Software

Information

  • How to Run Unpatched CLR Side-by-Side – Jeroen Frijters discusses the steps to allow you to run multiple copies of a particular .NET Framework version on your machine – a useful trick for exploring the differences between different patch versions, and also useful for testing your applications on different minor versions.
  • Exploring CoffeeScript Part 1 – And Then There Was Coffee – Jan Van Ryswyck kicks off a series of posts looking at the CofffeeScript programming language which compiles down to JavaScript, discussing reasons why this language is interesting, and exploring the process of writing and compiling some coffee script by way of a Hello World example.
  • Windows Azure AppFabric SDK – June CTP – Download issues – Charles Young highlights some issues he has been having getting the June CTP of the Windows Azure AppFabric SDK from the Microsoft Downloads site. If you are also having problems, either try patience or let Google (or Bing) help you out
  • C# Light Syntax – Phil Trelford takes a look at reducing C# down by removing some of the braces and unnecessary keywords, and making white space important, ending up showing that it would be very similar to F#, and how F# makes defining business entities concise, and that they can be consumed by C# (and any other .NET language)
  • Design, Code, Release: 100% Coverage is not enough – Nathan Gloyn discusses the trend towards 100% code coverage by tests, discussing the places where testing doesn’t add value, or is disproportionally expensive, and discussing that even with 100% coverage using Unit Tests you still need to consider actually using the system, be it manually or via automated UI tests to verify that everything works as intended.
  • Mercurial Cheat Sheet – Greg Duncan highlights a nice simple cheat sheet for the Mercurial (Hg) Distributed Version Control System from Robert MacLean, providing a nice 1 page summary of the command line commands
  • The Importance of Feedback in Software Development – Brian Harry discusses the agile principles and how feedback is so important in agile software development, looking at how the Visual Studio and TFS v.Next release helps enhance the feedback cycles in development.
  • Metro In Motion #8 – AutoCompleteBox Reveal Animation – Colin Eberhardt continues his series of posts looking at creating his own versions of native UI features in Windows Phone Applications, allowing him to use the effects in his own applications. In this post, Colin explores the creation of a fluid auto complete reveal effect like that used in the Windows Phone email client.

Community

  • SQLBits – Query across the Mersey – 29 Sep 2011 – 1 Oct 2011 – Liverpool – The SQLBits team announce their 9th conference, to be held in my current home of Liverpool between the 29th September and 1st October. As usual there will be two days of low cost in depth SQL sessions on the Thursday and Friday, followed by the free event on the Saturday.
  • Continuous Delivery & DevOps – The team over at ThoughWorks share a recording of one of the sessions from their UK Quarterly Briefing, where Sam Newman and Nick Hines discuss the theory and application of continuous delivery of projects