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Michael Flanakin
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16
Aug 04
Versioning with NAnt
Download UpdateVersion I've been looking at NAnt pretty hard lately. The biggest problem that I've had so far is creating and updating version numbers. NAntContrib has a <version> task that will read in and update a version number specified in a text file, but that doesn't quite give me what I'm looking for. NAnt 0.85 is supposed to come with ......
Posted On Monday, August 16, 2004 2:04 AM .NET , Development
19
Dec 03
...But Who's Counting?
I saw an interesting pie chart identifying the top corporate web servers based on a survey done by Port80 Software... I may be wrong, but just so everyone knows, this doesn't necessarily mean that Microsoft-based technologies are used more than J2 technologies. These are just the web servers. As I'm sure you know, J2EE requires an app server as well. ......
Posted On Friday, December 19, 2003 10:24 PM .NET , Java , IT , Development , migrated
19
Nov 03
Null vs. Zero-Length String ("")
I had this problem when I used to work with VB and VBScript apps and was hoping that there would be a good way to deal with this, but I guess not. When you have a string and you do not know whether it will be null or zero-length, you need to handle both. Well, what I've always done is: if ( strValue+"" == "" )... I haven't ever heard anything for or ......
Posted On Wednesday, November 19, 2003 5:39 AM .NET , Development
01
Feb 04
Implementing the Front Controller Pattern (1.0)
Anyway, while working on this solu
Posted On Sunday, February 1, 2004 8:49 PM .NET , Development
14
Nov 03
Take That, Open Source!
I don't mean to pick on anybody in particular, but I think most developers share this concern: deprecation of functionality. I'm sure that everyone who's been in the software development business for a few years has had to deal with this in one form or another. The reason I wanted to talk about this now is because of the up-and-coming Java Server Faces ......
Posted On Friday, November 14, 2003 7:22 PM .NET , Java , Development
C#-VB Rivalries
I don't know how many times I've read articles and opinions on the whole VB vs. C# conflict, but it's really getting ridiculous. This latest spat (1, 2) seemed to be started by three articles in Visual Studio Magazine: Patrick Meader's Why C# Developers Earn More, Juval Löwy's Pick the .NET Language for You, and Kathleen Dollard's VB.NET Provides ......
Posted On Friday, November 14, 2003 7:34 PM .NET , Development
Rich UI's
Jon Udell recently wrote an article about "rich" GUI's. In this, he covers a good amount of ideas that I've been thinking of for a while. If you get a chance, go check it out. I'm not sure what everyone else thinks about this, but Microsoft is re-focusing on desktop applications. I've talked to a lot of people about this, and it seems that the majority ......
Posted On Friday, November 14, 2003 7:46 PM Development
Longhorn Upgrade Too Complex?
I started to read an article that was talking about how simplicity always wins over complexity. This was followed up by a statement about the up-and-coming "feature race." This just made me think about Longhorn, Microsoft's next version of Windows. What are we going to do when it comes out? I haven't seen all of the content released after PDC, yet, ......
Posted On Friday, November 14, 2003 8:09 PM IT
21
Nov 03
J2 Improvements

I was rummaging through the web and found an old article that touches on the topic of one of my old posts. I thought the article was pretty good. Check it out, if you get a chance.


Posted On Friday, November 21, 2003 6:33 AM Java , Development
30
Nov 03
QuickCode.NET Suggestions
I recently took a look at the QuickCode.NET tool and found it to be pretty interesting. It's definitely worth looking into, but I have a suggestion... Personally, I like to keep my code very organized. I have templates that I use for VB6/ASP, .NET, and Java projects. I think that it would be very helpful to tie something like this into QuickCode.NET. ......
Posted On Sunday, November 30, 2003 9:45 AM .NET , Java , Development
Corporate Web Logs
I've been thinking of good ways to increase inter-project communication within my organization. I work in the software architecture office and get a chance to talk to most of the software developers. A lot of them ask questions and/or have a lot of comments to make on random topics. I've been planning on setting up a couple of forums, when I get a chance, ......
Posted On Sunday, November 30, 2003 7:29 PM IT , Development
02
Dec 03
Coding Conventions
There was a recent survey on the Code Project website that asked, “What notations do you use when coding?” I was surprised to see that nearly 53% of the respondants claimed to use Hungarian notation, with all but a few of those using prefixes (i.e. m_ for member variables). Now, I'm sure none of the respondants use only one naming convention, ......
Posted On Tuesday, December 2, 2003 4:54 AM .NET , Java , XML , Development
Corporate Web Logs Pt 2
I'm not sure if web logs will be successful communication tool or not. I guess what I'm worried about is that a number of people within the organization have mentioned that they don't know how much it'd be used. When people have questions, they usually call select individuals to answer their question. Everybody knows: programmers are hard-headed - especially ......
Posted On Tuesday, December 2, 2003 7:02 PM IT , Development
03
Dec 03
Will Linux Take Over the Desktop?
There's been a lot of talk about Linux taking a chunk out of Microsoft's space in the corporate desktop realm. Now, I don't see Linux ever being a huge threat to Microsoft, but it can possibly make a nice dent in Microsoft's income. With Longhorn 2-3 years out, customers are going to be very hungry for some new features. With the recent Windows Server ......
Posted On Wednesday, December 3, 2003 6:09 PM IT
04
Dec 03
It's All in the Name
I'm looking for a good name for a software development conference-summit-forum-thing. This is an internal event to help share information as well as bring in good people to talk about software issues/innovations. Does anyone have any suggestions? Here are some of the ideas I've been mulling over: Application Development Forum (ADF) Applied Technology ......
Posted On Thursday, December 4, 2003 9:28 AM .NET , Java , IT , Crap , XML , Development , Architecture
More Longhorn Questions
I found an old article that talks about some of the issues I brought up about Longhorn's long time-to-market date. Steve Gillmor mentions a possible “Longhorn Lite,” which is what I was getting at with my XP2 idea. I saw another article which talked about releasing some improved security features with Service Pack 2, but I would encourage ......
Posted On Thursday, December 4, 2003 9:58 PM IT
All About VB (Not a Religious Post)
Keith Pleas talks about a few VB issues in a recent blog post. He points out that most VB developers are RAD-centric and C# developers are code-centric. I agree with this 100%...and I know Microsoft does, too. He also mentions the move of old VB6 developers to .NET: “...return of the VB programmer who glued together a bunch of stuff...” ......
Posted On Thursday, December 4, 2003 11:30 PM .NET , Development
CIO Faith in Web Service Platforms
Ain't it beautiful? 369 CIOs were asked which platform is preferred in building Web services Microsoft .NET 46.5%IBM WebSphere 19%Sun One 8.2% Thanks to Rebecca Dias for the slides. Check them out if you get a chance. Good stuff, but I would have preferred a little less marketting-type info...then again, it's really not that bad ......
Posted On Thursday, December 4, 2003 11:42 PM .NET , Java , IT , XML , Development
06
Dec 03
Total Eclipse
Maybe I'm just in the dark (haha...get it? Eclipse...in the dark), but I just found out that Eclipse, IBM's open source J2 IDE, was given its moniker to symbolize its intent to overshadow Sun's own open source development tool, NetBeans. Well, that's what Sun officials claim, anyway. Personally, I like this sort of thing. I'd liek to see more of it, ......
Posted On Saturday, December 6, 2003 11:30 PM .NET , Java , IT , Development
15
Dec 03
Coding Standards
One thing that I've always seen, but never understood was the use of spaces over tabs. Does anyone have any good reasons for this? I prefer tabs because they are easier to use. For instance, if I need to delete an indention, I press backspace. If I need to move left one indention, I press the left arrow...both ONE time, not four. Different editors work ......
Posted On Monday, December 15, 2003 9:32 AM .NET , Java , XML , Development
05
Dec 03
Scalability
So, I got in a discussion (read: argument) with someone about scalability, right. It all started when a manager made a comment, “.NET isn't as scalable as J2EE.” I of course rebutted by claiming that this was an ignorant statement. Then, a more technical person on this guy's team made the comment, as if it would be any less ignorant. To ......
Posted On Friday, December 5, 2003 2:20 PM .NET , Java , IT
19
Dec 03
Predictions for 2004
Gartner predicts a few interesting things in its document entitled “Predicts 2004: Microsoft Application Platform vs. J2EE.” You should check it out if you have a chance. Of course, without an account, that'll be kind of hard. Sorry. Here's the overview... Although the J2EE application server market is mature and the Microsoft application platform is ......
Posted On Friday, December 19, 2003 10:02 PM .NET , Java , IT , Development , migrated
18
Jan 04
Xen (X#)
This is interesting, but at the same time, I don't know what to say about it. Microsoft is looking at extending C# to include XML and SQL features in the language (not thru classes, as it is now). You have to look at the pros and cons of it, tho. I mean, what will you benefit from it? Pros Less code Cons Harder to read code Complex variable initialization ......
Posted On Sunday, January 18, 2004 5:50 PM .NET , Development , migrated
Markup Validators
Here are a few nice markup validators. Let me know if you have any favorites/preferences. CSS HTML RSS 2.0 XHTML Then again, a lot of tools provide support for this. Visual Studio is ok, but questionable - we'll see if it gets any better. I'm sure someone has probably built a plug-in to validate code from within VS ......
Posted On Sunday, January 18, 2004 6:12 PM XML , Development , migrated
More Predictions
Well, here's another set of Gartner predictions...“Predicts 2004: Developing Java and .NET AD Strategies.” For most Microsoft-centric enterprises, a move to .NET technology will be a question of when, not if. Meanwhile [J2EE] will span a range of projects, including high-profile e-commerce infrastructures. Here are the key predictions: .NET technology ......
Posted On Sunday, January 18, 2004 6:29 PM .NET , Java , Development , migrated
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