DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by SuperJason

Introduction to Distributed Source Control

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:18:28 GMT

An in-depth introduction to some of the basic concepts needed to understand how distributed source control works. Includes screenshots and definitions.

It's Okay To Write Unit Tests

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:45:00 GMT

A few simple reasons why you should be writing unit tests.

Using LINQ to SQL or EF to beat Stored Procedure Power & Performance

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:38:19 GMT

Using powerful features of LINQ such as a unified query syntax, delayed execution, query expression building, and dynamically created SQL output to generate multiple optimized queries that will beat the performance of a typical stored procedure implementation.

Integrating Exception Handling Into the Development Cycle

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:30:01 GMT

The time to start thinking about exception handling is right after you click File > New Project. Exception handling shouldn't be something you "tack-on" to an application after the fact. Here, I discuss a practical approach to incorporating exception handling into the normal code-writing process.

Understanding LINQ and LINQ to SQL (and EF)

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:33:20 GMT

Back to basics for this post. Developers often throw around the word LINQ when talking about a number of different technologies. Now that I have been comfortably using a wide variety of LINQ technologies for a fair amount of time, I'm now able to convey some of the key differences that are critical to using LINQ technologies efficiently.

A Stick Figure Guide to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:04:27 GMT

History of encryption, what an encryption algorithm entails, and how to perform AES encryption yourself. All in an easy to read comic!

Introducing PostSharp 2.0: #1 - NotifyPropertyChanged

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:00:00 GMT

Gael Fraiteur does first revelations about PostSharp 2.0 on a real-life example: implementing the INotifyPropertyChanged pattern with an aspect. Be safely seated!

Is Silverlight the new WebForms?

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:30:01 GMT

Is Silverlight becoming the same crutch that WebForms was nearly a decade ago?

TFS Sucks, here is a list why

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:45:03 GMT

If you are thinking about using TFS here is a list of reasons why TFS sucks for SCM. Any suggestions on making these annoyances go away is very welcome.

C# lambda and foreach variable

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:15:00 GMT

Surprising behavior of lambdas

Delayed execution vs ToList() in LINQ Database Queries

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:00:02 GMT

Should you use ToList() in your repository methods, or should you pass the iterator back to the UI to delay the execution of the query? Read on to find out why it's a bad idea to delay execution in this case.

Common Pitfalls when working with DateTime's - DST, Timezones, & More

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:08:54 GMT

Working with DateTime object's and handling multiple time zones, time changes (DST), recurring events, and calendar events.

Practical .NET Unit Testing - Free paper released

Fri, 01 May 2009 05:46:02 GMT

A free unit testing paper that covers why you should write unit tests, the mechanics of unit testing, common testing strategies, designing for testability, and advanced testing techniques. It's an ongoing project, but it's complete enough to hopefully start getting early feedback and suggestions!

ASP.Net - Never again fear publishing your website with debug=true

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:31:02 GMT

What makes the deployment element special is that it is a machine level configuration element. When its retail attribute is set to true, it will disable the <compilation debug="true"> for ALL ASP.Net applications running on that machine. In addition, it turns of detailed errors messages being sent to remote machines and disables the ability to trace output.

Should We Solve Institutional Problems In Our Code?

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:46:02 GMT

Is it okay for us to solve deficiencies in our development teams with code?

ASP.NET MVC Free eBooks

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:16:11 GMT

Here's a list of all sample chapters of ASP.NET MVC books available to the community.

C# Regions are not Useful? Give me a Break

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:46:02 GMT

I often see arguments about use of regions in C# code. And this is one of the most annoying things I see on the Internet in my opinion when it pertains to code structure. Whoever says regions are not to be used, I'd love to see your code and know what standards you have established as a team with your code base. I bet you it's a mess and the reason you don't like regions is because the developers on your team has abused use of them and that there is no logical pattern or team standard established.

Using AutoMapper to map view models in ASP.NET MVC

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:46:03 GMT

Mapping code between Domain Models and Data Transfer Objects/Presentation Models is often boring and tedious to write, so when I first read about AutoMapper it triggered my interest. This post takes a first look at AutoMapper, and show how it can be used to map a complex domain model to a view model in an ASP.NET MVC application.

"int" inherits from object? An investigation into how & why.

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:16:29 GMT

Value types like Int32 ultimately derive from "object". If that's the case, why do they need to be boxed? Whey do they not have the same performance overhead? This post investigates these questions and more.

Unit Testing a LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework Query

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:39:21 GMT

An easy to use strategy for unit testing simple database calls that utilize LINQ (such as LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework).

Introduction to JOINs - A simplest Visual Explanation of Join

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:16:02 GMT

Introduction to JOINs - A simplest Visual Explanation of Join This post is for every developer who just want to make sure that their basics of Join is perfect. Bookmark this for future use or for teaching your friends of Jr. about Joins. Blog about this post if you like it.

ReSharper 4.5 gone gold

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:16:11 GMT

JetBrains has released version 4.5 of their multi purpose productivity plugin for Visual Studio, ReSharper. This updates contains some pretty cool features. For example, solution wide analysis now checks for members that can be made internal. Also, JetBrains promises to have improved performance and memory use. All in all certainly an update that is worth installing, especially because updating from licenses for version 4.0 and above is free

Maintaining Consistent Line Lengths

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:20:41 GMT

A quick Visual Studio tip on maintaining a consistent code line length.

File Uploads in ASP.NET MVC 1.0 RTM

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:16:10 GMT

I had not messed around with file uploads in ASP.NET MVC for a while and so when I fired up ASP.NET MVC 1.0 RTM I was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy they had made it!

FizzBin - The Technical Support Secret Handshake

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:46:04 GMT

I hate that 5 minute to 5 hour long "ramp up" when I'm on the phone with any kind of technical support as they realize that we both know what we're doing. Or at least, one of us does.