DotNetKicks.com : Stories kicked by moserware

Using Obscure Windows COM APIs in .NET

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:16:02 GMT

A lot of the new Windows Vista and Windows 7 APIs are exposed via COM. Here's a simple introduction for how to use them when no wrappers are available.

How .NET Regular Expressions Really Work

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:46:04 GMT

A very deep dive into the source code for how .NET Regular Expressions really work

The Academic Background of the .NET Community Leaders

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:01:10 GMT

In this post Keyvan demonstrates the Academic background of most famous guys in the .NET community and talks about the various aspects of academic knowledge and its effect among technology leaders.

The Private Life of a Public API

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:46:13 GMT

Developing a public API on .NET is hard work, but it can be rewarding. Some reflections on the "Framework Design Guidelines"

Boy Scout Check-ins

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:16:02 GMT

How to leave your code campground cleaner than you found it.

How Do Locks Lock?

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:31:02 GMT

A detailed explanation of how a locks like ReaderWriterLockSlim really work.

Meta-FizzBuzz

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:13:34 GMT

Create a language implementation and write a solution to the FizzBuzz problem using it.

TimeZone vs. TimeZoneInfo in .Net

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:31:04 GMT

Understanding the TimeZoneInfo classin .Net 3.5 and how it compares to the standard TimeZone class.

Building an Object-Oriented Parasitic Metalanguage in .NET

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:31:03 GMT

Details the early stages for how OMeta# is being implemented.

OMeta#: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:16:03 GMT

Introducing a new open source project whose aim is to bring the OMeta language to .net.

Microsoft Source Analysis for C# Released

Sat, 24 May 2008 00:31:14 GMT

From post: "Source Analysis is similar in many ways to Microsoft Code Analysis (specifically FxCop), but there are some important distinctions. FxCop performs its analysis on compiled binaries, while Source Analysis analyzes the source code directly. For this reason, Code Analysis focuses more on the design of the code, while Source Analysis focuses on layout, readability and documentation."

6 Useful Visual Studio Tweaks You Need To Know

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:16:02 GMT

Here is a list of 6 Visual Studio tweaks you can do to make your development experience much better...

My "Better Know a Framework" Talk at IndyCodeCamp

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:16:02 GMT

Today at the IndyCodeCamp I gave a talk in much of the same spirit as the "Better Know a Framework" series on ".NET Rocks!" The talk had no slides, but featured me in the debugger highlighting a few of my favorite (but lesser known classes). This code is included. As part of my preparation, I researched every topic covered on each show and included a brief summary as part.

From Developer to Technical Manager

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:16:03 GMT

Organizations with an outdated organizational structure have got to wake up and change before it's too late. They will either lose or ruin their people. Either way, the company loses because people are the company.

How to grayout an image in .Net

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:31:02 GMT

This article shows how to gray out an image in .net programmatically. This can be useful for making "Disabled" versions of images, etc.

Stop creating custom delegate types!

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:16:03 GMT

If you declare even a single delegate type in your code (and you're using .NET 3.5), stop and make sure there isn't already an Action or Func delegate that works for you.

How Super Mario Bros Made Me a Better Software Engineer

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:16:05 GMT

Playing NES video games does have some advantages!

What Does It Take To Become A Grandmaster Developer?

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:31:02 GMT

Provides an analogy between chess grandmasters and software developers including some C# examples.

Does Your Code Pass "The Turkey Test?"

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:16:02 GMT

How careful are you about using the correct form of string and number formatting? How about your use of String.Compare and String.Equals?

SKU Driven Development

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:45:59 GMT

Covers a way of unifying some of the many things that we have to "keep in mind" as developers in order to ship good software.

How to use delegates to remove duplicated code

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:31:02 GMT

Sometimes you have duplicated code, that is not easy to remove with "ordinary" coding approaches. Think about the following example. You have two or more methods that needs to be encapsulated with try-catch blocks.

For Loops: Using i++, ++i, Enumerators, or None of the Above?

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:01:02 GMT

A quest to move away from the 50 year old style of "for loops" and embrace newer ways of getting the same job done.

Expression Tree Basics

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 03:01:09 GMT

Newcomers to LINQ often find expression trees difficult to grasp. In this post I hope to show that the subject is not quite as difficult as it might appear at first. Any reader who has an intermediate level understanding of LINQ should find the material in this post easy to grasp. An expression tree provides a method of translating executable code into data. This can be very valuable if you want to modify or transform code before executing it. In particular, it can be useful if you want to transform C# code such as a LINQ query expression into code that operates on another process, such as a SQL database. But I'm getting ahead of myself. By the end of this post you will find it easy to understand why it is helpful to translate code into data. First I need to provide a little background. Let's start by seeing the relatively simple syntax for creating an expression tree.

Confessions of a Software Developer

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:01:02 GMT

Has anybody else ever felt overwhelmed with the sheer mass of "stuff" involved with software development?

Finally Understanding COM After Changing a Light Bulb

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:17:38 GMT

After years of ignoring it, a .net programmer is forced to actually understand COM (component object model)