Archive for the ‘Development’ Category.
In a previous post, Avoiding the MSVCR100.dll, MSVCP100D.dll, or MSVCR100D.dll is missing error, I explain what the MSVCR100.dll is and how to solve problems with it.
Many have asked for an MSVCR100.dll download. Turns out that Visual Studio has a redistributable folder that contains these dlls. So I zipped it up and I am redistributing it.
Here it is:
So my blog was down and I didn’t know. The mysql server and CPanel were down, actually.
I decided I should set up a monitoring service so I set out to find one.
I found this article:
http://mashable.com/2010/04/09/free-uptime-monitoring/
This was the first one on the list and it will monitor up to 50 sites for free every 5 minutes and try to send you email or texts if your site is down.
Google pulled this site up and while it only monitors one site for free and only at 30 or 60 minute intervals, it seems to have some statistics for you.
This is to cover development related training, (so no Human Resources (HR) training is listed here).
The industry is full of companies that do not invest in training for their developers. There are many reasons training does occur and for every company these reasons may be slightly different. Here are some that seem prevalent.
Of course, many software development companies provide excellent training, so this article may not apply to them.
Training is extremely important and this article exists so that if you are in a software company that is failing to train your developers, your development department can take steps to improve this.
Many software development companies fail in many areas. Training will not guarantee success in these failed areas, but it will increase your odds of success significantly. Often developers are treated as experts and analysts for tools and processes to perform their jobs. Developers often get to choose their source control tool, 3rd party libraries, the branching strategy, and more. Unfortunately, most developers are not trained System Analysts so they do not actually have an expertise in how to locate multiple products that feel a need, research which is best, and choose the one that is best for the company. Instead, the choice is often made because it is the first tool or process the developer found or already knew about that works for their very narrow need at the moment.
If your developers are well-versed in a topic and know the options and the pros and cons of each option, they are more likely to make correct choices for your company. Ask yourself and your team about your current tools and processes. Is your development department just using these tools and processes because they are the most common, or because a skilled analyst determined that process fit your business?
When you hire a new employee, or when you implement a training program among existing employees, it is difficult to know where a developer stands in regards to training. If you want to find out where a developer is at, and help them move to the next level, you need a tracking system.
You may find that developer grow at a fast rate their first few years. But then, this growth may stop. A developer’s skills may stagnate. They know enough to do their job so they don’t continue to learn. This is a problem because new technology always comes out and new tools are released to aid in their job.
A trained developer should produce code faster and with higher quality.
Software Development is always improving and something that may take a day today, might take 30 seconds and one line of code a year from now due to either a new tool or a new library.
There are a lot of bugs per lines of code and training, especially on quality topics such as design patterns and unit testing, can really improve the quality of a product.
I designed a simple tracking system. I made a list of topics (which are by no means complete) and subtopics. I gave each sub topic three levels to show continued growth.
The following is a spreadsheet version of the simple Developer Tracking System I created.
As a Google Doc: Developer Training Tracking Checklist
As Excel: Developer Training Tracking Checklist
As Excel (inverted) Developer Training Tracking Checklist – Inverted
Basically, the items that you should train on are as follows:
| Training Topic | Sub Topic | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Development Tools | IDE | Level 1 |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| IDE Plugins | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Other Tools | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Your company’s product | Product 1 | Level 1 |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Product 2 | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Source Management | Tool (TFS, GIT, SVN) | Level 1 |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Branching Strategy | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Development Language (C++, .NET, Java, PHP, etc…) | Style Guides | Level 1 |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Best Practices | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Design Patterns | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Advanced Language | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Language Libriaries | Log4Net | Level 1 |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Unity | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Unit Test | Test Framework (Nunit) | Level 1 |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Unit Test Best Practices | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Libs (SystemWrapper) | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Localization | Localization Procedure | Level 1 |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Build | Building Locally System | Level 1 |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Nightly Build System | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 | ||
| Continuous Integration | Level 1 | |
| Level 2 | ||
| Level 3 |
Here is the key:
Key or Legend
Training Topic = A broad general development topic. Example: Source Management
Sub Topic = A more specific development topic. Examples: Source Control Tool, Chosen Branching Strategy
Level 1 = Often over the shoulder training of a new hire. A basic overview that is enough to get them working. For example, what are the basics for using TFS. 1-4 hours. All level 1 trainings should be provided within the first three months or at first use. Level 1 can be marked off without training if the employee demonstrates they are already at a higher level.
Level 2 = Usually in a formal training or an online training. A more in-depth overview of the sub topic. 8+ hours. All level 2 trainings should be complete by the end of year 1. Level 2 can be marked off without training if the employee demonstrates they are already at a higher level.
Level 3 = Expert level training. This could come from combining a few trainings, such as one or more Text Books, Online Research. 24+ hours. Level 3 trainings take time. The should begin after the first year of employment (unless a job requires it occurs earlier) and one or two should be completed each quarter. If an employee thinks they are already at a level 3, they should create a portfolio of information describing why they are at level 3 and present to a peer group of four or more individuals. If at least three of the four agree, then Level 3 is passed.
Training Types
FT = Formal Training. Hopefully in a classroom by a technical trainer.
OR = Online Research. Employee reads blogs and articles about the subject and indicate the articles and blogs read.
OT = Online Training. A formal training delivered online.
TB = Text Book. A book about the subject. Indicate which book. Also, the book should be read by multiple developers who should meet every other week to discuss the topics in the book.
ST = Shoulder Training. A person trains from over the shoulder. You may want to track who provided the training.
Hopefully if you are a VP of Engineering or CTO of a development company, you can take this and implement this in your environment.
The following are Unit Test best practices and guidelines:
I hope this list helps you.
If you have a best practice not on this list, or you want to comment on one of the items, or even disagree, please comment.
Return to C# Unit Test Tutorial
Interface-based design leads to good Unit Tests because you can more easily have a separation of concerns, limit the test to one object, and eliminate dependencies by not having to have “real” dependencies available to test a portion of your code.
I am going to explain this by example.
First, let me remind you of some rules for writing good Unit Tests:
Image you have code that tests authenticating to a UNC path. You have these two classes:
BusinessObject contains an instance of NetworkShare. The code is not really significant as this is theoretical. We’ll get to code in the next few articles.
You need to write Unit Tests for BusinessObject.cs.
Why is this a problem? Because it requires a system with a UNC share to run the class and so testing is difficult.
Now, image that BusinessObject.cs didn’t actually have an instance of NetworkShare, but instead an Interface was created called IAuthenticateRemotely. And Your code now includes these files.
Now BusinessObject has an instance of IAuthenticateRemotely instead of an instance of NetworkShare. Now you can write Unit Tests for the BusinessObject class by simply creating any fake class in your Unit Test code that implements IAuthenticateRemotely. Your test class would simply be a fake. Lets say the IAuthenticateRemotely had a bool Authenticate() function. You would create a fake class for your test and implement this function as follows.
public bool Authenticate()
{
return true;
}
Notice that the function doesn’t actually do anything. That is because a Unit Test for the BusinessObject class only needs to test the BusinessObject class.
Please feel free to make any comments as necessary.
Return to C# Unit Test Tutorial
The longer I am blogging and the more often I mess with my html layout (which is done in CSS) the more I come to realize that while CSS is a solution for HTML layouts but it is not a good solution and it has in my opinion completely failed to address the layout problem.
Look at any development language, GTK, QT, wxWidgets, Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation, and a dozen others and they all have simple and easy to use layout systems. It is common to have Grid layouts, wrapping layouts, and more.
What does CSS2 and HTML4 have specifically for layout?
Nothing specific to layout. A div is not specific to layout. I was using what the author called Holy Grail 3 column liquid-layout. However, after two days, I still can’t change the width of my right side bar without breaking the layout in some way, which is mostly because the layers and layers of div elements is a mess in this layout.
What does CSS3 and HTML5 have specifically for layout?
They have new elements: article, aside, audio, bdo, canvas, command, datalist, details, embed, figcaption, figure, footer, header, hgroup, keygen, mark, meter, nav, output, progress, rp, rt, ruby, section, source, summary, time, video, wbr
However, while you can use HTML5 and CSS3, just be aware your website will only look good in newer browser. Please don’t try to view your site on Windows XP with IE7 or IE8.
I want the developers of Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, HTML5 and CSS3 to know that when it comes to layout, YOU HAVE FAILED!!!!
If there is one reason that I wish Silverlight could become the de facto internet standard is for the simple reason that the layout features in XAML are so far superior than those of even the new HTML5 and CSS3 that there isn’t even a comparison.
So what is the solution to an easy HTML layout?
It just doesn’t get easier than the good old table layout, but you can at least style your layout with CSS. CSS is good at styling even if it fails at layouts.
Look how easy it is:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>3 Column Table Layout</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<style type="text/css">
html, body {
height: 100%;
}
body {
margin:0
}
table.layout {
height:100%;
width: 100%;
border-collapse:collapse;
}
tr.header {
height:150px;
background:black
}
tr.menu {
height:50px;
background:DarkGrey;
}
tr.body {
height:100%;
}
tr.footer {
height:150px;
background:DarkGrey;
height:150px;
}
td.leftcol {
padding: 15px;
width: 170px;
min-width: 170px;
background-color:Navy;
}
td.midcol {
background-color:Grey;
min-width: 625px; /* Make 425px for min res of 800x600 */
}
td.rightcol {
padding: 15px;
width: 205px;
min-width: 205px;
background-color:Navy;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<table class="layout">
<tr class="header">
<td colspan="3"></td>
</tr>
<tr class="menu">
<td colspan="3"></td>
</tr>
<tr class="body">
<td class="leftcol"></td>
<td class="midcol"></td>
<td class="rightcol"></td>
</tr>
<tr class="footer">
<td colspan="3">
<p style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer">
<img src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-xhtml10" alt="Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict" height="31" width="88" />
</a>
</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Sorry CSS, until you have a real layout solution I think you lose to a good old-fashioned table.
But what about dynamically changing the layout?
Well, lets face, it. Dynamic changes are done in code anyway, and any good developer can code up that solution. Besides, most web sites are using some sort of Content Management System, like WordPress, Drupal, SilverStripe, or others. Each of these allow for Themes or Styles and so you can easily code up a way to switch styles with code such as php, asp.net, ruby, or any programming language.
I needed a better WPF Localization solution and I came up with one and posted it over on my WPF blog.
I would love some feed back, so if you are interested, check it out.
In C# there is an object called Dictionary<TKey, TValue> that can be used to store data. The Dictionary<TKey, TValue> is essentially a collection of KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> objects.
In this example, we create a simple dictionary with a few words and there definitions and show you how they are accessed.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace DictionaryExample
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Dictionary<String, String> words = new Dictionary<string, string>();
words.Add("Hello", "An expression or gesture of greeting.");
words.Add("Goodbye", "A concluding remark or gesture at parting.");
words.Add("Computer", "A programmable usually electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data.");
words.Add("Friend", "One attached to another by affection or esteem");
Console.WriteLine("Word - Definition");
Console.WriteLine("===================================================");
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> pair in words)
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0} - {1}", pair.Key, pair.Value));
}
}
}
}
You can access the value using the key. In the case of our word dictionary, the word is the key and the definition is the value.
While you could access the value as follows, there is a problem with the below method.
private string GetDefinition(String inWord, Dictionary<String, String> inDictionary)
{
return inDictionary[inWord];
}
Do you know what the problem is? Right, it doesn’t handle a missing value. If the value doesn’t exist, this will throw a KeyNotFoundException.
There are two ways to prevent the KeyNotFoundException.
TryGetValue() return a bool It takes in the Key and also an out reference. It populates the out reference. Here is an example.
private string GetDefinition(String inWord, Dictionary<String, String> inDictionary)
{
string retVal;
// String is set to null if the value is not found
return inDictionary.TryGetValue(inWord, out retVal) ? retVal : ;
}
I am not a big fan of how the TryGetValue() function was implemented to return a bool However, I understand why it was implemented to return a bool. One might wonder why it returns bool. You may be thinking that TryGetValue() could return a value if found, null otherwise, right? Wrong! Reason 1 – Don’t forget that the value might actually be null. Reason 2 – While this Dictionary used a nullable type, string, another implementation might implement using a type that is not nullable, such as int.
Alternately you could check if the value exists first using ContainsKey(). Here is an example.
private string GetDefinition(String inWord, Dictionary<String, String> inDictionary)
{
return inDictionary.ContainsKey(inWord) ? inDictionary[inWord] : string.Empty;
}
I prefer this because to me, it is more readable than the TryGetValue() function, but feel free to make your own opinion.
Now imagine you wanted to get all the words and their definitions that start with a certain letter. In this case you are creating a Dictionary that is a subset of the full Dictionary. You could do this with a foreach loop. Notice that the object in the foreach loop is a KeyValuePair.
private Dictionary<String,String> GetWordsAndDefinitionsWhereWordsStartWith(Dictionary<String, String> inDictionary, char inChar)
{
Dictionary<String, String> wordsAndDefinitionsWhereWordsStartWithC = new Dictionary<string, string>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> pair in inDictionary)
{
if (pair.Value.StartsWith(inChar.ToString(), StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase))
wordsAndDefinitionsWhereWordsStartWithC.Add(pair.Key, pair.Value);
}
return wordsAndDefinitionsWhereWordsStartWithC;
}
You could alternately use LINQ against the C# Dictionary to get the method body to be a single line.
private Dictionary<String,String> GetWordsAndDefinitionsWhereWordsStartWith(Dictionary<String, String> inDictionary, char inChar)
{
return inDictionary.Where(pair => pair.Value.StartsWith(inChar.ToString(), StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase)).ToDictionary(pair => pair.Key, pair => pair.Value);
}
You could just get the words and not the definitions in a List<String> as well.
private List<String> GetWordstartingWith(Dictionary<String, String> inDictionary, char inChar)
{
List<String> wordsStartingWith = new List<String>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> pair in inDictionary)
{
if (pair.Value.StartsWith(inChar.ToString(), StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase))
wordsStartingWith.Add(pair.Key);
}
return wordsStartingWith;
}
Again, you could use LINQ against the C# Dictionary to make this function one line.
private List<String> GetWordstartingWith(Dictionary<String, String> inDictionary, char inChar)
{
return (from pair in inDictionary where pair.Value.StartsWith(inChar.ToString(), StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase) select pair.Key).ToList();
}
Today I noticed that a few sites, including WordPress.com have a corner banner on their pages to help alert others to a specific cause (in this case they are against SOPA & PIPA).
And so everyone can add a corner banner to their sites, I am going to post how to do it.
There are dozens of ways to create the images and if you can create it yourself, just do so.
Note: While I for this cause WordPress would care if you used their image, I thought it best to make my own if for no other reason than to use my color style.
Here is my image. Feel free to download it and use it.
#right-corner {
position: fixed; /* Make sure you can align it exactly */
cursor: pointer; /* Change the cursor on mouse over */
top: 0px; /* Change to 100px to put it under a 100px banner */
right: 0px; /* Change to 100px to put it left of a 100px right-side bar */
z-index: 99999; /* make sure it is the top element always */
}
Note: If you do not have a css file, then go to step two and add this as well in step 2.
<style>
#right-corner {
position: fixed; /* Make sure you can align it exactly */
cursor: pointer; /* Change the cursor on mouse over */
top: 0px; /* Change to 100px to put it under a 100px banner */
right: 0px; /* Change to 100px to put it left of a 100px right-side bar */
z-index: 99999; /* make sure it is the top element always */
}
</style>
<a id="right-corner" href="http://americancensorship.org/" target="_blank"> <img src="/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Stop-Censorship.png" alt="Stop Censorship"> </a>
You now have a corner banner image on your page.
While I want to add a corner banner to my site and state that I am against SOPA and PIPA as well, here is my disclaimer:
I haven’t fully read the SOPA & PIPA document, so I am against it based on hearsay…but it is reliable hearsay. Also there may be statement in the document that I am for. Instead of telling you what I am against in the SOPA & PIPA document, it is easier just to write my thoughts.
If the bill could be written with those few sentences, it would pass easily and I don’t think anyone would care.
Let me start by saying that I do not fall into the “my os is better than yours” mantra. I like to talk about the right tool for the job.
Those are just a generalizations based on the idea of using the right tool for the job. In every case others have different opinions and there are always exceptions. The appropriate thought is that you should use the right tool for the job.
So if you are a developer, what is the right tool for the job? Here is my new generalization.
Notice I said Apple Hardware, but I didn’t say that I recommend OS X. Run whatever OS you need.
Also, this has nothing to do with saying that Apple hardware is better. Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sony, and others all make some great hardware for running whatever OS you can run.
Many argue that Alienware makes the best hardware, not any of the above vendors. It is not about the best hardware. So if it was a hardware issue, I would be recommending Alienware. But it is not.
Let me repeat.
Notice, I qualified this by saying For a developer. I am not telling everybody to get Apple hardware.
Legally you cannot run OS X on any hardware other than Apple hardware (an no Hacintosh is not legal) . Since iOS development realistically can only happen on OS X, you cannot legally run iOS on hardware designed for windows either.
You need every Operating System today.
Lets talk about where development has taken us. We have gone from not really cross-platform (Windows only and sometimes support Macintosh too), to having to be able to code on Windows, Windows Phone 7, OS X, iOS, Android, and possibly Linux and Unix as well.
Lets list these in a table and you will see why buying an Apple Laptop frees you to develop on all those platforms.
| Operating System | Apple Hardware | Windows Hardware |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Run OS and Develop for it | Run OS and Develop for it |
| BSD/Linux | Run OS and Develop for it | Run OS and Develop for it |
| Android | Emulate OS and Develop for it | Emulate OS and Develop for it |
| OS X | Run OS and Develop for it | Not supported* |
| iOS | Emulate OS and Develop for it | Not supported* |
* While it can be done it is illegal and breaks license agreements.
Only Apple hardware allows you to install on all the popular Operating Systems that exist today.
So Apple has put themselves in an interesting position where cross-platform development on all popular operating systems can only occur on Apple hardware. It is this position that has me making this statement.
As for the operating system that I recommend, you probably have guessed from this post my recommendation: If you are a developer, run them all.
