Two lessons

I learned two lessons last week:

1. Friends don't let friends use ASP.Net Login Control

2. JQuery is the best way to fix bugs in ASP.Net.

Six Behaviors to Consider for an Agile Team

http://www.stickyminds.com/sitewide.asp?Function=edetail&ObjectType=COL&ObjectId=16277&tth=DYN&tt=siteemail&iDyn=2

Visual Studio command prompt with Powershell

I updated my profile in .\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 to include VS2010 prompt:


function prompt {
$Host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle=$(get-location)
"$ ";
}

#Set environment variables for Visual Studio Command Prompt
pushd 'c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC'
cmd /c "vcvarsall.bat&set" |
foreach {
if ($_ -match "=") {
$v = $_.split("="); set-item -force -path "ENV:\$($v[0])" -value "$($v[1])"
}
}
popd
write-host "`nVisual Studio 2010 Command Prompt variables set." -ForegroundColor Yellow

Good TFS! Bad WebDeploy!

Evil MsDeploy wiped out my SharePoint site that was used to support TFS projects. Luckily I am on TFS 2010, so eventually I managed to get the site back without doing some low-level XML editing. I have to admit Microsoft did a very good job in making TFS more manageable.

I wish the next version of WebDeploy will be safer...

Comma in Powershell

Mmm Learned today the hard way that comma should not be used to separate parameters. That is, instead of:

Encrypt-String "Alex", "089234kljhwsdf=", "98qasdlfkjhasdflkjh==

you should use

Encrypt-String "Alex" "089234kljhwsdf=" "98qasdlfkjhasdflkjh==

Great explanation here.

VS10 requires admin rights to use IIS

Isn't it ridiculous?

Reality programming

It is a reality that we have a huge army of programmers that do not care about the quality of the code they write. It’s the reality, and we should not really blame them: they are trying to put bread on the table, feed their kids, parents and possibly other relatives as well.

So the reality should dictate different approach to programming. Rather than assuming that no code will be duplicated, we should assume that copy-paste will be the primary tool of development, and build our process around this. And when a programmer attempts to change some code that is also duplicated in 99 other places, the IDE should ask the programmer if he or she want also to modify the code in other 99 places, or maybe even give the programmer option to modify the code in 50 other places and leave the other 49 not modified. I know this is possible, because I am now checking out the tool called Atomiq that can find duplication in the code base.

What about source code? Say, if we want to revert a changeset in one file, the IDE will prompt us to revert the changes to all the code that is duplicated?

I know that most of developers will never write unit tests, but for the cases when their customers force them to do so what if the IDE will also duplicate unit tests to cover all duplicated code?

I know that most of the customers never test, but for those whose process requires them to do so what if the IDE will tell them that if they write a test case for a screen it will also work for 10 other screens that are duplicate of this one?

The purpose of these enhancements is not to encourage poor code quality, but to reduce the effect of the inevitably poor quality.

Generate encryption key (128-bit) for RijndaelManaged

$algorithm = [System.Security.Cryptography.SymmetricAlgorithm]::Create("Rijndael")
$algorithm.set_keysize(128)
$keybytes = $algorithm.get_Key()
$ivbytes = $algorithm.get_IV()
[System.Convert]::ToBase64String($keybytes)
[System.Convert]::ToBase64String($ivbytes)

My profile

Create folder WindowsPowerShell in My Documents
Create file Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1
Copy this into the file:

function prompt {
$Host.UI.RawUI.WindowTitle=$(get-location)
"$ ";
}

Powershell command to get all the groups I belong to.

$ [Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent().Groups | % {$_.Translate([Security.Principal.NTAccount]) }

Посредственные программисты.

Засилию посредственных программистов способствует политика компаний, не желающий тратить деньги на тренинг своих сотрудников. Мол, хороший программист сам должен учиться, если хочет преуспеть как профессионал. Ха! Скажите это женщине с двумя маленькими детьми, или её мужу, работающему по 60 часов в неделю! Так многие программисты не поднимаются выше уровня, который они получили в институте.

Serialize objects into C#

Am I the only crazy person who would like to serialize objects into C# code? Not binary or XML serialization. I want to take an object and generate C# code that will recreate all the public properties of this object and save the code to CS files.

MSDN and Offshore developer

Including TFS (and some other features) in MSDN Pro has another benefit: it makes it possible to use these features when working with offshore outsourcing partner. It is no secret, that offshore development is all about cost, so to keep the cost down the offshore partners limit the money they are willing to pay for development tools. Having extra $2000 per developer means extra 96c per hour, which can reach 5% of the hourly rate. Which means that either the company risk losing business or the developer will be underpaid.

So this is really a smart move from Microsoft side.

Overheard today...

A manager about the consulting company he uses for software development:

"I don't like them to be creative. We are not paying them to be creative."

Why Non-broadcast Networks are not a Security Feature

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726942.aspx

Wireless security consists of two main elements: authentication and encryption. Authentication controls access to the network and encryption ensures that malicious users cannot determine the contents of wireless data frames. Although having users manually configure the SSID of a wireless network in order to connect to it creates the illusion of providing an additional layer of security, it does not substitute for either authentication or encryption.

A non-broadcast network is not undetectable. Non-broadcast networks are advertised in the probe requests sent out by wireless clients and in the responses to the probe requests sent by wireless APs. Unlike broadcast networks, wireless clients running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Server® 2003 with Service Pack 1 that are configured to connect to non-broadcast networks are constantly disclosing the SSID of those networks, even when those networks are not in range.

Therefore, using non-broadcast networks compromises the privacy of the wireless network configuration of a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003-based wireless client because it is periodically disclosing its set of preferred non-broadcast wireless networks. When non-broadcast networks are used to hide a vulnerable wireless network—such as one that uses open authentication and Wired Equivalent Privacy—a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003-based wireless client can inadvertently aid malicious users, who can detect the wireless network SSID from the wireless client that is attempting to connect. Software that can be downloaded for free from the Internet leverages these information disclosures and targets non-broadcast networks.

This behavior is worse for enterprise wireless networks because of the number of wireless clients that are periodically advertising the non-broadcast network name. For example, an enterprise wireless network consists of 20 wireless APs and 500 wireless laptops. If the wireless APs are configured to broadcast, each wireless AP would periodically advertise the enterprise’s wireless network name, but only within the range of the wireless APs. If the wireless APs are configured as non-broadcast, each of the 500 Windows XP or Windows Server 2003-based laptops would periodically advertise the enterprise’s wireless network name, regardless of their location (in the office, at a wireless hotspot, or at home).

For these reasons, it is highly recommended that you do not use non-broadcast wireless networks. Instead, configure your wireless networks as broadcast and use the authentication and encryption security features of your wireless network hardware and Windows to protect your wireless network, rather than relying on non-broadcast behavior.

MSDN

Am I the only one who is confused by MSDN download screen? I have two MSDN subscription on my email, and I have no idea which software belongs to which client. I hope I don't get punished by Microsoft.

UPS

Just connected my server to APC UPS I just received. I realized that WHS does not have USB support, and the server itself does not have COM ports, and APC does not have a server version of the software that take care of shutdown. Oops...

This means I'll have to shutdown the server manually if I loose power for extended periods. Luckily that almost never happens. Most of the time I lose power for a few seconds, and the UPS should cover that.

Variable naming...

How do you pronounce variable "contactus"? "Con-cactus"?

One more argument for correct variable casing...