DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by vistadb

Class vs Struct blog

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:51:46 GMT

Blog post describing some differences between a struct and a class in dot net and why you might want to use one over the other. "Memory usage and leaks in a managed world often come from unexpected places. Allocating classes or structs is a confusing subject to newcomers to Dot Net."

Changing Your Garbage Collector Settings on the Fly

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:01:12 GMT

.NET 3.5 and 2.0 SP1 jointly included a new feature which lets you programmatically manipulate the way your garbage collector acts. This can be done through changing the value of a new property of the System.Runtime.GCSettings class named LatencyMode. In this article I will walk you through this new property and the different effects of each of it's possible settings.

Dynamically Create a Zip File Your Users Can Then Download

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:46:03 GMT

I recently had a requirement to allow users to select a group of files and then dynamically create a zip file on the server of the selected files that they could then download.

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.

Day-to-day with Subversion

Wed, 07 May 2008 14:46:03 GMT

A good post that highlights some of the functionality of Subversion

Refactoring gets the blame

Fri, 02 May 2008 03:35:05 GMT

Interesting post about how refactoring gets the blame when schedules slip. But that was not the root cause. Also nice list of benefits to refactoring for future app maintenance gains.

Strongly typed performance gains

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:33:40 GMT

Replacing a generic hashtable with a strongly typed Dictionary<> results in performance gains for Contains() lookups.

SubSonic: 2.1 Beta 2 Available Now

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:16:02 GMT

I spose there's not much more to add to that title. Eric and Shawn Oster have been hard at work while I pretty much have been under water for the last month, getting ready for MIX.

Apply Test-Driven Development to your Database Projects

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:31:02 GMT

Using this methodology, developers write unit tests for individual features before actually implementing the feature.

Try/Catch Blocks Can Hurt Performance Significantly

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:01:02 GMT

Over at Programmers Heaven.com, there's an interesting article on the potential performance impact of try/catch blocks. The article concluded that the average cost of a try/catch block is essentially nothing (sorry there's no author information on the post), and that .NET/C# programmers should not think twice about using try/catch blocks. The author is right that a try/catch block has essentially zero cost. However, like most coding performance issues, exceptions and try/catch blocks do not have performance implications until they occur in some type of loop.

VistaDB Express Released

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:35:40 GMT

VistaDB released a Free Express Edition today for non commercial usage. VistaDB Express allows personal website users who use Graffiti to build tools to integrate with their new site. The Express edition lacks the GUI plugins for Visual Studio, but works with all the Microsoft Express developer tools, and Mono!

Does Your Code Pass "The Turkey Test?"

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:16:02 GMT

How careful are you about using the correct form of string and number formatting? How about your use of String.Compare and String.Equals?

EntitySpaces 2008 and CodeSmith Together At Last

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:53:49 GMT

Imagine never having to leave Visual Studio while creating and shaping your EntitySpaces based application. Simply pop into the "CodeSmith Explorer", right mouse on our "Master Template", execute it, include the newly generated files into your solution, compile, and you're off and running in a matter of a few minutes. So Sweet.

Exploring the Code for the New .NET 3.5 Classes

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:31:02 GMT

I often use the free and awesome decompiler Reflector to peer into the source code of Microsoft's .NET Framework. It's an indispensable tool. However, I had a little difficulty viewing the underlying source code for some of the new .NET 3.5 classes. In particular, for a recent article I was interested in looking at what was happening underneath the covers when the DataPager control was rendered. The DataPager is a new control in ASP.NET 3.5 used to render a paging interface for the ListView control (also new to 3.5).

LinqToSimpleDB Preview

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:46:02 GMT

nice article on implementing a linq provider to Amazons simpledb

The DotNetKicks Effect

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:31:02 GMT

An overview of traffic coming from DotNetKicks when an article makes it to the front page.

Hotfix to Correct Visual Studio 2008 Performance Issues Released

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 09:46:02 GMT

Microsoft has released the hotfix to correct the Visual Studio 2008 performance issues.

Membership, Profile & Role Management Frustration

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 11:16:01 GMT

Today I searched for open source projects that might address this need. On CodePlex I found a few promising projects:

Guide to installing a secured Subversion server on Windows

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:46:02 GMT

Guide to installing a secured Subversion server on Windows

Happy Birthday Scott Guthrie!

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:46:02 GMT

Let's get Scott something from his Amazon Wish List

DnDns - A .NET DNS Client Library (Resolver)

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:46:02 GMT

A DNS protocol library written completely in managed code. Supports common DNS records types like A, CNAME, MX, SRV, and more.

That's right . "EntitySpaces running under Mono on Linux using MySQL"

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:01:03 GMT

EntitySpaces $1000 Mono Contest - We have a Winner !!

SubSonic: 2.1 Beta Is Up

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:01:02 GMT

The title says it all...Download link in the post

A Sorted Affair: History of the C# Sort

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:16:02 GMT

I often have the joy of dealing with other people's code that was originally written in C# 1.0 and am continually amazed by how much better the language has become in a few short years. This example represents the evolution of sorting a simple list in C#. From 50+ lines of code, down to one. Wow, what a change!

Ken Henderson Has Passed Away (1967-2008)

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:20:38 GMT

The world has lost a great SQL Server mind :(