out: @robconery: you owe the .net community an apology To be honest, my first reaction was 'what a xxxx'...but that's unprofessional and I couldn't possibly say something like that. So, what was Rob's crime that this individual thought he should apologize for? He hasn't mastered TDD...now Rob dealt with the criticism very politely and elegantly (far better than this Scottish hothead would have). As I commented on his blog I had planned to post some screencasts here which...
I thought I'd post a kind of update mail...I'm just over a month into my new role in the ASP.NET team. I've said before it's a really small team in Microsoft terms; there's 7 Program Managers in my current team compared with more than twice that number in my previous team. I've written before on how impressed I've been by everyone (and I mean everyone) in the team, PM, Dev and QA and well, suck-upy (not a word!) though it sounds it's true. What have I been doing, well I've mostly been helping out with releases from the team (ooh,...
Update: Well, I guess Comcast monitor the search engines! I got a comment to this post as well as email and telephone follow-up on the issue. The post below was written out of frustration; and in no small part, concern for what this type of advice could have on inexperienced users. I know it's a small chip against a huge edifice of a company but hey, they took notice, it cost real time and money to follow up on this...which I thank them for doing. I know what it's like dealing with pissed off customers, it's not pleasant but most...
I was lucky enough to work with some world class medical researchers in a previous career (which I sucked at but that's beside the point), one of the lessons I learnt whilst there was how to read research with a critical eye. This popped up today when after accidentally buying a 54oz Jar of Extra Virgin Coconut oil (yes, alcohol was involved in this purchase) I decided to find out if the claimed benefits were actually validated anywhere. The manufacturer's claim that this stuff is incredibly good for you, lowers cholesterol and a bunch of other stuff. My first...
Love this...that is all...