Section: Blogs

Using what you write

Apr 11, 2003 2 min.

The Coding4Fun column has had some interesting side effects. I get to use the code I write, something that isn’t very common when you are paid to write samples. I wanted to pull down the new Matrix Trailer, but it is around 60mb and I often switch networks (VPN on/off to get my mail, connect to the VSS on an internal server, etc.) so I opened the Background Copy program from my second issue… off it goes, incremental background download (can’t take credit for any of that, thank the team that built BITS!

Command Line Switch Parser

Apr 11, 2003 1 min.

I didn’t write it (Peter Hallam did), but I was just using it and thought “wow, this is cool, it needs to be found by more people!” If you build console apps that take multiple arguments (generate.exe /vroot:vbasic /target:c:\files\ … etc.) then this makes it very easy. To use it, just compile the provided code into a library and reference from your own C#, VB.NET, etc. application. From the readme;

Managed Wrapper for BITS

Apr 8, 2003 1 min.

Wow, people pick this stuff up quick… that was just an updated version of my BITS wrapper that I posted TODAY… Appreciate the link from ScottW and Chris Kinsman, but I’d rather people read the associated article (at [ http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/WinXP_BITS.asp ](http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/WinXP_BITS.asp) ) instead of just pulling down the code… or at least the column I wrote that uses the same managed wrapper ( [ http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dncodefun/html/code4fun02282003.asp ](http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dncodefun/html/code4fun02282003.asp) ). Code is cool, code with some explanation can be cooler!

Full MusicXP Source Posted to GDN

Apr 8, 2003 1 min.

The full source for the [ MusicXP ](http://www.duncanmackenzie.net/musicxp) application, without the database (which is up in the [ GDN Workspace ](http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/Workspaces/workspace.aspx?id=cd71ce33-9238-4ba0-a1e6-294413f743b9) as a release) is now available as a User Sample on GDN… Enjoy

MSDN TV now available offline!

Apr 7, 2003 1 min.

From: Erica Wiechers Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 12:51 PM Due to huge customer demand we now offer each MSDN TV as a download as well as a live stream. See [http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/episode.aspx?xml=episodes/en/20030403XMLGB/manifest.xml](http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/episode.aspx?xml=episodes/en/20030403XMLGB/manifest.xml) for an example.

Certification doesn’t prove you know everything, but it certainly helps….

Apr 7, 2003 3 min.

_My name is Julie and I am not certified._ _I stress out about it because I feel that it might garner me some peer recognition that I do not have after almost 20 years of programming. I don't need it for my clients or my business._ _[[Julie Lerman](http://dotnetweblogs.com/JLerman/posts/4964.aspx)]_ Get certified.. it is cool to have the option to use the letters, but more importantly it can (1) give a little bit of reassurance to someone who is a 1st time client of yours… how could that be bad?

A little ‘bit’ more on Int32 vs Integer

Apr 6, 2003 4 min.

Darren’s comments on my previous post: I certainly don’t want to get into a debate over this but, shouldn’t the question be: “what is it best to use?”. I’m probably biased because I never really programmed in any typed languages before .NET, but, to me at least, being as explicit as possible is always a good thing. I know that Int32 will map to System.Int32 even in version 30 of the Framework.

Int32 or Integer/int?

Apr 6, 2003 2 min.

Brad Abrams posted about the use BCL types vs. language specific type names (in sample code) today, which just happens to be a topic I’ve had to think about myself when writing sample code for my own articles, so I thought I would make a comment. I’m with Morty on this one… I have the general rule that sample code should be written following the style and convention guidelines for the language.

It is a gradual process…

Apr 2, 2003 1 min.

As per [ my previous post ](http://dotnetweblogs.com/duncanma/posts/4510.aspx) , I’m slowly uploading bits and pieces of “ [ MusicXP ](http://www.duncanmackenzie.net/musicxp) ” to a [ GotDotNet Workspace ](http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/Workspaces/workspace.aspx?id=cd71ce33-9238-4ba0-a1e6-294413f743b9) . The Music Scanner utility went up today, a messy sprawl of console application code that scans your system for .wma and .mp3 files and sends them to me puts their meta data into the MusicXP database.