DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by micahburnett

LINQ to SQL is NOT dead!

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:00:03 GMT

Ever since Microsoft announced that the Entity Framework was their ORM of choice, people everywhere have been saying, "LINQ to SQL is dead!" A lot of people feel like they're not allowed to use LINQ to SQL anymore and that they have to use Entity Framework instead. In fact, LINQ to SQL is not only alive and well, Microsoft has even announced LINQ to SQL improvements in .NET 4.0, including finally adding using ITable<T> for tables instead of Table<T>, which makes it much easier to test. Combine that with this open source tool that will create an IDataContext interface for you and you're on your way to testable LINQ to SQL. So no, LINQ to SQL is not dead!!

C# Regions are not Useful? Give me a Break

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:46:02 GMT

I often see arguments about use of regions in C# code. And this is one of the most annoying things I see on the Internet in my opinion when it pertains to code structure. Whoever says regions are not to be used, I'd love to see your code and know what standards you have established as a team with your code base. I bet you it's a mess and the reason you don't like regions is because the developers on your team has abused use of them and that there is no logical pattern or team standard established.

How To Guarantee That Your Software Will Suck

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:31:10 GMT

Do you bad software and unhappy developers? Well, it isn't that hard...

No, inheritance is not the way to achieve code reuse!

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 04:01:03 GMT

I am not sure how so many people go through so many years of school, which is supposed to make us better at thinking, and they fail to differentiate the "why" and the "how". During interviews, when I ask their opinion about the purpose of inheritance in OOP, invariably I get this precooked answer (not so nicely expressed): inheritance is the way to achieve code reuse. No it is not!

Using CSS to Do Anything: 50+ Creative Examples and Tutorials

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:31:03 GMT

"CSS can powerfully open the doors to a lot of rich and unique techniques. Today we are presenting a round-up of CSS coding, creative approaches and techniques."

Jump between braces in Visual Studio.

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:01:09 GMT

Move fast between open and close braces. No more scrolling to find beginning of that illusive if statement.

55 Free High Quality Icon Sets

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:01:02 GMT

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