So I contacted FP to change my devbox A record. I used to contact Verizon, but they were bought out by FP. 2 hours and several IT guys later (of which a small percentage new what an A record was. How do you even qualify for IT tech support not knowing what an A record is?), I get an email reply with an 800 number... for NS where I bought and registered my domain name. I pointed out, several times, that the domain is parked on their name servers, but they stated that I need to contact NS - kinda like asking Telephono de Mexico to change my (Vermont) phone number. So I moved my devbox domain nameservers to another provider (GoD), parked the domain on their servers, changed my IP and had the dev site up in 5 minutes. While on the line with FP, a sales rep mentioned that I could upgrade my service at no charge. "Nice, but you're not messing with my IP addresses, right?" "Not at all...". I'm such a dumb-ass. My site is down, can't VPN in, credit card machines taking their time to use the backup dialup, ... when will I learn. They did call my business to fix the problem. Only they contacted the wrong location. The manager at the wrong location said, "Yeah, someone from FP called and asked if the internet was working". The manager said "yes". And yeah, I gave FP my mobile phone, but they opted instead to use the billing number. Still down.

Yes, thanks. Fat-fingered that one.

What would be a good setup if you do happen to have multiple IP addresses? I've got a block of 5 at my small business and I'm currently using one. Of course, if I followed YAGNI, I should've stuck with the one, but that's a different story. I'm assuming it would be possible to hook up multiple modem / routers? Also, on my last visit to BB, they had a DOSSIS 3(?) modem that they were pitching as a much faster up and down on my same line. Is there a new generation of modems happening? Thanks.

I'm not so sure about pseudo code. I contracted on a project where the lead guy "pseudo" coded the whole app, handed us his document, and said code it up. The devil is in the details. Everyone needs to choke on a missing syntactical element and fix it after staring at it for 10 minutes or so. You can't get that experience with pseudo code.

Ah, yes. Joel to the rescue. If this wasn't my favorite site, I'ld have started there!

Great feedback. I've done a bunch of embedded stuff with C++. I've found the object modeling a great tool for design, maintenance, etc. I've also done some modifications or "feature enhancements" of truly ugly embedded C code. I still vote for OOP over procedural here. I'm sure this will be an ongoing lively debate. The simple C code always seems to grow - a la Therac25. Also, if I recall, didn't the MIT autonomous vehicle in the DARPA challenge quite every 45 minutes due to memory leakage? If garbage collection still confounds this caliber of programmers / engineers, the 2nd years haven't got much of a chance. I totally agree with you on VS2010. The capability for developing debugging skills is fantastic.

I use GOF with C++ and C#.

Thanks, Dan. Interesting info on tiobe. The students have had a C course. This would be their second programming course. The text I use is Savitch's Absolute C++, AW. This may shed light as to subject material. I do offer a third special topics course that implements the MIT Beer game or Hunt the Wumpus in a distributed environmnet in C# (and XAML). WRT the MSDN article I mentioned above, I think a good portion of the beginning 2nd term students might fail on your tag line.

Henry, thanks for the input. A recent MSDN article lamented the lack of basic programming skills with recent CS grads. Goals here include purely fundamental CS concepts - how to write a small program to compute squares from an input array, implementing the WaTor world simulation. More along the OO track versus procedural languages. Nothing specialized, yet, e.g. real-time control, etc. Just basic OO programming.

Hi All - If you wouldn't mind, I would like your input, zealots and all, regarding the time honored debate of a learning programming language. I'm once again involved in a discussion as to which language, C++ or Java (or Objective-C) is best suited for a 2nd term programming course. Java pundits point to tiobe.com. Us C++ guys have a keen eye on the pending C++0x release and its current boost libs. The course is currently taught in C++. What other surveys, polls, etc. (admittedly not nearly as diverse and informed as CodeProject) would compare to tiobe.com? Thank you. Let the games begin...

Sunbelt Software? Vipre? I've used Avast, McAfee and Norton in the past. Avast and Norton have missed a couple of viruses in my environment (business, teens, etc.). I surprised no one has mentioned Vipre yet. Vipre along with MalwareBytes (when needed, e.g. my neighbor's teen) seems pretty solid.

Just received my Codeproject Daily News and saw the "Follow us on Twitter" link. Looks good. So I click the Follow us on Twitter http://tinyurl.com/clm933 and get the "Error: Unable to find site's URL to redirect to." page while using my new IE8. Been there before. Let's try Chrome - same thing. How about a couple more tinyurls - no joy. I don't think I'm a ludite, but I'm always the last to know. Any comments? Google offers a few clues.

Jimmy Nilsson is great. Eric Evans, too. Fowler in small doses. But after skimming all these diatribes, I get the feeling that I shoulda stuck with mechanical engineering... a geek's geek.

Yes, GOF is the original. Design Patterns in C# by Metsker is an easier digest of the GOF book with some great tutorial samples. For enterprise level apps, Martin Fowler's Patterns of Enterprise Appliction Architecture is a good read, but I've just received Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns: With Examples in C# and .NET by Jimmy Nilsson, which looks like a lighter precursor to Fowler's with great examples.

BTW, in regards to whether C++ is a "good" language to learn... if you ever need to integrate legacy C++ code (or any language) into the .NET stuff, you'ld be well off to have a good background in C++/CLI. I also have my students use C++ Express.NET as an IDE.

I agree that the Scott Meyers books are great after the basics. I've been teaching a 2nd year college programming course for several years using Absolute C++, Walter Savitch, Addison-Wesley. They've just released a 3rd edition. I usually jump from Ch 1, Basics right to Ch 6, Classes. The book is pricey, but it's comprehensive and easy to digest (taking small gulps of the 930 pages) - OOP, STLs, etc. - and it has great on-line support. I still have my old Dewhurst and Stark from the last century (shutter). From the above, I'ld check out Modern C++ Design, Generic Programming and Design Patterns Applied, Alexandrescu, Addison-Wesley along with any of the previously mentioned Meyers' books.

OK - we're geeks. What's the latest in flashy web tools? You know, the rotating merchandise, etc. I'm using Photoshop 7.0 and need to upgrade to Createsuite 2.3 or something like that. How does Dreamweaver fit in? How about MS Expressions? I built a basic 1.0 asp.net site a while ago, but now its time to upgrade to some "flash" stuff...

My favorite... what are your goals in five years? "I would like to be your boss." BTW, show me a 2D array...