Category Archives: Development
Great Refactoring Series
Sean Chambers has recently finished up a wonderful series called 31 Days of Refactoring. I have been a programmer for a long time, but an object-oriented programmer for a few years. Series’ like this are so helpful to me that I truly believe they are worth a blog post.
I highly recommend checking the series out as it contains a plethora of useful information for improving your code.
–
Until next time…
Alt.NET Open Spaces Videos/Podcasts
The idea of Open Spaces is that a large group meets and constructs the agenda and schedule during the meeting itself.
Alex Hung [@AlexHung] has shared an awesome collection of Alt.NET Open Spaces videos. I have watched a couple so far and have picked up a lot of information.
On his site HighOnCoding, Mohammad Azam [@AzamSharp] has posted several podcasts of presentations that took place at the Houston Alt.NET Open Spaces this passed April.
- Houston ALT.NET Open Spaces Deployment Automation
- Houston ALT.NET Open Spaces Why Blog and Open Source?
- Houston ALT.NET Open Spaces Behavior Driven Development
- Houston ALT.NET Open Spaces Fubu MVC
Lastly, there is a great post on the Seattle Alt.NET Open Spaces Conference from Scott Hanselman [@SHanselman]. He gives great definitions of Open Spaces. I think it is a great concept for learning.
–
Until next time…
C# SIG Meeting – 07/21/2009 – Recap
The Beginning C# SIG topic was the Entity Framework. SIG leader Bobby Schaffer gave a good presentation on the benefits of using the Entity Framework to interface with data.
The C# SIG presenter was Claudio Lassala and his topic was Beyond the Basic Concepts of OOP. He provided some great information and had some great demos using the SOLID Principles.
Claudio’s Information
- Blog: http://ClaudioLassala.spaces.live.com
- Email: Claudio@eps-software.com
- Twitter: http://Twitter.com/claudiolassala
High-level Presentation Summary
Core Concepts
S.O.L.I.D. Principles
- Single Responsibility Principle (SRP) – A class should have only one reason to change.
- Open/Closed Principle (OCP) – You should be able to extend the behavior of a class without having to modify it.
- Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP) – Derived classes must be substitutable for their base classes
- Interface Segregation Principle (ISP) – Make fine-grained interfaces that are client specific.
- Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP) – Depend on abstractions not concretions.
Presentation Slides and Demo Code
–
Until next time…
Great Design Pattern Resources
In my endless endeavor to learn .NET, I have been reading a lot of content on Design Patterns. According to Wikipedia, “a design pattern is a general reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem in software design”. Some common patterns include the Singleton, Facade, Adaptor and Decorator. There are many, many patterns and below are some great resources to learn about them.
Blog Series
One of the best resources that I have found so far is David Cumps’ series on Design Patterns. He not only gives great code samples, but explains each of the patterns very well. I highly recommend checking out his site if you have not done so.
Video Series (DNRTV)
There are several DNRTV videos with JP Boodhoo on Design Patterns. These are a very good resource.
- Jean-Paul Boodhoo on Demystifying Design Patterns Part 1
- Jean-Paul Boodhoo on Demystifying Design Patterns Part 2
- Jean-Paul Boodhoo on Demystifying Design Patterns Part 3
- Jean-Paul Boodhoo on Demystifying Design Patterns Part 4
- Jean-Paul Boodhoo on Demystifying Design Patterns Part 5
Tutorial Site
The Design Patterns page on the Data & Object Factory site is also a great resource.
–
Happy Learning.
Software Development Meme
I was tagged by both Jason Massie and Brent Ozar, so here goes.
How old were you when you first started programming?
I was 16. We never had a computer at home. I did not actually own a computer until I was 21.
How did you get started in programming?
My first exposure to computers in general came the summer between my junior and senior year in high school (1985) when I stayed the summer with my Aunt. She worked in the computer lab at the local community college and took me to work with her each day. I spent my time playing on one of the IBM PC’s. From that point on I would buy the magazines with code samples in it, type in the programs and run them. I will always credit my Aunt Shirley for getting me started – God Bless her soul. She passed away last November.
What was your first language?
Basic/Pascal
What was the first real program you wrote?
A customer information input program (Dbase).
What languages have you used since you started programming?
Basic
Dbase
FoxPro
Visual FoxPro
TSQL
VBA
C#
ASP.NET
What was your first professional programming gig?
A company named DISC, Inc. I loved working at that company and still keep in touch with the owners. I basically wrote programs to do data conversions.
If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?
Yes. I would have started much earlier in life if I could have.
If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?
Find a mentor and pick, pick, pick their brain. Read developer blogs, listen to development podcasts and attend area user groups.
What’s the most fun you’ve ever had … programming?
Playing various pranks on my cubicle neighbor.
Who are you calling out?
John Dunlap
Mohammad Azam
Michael Koby
Andrew MacNeil
Ben Scheirman
Enthusiasm & Passion for Programming
I am currently working in a large company as a Developer/Analyst. I work primarily with Visual FoxPro (Mid-Senior Level), but am striving to learn .NET (Beginner).
We are migrating our legacy software which is written in DOS FoxPro 2.5, VFP 3.0 and VFP 7.0 to .NET. The new Windows application includes a WPF/C# front end and SQL Server back end. We have a team that maintains the legacy applications (which is the one that I am on) and a team that is building the new application. Sometimes, the lines cross and I do get to work on the new software. Because the lines do not cross as much as I would like, I find myself having to find ways to keep my enthusiasm at a decent level.
Every now and then I run across blogs and podcasts that help me with my enthusiasm and passion for development. Last week’s Hanselminutes on the subject of Finding Passion for Software is a great example of the kind of content that really turns my thinking around – "maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel".
Below are some things that I do to keep myself enthusiastic:
- Attend User Group meetings and Code Camps/Tech Fests – I cannot afford to go to big conventions like TechEd and VSLive, so free local area events are the next best thing.
- Read development books and publications – There is so much content online, but I still feel that a hard copy every now and then is needed. I subscribe to CoDe Magazine, MSDN Magazine and SQL Server Magazine as well as try to keep a book with me at all times. That way even if I don’t have access to the internet, I can keep my learning in motion.
- Listen to Podcasts on Development and general technology – there is a plethora of podcasts out there and new ones starting up constantly.
- Watch online videos – Again, there is a ton of online tutorials. (Dime Casts, How Do I Videos, ASP.NET Tutorials, GridView Guy Video Tutorials)
- Subscribe to blogs (XML)
- Social Networking – There are a lot of Developers on Twitter and FriendFeed. You really pick up a lot of information following other people in the Development Community.
In closing, my current work situation sometimes makes it difficult to stay interested in my chosen profession, but thanks to the abundant amount of resources, I seem to stay interested and enthused.
–
Related Content
