DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by ahsteele

6 Useful Visual Studio Tweaks You Need To Know

Fri, 09 May 2008 13:16:02 GMT

Here is a list of 6 Visual Studio tweaks you can do to make your development experience much better...

Using a Windows Service just to run a scheduled process is Wrong!

Sat, 10 May 2008 17:46:02 GMT

A classic post by Jon Galloway: A Windows Service is the wrong solution to scheduling one-off custom processes. The right solution for scheduling simple processes is the Windows Task Scheduler.

best programming jokes

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:46:05 GMT

a very big good collection of programming jokes, WOWwwwwwww

Using Database Projects for Visual Studio

Wed, 07 May 2008 18:31:04 GMT

Do you use database projects in Visual Studio? If not, then now is a good time to start. It is the best way I have found to source control my databases without actually sticking the database file itself in the repository.

11 More Visual Studio Shortcuts You Should Know

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:16:02 GMT

Following our First Visual Studio Shortcuts post here is another batch of shortcuts.

Exception Handling - Do's and Dont's

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:16:02 GMT

Exceptions provide a consistent mechanism for identifying and responding to error conditions. Effective exception handling will make code more robust and easier to debug. Exceptions are a tremendous debugging aid because they help answer...

Writing a Simple Role Playing Game with C# .NET and the State Pattern

Thu, 01 May 2008 21:31:03 GMT

Learn how to use the State design pattern in C# .NET by writing a basic role playing game, with a main character who explores a forest, finds magical items, slays monsters, and gains experience points.

Why I'm a better software developer than you

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:46:03 GMT

What makes one developer better than another? Shouldn't we all be performing at the same level? Of course not, we're not sewing buttons on an assembly line. We're using every bit of our intelligence to create something that we can only being to understand.

Unattended Installation for the .NET Framework 3.5

Sun, 04 May 2008 12:31:02 GMT

Excellent information for different ways to script an unattended installation of the .NET Framework 3.5.

Improve Web Application Performance

Mon, 05 May 2008 04:16:03 GMT

A good post with tips to improve the performance of your web app.

How I Explained REST to My Wife

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:31:02 GMT

Nice explaination of REST

Are you going the way of the Dinosaur???

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:01:12 GMT

Some great advice for your career.

SET VS SELECT - When to use what in SQL Server

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:01:02 GMT

When to use SET and when to use SELECT ?

Being a "nice" programmer

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:16:02 GMT

Being a C# developer by trade, I naturally spend a lot of my working life programming computers. Whilst I by no-means profess to be a "guru" of any kind, I do notice that there is one aspect of software development that is often neglected from discussion, and most programmers will hopefully agree with me as I explain.

I might be an elitist, but you're a misanthrope

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:01:03 GMT

Expresses some of the frustration that comes with a fragmented .NET community; our wobbly triangle of gurus, thought leaders, and the massive base of people who we've let down, in a way, by selling the idea that the tools should do all the work, and drag-and-dropped our colleagues into an expectation of laziness, or at least lulled them into a reluctance to learn new things, which is death to our whole community over the long-run.

From Developer to Technical Manager

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:16:03 GMT

Organizations with an outdated organizational structure have got to wake up and change before it's too late. They will either lose or ruin their people. Either way, the company loses because people are the company.

10 Visual Studio Shortcuts You Must Know

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:31:02 GMT

A great list of 10 Visual Studio Shortcuts any software developer must know and use.

How to share configuration files between projects

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:31:03 GMT

Sharing configuration files between multiple projects in Visual Studio is a simple task, but it is not intuitive in how it is done. In fact, until recently I did not know how to do it via the IDE, I would always hand edit the .sln file to enable this feature (sad I know). Today I thought I would throw up a simple set of screen shots to show everyone how easy it really is.

Avoiding subqueries in SQL for big gains

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:46:02 GMT

Some people are just unaware of the alternatives to performing a sub query. The performance gains can be substantial if you put the database engine to use!

I switched from Linux to Windows Server 2008

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:31:02 GMT

Wait, did I say that right? I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?

[Flags] and you - Take 2

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:01:03 GMT

Comparing enum values can sometime leave your code a little messy and inaccessible. Using this small EnumHelper extension methods class, your code should be left a little more readable and fluent.

Do You Really Want to Be a Development Team Leader?

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 09:31:02 GMT

Ask any up and coming developer what they would like to do in the next year or so and you'll invariably hear, "I'd like to become a Development Team Leader". Hopefully most will have actually considered the change of role and be looking for new challenges and ways to contribute more to their chosen profession. However, for some this is an automatic response to a question that is particularly difficult to answer in an industry with no clear career path. For others it's simply a way to move up the pay scale.

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, People

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:46:13 GMT

A brief discussion of the Rob Conery TDD backlash, and what it says about open-source on .NET, and the community at large.

6 free online editors for your asp.net project

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:16:04 GMT

A list of web editors that can be easily embedded in your asp.net projects

Ajax vs. Silverlight and .NET

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:01:16 GMT

Thoughts on questions along the lines of Ajax vs. Silverlight