Tim Mitchell

Finally, IE7

At long last, IE7 has been released. Those of us who must use IE for our web applications can now celebrate the new tabbed browsing feature (a mere three years after Firefox delivered same). The new font rendering piece is nice, making for a cleaner look to existing pages. I haven't thoroughly checked out this browser from a security standpoint, but I am hoping for safer browsing than what the previous versions of IE afforded.

Thankful as I am, I must be a little bit pessimistic and wonder how many of my apps this new browser will break. I generally write for IE, but because IE7 is such a departure from previous versions I anticipate a long weekend in the near future of crash testing my apps on this platform.

Riding the fence between developer and DBA

In the mid- to late-1990s, the Internet boom was at its peak and IT personnel were in a virtual Camelot. You could do one thing reasonably well, and expect to be highly compensated and even fought over by myriad startups. However, when the bubble burst in 2000, the high tech job market stalled and forced companies to do the same work with fewer people. Job responsibilities were expanded, forcing geeks of all types to diversify and absorb more duties.

Alas, it appears that the pendulum has begun to swing the other way, and things are taking a turn for the better during the past year. Companies are returning to profitability and are in many cases expanding their IT staff. Personally, I don't think we'll ever see the glory days again, but at least we in this industry can breathe easier.

Now what I'm wondering is, as IT departments grow larger, what becomes of us who have inherited these additional duties?

In my case, I started as a developer and inherited a SQL Server machine about four years ago, which became 2 SQL Server machines, then 4, and so on, leading me to become as proficient with database administration as I am at coding. My official title stands as "Web Developer", but I do as much database administration and development as I do web development. I enjoy both the development and the database segments of my job, but I suspect that as our staff grows I will be pushed into one role or the other.

I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this paradigm shift. If so, I'd like to hear about it.

.NET DateTime Formatting

Here's a quick reference for DateTime formatting (example given in C# but the concepts also work in VB.NET).

//-----------------------------------------------------//

using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class MainClass {
   public static void Main(string[] args) {
       DateTime dt = DateTime.Now;
       String[] format = {
           "d", "D",
           "f", "F",
           "g", "G",
           "m",
           "r",
           "s",
           "t", "T",
           "u", "U",
           "y",
           "dddd, MMMM dd yyyy",
           "ddd, MMM d \"'\"yy",
           "dddd, MMMM dd",
           "M/yy",
           "dd-MM-yy",
       };
       String date;
       for (int i = 0; i < format.Length; i++) {
           date = dt.ToString(format[i], DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo);
           Console.WriteLine(String.Concat(format[i], " :" , date));
       }

/** Output.
   *
   * d :08/17/2000
   * D :Thursday, August 17, 2000
   * f :Thursday, August 17, 2000 16:32
   * F :Thursday, August 17, 2000 16:32:32
   * g :08/17/2000 16:32
   * G :08/17/2000 16:32:32
   * m :August 17
   * r :Thu, 17 Aug 2000 23:32:32 GMT
   * s :2000-08-17T16:32:32
   * t :16:32
   * T :16:32:32
   * u :2000-08-17 23:32:32Z
   * U :Thursday, August 17, 2000 23:32:32
   * y :August, 2000
   * dddd, MMMM dd yyyy :Thursday, August 17 2000
   * ddd, MMM d "'"yy :Thu, Aug 17 '00
   * dddd, MMMM dd :Thursday, August 17
   * M/yy :8/00
   * dd-MM-yy :17-08-00
   */
   }
}

For an ego boost, read your old code

I recently resurrected an application I wrote for a college project a couple of years ago. As I'm going through this code, I found a number of areas that needed some improvement. Not major meltdowns or security holes, mind you, but there were several places where I had unnecessarily written duplicate code, inconsistent naming standards, outdated comments, and at least one failure to explicitly close a database connection. In one case, I was actually creating a connection in three different functions to call the same stored procedure (from the codebehind page, not even in a data provider class!). A quick trip through the database structure found several tables that needed additional indexes for performance.

Though it was hard for me to believe that I could make such obvious mistakes, I actually looked at this discovery as a positive. This code proved to me how much I have learned in just two short years. Even though the application works well as-is (and got me an A in the class :), its shortcomings are proof that practice makes perfect.

So, if you're looking for a quick pick-me-up, dig up some old code you wrote and critique it. Moving forward, make it a point to save samples of your code over the years, to go back and pick apart later. You'll be glad you did.

Must-Have Windows Freebies

Here's a collection of over 150 Windows freebies, most of which I had never heard of...

http://bhandler.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!70F64BC910C9F7F3!1231.entry?_c=BlogPart

Essential Audio for .NET Professionals

For your listening enjoyment, I have compiled a list off essential audio for .NET developers and SQL DBAs. This list is far from comprehensive, but it represents my must-hear list each week.

Hanselminutes (http://www.hanselminutes.com) - This is a (mostly) weekly show that focuses on the expertise of Scott Hanselman. The tagline of the show calls Scott a 'technologist', which is a very humble term, in my opinion; he strikes me as the guy who knows almost everything about almost everything. This show is generally focused around .NET programming, but delves into other areas of technology. If you only listen to one podcast per week, make sure it's this one.

DotNetRocks (http://www.dotnetrocks.com) - This weekly show, hosted by programming veterans Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell, encompasses a wide variety of .NET programming topics. Their guest list reads like a whos-who of programming excellence, and the material covered is both broad and deep.

ASP.NET Podcast (http://www.aspnetpodcast.com) - This is a good program geared toward ASP.NET developers, and is hosted by Wally McClure. Although the show has had some audio problems in the past, the content is solid.

SQL Down Under (http://www.sqldownunder.com) - As the name suggests, this is a SQL Server broadcast based in Australia. This is the best SQL Server-specific podcast that I have found, and it does not disappoint. Their guests have included the likes of Kimberly Tripp, Adam Machanic, and Kalen Delaney.

SQL Server WorldWide Users Group Podcasts (http://www.sswug.org/sswugradio) - This repository hosts audio content from the SSWUG staff and others. The What's Happening broadcasts by Stephen Wynkoop are (sometimes) weekly publications of news and events in the SQL world; this is a useful download, but you must listen closely as Stephen talks very fast. Some of the audio here requires a paid membership in SSWUG.

If you have not checked out the above audio programs, do yourself a favor and listen in sometime.

New blogger

Thanks to the generousity of the folks at DotNetJunkies.com, I will now be blogging on this site. This is a big change for me, since I have been blogging on my personal site until now and have had very little traffic. Blogging here won't make my posts any more interesting, but it will allow me to share my ideas with - and be critiqued by - a wider audience.

My areas of expertise are in programming the .NET framework (1.1 and 2.0), specifically in ASP.NET applications, and in SQL Server 2000 and 2005. I don't claim to be a guru, but I am hungry to learn and excited to share what I know.

I look forward to participating in this community, and I welcome your feedback.