AADND

Tech in 5 minutes: Overloading Operators is Nifty!

Dave Redding — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:36:33 GMT

Welcome back to our newest installment of Tech in 5 minutes. Today were going to discuss the age old question that every modern family has to confront:

Excellent point...however, not today, I meant this one.

Special Huggings...yeah in my world that means:

Kid k = mom + dad;

OR Kid k = (mom + alcohol) + (dad+ alcohol)

So now I will be your doctor of love and teach you to make kids. Not only that, but we can illustrate all the major aspects of life via operator overloading, Like The first job, The first Beer Bong, Getting 80% notes on Guitar Hero 2, How to make Peanut Butter-Saltine-Jalapeno pepper snacks, And of course...Puberty (If that rant doesn't seed the search engines, I don't know what will). Hell! we can even calculate the chances of toast falling on the carpet butter side down, and give it a score on the triple half gainer it does on the way down.

Lets get started with the whoopie:

            Man stud = new Man();
            Woman chick = new Woman();
            Alcohol a = new Alcohol();

            Whoopie whoopie = null;
            while (whoopie == null && !stud.IsPassedOut)
            {
                if (stud.studlyness > chick.standards)
                {
                    whoopie = stud + chick;
                    Kid k = (Kid)whoopie;
                    if (k != null)
                    {
                        stud.studlyness.Huavos = 0;
                    }
                }

                    stud += new Beer();
                    chick += new Daquiri();
            }

Pretty accurate eh? So how does it work? Simple. Operators are just basically methods with a single character (Read: Lazy Developer) name. They give us that convenient syntax, but there really is no fundamental difference between

Whoopie whoopie = stud + chick;

And

Whoopie whoopie = stud.Addchick(chick);

Alright, enough alredy, here is how you'd overload that Binary operator:

public static Whoopie operator +(Stud s, Chick c)

//since the + operator shouldn't (but does, remember it is basically JUST a static method)
//care about order of values to be operated on go ahead and overload the reverse method signature

public static Whoopie operator +(Chick c, Stud s);

Now, you can stick either of these methods in either the Chick or Stud class, or one in each. if you try to do both, you'll wind up with an ambiguous reference, since the operator won't know which classes method to call. This is handy since it's a compiler error instead of catching it at runtime. I mean, how embarrasing would it be for Your app to say "Cannot add Man and Woman". It would probably bring up questions about your *ahem* preferences. And if you worked with the same guys I do, you'd hide under your desk,behind the computer. On the flipside, you'd learn how to write code without a monitor. But I digress.

Ok so we can make whoopie, But how do we know to make whoopie? Well simple. The studs studlyness hast to exceed the woman's *Standards*. But, since that will most likely NEVER happen off the bat, you have to get some Alcohol involved. so lets check out the '+=' which actually ends up just being a Binary + operator (Meaning it takes 2 parameters) the '=' part of the operator means we Have to return the same type that were operating on. so this:

stud += new Beer();

can be read as:

stud is = to stud + a new beer in him();

GET THIS MAN A BEER!!!

which ever one gets the point across to you.

we overload this one just like we did with Whoopie:

public static Stud operator +(Stud s, Alcohol a);
{
    s.Studlyness ++; //Same rules as the +=
    return s;
}
public static Stud operator +(Alcohol a, Stud s){return s+a;}

public static Woman operator +(Woman w, Alcohol a)
{
    w.Standards --;
    return w;
}
public static Woman operator +(Alcohol a, Woman w){return w+a;}

In my code, I overloaded these operators in the Alcohol class, It really doesn't matter where you do it, so long as you do it in one of the classes being operated on.

So, standards are lowering, "Confidence" is growing, so how do we know when enough is enough? Well, one of two things have to happen, the guy passes out from drinking to much liquid courage, or they finally his Studlyness surpasses her standards and they find a quite spot in the back of someone's car and act like teenage rabbits on spring break. So, it's easy to check for passed out-y-ness, but what about checking to see if the liquor is working and through a thick set of beer goggles "He could be the one...". Well, we simply check. overloading the '>' operator is just like overloading the '+' operator, with the caveat that, when you overload an operator like '>' or '<=' you HAVE to have the complementing '<' and '=>'. this makes sense right? You cant have a > without a <, that would be fricking crazy!! I mean, it's almost like a 'WT' without the trailing 'F'. The overload looks almost identical to the one for the '+' except you HAVE to return bool (it is a boolean operator afterall).

public static bool operator >(Studlyness studfactor, Standards impossabledream)
{
            //I'm reading on functional programming so i'm TOTALLY in the mood to use
            //these logical operators instead of a standard if/else statement.
            //the & is a logical AND. Meaning that Both sides of the operator have to
            //evaluate to true. to return true (True,True = true, True,False = False, False,False = false)
            return (studfactor.StudFactor > impossabledream.reqStudFactor) & (studfactor.IncomeFactor > impossabledream.reqIncomeFactor);

}
public static bool operator >(Standards impossabledream, Studlyness studfactor){return studfactor>impossabledream;}

then just do the same for the '<' operator:

public static bool operator <(Studlyness studlyness, Standards standard)
{
            //Same as above, this is the Logical OR operator, this retuns true if either
            //side of the operator is true
            //so True, False = True, True,True = true, False,False = false;
            return (studlyness.StudFactor < standard.reqStudFactor) | (studlyness.IncomeFactor < standard.reqIncomeFactor);
}

public static bool operator >(Standards standards, Studlyness studlyness){return studlyness<standards;}

Ok...so now that our beloved, drunk couple can make Whoopie, we need to see what the outcome is. Quite simply, we need to see if the guy is going to loose his Huavos. So, lets just cast. Overloading the implicit casting operator is similar to overloading the other operators. The difference is that this is a Urinary operator (Meaning it only takes one parameter) and either the return type or the parameter have to match the enclosing type (IE if your overloading the casting operator inside the whoopie class either the parameter or the return value have to be of type whoopie). You also have to state that this is an Implicit operator:

    public class Whoopie
    {
        public static implicit operator Kid(Whoopie e)
        {
            Random TimeForKid = new Random();
            int i = TimeForKid.Next(0, 100);
            if (i >= 50)
                return new Kid();
            else
                return null;
        }

}

As you can see, the "Operator" is essentially the return type. Now, I did something here that you may not want to do without implementing a tryCast() method that may return null. But for the sake so simplicity (read: Lazy Developer) I didn't.

That's all there is to making whoopie. I suggest you check out the MSDN Article on operators to see what's available to override and what's not. If you would like my source code let me know. I have a little console app that I wrote to demonstrate all that stuff up there.

So, now that your well equipped for both the developer world, and the real world. Why not stop by our next AADND meeting at the SRT world headquarters in Ann Arbor and give me your feedback face to face. If anything you'll get some valuable FREE training in ASP.Net Caching from the one and only Steven Smith of AspAlliance.com fame and fortune.

Join me for the next time when we discuss how to make Beer Bongs out of bits of a garden hose and F# or something else equally as interesting.

AADND Is fun and good for your health!

Dave Redding — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:59:14 GMT

It has been a Crazy Busy week. It started Monday, with the typical first of the month Lodge meeting. This one was a bit different though because I finally got Keys to the lodge! WOOT! I finally have somewhere to run and hide that isn't my garage!

AADND was a Blast last night. It marked our inaugural meeting at the new SRT offices. We had Michael Wood out to talk about the intricacies of Windows Workflow Foundation. Overall it was a great talk with lots of good information. Michael is the master of WF! [bow].

At the end of the meeting we all had a chance to meet our new Developer Evangelist -->This Guy<-- (Jeff Blankenburg). And boy did he make quite a statement with the MS swag he brought to the meeting. We ended up giving away a couple of books, a couple of .net Branded 1gb sticks and a full copy of Office 2007. That copy of Office has to have been one of the more valuable pieces of swag we’ve given away to date!

Afterwards it was business as normal with the usual suspects (Dave Baldwin, Josh Holmes, Darrell Hawley, Scott Zischerk, and yours truly) at the Arena Sports Bar, across the street from SRT solutions. Jeff and Michael came along too. At first Jeff was adamant that he wouldn’t be packing on the “Microsoft 15” anymore that night, but it wasn’t long before he too was gorging himself on wings and beer with the rest of us. I’d say he’s an Evangelist that knows his people J Normal conversation followed ranging from planning Dave his own Golden Tee machine to Jeff asking me if I was “American” or “Southern”, I’ll leave it up to you, gentle reader, to imagine my answer.

All and All it was a great night. But such is business as usual for the AADND crew. Josh has also informed me that He’ll be stopping by my house on Saturday to film a new show for channel 9 and invited me to the Halo 3 pre-release party on the 24^th. He also wants to steal my Racing Cabinet that I built in honor of Forza 2. More about that in a later post, when I know more.

DoDN Tomfoolery

Dave Redding — Mon, 07 May 2007 13:29:24 GMT

DoDN Was a awesome frickin' success! Of the 200-250 registrants we had 191 actually show up! or at least 191 name tags were missing....so unless we had a name tag stealing ninja in our midst, I'd say our show was pretty damn awesome. The after party at the Corner Brewery was a blast too. With most of the speakers (including certifiable nut jobs Mark Miller, Dustin Campbell and Keith Elder) it was a riot. We stayed out tell at least 12 swapping stories and drinking plenty of beer.

We also gave away a TON of swag. I think we had more than we needed and as such, we've now got a TON of swag for the User group meeting this wed. So make sure you get your ass there to win some free software from the likes of Redgate, and books from APress, Orily and Wrox just to name a few.

Our speaker will be Keith Elder talking on "Structure and Guidance for Organizing Applications within Visual Studio" It's guaranteed to be a hit so make sure you get out there.

Our Next UG Meeting

Dave Redding — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:11:00 GMT

...Will be on the 14th, so make sure you get down there to the spark center! Were going to have alot of good swag for this meeting, not to mention free pizza and pop. If anything, come out just to feed yourself. Were also ramping up for our points program. You might remember from a few posts ago that i was talking about something similar to a book exchange, where you get points for bringing in book, attending meetings, volunteering for committies and win them through our various contests. You can use those points to "Buy" books, register for prospective specitalty swag (IE like a zune, Xbox 360 etc etc) and participate in some special events we have planned for some upcomming meetings. So make sure you get to the meetings!! Besides, you never know what kind of Extra Goodness were going to throw into each meeting!! Check out what we've got this month:

March 14 -Dustin Campbell presents Delegates and Events, The Inside Story

This in-depth talk takes a look beneath the hood to see exactly how .NET delegates and events work. Armed with this knowledge, we will examine ways to use delegates which might not be immediately obvious. Topics covered include: asynchronous delegates, custom-firing of events, weak delegates, anonymous delegates and lambda expressions. Throughout the session, potential performance and memory issues with delegates will be highlighted

Also, if your bored and looking for some good conversation, head on over to the AADND Forums. Inevitabally we will be yammering on about something, feel free to jump in on it yourself.

One month to the day...

Dave Redding — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:33:00 GMT

And I have'nt made a post? In all honesty, the trip to Japan really knocked the wind out of me. So now it's pressing deadlines and fenagling conference calls. I'm also in the process of learning some Japanese. Its an interesting language, and as a developer, I thik it is constructed in a logical way thats easy to break down. Easier in some ways than English, and harder in others.

I'm looking at doing another tech in 5 min soon, but i want to get your feeback first. I'm kicking around these ideas for the next one, let me know which you guys would prefer.

1.Reflection
2.Workflow Foundation (An Overview)
3.Multithreading
4.WPF (An Overview)

How many of your guys are all geared up for the Nextel Cup season? Anyone watch the Daytona 500? it was an AMAZING race, so expect my next tech in 5 min to relate ;)

I've also got some great news about Day of Dot Net. We've got the gears turning on the conference and it'll be comming very soon. We are getting some great speakers lined up, including several Ineta guys, some excellent local talent and perhaps a special guest speaker or two. In addition, we will be giving away tons of swag. Recently i just read that last year we gave away around $40,000 worth of the stuff and this year were looking to top that!

So there you have it. Alot of fantastic stuff comming up in the near future, and an excellent way to kick off spring.

Don't forget to drop a comment to let me know what you'd like to see in the next Tech in 5 min.

Dave.

All is quiet on the Redding front...

Dave Redding — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 14:43:00 GMT

So it's been an eventful few weeks. But finally things have calmed down enough that I can enjoy pawning my thoughts off on you, oh gentle reader.

I've gotten some excellent feedback concerning my tech in 5 min. articles. Especially the one on Yield Return, so I'll definitely be writing more as inspiration hits me. What do you guys want to see articles on? I'm planning another patterns and practices one for my next post, but I could be persuaded.

My good buddy Josh Holmes (who has an excellent philosophical post on applying defaults to your life Here) hooked me up with a silver ticket to MSDN a month or more ago and I finally received the software in the mail the other day. I have to say it's GREAT!! my vista score is only a 2.9 and i have some issues with the display drivers, but no show stoppers yet. I'm really digging the bling on the desktop too:) Shiny objects and all that you know? And did you know that MS feels you need like, a HUGE stack of software written for just about any language? I don't think that I'll be getting to the traditional Chinese anytime soon :S.

And of course, how could i make this post without mentioning the last AADND meeting? It was a complete smash! We had Matt Winkler come out and talk on Windows Workflow. I had no idea what it was before, but I'm looking at was of integrating it with my future solutions. If you missed the meeting (slacker) you can pick up the slide deck here .

We had an excellent turnout. We ordered, I think, around 20 pizzas? Darrell Hawley can correct me but i think thats a pretty close estimate. But we had absolutely no pies left, not even a slice, it was gone! I think our count came up to about 40 people, without including the board members or speaker! So thank you all for showing your support. We also went to the Ann Arbor Brewery afterward for some suds, and the conversations that arose can only be described as "Geeky alcohol chatter".

Make sure you come next month when we are having an excellent presentation on WPF (Which is one bad ass meeting). Once Darrell gets me the abstracts I'll post more information, but at this point it's going to be Drew Robbins of MS and Jennifer Marsman presenting. It promises to be full of graphical goodness.

I'm still stoked about my trip to Japan. I never realized, but Japan is apparently well known for their Toilet Technology. At the same time I've heard that most toilets are "Squat and push". :S I'm not sure what concerns me more, having to "Figure out" how to use the can, or having to squat over one while I'm loaded with Saki.

Lets all go to AADND And get some free pizza!

Dave Redding — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 15:45:00 GMT

Wow, it has been one hell of a week so far, and it's only half way though! I've got a feeling I'm going to need a Sammie before the day is over.

We just got confirmation the other day that I'm on for Japan. So I'm looking forward to 6 or 7 days of authentic Shushi and wandering around looking like a lost tourist. I'll defiantly be posting pictures to my flicker account (link on left) so if your interested check, there occasionally. We are going to be staying in Ageo which is about an hour northwest (?) of downtown Tokyo and working in Kitamoto, both towns are (the equivalent of) suburbs of Tokyo. If anyone has been to the area before, drop me a comment and let me know where the happinin' bars are!

I've also recently discovered that the Masons have a significant presence in the Tokyo area. I'm really looking forward to the possibility of meeting some of my brothers from Japan while I'm visiting. I've contacted several of the lodges, but haven't received a reply yet. So if any of you know any of them, put a bug in their ear for me.

What I'm not looking forward too is the 14-16 hours of airport/plane time without a smoke. I hear they kick you out the back of the plane if you get busted for smoking twice in the head. So if i space my smokes out enough, and bring them in a zip-lock baggie (for when i splash down in the pacific), i should be good.

Our AADND Meeting is tonight. I'm feeling really pumped about it. Were going to have some blue badges there including the speaker so it's going to be interesting to get a "True" Microsoft point of view on the world. I hear that Matt likes beer too, so after the meeting we may seek out some suds, which is always a nice way to put a cap on the meeting at night.

Were also announcing our plans for the logo contest, our book exchange and the points system. It's going to be a lot of info to digest, but it ultimately works out awesome for the members. I'm also stoked to be giving out a Zune, and possibly an XBox in the near future. So some exciting stuff and I'm Happy/Proud to be a part of it.

I won't belabor your eyes with anymore ramble. Make sure you come out to the meeting tonight as it's going to be a re-introduction of AADND, with lots of new, cool programs. If you come tonight, let me know you read this entry in my blog, maybe I'll hook you up with some extra points or something ;)

Dave

AADND Rocks!

Dave Redding — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:53:00 GMT

Ok, so it's been a while since I've posted. I think I'm just now recovering from my beer induced coma from after thanksgiving....that was the most recent holiday right?

So anyway, our next UG Meeting happens to be Tomorrow, Wednesday the 10th. And we have a whole load of fun planed for everyone to attend.

First off were announcing our points program. It's essentially a frequent flyer program for our user group members. No commitment, you don't have to pay for anything. We just wanted an incentive and way to reward extra participation in the group. Bring a friend and we double your points. Volunteer for a committee ;and we give you extra points, etc etc etc.

The points can begin being used in February, where they can get you anything from Books (Which we've had ALLOT donated, good ones too, that I may just not be able to part with), to extra entries into some of our bigger giveaways. For instance, were giving away a Zune here in the near future, with the possibility of an XBox and maybe even some licensed software. Just show up, and you've made your entry.

So defiantly come for the swag as were going to have allot of cool stuff. Plus you get a chance to have your say in what goes into our book exchange. Any specific books you'd like to see from a major publisher? Let us know and we'll get it in there. Cool stuff, and books to make you smarter (IE Better paid), what more could you want?

A Tattoo?

Ok there hasn't been enough hype here... This is the deal. Were desperate for an awesome logo but...;were programmers so most of us really really suck at making pretty pictures that get our attention. Which is probably good, most programmers I know are easily distracted by twinkling lights and pretty pictures. SO if you or one of your buddies or a buddies buddy or your mom or your great uncle Jehoshaphat can draw, get them too and you'll win yourself a whole heapin' load of points, and probably a descent piece of swag (see above). This is all depending on what you make for us.

If that wasn't enough, in an effort to immortalize your great artwork, I will get it tattooed on my left shoulder. Now, this will probably involve consuming a fair amount of Sam Adams (see my last tech in 5 min) Before, during and definitely Afterward. Not only that , but I'm talking with the rest of the board now to see if we can't sponsor a real party (not a powerpoint party) some where in A2 where we unveil the new logo.

So get your art in, it just might make it to my arm, and if it does, I promise not to use your name and the term "My body part" in the same sentence.

And if that isn't enough to get you inspired, come to the meeting anyway. We're hosting Matt Wrinkler, the Project Manager on Windows Work flow. We might even go out for a liquid refreshment afterward!

Dave

I'm not dead yet!

Dave Redding — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 13:35:00 GMT

Like Bill Wagner "If your not blogging, your dead, or atleast thats what people think" And i'm here to tell you all...you don't get off that easy.

We've got alot of great things comming up for out next AADND meeting:

First off, were starting a book exchange. The exchange system works on points, and each book will have a specific value. It's real simple. Any book after '00 when donated is worth yy in points, when taking books out, they are valued at yy*2.

You earn points by brining in books, attending the meetings, bringing friends, blogging about the meetings, asking some questions pretty much for anything you do with the UG. It's all about the free (or nearly Free) swag, and we'll have them listed on the site once we get em' catalogued.

I've been waiting to blog about this next part. We need a logo, and none of us are artistically inclined. So I propse this. Create a logo that the board approves and I will get it tattooed on my left arm. So your artwork will be permenatally embedded under my skin. I'll blog a little more about this later, but get us your submissions. The catch is you have to deliver it by hand at a meeting, and you have to be avialble at the meeting to win. We'll probally hold a party once we choose a logo so everyone can watch me make an ass of myself.