Rhonda Tipton's WebLog

I attended the July Houston .NET User Group Meeting this passed Thursday.  Mohammad Azam was speaking on the topic of IronRuby.  There were about 40 in attendance to hear about this upcoming dynamic language. 

Mohammad’s Information

• Blog:  http://azamsharp.com/
• Twitter: http://Twitter.com/azamsharp

High-level Presentation Summary

Mohammad touched on the following points: 

• Setting up IronRuby (download & configuration)
• Using the Interactive Console – This was cool because you could see results instantaneously.
• Using C# and the .NET libraries
• Unit Testing

He goes into much more detail in his recap.

My Presentation “I Love IronRuby!” at Houston .NET User Group – via Mohammad Azam

I like Mohammad’s presentations because he is one of those “small amount of slides and large amount of coding” type speakers. His website HighOnCoding contains numerous podcasts and tutorial videos.  It is a great resource.

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Until next time…

This week I have listened to a couple of great podcasts on PowerShell/PowerGUI.  DotNet Rocks, DNR TV and Run As Radio have all recently interviewed Kirk Munroe from Quest Software.  In the podcasts, both the administrative and development aspects of PowerShell are covered.

• Kirk Munro on Powershell and PowerGUI (.NET Rocks)
• Kirk Munro on PowerGUI (DNR TV)
• Kirk Munro on PowerShell and PowerGUI (Run as Radio)

I highly recommend giving them a listen.

Also, it looks like there is a podcast geared toward PowerShell.

• The PowerScripting Podcast

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Other Links
Kirk Munro’s Blog
MS Windows PowerShell Page
PowerGui Home Page

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Happy Learning!

I was asked the other day how to comment in HTML.  I know HTML, but I hardly ever comment in it.  So I thought I would post the syntax for commenting in several programming languages.

C#

//  This is a comment

/* Multiple
    line comment */

/// <summary>XML comments on single line</summary>
/** <summary>XML comments on multiple lines</summary> */

VB.NET

' This is a comment
REM This is a comment
''' <summary>This is an XML comment</summary>

HTML

<!-- This is a comment -->

TRANSACT SQL

select "hello" -- this is a comment
/* This is a muti-line comment */

RUBY

# This is a comment
=begin
This is a multi-
line comment
=end

VFP

* This is a comment
USE customer    && This is an inline comment

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CodeKeep is a great resource for code snippets. The site contains over 3000 public snippets for C#, VBNET, ASPNET, CSS, TSQL as well as many other languages. There are feeds for each language that you can subscribe to. You can also use their site to store private snippets for your own use. CodeKeep also has an add-in for VS 2003 and 2005. I have not tried them yet, but plan on it in the future.

CodeKeep Snippet Repository
CodeKeep Feeds
CodeKeep Add-ins

Windows Powershell is a new and very powerfull command-line scripting shell.  I have only begun to work with it.  Below are some links that I have gathered over the past few months.  Enjoy.

Windows PowerShell – Azam Sharp
Using PowerShell to View Images in Database – Azam Sharp
Copying files with Powershell – Jean-Paul Boodhoo
TechNet Webcast: An Overview of Windows PowerShell (Level 200) – Microsoft
Remove empty lines from a file using Powershell – SecretGeek
Remove Duplicate Rows From A Text File Using Powershell – SecretGeek
Powershell script to find strings and highlight them in output – Wes’ Puzzle Blog
How to run PowerShell scripts from C# – Jean-Paul Mikkers
An Introduction To PowerShell – Josh Fitzgerald

There has been a lot said over the past few weeks about how most programmers can’t program and the use of the FizzBuzz test to measure competance.

Basically, a FizzBuzz test consists of writing a program that prints the numbers from 1 to 100. For multiples of three print “Fizz” instead of the number, for the multiples of five print “Buzz” and for numbers which are multiples of both three and five print “FizzBuzz”.

I consider myself an intermediate to senior (II/III) developer in Visual FoxPro as I have been a FoxPro developer for over eight years. I am trying to learn .NET (C#), so in that arena I consider myself entry level.

My times for the FizzBuzz test are below.
Visual FoxPro = 2 – 2.5 minutes
C# = 4 – 6 minutes
VB.NET = 4 – 6 minutes

I had to make it through the syntax differences for the .NET versions.

I feel that I am a good developer; however, when it comes to the pressure of someone standing over you waiting for you to code something, it is not as easy for some people. This is where I need to improve – especially, if I ever need to look for a new position.

[-Related Topics-]
Using FizzBuzz to Find Developers
Why Can’t Programmers.. Program?
Measuring Programmer Competence via FizzBuzz