ViNull, Off the Record

Being a Duct Tape Programmer

Things I’ve said in a session before: “Friends don’t let friends ORM” “ORM is a pattern, not a framework” “I like typed datasets, and I cannot lie” It’s not that I’m anti-ORM, or believe popular...

Published 09-24-2009 9:40 AM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: opinion, orm, agile

Microsoft Slowly Euthanizes Xbox Indie Games

The title may be overly dramatic, but make no mistake, Microsoft is quietly holding a pillow over Xbox Live Indie Games, hoping to smother the service while no one looks. Window Phone 7 developers, you have reason to be concerned. A few gaming sites are...

Published 11-03-2010 11:46 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: xna

The MVC Minefield

There is a bit of turbulence in the ASP.NET airspace over MVC (yes, I'm making this post while on the fight back from the ASPInsiders Summit). Even among the ASPInsiders, who are supposed to be at the cutting edge of ASP.NET, there is little...

Published 07-25-2008 12:22 AM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: Featured, opinion, mvc

Microsoft Silent as Xbox Indies Marketplace Exploited

There have always been rumors that the game ratings on the Xbox 360 and Xbox.com website we’re being manipulated by game developers. On March 23, 2011 rumor became fact when Robert Boyd noticed his game Cthulhu Saves the World slipped from #6 on...

Published 04-11-2011 3:14 PM by Michael C. Neel

The ASP.NET MVC Definition

A few days ago I posted a question to the community, looking for a definition of the ASP.NET MVC framework that didn't depend upon faults in ASP.NET WebForms - after all, faults can be fixed. I also do not like the implication that ASP.NET MVC...

Published 07-26-2008 12:35 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: Featured, opinion, mvc

Finding the difference between two Arrays, or un-LINQ-ing your code

LINQ is great, up to the point when it's not. Then it's really not great at all. When we trade simplicity of syntax for performance, we have to keep in mind there may come a point when we have to go back the code and factor out the...

Published 10-03-2008 5:24 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: Featured, algorithm, array

You should be using Balsamiq Mockups

I’ve heard many people rave about Balsamiq Mockups , an Adobe AIR app that helps design user interfaces, but until today I had never looked into using it myself. Like many developers, I don’t mind opening up my IDE to build a prototype and...

Published 04-08-2009 10:50 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: balsamiq, review, design

ASP.NET: Cannot use a leading .. to exit above the top directory

This is a really quick post, mostly for myself so the next time I have this issue I can find the answer (yes, I often search my blog before google). The error “Cannot use a leading .. to exit above the top directory” can be thrown by ASP.NET when you...

Published 03-12-2010 3:09 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: asp.net

Why Apple Fears Mono, Java, and Flash

Much ado has been made of these few words in Apple’s iPhone SDK: "Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C...

Published 04-13-2010 9:56 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: opinion

Using LINQ to generate HTML

I hate seeing code mixed with markup. Seeing a template page with <% if(show) { %> makes me want to claw my eyes out. Seeing String htmlTitle = "<h1>" + title + "</h1>" causes me to vomit up a little something...

Published 08-03-2008 1:55 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: Featured, asp.net, LINQ

SilverLight Interop with Flash/Flex (flashlight?)

While the marketers and academics focus on the battle between silverlight and flash/flex, here in Mike's Mad Scientist Labs we've been focused on making the two work together. Like our founder (Dr. Frankenstein) the implementation is a bit rough...

Published 04-21-2008 2:42 PM by Michael C. Neel

ASP.NET: Creating a UserControl with Child Content

I love ASP.NET User Controls , aka “ascx” files. These little guys are great for reusable content and dividing up the components of a website. The little brother of the more powerful Custom Server Control , they have some limitations, but...

Published 12-07-2009 9:10 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: asp.net

Review: The Annotated Turing by Charles Petzold

Let me start by saying while reading The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine I encountered two other reviews worth note. The first review by Jeff Atwood focused...

Published 07-21-2008 9:46 AM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: Featured, books

Critical Thinking and Dissent is a Requirement

So the fires continue to burn, as Joel Spolsky’s internet access hasn’t been disconnected. For someone who is supposed to be an idiot and irrelevant, a lot of people still read and link to him. I guess one guy is corrupting all the new developers...

Published 10-08-2009 12:00 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: Featured, opinion

Code Camp Room Planner

I just finished creating a project on CodePlex for the Code Camp Room Planner , a little app I wrote to help me plan the schedule at CodeStock 2009. I’ve also created some basic documentation . Background: CodeStock is involving attendees in the...

Published 06-08-2009 8:08 PM by Michael C. Neel

Filed under: conference, wpf, codeplex

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