DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by Ragoczy

Interfaces vs. Concrete Classes

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:01:12 GMT

When designing architectures in .NET, I frequently use interfaces for parameter types in my method signatures. This post will help to explain why I choose to do this and the benefits of coding in this manner.

Update to: Microsoft cracking down on community extensions

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:31:02 GMT

The original story (http://www.dotnetkicks.com/csharp/Microsoft_cracking_down_on_community_extensions) got quite a bit of traffic from here. There've been some clarifications and updates from Microsoft and the StyleCop team that, I think, make their position clear and reasonable -- also, the original how-to that had been taken down "at Microsoft's request" is back up. A lot of people kicked the original story, so I hope you'll all take the opportunity to read Microsoft's responses and give them fair consideration.

Call Virtual Functions From Constructors?

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:01:02 GMT

Be aware of this matter because it is not a trivial issue and apparently, there are no errors or warnings generated by the compiler. So, the rule to remember is to never call virtual methods from constructors.

PagedList Strikes Back

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:46:12 GMT

A few months ago I posted about my changes to Rob Conery's PagedList class. Since writing that article many comments have been left about how to further improve the design, which have since been incorporated into a new, further improved PagedList class.

Customer Requirements and Online Dating

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:50:54 GMT

What do online dating and customer requirements have in common? Sometimes telling the customer "no".

I don't get var

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:34:03 GMT

Brief rant about C#'s var keyword. Short version: Aside from anonymous types ... what's the big deal?

55 Free High Quality Icon Sets

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:01:02 GMT

A lot of freebie icons. Another great article from Smashing Magazine

Microsoft cracking down on community extensions

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:01:02 GMT

Microsoft released a tool called Microsoft Source Analyzer, or StyleCop. It analyzes source code for standards violations. It's a 1.0 release, so it doesn't do some things ... like have a published API for custom rules or MSBuild integration. So the community dug in and figured out how to do these things and now MS is firing off license-violation emails. Don't they get it? The community wants to use the product, but it's too limited ... these extensions help make it better.

How to Generate Public Classes for Resource Files

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:16:02 GMT

Notice that when you add a resource file, there is an automatically generated class with properties issued from the resources elements, so you can call this class properties instead of using the ResourceManager. The only problem with this class is that its properties are marked as internal and thus can't be accessed externally

The bare minimum every programmer should know about regular expression

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:46:18 GMT

Many programmers disregard regular expressions as line noise, and it's a damned shame because they come in handy so often. Once you've gotten the hang of them, regular expressions can be used to solve countless real world problems...

Free e-book: Foundations on Programming

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:24:09 GMT

Recently I found that e-book which might be useful to some of you. Its sub title is: "Building better software" and is written by Karl Seguin.

Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:16:05 GMT

Internal email from Bill Gates detailing his difficulties with Microsoft.com, Windows Update, and more.

This Blog is 80% Complete

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:43:24 GMT

A rant on the inadvisability of scheduling 40-day tasks. Can you really provide an accurate status on an 8-week task by saying "sure, it's 70% done"?

Metrosexual Developers

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:16:02 GMT

A blog post I wrote on the value and importance of looking good as a software developer.

Which kind of cast should you use in C#?

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:01:04 GMT

C# offers two casting operators: the prefix-cast and the as-cast. Although the two operators compile to different op-codes in the CLR, the practical difference between them is in how they handle failed casts. Prefix-cast throws an exception on cast failure, while as-cast returns null. It's easier to implement correct error handling when you use prefix cast, because it doesn't require manual checks for null values that can cause problems in distant parts of your program. Prefix-cast should be the default cast operator on your fingertips, that you use for everyday situations - reserve as-cast for special cases where performance matters.

Stop Polluting the UI Thread - Use a ThreadBarrier

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:01:10 GMT

A ThreadBarrier is a technique for simplifying the interaction between the UI and a worker thread. No longer do UI Controls need to check InvokeRequired and do the posting of events from a worker thread.

I finally get the point of inversion of control

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:31:02 GMT

A quick overview of IoC (with diagrams!).

Windows Live Writer PlugIn for DotNetKicks on CodePlex

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:31:03 GMT

Windows Live Writer PlugIn for DotNetKicks is now on CodePlex

Manycore Computing - Parallel Extension Library June CTP Available

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:49:20 GMT

Link to the June 2008 CTP of the Parallel Extension Library from Microsoft and commentary on multi-threaded, parallel computing; why we need to learn it and how these libraries will make it easier to do, but not necessarily easier to do well.

Creating Custom Rules for Microsoft Source Analysis for C# (StyleCop)

Fri, 30 May 2008 13:16:28 GMT

Step-by-step instructions for creating your own custom rules for Microsoft's StyleCop add-in for Visual Studio.

How to Find Memory Leaks With CLRProfiler

Fri, 30 May 2008 14:01:07 GMT

Track down, discover and eliminate memory leaks in your applications with this free open source tool.

best programming jokes

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:46:05 GMT

a very big good collection of programming jokes, WOWwwwwwww

Input Prompt support in WPF « C# Disciples

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:25:26 GMT

If you look at Vista User experience guide, one thing that is a must have is the Input Prompt. I think that this is very important to improve the user experience. Yet unfortunately this is not supported natively by WPF :( But don't worry because AvalonControlsLibrary is at the rescue