January 2005 Blog Posts

  • Some house cleaning...

    Ok, I decided this morning to post all the people whose blogs I currently read on the side (for those you looking at my site in HTML).  This way when I have a few extra minutes here or there I can easily click a link and read... You may also be interested in knowing who I read (if you are you need to find some other hobby).  If you think I should be reading your blog too then drop me a line and tell me why.  I might just start reading your blog. If you think I'm nuts for not reading someone...

  • Tim Blogs...

    My good friend Tim blogs (and he notes that I haven't done much with my spaces blog which is true). John K., you're next... (sorry for the short entry.. I'm juggling a bunch of stuff)

  • REVIEW: Unicus SQL Table Utility

    Yesterday I mentioned that I played with the 2 Xtras.Net XDN giveaways this month.  I reviewed the first of those products here.  Now, I want to talk about the other product: Unicus SQL Table Utility. Honestly, I'm struggling with this review.  I found this utility less useful than the last one.  So, here's the scoop.  This utility let's you browse your objects in your SQL server.  It also generates code for a coupl scenarios.  It will build SQL for selecting, inserting, and updating a table.  It will also generate QA code against a stored proc.  Finally, it generates VB6 code that...

  • REVIEW: First look at xSQL

    Ok, I just used my Xtras.Net XDN membership to get the latest free stuff for members: xSQL Object, and Unicus' SQL Table Utility.  I'm going to share with the world my initial thoughts on these products (first up is xSQL). I picked this one first because it seems a little more useful to me.  xSQL is more of a DBA's tool.  One of the things it can replace is the Script this object functionality in Enterprise Manager.  It appears to script things a little faster and you can toggle things in a live manner; for instance you can toggle on/off whether...

  • It's always darkest before everything goes pitch black

    So a few minutes ago I posted this.  I forgot 1 little detail in telling my fears for our industry.  Lately I've taken to saying that the next company I work for will not be publicly trading (getting me away from Sox -- Sarbanes-Oxley).  Unfortunately I spoke with my friend Tim this weekend and he told me that his privately held company must nowdo Sox because they mainly work on government contracts... <sigh> I'm worried.  Someone help me see that all creativity isn't gone!  Please, please, please... [Maybe I'm overreacting]

  • Staring into the Abyss...

    I've been pretty depressed lately.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think I'm starting to worry about our industry.  I'm starting to worry that all creativity is about to be squashed.  I know you're probably wondering "What is he talking about?"  Or maybe you've jumped off on what I just said and your thinking about a couple areas that our industry is in trouble in.  I don't think offshoring is going to kill our industry, BTW, and I'm beginning to think that there are bigger fish to fry than offshoring.  There's been a lot going on at work recently (most...

  • Ipod vs. Axim X30

    In honor of the release of the Ipod shuffle, I thought I would do a little bit of Ipod research and see what I think (Ok, one of my friends at the office got an Ipod Mini for Christmas, and I played with his for a few minutes). I played with an Ipod yesterday for the purposes of writing this blog post (I'm trying to blog more, so I'm looking for topics).  I have heard all these rave reviews about the device.  Personally it looks to me to be a way for Apple to stay in business by selling music and...

  • Interfaces are like faucets...

    Yesterday, I ran out of time.  I had a great idea, but blogging before work sometimes doesn't leave me enough time to complete the full thought.  Yesterday I blogged about how OOP Programming can be like being a condo builder.  I want to expand on one point today that I just didn't have time to discuss.  Here's the area I want to zoom in on and restate a little: Now the Kitchen is still not a thrilling idea; you'll still have to do more work then you planned.  Of course (by now you already realize), you will find someone else to...

  • OOP Programming is being a condo builder...

    [I made a small update that D.Code suggested... He didn't like my inexact coding (comments like “I think“), so I updated this].I came up with this analogy while trying to help Jamie (Hugh -- my supervisor-- has assigned her to work with me on some stuff... she's done some ASP work before, but very little ASP.Net; and probably she has never worked on a project that was designed with OOP principles in mind).  I realized yesterday morning that she may be a little fuzzy on inheritance and I also came up with this analogy (it's not a great analogy, but if your struggling...

  • Open Source/free versus commercial/third party

    I have been using SharpZip in my .Net development for some time now.  I really love it and it seems to do the trick.  I have compiled it for the Compact Framework as well as for the Desktop framework (and have used it in apps in both environments).  I just downloaded version .80 from the web site this weekend because I had a small project I wanted to complete for my pocketpc.  While I was there I noticed that Xceed (the people who make Xceed Zip and a bunch of other components) is now sponsoring the project.  I also did...