Indoor enthusiast. Co-founder of Stack Overflow and Discourse. Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm talking about. Find me:
productivity
Derek Sivers relates an interesting Steve Jobs anecdote: In June of 2003, Steve Jobs gave a small private presentation about the iTunes Music Store to some independent record label people. My favorite line of the day was when people kept raising their hand saying, “Does it do (x)?”, “Do you
.net
In a recent entry, I bemoaned the lack of good global error handling options for .NET Web Services. By “good” I mean “easy,” like the Application_Error event in Global.asax for ASP.NET websites. I have a pretty solid web-oriented generic unhandled exception class, which is documented in my
.net framework
At some point in any WinForms project, you’re bound to need either: 1. WYSIWYG text entry areas with text formatting 2. Quick and dirty printed report generation The obvious choice for both of these things is HTML. No problem! I’ll just drag my HtmlTextBox on the form, set
.net
Speaking of ghetto languages, when exactly is the Windows Script Host going to be updated with a modern language – like, say, .NET? I want my WSH.NET! I still use WSH to write quick and dirty command line utilities that don’t justify a full blown .NET console executable. Like
vb.net
At a recent trinug user group meeting, Richard Hale Shaw was going off on a tirade about how Visual Basic 6 was “the ultimate anti-pattern.” I don’t disagree. VB6 had some serious issues, many of which .NET resolves. Then he put a question to the audience: “What specific things
software development concepts
Building up a portfolio (a collection of your work) is essential. Many employers will require it before they consider you for a job. Take the time you need to produce something that will impress them – it’ll really pay off. That’s part of the job description for a graphic
programming languages
I modified the recommended reading list to include, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master. If you haven’t read the book, it includes a handy reference card that will give you a great idea of the gems covered inside. And if you have, well, it never hurts to review
security
This Slate article highlights an interesting statistic: A few years ago, Microsoft set up the Windows Error Reporting Service to help find out where crashes come from. After a Windows application – or your whole PC – shuts down, a box pops up asking you to send a confidential error report. Using
software development concepts
The benefits of a daily build are well understood by now. McConnell even cites the book Showstopper! as an extreme example circa 1993: Who can benefit from this process? Some developers protest that it is impractical to build every day because their projects are too large. But what was perhaps
programming languages
I had no idea this was happening, but it is fantastic news: according to this GamePC article, the latest 2005 version of Windows XP Media Center Edition will be released as a retail product within a few weeks: Windows XP Media Center Edition was originally launched roughly two years ago,
software development
I saw this really funny, if somewhat ancient, Dave Winer blog entry on Scoble’s blog and I just couldn’t resist: An old software slogan at Living Videotext: “We Make Shitty Software... With Bugs!” It makes me laugh! We never ran this slogan in an ad. People wouldn’t
software development
How many things would you classify yourself as “expert” at? I drive to and from work every day, but I hardly consider myself an expert driver. I brush my teeth at least twice every day, and I’m no expert on oral care; just ask my dentist. I use Visual