Monthly Archive: September 2007

Less Painful Windows Service Development

Less Painful Windows Service Development

When developing Windows services applications, one of the most painful aspects is testing. Sure, you can test individual component libraries separately with unit tests, but what about deploying and testing the system in an actual runtime environment?  What if your components...

Programmathon VII Day 5, 6 – Extended Edition

Programmathon VII Day 5, 6 – Extended Edition

Getting lots of work done. Today, day 6, we planned to go out to the Red Butte Cafe to get some buffalo burgers.  Brad even called ahead to ask, before we embarked on a 30 minute journey, whether they still...

Dynamic SQL: Yea or Nay?

Dynamic SQL: Yea or Nay?

I’ve always been on the side of stored procedures in the classic debate over the merits of dynamic SQL.  In reality, I can only think of one good scenario where dynamic SQL at the application layer should be used: programmatic batch...

Programmathon VII Day 4

Programmathon VII Day 4

Another day, another couple hundred lines of code packed away. It’s been kind of painful these last few days without my ergo keyboard and 24″ LCD 😛  It’s also been kind of slow going and there have been lots of...

Programmathon VII Day 2, Day 3

Programmathon VII Day 2, Day 3

Day two was pretty busy, so I didn’t really get a chance to take any pictures.  Towards the end of the day, I was definitely feeling a bit high strung.  I’m goal oriented and I abide by the saying: say what you...

Programmathon VII Begins!

Programmathon VII Begins!

So I’m back in Utah.  Today is day one of Programmathon VII. This time, we have two new faces, Dan and Thuy (all the ways from Vietnam!) The highlight of any of the Programmathons are the meals and awesome sightseeing...

I Don’t Like To Get Political, But…

I Don’t Like To Get Political, But…

A Republican leader with some balls, some heart, and most importantly, lots of humanity. Well said, sir, well said: Mayor Sanders: “With me this afternoon is my wife, Rana. “I am here this afternoon to announce that I will sign the...

Double Dispatch To The Rescue

Double Dispatch To The Rescue

In working out a tricky design issue surrounding the usage of the Visitor pattern, I stumbled upon the related Double Dispatch pattern/mechanism. In short, double dispatch, when implemented, allows an object – a “dispatcher” – to delegate method calls based...

Code Complete: Chapter 31

Code Complete: Chapter 31

I’ve recently picked up my copy of Code Complete – 2nd Edition again after a long hiatus from it.  It’s such a massive book that I think if you plan on reading it from front to back, it’ll bore you...