Category Archives: .NET

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 on Virtual PC

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For those of you keeping track, Microsoft released the new Visual Studio 2010 beta 1 release last week.  I was a little disappointed – though not surprised – that, unlike with their September CTP,  Microsoft did not provide a Virtual PC image for the Beta 1 release.

Visual Studio logo

Like some of you out there, I prefer to show a little restraint when it comes to installing beta software on my personal machine.  I prefer not to hose my computer intentionally, nor incur the wrath of my better half by denying her access to her e-mail and internet.

Fortunately, the people at Channel 9 care about marital bliss, and have therefore posted a step-by-step video guide explaining how to set up your ownVirtual PC – at no cost! The video shows you how to install Visual Studio Team Suite 2010 beta 1, TFS 2010 beta 1, and SQL Server 2008 running on Windows Server 2008.  You don’t need an MSDN subscription to get this software, which means that some of it is going to be trial-based. But, it’s a great way to give the beta a test-run without risking detriment to your own PC.

My install was very straightforward, with the help of the video .  It took me about 3 hours from start to finish, mostly waiting for installation progress bars to fill up. Performance will vary based on your internet connection (when downloading the various software), and how much CPU and memory you are able to allocate to the Virtual PC. Oh, and the finished .VHD file will likely weigh in at a hefty 15 GB, so make sure to account for that ahead of time.

Have fun!

MSDN Article: Using XML Comments

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The May 2009 MSDN Magazine has a good article reviewing XML comments and their usefulness for code development and documentation.  The article is primarily written for VB developers, but the concepts do apply to C# developers as well.

I’ve been using XML comments since Visual Studio 2005 came out.  For your VB developers still developing legacy .NET 1.1 / VS 2003 apps, you can install the VBCommenter add-in, which will give you some of the basic functionality (C# developers have this out-of-the-box).

If you’re not familiar with XML comments – or if you’ve heard of them, but haven’t tried them out yet – give the article a look.

PDC Media Galore!

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Given the recent economic downturn, it’s not surprising that many who wanted to make to this year’s PDC event were not able to go.  However, this year it seems like folks at Microsoft are happy bringing the event to us – virtually, at least.

Microsoft has launched as web site with a plethora of information that is being presented at the PDC as it goes on right now!  For people like me who love to absorb information, this is a treasure trove of material.

You will need to install Silverlight 2 to take advantage of much of this site.

HDC ’08

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Last week was the Heartland Developer Conference in Omaha and, as usual, it did not disappoint.  This was my fourth year attending the conference and I always enjoy the sessions that happen.  Also at the event was a demo Microsoft Surface table that I got to play around with; and the Microsoft booth had Rock Band 2 set up. I was able to get in one quick jam during the conference; thanks to whoever sat in on the drums…

Some of the more interesting sessions I attended this year include:

  • Rod Paddock on “AJAXing Your .NET Applications”: Very good presentation, especially for the more novice AJAX developers, like myself.  The biggest payback was seeing his demo of the Fiddler tool.  Very cool stuff!
  • Dennis Kirlin on “Estimating in the Abstract”: This was one of my favorites.  Dennis’ presentation was unique in that he presented a number of agile concepts and practices without using any of the associated buzzwords. By doing so, the presentation sounded refreshingly new, even to those already familiar with the concepts.
  • Javier Lozano on “The Zen of ASP.NET and MVC”: I attended a presentation with the IADNUG earlier in the year over this same topic, and it’s amazing the number of changes that have occurred between the earlier CTP and the recent beta release of the MVC framework.  I was unimpressed with the former, but Javier’s presentation won me back.  Now if only they could get the thing out of beta…
  • Clint Edminton on “Modeling in Visual Studio Codename Rosario”: This demo was cool until he told us that these features were for the Architect Edition of Visual Studio Team System.  Does Microsoft not think that developers use UML?  At least they now acknowledge that developers do interact with databases.

The other interesting thing to note was the increase in agile-specific topics, including sessions on using Scrum with Team Foundation Server, and the aforementioned Agile Estimating session.  I’m looking forward to what is to come in 2009.

MSDN Article on Object Design

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This month’s MSDN Magazine has a pretty interesting article on Object Role Stereotypes.  The article reminded me of the GRASP design patterns that I learned back in college.

The article also mentions the value of using CRC cards as a design exercise.  This is another practices that I’ve heard about, but have not had a chance to experience first hand.

All in all, a decent read if you’re interested in some conceptual knowledge around object-oriented design.

A Coder’s Challenge

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I was recently “challenged” by a fellow agile member who claimed that Java developers have a higher maturity level then their fellow .NET developers.  His claim was that .NET developers rely too much on the mouse when programming, which makes them slower because their hands have to leave the keyboard more frequently.  Java developers, on the other hand, are more familiar with their tool (e.g. IDE) and all the keyboard shortcuts that are programmed into it.

So, I considered his claims and his challenge.  I scoured the interwebs, searching for the knowledge I sought that would help me master the .NET coder’s tool of choice (the great Visual Studio), until I found what I was looking for.

And so, for my fellow .NET “adolescents”, I share with you this, straight from our god herself:

You threw down the gauntlet, B.C. and I accept your challenge.