Mike Flasko's Blog

System.Net related postings

Mike Flasko — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 01:06:00 GMT

I'm excited to see the recent postings relating to the System.Net.Mail namespace. If the area of managed networking interests you, please see these blogs kept by my peers on the System.Net team:

http://blogs.msdn.com/wndp - Windows Network Developer Platform team blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/dgorti - System.Net Dev Lead

http://blogs.msdn.com/joncole

http://blogs.msdn.com/malarch

me :) : http://blogs.msdn.com/mflasko

System.Net wants to hear from you!

Mike Flasko — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 18:03:00 GMT

I have recently taken on the role of PM for the System.Net team. Now that Whidbey is winding down, we are starting Orcas (aka the next version of the .Net Framework) planning and want to hear what you think. What needs to be changed/improved/added? Want to put in your 2 cents and describe the scenarios in which you use or would like to use the System.Net namespace? If so, navigate here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/wndp/archive/2005/09/06/461533.aspx

Help make the .Net Framework better - link to the above post !

Upping the mapping anti

Mike Flasko — Wed, 25 May 2005 05:41:00 GMT

MS is about to launch a new web application they call Virtual Earth. It is essentially Microsoft's new and improved mapping solution and it looks like they have really put some hard thought into this product. It looks sweet! But, don't take my word for it - watch a video interviewing the guys that made it.

I hope they meet there expected launch time of early July as I'm moving to Redmond at the end of June and that would be an invaluable tool for learning some of the areas I'm not familiar with.

<< Tangent Alert >>

Unfortunately, no matter how hard you look using the service I'm sure you won't be able to find a decent grocery store in the Bellevue/Redmond area. This is not because there is a lack of them in the area, but rather that they all suck! Yes, thats right American grocery stores have terrible selection. If you have lived in both the States and Canada for more than a month each, you will know the selection in Canadian grocery stores is far superior.

I'm getting old

Mike Flasko — Sat, 21 May 2005 21:46:00 GMT

Yesterday, I put the cash I received from my parents as a university graduation gift towards a dining table and chairs for my new apartment. Yes, thats right, a table and chairs. A year ago I would have burnt that cash on some new electronic toy, golf clubs, or in the lamest case put it into my investments. Everyone always wonders when one becomes an adult, 18 or 21 years of age? Today I learnt the answer is neither, but instead when one buys a table and chairs - :).

Edit: Yes, I'm joking.....gotten some responses that were much too serious :)

Mine is the top one..

SSL and TLS Essentials

Mike Flasko — Fri, 20 May 2005 17:05:00 GMT

I was on a good blogging pace this month until a very nasty flu got ahold of me. Needless to say I have had a lot of couch and movie time over the past week and a half which, when I had the energy, allowed me to do some reading. If you read the title of this post you will know my latest book of choice was “SSL and TLS Essentials - Securing the Web” by Stephen Thomas. I think (maybe I just never noticed) this is one of the first books I have read that was published by Wiley Computer Publishing and it was definitely my first go at a book written by Stephen Thomas.

The verdict is.... it is a great read. In tune with what my friend Jason Kemp wrote, this book is highly focused on one subject, which is what makes it great. Those catch-all programming books are generally trash and never really answer your burning questions on the subject at hand. This book, just short of 200 pages, starts out light by introducing public/private key technology (with cartoons :) ), then moves into describing SSL from version 2.0 to 3.0 and finally its migration to TLS (Transport layer security). The book then concludes with a look at X.509 certificates, including a walk through (byte-by-byte) of an actual certificate and an overview of the theoretical weaknesses of SSL and known exploits of various algorithms with given key lengths.

If you are completely new to SSL/TLS or want to get a solid understanding (message layouts, certificate fields, etc) of the protocol and its surrounding technologies this is the book for you.

Why corporate blogging works

Mike Flasko — Tue, 10 May 2005 05:05:00 GMT

This is an interesting artcile on why corporate blogging is popular and why it works.

Lets try this again

Mike Flasko — Tue, 10 May 2005 00:49:00 GMT

Had some issues when I posted this the first time - user error probably :). Anyways, looks like my buddy Mack is having a rough go of it with Imagine Cup this year as he explains. He is encouraging your feedback.

Hiking

Mike Flasko — Mon, 09 May 2005 04:12:00 GMT

Elisa and I went hiking on Mt. Finlayson a week or so ago. The trail is a little more rugged than Elisa was expecting...

The technology formerly known as Rendezvous

Mike Flasko — Sun, 08 May 2005 17:01:00 GMT

Bonjour, formerly known as Rendezvous, is a networking technology from Apple that is designed to make zero-configuration simple. The Apple website says it “enables automatic discovery of computers, devices, and services on IP networks”. In a previous article I dumped on OS X quite a bit and ruffled some peoples feathers :), but I have to say this is one area that is quite interesting and they are releasing an SDK for Windows as well. For more information check it out here.

I have seen the technology in action in a classroom setting where students were doing collaborative note taking using SubEthaEdit. I have to admit, it is pretty cool.

The verdict is starting to come out

Mike Flasko — Sat, 07 May 2005 04:39:00 GMT

A while ago I posted about incompatibility issues with Apple operating systems and how I would not start to look at the system closely from a development standpoint until they provided a signal they are finally getting away from breaking changes in their APIs. Well it looks like I won't get my signal yet as meantioned here and here ; however, the opposite view is presented here

Writing an IP Independent Client using Winsock

Mike Flasko — Mon, 02 May 2005 17:20:00 GMT

Winsock is the socket-based API on the Windows platform. Winsock (on Windows) provides more functionality than a standard BSD socket interface and also has additional MS only functions above what is defined in the WinSock spec (WinSock is not a strictly MS thing). Maybe in a future post I will talk about how Winsock is really just a layer on top of a much more general API allowing Windows to easily move to the next API of the decade. Ok lets get back on track and start talking about IP independent client apps.

When writing a client today we must be thinking of both IPv4 and IPv6 as a possible network layer. Yes, I know v6 has been “just around the corner” for quite some time now, but we are finally seeing signs it is starting to take real flight. For example, Longhorn will choose to use a IPv6 address over an IPv4 one if both are available.

The following is a list of DOs and DO NOTs when writing IP independent apps:

Avoid making reference to an address family anywhere in your code (AF_INET, AF_INET6)
Do not allocate protocol specific structures (SOCKADDR_IN, SOCKADDR_IN6), but instead use SOCKADDR_STORAGE, which is as large as the largest protocol specific address structure and provides padding for 64-bit alignment issues
Avoid hard-coded addresses. Winsock provides constants for any that you will need (Loopback, wildcard for binding, etc)
When passing address information around in your functions, pass the entire address structure (SOCKADDR) and not just the protocol specific one.
Avoid the legacy IPv4 only name resolution API calls and use getaddrinfo and getnameinfo instead as they work with both v4 and v6.

The following is a small piece of sample code demonstrating an IP independent client:

struct addrinfo hints, *result=NULL;                
char *remoteAddr, *portNum;
SOCKADDR dest;
int res;

// set remoteAddr and portNum to some values via user input, config file, etc
// remoteAddr = "foobar.com"  portNum="5000";

memset(&hints,0,sizeof(hints));
hints.ai_flags = AI_CANONNAME;
hints.ai_family = AF_UNSPEC;    // resolution could return v4 or v6 address
hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM;
hints.ai_protocol = IPPROTO_TCP;

res = getaddrinfo(remoteAddr, portNum,&hints,&result);
if(res == WSANO_DATA){
  //resolution failed - return error
}

s = SOCKET(result->ai_family, result->socktype, result->ai_protocol);
if(s == INVALID_SOCKET){
   //failure when creating the socket - return error
}

res = connect(s, result->ai_addr, result->ai_addrlen);
if(res == SOCKET_ERROR){
   //error connecting to foobar.com - return error
}

//must be freed because it is dynamically allocated by the getaddrinfo call
freeaddrinfo(result);  

// you are connected ....send and receive data 

//graceful TCP socket closure
shutdown(s, SD_BOTH);
closesocket(s);

3-tiered architecture overview

Mike Flasko — Sun, 01 May 2005 15:56:00 GMT

This is a really nice post summarizing the three tiered architecture. Check it out.

How to be the apparent innovation leader - the Apple way

Mike Flasko — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 18:11:00 GMT

Lately the buzz around many of my peers has been around Apple's new OS and how they are leaving Windows behind in their dust. Yes, everyone knows I have been in the Windows camp for sometime, but this fact is irrelevant to my following argument - How to be the apparent innovation leader.

First, some explanation is in order. By apparent innovation leader, I am referring to the ability to be perceived at the leading edge of technology whether you are actually there or not. Apple has done a great job of this lately, but will it last? If history is an indicator, yes it will last, but at the expense of the current user base and developer community.

About one year ago, I completed an in depth study of the three leading OS offerings: Windows, Linux(redhat & suse), and OS X. My findings lead to the following blanket assertion about OS X: They have finally settled in to something for the long haul (explained below), but while their marketing campaign is quite warm and fuzzy they are still more than willing to stiff the user or the developer. Now people are outraged by this statement as they claim that OS X 10.X is the best thing since sliced bread for user experience. This may very well be so, but painting an old house doesn't change the fact the foundation is wearing thin. If you do a google search for OS X's roots, you will find it is build on top of a unix-like OS called Darwin which is strongly rooted in BSD 4.5. This leads me to my first major point of how Apple appears to stay on the leading edge: Buy a new operating system core and build on top of it the experience of the decade. Apple is the master of doing this. Once they detect their offering is getting moldy they are quick to pickup a better core with which to build a new experience on top of. Unfortunately, by doing this core swap someone must get stiffed.

As you probably expected, this OS core swap means incompatibility of the current software base. For a great example look at the transition from OS 9 to OS X. Basically, Apple said if you want to stick with us you need to completely re-outfit yourself. The surprising thing is that people did just that. More importantly, people outside of the Mac camp joined in once OS X was released due to its innovations. So please do not complain if Longhorn brings about some of the same as the market has signaled they are ok with such discontinuous innovation in favor of the next revolution. This compatibility is THE MOST overlooked aspect of Windows. If you don't believe me, search the blogosphere for “MS and shims in the OS”. You will be amazed at the ways the OS is tweaked for individual applications all in the name of backwards compatibility.

So to keep an image of innovation, you could provide advances through R&D or you could shorten your release cycle, keep your eye candy fresh and continuously harvest the low hanging fruit until such branches disappear, then move on to another type of fruit all together. To put this into an OS X content, read the first few paragraphs of this review of Apple's latest release. Yes, I am being somewhat harsh and failing to mention some of the innovations in OS X. This is mainly due to the fact that the kernel innovations I have read of so far (IOKit and Core Foundation) really aren't that exciting.

Well, to wrap this up quickly, I will not seriously look at OS X (as an innovator) until they provide some signal they will guarantee compatibility to me (as both a user and developer) for an extended amount of time. I agree at some point discontinuos innovation may be necessary to make a major step forward, but such things, expecially in the OS space, need to be infrequent and well justified. It looks like Apple is starting to finally figure this out by, for the first time, promising no disruptive API changes in their latest offering. But, for now, in my mind, Apple in not an innovation leader because they have historically been ignoring the (mandatory) hardest part of innovation, compatibility. I am not willing to upgrade at over 100$ US a pop every year to something that gives me inevitable upgrade hassles and no guarantees my current software suite and development efforts are still valid.

Next XBOX images

Mike Flasko — Sat, 23 Apr 2005 15:55:00 GMT

Apparently images of the final design of the next xbox have been leaked. If you want to see the new design check it out here . A write up about the whole deal can be found here.

Done my undergrad

Mike Flasko — Sat, 23 Apr 2005 04:54:00 GMT

Yesterday was my last final exam of the semester. The exam was special because it was the last requirement for my undergrad degree in computer science (w\ software engineering option). It took me about five years to get the degree because I was also in the co-op program which requires one to complete 4 four-month work terms (I did mine with Syncrude Oil, UVic Alumni Services, ACD Systems and Microsoft Corp). While I enjoyed my time at UVic, I'm definately ready for a new challenge, which I'm sure I'll get in my new job. But for now it's off to the golf course!