C#, VB.Net, XML and mass consumption of coffee.

This video has has nothitng to do with programming but you should still watch it. It seems like everyone and their uncle are dreaming about getting a start-up going and then quickly getting bought by one of the giants out there. How about developing a good quality product, get users and work on perfecting your project?

I am really impressed and inspired, I know the video has been out there for a while, I still like the philosophy behind it.
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I know that all 1337 hax0rz (sorry, I promise I will not be doing this any more, as a matter of fact it really bugs me when people are using this 1337 crap) are using stuff like Ruby and Python, I know that system programming is for old farts and the future is in web development and all that. I am not disputing this, but there are some cool things you can do with C# and Windows coding. For some bizzare reason, I feel that it might be a good idea to publish some code which I find neat. One of the reasons I like C# is that generally if you need a solution to a particular problem, it is most likely to be alot simpler then what I think. Here is how you get the list of all installed fonts loaded into a ComboBox. Read more…

For last six month my guys and I have been under extreme pressure.  You see, in the ideal world, sales have no control over development, but this is a real world so sales objective is driving us completely mad.  There is a potential client, a very demanding potential client who blackmails us with stuff like “If you not going to build feature x by date y I am not signing”.  Unfortunately this is the biggest contract for us, so sales will do everything in their power to get them.  It’s not that I mind sales guys doing their jobs, but if this client is demanding right now and they have not paid yet, I can only imagine what will be unleashed upon us once they will become our paying customer.

Granted the product is very expensive (more expensive then VS 2008 and Adobe CS3 suite combined) and this sometimes can inspire our clients to demand stuff.  We’ve been through this before.  A company that shell remain nameless was bossing us around for six month.  We only worked on their features, nobody else wanted these things and at the end of six month they said, “You know, this is what we said we need, but not what we actually need”.  I can still remember that conversation.  Incidentally this is the time when my first “Punch Box” appeared at the office; since then we went though a number of  “Punch Boxes” and that was the end of that.

Three times in the last 4 years we went through similar situations, and we have yet secure a contract when too much custom stuff is put in and we basically keep on asking “How high”.  This is the fourth time.

We have to release a newest version on Tuesday, Sept 30, so everyone is up to their necks in testing and bug fixing when all of a sudden “dll hell” makes appearance.  Everyone who coded for Windows knows what I am talking about – one guy decides to mess around with perfectly good reference and all hell breaks loose.  Today its Microsoft.Office.Core.  Nobody can compile, nothing runs, and we can’t roll back.  Unfortunately we have to rely on external references such as Office.Core, because the app produces Excel and PowerPoint documents, we reference other things too, but it seems to me that whenever we are running into DLL Hell it always have something to do with a dll from Microsoft.  This is going to be a long weekend, just me, five guys, IDE and references.

Being a coder means that you must learn non-stop.  Technology constantly changes, new things come out almost daily and you simply must adjust or be left behind.  To keep me up to speed, I read.  Let me clarify this – lately my evenings look like this – play with kids till about 9 PM, then kids are off to bed, and I am reading.  Until about 1 AM.  Not just reading, but expanding my own knowledge which includes coding, reading, debugging, prototyping and so on.  For instance, since my game is C#, articles on C# occupy about 70% of my time.  The rest of it goes to Java and Python, simply because I want to keep current with other languages.

I am also always on a lookout for a good recommends on running a coding shop.  I know most coders would find it boring, but this is my reality.  I got 4 developers to supervise, motivate, intimidate and keep busy.  While most coders hate all that organizational and administrative work, I have no choice but to do it.  And its boring, its tedious and very important.  One of the best articles on running the coding shop that I read is The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code by Joel Spolsky of FogBugz.   By the way, FogBugz is the coolest bug tracking project, I got to say that I watched that demo about 10 times.  

Joel knows his way around coding shop, the article is great and summarizes my own experiences.  I wish I could get testers, right now developers test stuff.  This is how I try to run my office.  I have to admit we not always get the top stuff, have to have a budget of some sort, but I do my best to convince the boss to get the things that matter.  Anyone who is running a development team or is a lead developer, this article should be a required read.

As much as I like Chrome, here is the problem:

11. Content license from you 

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services. 

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services. 

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions. 

11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.

Now, that’s cold.  One would expect such things from Microsoft, but not from the company that claims “Do No Evil”.  While I can understand how a web site might claim that they own the content that you have generated on it via forums, blogs and so on, things like that from the browser seems to be a bit too extreme.  Many people will not be able to honestly accept such agreement – after all if you are at work, your employer probably has rights to all content generated by yourself that’s related to the employer’s business.  Same goes for universities and colleges – your research and your projects are part of Intellectual Property which most likely is property of the school.  This renders Chrome unusable for many people.  Not to mention that an open source browser that claims such rights sounds like a complete rip off.  Hoping that they will rethink the EULA in the future, after all, this just makes sense.  

BTW, posting this via Chrome.

This has been a quick and strange announcement.  I had read about it in the morning – actually watched that whole set of comics as I found the whole concept of explaining a new product through use of popuralized medium such as comics highly interesting.  First thing I thought of – what about FireFox – after all Google and Mozilla have been working together for quite some time.  I do understand the intention of Google to actually go and do their own thing – sometimes you have to do this to satisfy the need.  

As I was about to go home, I got a link to download the Chrome in it’s beta form.  Well, I have to admit – thins thing is great.  At least so far I am very happy with what they have done.  UI is simple and to the point – at first I thought having your tabs above the address bar is bizarre, but after couple of minutes I realized that this is where they are supposed to be – after all that’s a tab, and it has it’s own address bar and the rest.  By placing it above the rest of the window, that whole point is just emphasized.  According to the comics, the main thing was having multi threaded browser, where javascript would not lock up your browser, and I guess they’ve got that figured out.  There are couple of sites out there where I had to switch to IE just to view the content, as FireFox would take forever to load it – with Chrome this is not an issue.  Chrome is supposed to be a great platform for use with web apps as static HTML is a thing of the past, and that is a great point.  Web is not going anywhere, complexity of web apps are growing exponentially and will continue to do so in the future, we need to have a new browser to accommodate these trends.

There are couple of things that I think could have been done better, but after all this is beta, and I am sure the product will be improved.  For instance – after install I had to go through the dialog on importing settings from FireFox.  Passwords and usernames are fine, but my bookmarks from FireFox are nowhere to be found, although to be fair I have not really conducted extensive search.

Overall Chrome is great and it will become even better as it will mature