A worthy quote found while reading the book Bushido, the Soul of Japan, (from Google books):
“Chivalry is itself the poetry of life.” – Karl Wilhelm Fredrich Schegel, Philosophy of History
which doesn’t actually exist in the book (you can search for it in the link to the book above).
All software development managers should know how to code and have real world production system experience; otherwise they are managing blind. And, it’s equally important to keep one’s programming skills current.
Managers that stop writing code will lose touch with their teams.
Thus the mnemonic A.B.C.
which is a gentle reminder to myself.
For a like minded posting visit MagmaSystems Blog.
The idea of a complete desktop in a browser is intriguing. Using remote desktops and virtual PCs is close. But I like the idea of just going to a URL–the “cloud” desktop. Something akin to GotoMyPC but without the need to actually setup the PC in the first place.
Two “web-friendly” implementations worth exploring are eyeOS and silveos.
eyeOS is amazing since it is all HTML/Javascript. For a closer look check out http://classic.my.eyeos.org/
Silveos is written in Microsoft Silverlight (which brings the fun back to development—IMHO). To see silveos in action visit http://silveos.com/
Other sites to check out include:
and for a list of more web operations system bookmarks visit http://www.xmarks.com/topic/os_online
Visual Studio will automatically format your selected code by pressing CTRL+K+F (note: hold down the control key continuously, press K then press F).
To format all code in your currently active file in Visual Studio, press CTRL+K+D (same note as above).
For a list of more pre-defined keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio 2010 visit this MSDN link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/da5kh0wa.aspx
And for a great macro to show all active shortcuts, check out this MSDN link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms247076(v=VS.100).aspx
I continue to be impressed by the depth of tools within Visual Studio.
Check out http://www.bing.com/maps/explore
While still in beta it clearly shows some of the power of Silverlight.
I am hoping that WPF/E (aka silverlight) makes it Everywhere—especially on mobile devices in the near future.
Nice job Microsoft.
Paint.Net is simply amazing. When I first saw the program I knew then that the .Net framework was ready for primetime. Paint.Net has the look and feel of a professional commercial application—something that is not easy to do and requires the right tools (which is why I had been a die-hard Delphi follower).
For a great overview of the history of Paint.Net, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint.net and to read about the latest development efforts, check out the blog: http://blog.getpaint.net/
I was a saddened to learn that the source code was pulled, but based off of this post (http://blog.getpaint.net/2009/11/06/a-new-license-for-paintnet-v35/), it does make sense. It is a shame when noble acts are abused by profiteers.
Again, kudos to Rick Brewster for this great MS Paint replacement.
Windows Notepad is dated (back to Windows 1.0 in 1985); and there are a number of great freeware/open source alternatives. After reviewing several, I’ve selected Notepad++ as my new notepad of choice.
Notepad++ can be downloaded from http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
Two other very capable contenders are
- ConTEXT (my old favorite) from http://www.contexteditor.org/
- Programmer’s Notepad from http://www.pnotepad.org/
The first time I tried to setup a website with IIS I was greeted with:
Not very friendly. I immediately thought I didn’t have appropriate security permissions to the folder or file I was using. After mucking around for a while with file/folder security I went to the web to research the problem some more. Amazingly, I could not find an answer.
My problem was something that I couldn’t even really see—thanks to file explorer defaulting to hiding file extensions.
When I saved the file from Microsoft Expression Web 3, the file was named: “default.html”
And amazingly “default.html” is not a Default Document type! I renamed the file to “default.htm” (which was another multi-step process) and presto-magic I see my fancy Hello World HTML in the browser.
Perhaps someone with more PC skills can tell me how to rename a file type extension without turning off “Hide extensions for known file types.” I couldn’t see how to do it. And why Folder Options is no longer available from the file explorer doesn’t make sense. I had to go to Control Panel then Folder Options to get to the View tab.
I doubt that I am the first (or last) person that will run into this. I hope this blog entry helps.
I love learning about new technology and Microsoft has been busy making (or paying for folks to make) a lot of free training videos. If you want to learn about what’s new in Silverlight 3, visit the msdev.com site and watch some of the great videos. The Silverlight 3 video’s can be found at: http://www.msdev.com/Directory/SeriesDescription.aspx?CourseId=122
And if you are interested in a more soup-to-nuts “How do I?” list of videos, visit http://silverlight.net/learn/
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” — Mahatma Gandhi
I believe in RIAs because developing an HTML/AJAX application is just painful. And I believe that Silverlight provides an excellent RIA solution. For two great examples of Silverlight in action look at:
and,
http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/webclient/
These both look and feel like desktop applications but are running safely in your friendly browser.
Be aware that CodePlex has a project for windows4all.com (http://windows4all.codeplex.com/) but all of the source code is not provided. Just a Visual Studio shell application. It would be great to sneak a peek at the code under the covers.