HobbyProggy wrote:

AntMe! is a great book to learn c# and vb. I had it when i was 10 years old.

Oh boy, I feel really old now.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

charlieg wrote:

ny recommendations for reasonably affordable tools

The only ones required IMO are common sense and a good peer review system. We tried writing up a doc and enforcing certain rules and simple as they were, it just got in the way and slowed down productivity. My colleague and I have dissimilar coding styles, but at the basic, we understand that each other may have to maintain and enhance one another's code. Thus we ensure that our code is readable, well formatted and decently commented. We also follow a review system where a peer will go over the code and check for bugs, quality and performance. We also switch reviewers around so that everyone gets fair game. The team also uses resharper, which makes some useful suggestions about code format and style.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

It may also be because I've been traveling mostly to mountains. :) I have a Verizon phone and my wife, the T-Mobile. She does not even get a basic cellular signal when we're on road trips. It gets okay once we get to cities. It's also a blessing in disguise because her workplace has no clue as to what a vacation means and keep calling at odd hours even after being informed that she'll not be reachable. :-D

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

I thought the new T-Mobile plan was 50 bucks contract free ( if you own a phone ). The sad thing is that T-Mobile is a laggard when it comes to network coverage.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/meet-the-nice-guy-lawyers-who-want-1000-per-worker-for-using-scanners/[^] My emotions while reading this ranged from :laugh: to :| to :sigh:

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

The best bet is to buy one with a standard HDD and replace it with an SSD yourself. New gen 256 GB SSD's retail for about $200.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

The conversation would have been more like DEV : "Well, we can upgrade from Windows 7 32-bit to Windows 8 64-bit, but it would replace all critical files and reorganize the registry and there's a possibility that users can no longer access their personal files". PRODUCT MANAGER : "Well why aren't you fixing the installer to work flawlessly then?" DEV : "Oh absolutely, but it'll take 60 days and 10 people working on it and introduce several complications in the installer. Did I also mention that it can slow down the install process that it'll remind them of Windows XP installation?" PRODUCT MANAGER : "Not gonna work, let's keep the installer as fast as it is now and anyone jumping from a 32 bit machine will have to do a complete reinstall. If a person is savvy enough to decide that they want to upgrade to a 64-bit OS, they'll probably be savvy enough to backup their files and do a clean sweep. Gives them better control anyway." Too long a reply huh? But this is the kind of dialogue that happens between my team ( the devs ) and the product team and our software is nowhere as complicated nor as big as the Windows OS. In most cases, we'll be seething with rage, but most often, the product managers get it right. It would have been cool to do that complete re-architecture, but in the end, it'll just lead to a lot of effort for very little paydirt. Although I have no good things to say about the installers they write for SQL Server or Visual Studio, I have generally had no problems the OS installers.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2013/02/04/in-the-community-meet-nish-sivakumar.aspx[^]

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

If you're buying in-store or getting a look at the units in a store before buying online, make sure you play around with the picture settings of the one within your budget to see if the picture looks okay. Retailers like to push the products with the greatest margin and thus are known to change the picture settings of the lower priced models to look dull and washed out. Even unknown brands usually use panels from one of the major manufacturers and only the electronics are different.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

Oh dear...I first read it as "What's your average amount of sperm a day?" Didn't know that migraines will affect my mentality this way.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

I've seen stranger DateTime usage in the Web Service I'm working on. We use a nullable type too, but in this case it was a WTF because Microsoft handed us a WTF with WCF. Stranger is our code that handles a DataSet which has a DateTime column as part of an incoming web request. Whenever we get new developers on board, we watch them when they come across this piece of code. Some of them slump down in their desks and go into a trance, while some quickly walk away and wash their hands with plenty of SOAP. :)

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

Now, this joke is in tune with the choir.

Nagy Vilmos wrote:

So they were taken home and most likely gott in treble...

I just hope the minors did not get all strung up over it.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

The colour is much much better and will let get into old age without too many eye problems courtesy CP. :) But can you please please remove all the Javascript eye candy stuff? It's functionally a void IMHO and 2012 is way too far to resort to JS mouseover fade-in/fade-out effects. The minimal JS functions on the older layout was perfect and did not interfere with the display and layout.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

Thanks a bunch for the offer. But if I plan a drive to Arizona, you can bet that I'll have changed the bulbs by then. :) Long ago I faced the same problem when a mechanic relying on error codes rebored a diesel engine when all he had to check was the valves and in the process did such a terrible job that it had to be redone again immediately. But the damage was done by the time and I had to let go of the car eventually.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

I'm guessing it's a Nissan standard to make it extremely cumbersome to do even the most mundane tasks. For instance, the Maxima I drive has okay headlamps but I wanted something better and so I decided to change the bulbs. I have changed bulbs on several cars including Japanese and European ones and I figured this will also be a open the bonnet, remove the rubber flaps, pop the connector and change the bulbs kind of thing. But hey, to change the bulbs, I'll have to dismount the front wheels, remove the sidewalls, pop open a plastic shield and then get behind the headlamp casing. Awesome Nissan, and is it a coincidence that the dealer charges upwards of $150 to change freakin 20$ bulbs??? I have 4 bulbs sitting idle because I do not have the tools nor the workspace to do such a thing and no way I'm paying so much to a dealer to get this done.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

Even the articles are a little harder to read, maybe it's just the new feeling. On longer articles, the middle sections of the page is all text in the middle with white all round, it's kind of seamless and so far, monotonous. The font looks good but is harder to read as it's thin and dainty. I'll eventually get used to it, but this is the only chance I'll get to gripe about it. :-D

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

I need to get bigger screen now :( The mild grey is a little too mild, it appears hazy on my screen, probably because this is a 5 year old LCD. I guess all these colours look crisper on a Mac ( where I presume the dev work took place :) ) but it's like peering through misted glass on my PC.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

oops, hit the post button before I could complete.

S Douglas wrote:

I hardly doubt people reading code project are heavy consumers of Chicken Soup.

mmm, I did mention it. But it also does not mean that none of the members who frequent this or any techie site will not read such books. In any case, it was just a general observation.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

I don't believe it's a cultural thing. Atleast, not if one goes by the sales numbers of all the "Chicken Soup" and other advice books. I make it a point to not touch any of the magazines laid out in barber shops and waiting rooms just so that I don't stumble upon the advice columns. But what really miffs me ( and it probably may not characterize the regulars here ) is that people who are obsessed so much over gossip find it difficult to digest jokes and tales that highlight morals. But then, I also think that these kind of tales and jokes are more appropriate for kids < 8 and not for a bunch of techies.

SG Aham Brahmasmi!

185 cups of coffee walk into a bar. Bartender says, "Sorry can't serve you. Your cup size is too small." Ducks and runs :-D

SG Aham Brahmasmi!