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The Design Of Code

Jason Whitehorn — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:35:47 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2007/12/07/The-Design-Of-Code.aspx

Jonathan Starr in a recent post, asked his readers:

"As we software engineers refactor someone else's code [...] at what point is the new application essentially not the same as the legacy application that you improved?"

Software rarely occurs in isolation, especially enterprise software. Often years of business rules, legacy systems, and even unjustified rational guide and shape the applications we work on.

When you are involved in a massive re-engineering of an existing application, you typically work you way piece-wise through the code. It is in this fashion that you systematically rework entire subsystems of the application. During this process we are hardly aware that, despite our best intentions, we are not truly guiding the design of the application. The legacy design is guiding its own redesign.

We often have to shape our ideas to fit into the legacy mold the application presents. This, coupled with the same business needs and environment that shaped the application originally, is precisely why most applications never truly change. The source code may look different, however the differences is purely cosmetic. Much the same as how an adult is still the same person as they were as a child. The adult has a few new behaviors, some they don't perform any more. The adult even looks, walks, and sounds different. But the adult is still the same person they were as a child.

An application can only truly be reborn, when it is clean room re-engineered, as anything short of this would re-introduce the "spirit" of its predecessor.

Making Visual Studio Load Faster

Jason Whitehorn — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:05:38 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2007/12/07/Making-Visual-Studio-Load-Faster.aspx

Tired of Visual Studio being sluggish?

Well, I can't help you there. But I can tell you how to make it start up faster. You simply need to disable the startup screen.

Really, you didn't use that screen anyway ;-)

To disable it, goto to the Tools menu, and select the Options option.

From the Options menu, navigate to the Environment tree option, then the Startup option.

From here you can select the Show empty environment value for the "At Startup" drop down.

There you go, that will disable that sluggish startup screen!

.NET Wiki

Jason Whitehorn — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:46:23 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2007/11/27/NET-Wiki.aspx

I have just launched a Wiki devoted to all things .NET. You can check it out at MarshalByRefObject.net/Wiki/.

The site is new, so there is still lots of room for improvement. So if you see anything you'd like see improved, just let me know.

SVN Bridge For CodePlex

Jason Whitehorn — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 23:13:11 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2007/06/19/SVN-Bridge-For-CodePlex.aspx

Just today CodePlex released a bridge to allow subversion access to CodePlex. SvnBridge works by running locally on your box, and emulating a subversion server. The SvnBridge turns around and translates those calls into calls to the TFS server that CodePlex runs.

You can download SvnBridge from here. And while you are at it, check out SmartSVN. Its a free subversion client that has some really powerful tools that are easy to use.

aspNETserve

Jason Whitehorn — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 21:15:01 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2007/06/01/aspNETserve.aspx

I have just started my first project on CodePlex. The project is aspNETserve, a ASP.NET web server written entirely in C#.

The purpose of this project was mainly for me to gain a deeper understanding of ASP.NET. In the short time that I have been working on this project, my knowledge of ASP.NET has grown by leaps and bounds. I plan on writing about some of the specific things I learn while working on this project.

On the topic of CodePlex... The command line source control tool is a little awkward to use, but fortunately they will support Subversion soon, so I can just use SmartSVN as my source control client.

Getting Started With AJAX

Jason Whitehorn — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 22:00:00 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2007/03/03/Getting-Started-With-AJAX.aspx

Here is a great little article about getting started with AJAX.

Halo 3 Beta

Jason Whitehorn — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 07:53:00 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2007/01/24/Halo-3-Beta.aspx

I have been chosen for the Halo 3 beta... this is awesome!

I received the email yesterday, but it went to my hotmail account (which I rarely check). This is perhaps the best email I have ever received.
I think they have just given me a reason to check my hotmail account more often:
"Keep an eye on your inbox, we will be sending more information about this opportunity soon."

Google Custom Search Engine

Jason Whitehorn — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 06:39:00 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2006/10/28/Google-Custom-Search-Engine.aspx

Today I just discovered Google's custom search engine program, and quickly setup a .NET Search Engine. I have restricted the list of sites to those that cater to .NET topics including non other than geekswithblogs, in addition to others.

Let me know what you think.

Right On The Money

Jason Whitehorn — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 07:17:00 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2006/08/25/Right-On-The-Money.aspx

I just found this article on Joel on Software. While it explicitly mentions Java, it could have just as easily been about C# (with the small exception that no major universities are teaching C#).

For a real brain bender, he provides these sample problems. I would have to say that question 1a was my favorite.

Rebirth

Jason Whitehorn — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 06:13:00 GMT

UPDATE (12/17/2007): My blog has moved. This post is now located at: http://jason.whitehorn.ws/2006/08/10/Rebirth.aspx

Well, WWDC is this week, and the new Power Macs... um.... Mac Pros have been announced. The name might not be as cool, but it is still awesome. It truly is sad to see Power die... but I understand the reasoning, and applaud Apple on handling the transition so well.

On a side note, this video is great!