keyboard shortcuts
Like Scott Hanselman, I view the mouse as an optional computer accessory.* Manly coders love the smell of compilation in the morning and we know that speed = keyboard. A mouse? C’mon. That’s so teenage girls can pick emoticons in AOL Instant Messenger. And for flash “developers.” Us tough
asp.net
I had a request for an ASP.NET version of my windows forms About Box. This is a good idea that I’ve considered in the past, so I took the time to convert it today: Clicking details will provide a dump of all loaded assemblies in summary form, with
software development
I’ve always discouraged ivory tower development – teams where developers are cloistered away for years in their high towers, working on technical software wizardry. These developers have no idea how users will respond to their software they’re creating. They probably couldn’t even tell you the last time they
vb.net
Inspired by Jeff Key’s, “If loving Resharper is wrong I don’t wanna be right” soliloquy, I emailed JetBrains to see if they had plans to bring Resharper – currently a C# only tool – to VB.NET. This was their response: Of course there will be support for VB.NET,
regex
Jan Goyvaerts released a new version of RegexBuddy today. I’ve talked about this tool before – it’s easily the best Regex tool available. Some feature highlights for this version are: * Built in GREP tool * Visual regular expression debugging support * Full unicode support The GREP tool is an unexpected bonus;
performance
In my previous entry on the real cost of performance, there were some complaints that my code’s slow and it sucks. If I had a nickel every time someone told me that, I could have retired years ago. Let’s take a look at the specific complaint that the
.net
Coming from humble Visual Basic 3.0 beginnings, by way of AmigaBasic, AppleSoft Basic, and Coleco Adam SmartBasic, I didn’t get a lot of exposure to formal programming practice. One of the primary benefits of .NET is that it brings VB programmers into the fold – we’re now real
software development
There’s a provocative editorial on the “Academication” of software development at DevX: Software development is not an academic exercise. It has more in common with the blue-collar “build me a house” ethic than it does with ivory tower research. So let’s quit treating it as if it’s
software development
Evidently, Jerry Dennany is a member of the build machine cult: One of the golden rules of modern software development is that one should build all software on a dedicated build machine. A build machine should: 1. Be well documented. This includes Version of the Operating System, Service Pack level,
software development
Paul Graham posted an interesting new essay about American culture and software development: This works well in some fields and badly in others. I suspect it works in movies and software because they’re both messy processes. “Systematic” is the last word I’d use to describe the way good
game development
I’ve often said that game development is the most difficult kind of software development. It tends to be very low level coding, on unusual hardware platforms, and you have to constantly optimize for performance and “fun” – whatever that may be. Consider the complexity of one small facet of game
vb.net
I saw on Dan Appleman’s blog that a new version of his Visual Basic.NET or C#: Which to Choose? is available, reflecting the latest changes in VS.NET 2005. I immediately bought a copy from Lockergnome, apparently the only vendor that allows instant eBook downloads after purchase.* There