Friday, June 28, 2002

VB.NET Sample Code I've begun posting some of the VB.NET sample code I've collected since Beta 1 (anything I post will compile and run in the RTM framework). 10:53:33 PM

New Apache worm starts to spread. A program that exploits a 2-week-old flaw to infect open-source Web servers has been detected by security experts on the Internet. [CNET News.com] Do my eyes deceive me? Am I reading a second story in the same week about security problems in open-source software? Sarcasm aside, I know this kind of stuff happens often (for both commercial and open-source software). It's just that when it happens to Microsoft, it's front page news. Isn't journalism supposed to be unbiased? 9:16:29 PM

No more playing Tag A Santa Monica elementary school principal recently banned tag, saying the game can only be played under the strict supervision of physical education teachers and not at all during the lunch hour recess. That's due to: one, the risk of injury; and two, a "self-esteem issue," because whoever is "it" could be considered a "victim." [ESPN.com] Whew!  Thank heavens.  After 100 years of obviously damaged children, they've finally found the culprit.  On a similar note, a few weeks ago an elementary school suspended a kid for making a "gun" with his fingers (you know, "cowboys and indians" style).  Close call there, too... I mean, it's inevitable that after pointing your finger at someone on the playground, San Quentin is the next step. Does anyone live in the real world anymore?  Hello? [Greg Reinacker's Weblog] You hit that nail right on the head Greg. What's this "only be played under the strict supervision of physical education teachers."? Does this mean the person who is "it" feels okay as long as the gym teacher is around? Anyone ever heard of that little sport we play called "Football"? Give someone some pads and hand them a ball -- then it's perfectly fine for everyone to not only tag him, but to physically bring him to the ground! Read the ESPN article. It's funny read. What's not funny is that this is not a joke... 3:32:01 PM

What's a method? This morning, I decided to investigate how the CLR treats methods. [IUnknown.com: John Lam's Weblog on Software Development] 3:14:49 PM

Where Do You Find the Time?. ...you nail it right. Commute, wife, kids, sleep... [Sam Gentile's Radio Weblog] Commute is an important one that I forgot to mention (and I don't know why I didn't mention it since I was just thinking about this the other day). After moving 2 1/2 years ago, I'm not too close to an expressway that lends itself to a quick commute. I drive the regular streets for 30 - 40 minutes each way. And it's almost all residential (the view, that is -- I'm not going through subdivisions at 25 mph...). There's almost no commercial stuff I pass, and it's really nice! On my way in to work and on the way home, I drive along streets lined with trees, pretty green lawns and nicely (usually!) landscaped yards. Personally, I think of this as a perk. It gives me a chance to unwind on the way home without worrying about the idiots on the expressway doing 80 mph in the left lane while everyone else is plodding along at 55/65 mph. I don't miss expressway driving at all... 2:29:29 PM

A man walked into a gun store and attempted to rob it. As if that weren't stupid enough, he did it with a knife. *smacks head* Unsurprisingly, the would-be thief is in the hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, and the store owner is unharmed. Virtually every gun store I've ever been to, the employess all openly carried sidearms. I guess this guy (if he ever gets out of jail) will have learned a valuable lesson. :-) [The .NET Guy] Ingenious! Is this guy trying to win a Darwin award?! 2:17:53 PM

Mimeo lands $6.5 million financing. Here's a link to some quick coverage. Guess this means investors feel we've got ourselves a good product here. I know I certainly do! ;) Congratulations to my fellow employees who have worked hard and sacrificed during these tough times. We're currently putting the finishing touches on our next-generation offering. I can't actually discuss the details yet, but suffice to say that we listened to what our users wanted, picked a few of the most requested features and that's what we're delivering (soon). [Drew's Blog] Congratulations Drew!! 2:14:48 PM

Autonomy.NET. "Chive Software have released Autonomy.NET - a continuous integration service for .NET. The tool was inspired by the excellent CruiseControl for Java and has been released under a BSD-style licence. "The current system has the following features: "o Is capable of handling multiple projects "o Polls CVS, initiates builds and emails results "o Is fully configurable via an XML file" [sellsbrothers.com: Windows Developer News] 11:58:19 AM

Sam's got the samples! Sam Gentile has a number of links today to some neat .NET sample code. Here's a quick rundown: - Speech.NET primer and demo. - Digging Into the Soap Headers with the .NET Framework. - Creating a System Tray Application in C#. 11:56:50 AM

Referers are fun! I agree with Brad -- checking out your refer log can lead to some interesting things. Today, I found "GeekStuff" in my log. Looks like another .NET programmer who's actually done a little blogger in .NET (check out the "Dev Notes for this Blog" link on his site). Too bad he doesn't offer an RSS feed! I'd like to keep an eye on this. 11:44:14 AM

Ultimate Soccer Showdown FUN STUFF: Ultimate Soccer Showdown 9:58:49 AM

Stop blaming Microsoft for Sun's Java woes Microsoft's decision to move away from Java is tied to their settlement agreement with Sun, which places several restrictions on Microsoft that haven't been widely reported. [Technology - ZDNet] 9:25:41 AM

Fed up with everything? Read this. When someone is that involved in the world of computers and code, there is a form of creativity and genius in it. A lot of the tech heads I know truly love it and are passionate about it--and that's a good thing. But at the same time, it tends to be an all-consuming passion. You must do something every day to feed your soul, other than what you do for work. A lot of them work 18-hour days for years. I suggest to these folks to do something every day--even if it's only 10 or 15 minutes--that nourishes a different part of them other than what they do for a living. Go for a walk; eat dinner with a friend--anything. [CNET News.com] Great tie-in to Chris Sells original question on finding time to be at the top of the technology envelope. 9:01:04 AM

My Next Career. This is really cool.  I love reading articles like this. [Justin Rudd's Radio Weblog] Didn't this same sort of thing happen with Mt. Saint Helens in Washington? If I remember correctly, scientists were predicting a "healing" period much longer than what it actually took. Perhaps we don't know quite as much about mother nature as we think! :) 6:42:11 AM

The Programming Soviet : What command-line zealots don't grasp is that there are computer users who are not programmers Josh Allen has some insightful commentary on this as well. [Sam Gentile's Radio Weblog] Great links Sam. I'll admit it -- I'm a "fan" of Microsoft. For me, it means I think they're doing some really good stuff with technology and innovation. But that doesn't mean I'm anti-Linux or anything. In fact, I'd really like to take some time to learn more and install Linux. However, I don't have the time to mess around with command line stuff and re-compiling kernels to support my hardware. Linux has an ease-of-use barrier it must overcome before it's going to start making it onto the desktops of mom-and-dad computers. 6:38:18 AM

Where Do You Find the Time?. Real software engineering has so little to do with actual technology, it's kinda sad. I'm lucky. I only have to do the technology part. My question is, how do people with full-time jobs find the time to learn the technology? [sellsbrothers.com: Windows Developer News] Sounds like you have much more than a full time job Chris! I mean -- Genghis, WebServices DevCon, books, consulting -- and more?! You sound like a pretty busy guy to me. For someone like me, it can be difficult. I've got a full time job that (like many other coders) winds up usually being a 9 hour day (and then some). Plus I have a wife and two kids I enjoy spending time with. And I enjoy sleeping every now and then too. Where to find the time... I squeeze it in whenever I can. I usually get up early and try and get some reading done (web sites). So far (this week), Radio has made this much easier. I subscribe to the newsfeeds that have particular interest to me. So when I get up, I go to my News Aggregator and look over just the really cool stuff. Since the bulk of my day is spent "in the office", I usually don't do too much during the day -- except for lunch. Lunch is my one hour opportunity to squeeze in a little .NET research. I rarely go out to buy lunch. Instead, I'll brown bag it or bring a microwave dish (sometimes leftovers from last nights dinner). I jump into the newsgroups (news.devx.com/msnews.microsoft.com) and see what's going on there. I'll also check out my News Aggregator since I can get to Radio on my home machine over the Internet! When I get home, I spend some time with the wife and kids (dinner, playing outside, etc..). The kids are usually in bed by 9:00pm (although with Daylight Savings Time, it's more difficult to get them inside when the sun is still out!). Between 9:00pm and around 11:00pm/12:00am is when I get some time to do more reading/research. But that's not an everyday occurence. Sometimes, when I've really spent some brain cells during the day, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of the computer when I get home. I'm fortunate to have a very understanding wife that knows how much I like technology. Plus, she has her things to keep her busy from time to time. We're not always in sync -- many times she'll want to spend "quality time" together and I've got something I'm dying to do on the computer. Other times, I fried my brain at work and don't want to be on the computer but she's in the den doing some work of her own. It's a delicate balancing act! :) One day I'll find that perfect job that lets me do .NET 9 hours a day. Ahhh.... 6:24:11 AM

Looks like I'm the last one to notice.  Welcome Patrick! [Justin Rudd's Radio Weblog] Thank you Justin. I find myself in good company! 5:34:43 AM

© Copyright 2002 Patrick Steele. Last update: 7/1/2002; 10:51:14 AM.