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Understanding Garbage Collection in .NET

by Andrew Hunter | 17 June 2009 |

3 comments |

Once you understand how .NET's garbage collector works, then the reasons for some of the more mysterious problems that can hit a .NET application become much clearer. NET may have promised the end to explicit memory management, but it is still necessary to profile ... Read more...

A Gentle Introduction to .NET Code Generation

by Nick Harrison | 28 May 2009 |

9 comments |

Code-generation has been used throughout the age of the digital computer. The use of code to generate code might, at first glance, seem an odd thing to want to do, but the technique is alive and well, and is widely used in .NET. Nick Harrison explains, and... Read more...

Exploring Smelly Code

by Nick Harrison | 27 April 2009 |

8 comments |

Bad Code Smells are similar in concept to Development-level Antipatterns. They don't describe bad programming aesthetics and you can't sniff them out precisely with code metrics. They describe code in need of refactoring in rich language such as 'Speculative... Read more...

Embedding IronRuby and the DLR into SQL Data Generator

by Ben Hall | 23 April 2009 |

You can embed DLR-based languages such as IronPython and IronRuby into applications. This gives you instant scripting, and with it, the potential for greatly simplifying the development process. You can even take advantage of existing applications that have a... Read more...

When to Run and When to Block

by Andrew Hunter | 21 April 2009 |

2 comments |

When you are developing a multi-threaded application, you will need to understand how the operating system decides which threads are to be blocked, and which should run. Performance comes from running the optimum number of threads at all times, getting the maximum... Read more...

The Dangers of the Large Object Heap

by Andrew Hunter | 19 March 2009 |

15 comments |

You'd have thought that memory leaks were a thing of the past now that we use .NET. True, but we can still hit problems. We can, for example, prevent memory from being recycled if we inadvertently hold references to objects that we are no longer using. However,... Read more...

Using Silverlight to Build a Guitar Chord Calculator

by John Papa | 12 March 2009 |

5 comments |

Silverlight is so versatile that it is easy to move beyond conventional browser-based applications and even write games. John Papa celebrates the launch of his new book by bringing you a simple Silverlight guitar Chord Calculator to demonstrate features of... Read more...

Designing A Data Access Layer in LINQ to SQL

by Gayani Devapriya | 21 February 2009 |

11 comments |

Gayani provides the complete source code for a sample Data Access Layer for LINQ to SQL, using the Northwind Database, and explains how it all works and how to get good performance. She shows how easy it is to use stored procedure and views as well as queries to... Read more...

Building a Simple 3D Engine with Silverlight

by Vladimir Bodurov | 09 February 2009 |

10 comments |

Even if you intend only to use existing 3D engines in your applications, it always helps to understand how they work. Vlad hopes that you 'take the red pill', and learn how to render three-dimensional objects with C# without the use of any pre-existing 3D engine. Read more...

Some Data with your Application Take-away, Sir?

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 09 December 2008 |

4 comments |

Prasanna is reminded of pizza in cardboard boxes when he explores the possibilities of Synchronization Services for ADO.NET. Data applications are becoming increasingly mobile, and often disconnected, and data is often wrapped up to be consumed later. Miccrosoft's... Read more...

Dynamic Data Templates in ASP.NET 3.5

by Gayani Devapriya | 17 November 2008 |

19 comments |

Gayani gives an introduction to Dynamic Data Templates in ASP.NET 3.5 and explains how one can save a great deal of time and effort when building data-driven web sites by using them Read more...

Mysteries of the NET Framework: The Challenge

by Chris Massey | 22 September 2008 |

1 comment |

We're very aware that some of the brightest NET programmers want to use ANTS 4, but are on tight budgets. Have no fear, as we have ten copies to give away to those who can illuminate the dark mysteries of the NET Framework. Read more...

Exceptionally Mysterious

by Robert Chipperfield | 11 September 2008 |

2 comments |

If you are adept in puzzling over the cryptic messages in your stack trace, when a .NET exception is thrown, you may be surprised when they start talking complete nonsense. Is it really possible that two threads could build the stack trace on the same exception... Read more...

Creating Service-Orientated Data-Access Layers

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 30 July 2008 |

The ADO.Net Data Services framework enables you to provide data services to Web applications that are simple to integrate with them. The data services use URIs to point to pieces of data, and use standards such as JSON and XML to transfer that data. ADO.NET Data... Read more...

Embedding Help so it will be used

by Heather Fielding | 17 July 2008 |

5 comments |

It is not good enough to make assumptions about the way that users go about getting help when they use your application. Heather Fielding describes how she was able to test the effectiveness of various different ways of providing embedded help in an application. By... Read more...

Dynamically generating typed objects in .NET

by Vladimir Bodurov | 14 July 2008 |

8 comments |

When you are binding Data to DataGrid in .NET, this has to be done at design-time. That's fine if you know what the form of the data is at design time: but what if you don't? Vlad Bodurov looks at some of the options and demonstrates an unusual dynamic technique... Read more...

Data and Silverlight 2: Data Binding

by John Papa | 05 June 2008 |

1 comment |

Silverlight 2 is far more versatile than Silverlight 1. It can handle data-sources with some subtlety. John Papa tackles the whole subject of data-binding with Silverlight. This article is a partial excerpt from John Papa's upcoming book Data Access with Silverlight... Read more...

Entity Framework: The Cribsheet

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 26 May 2008 |

13 comments |

Prasanna Amirthalingam provides an overview of Entity Framework and how it can be used. He shows that it can provide an excellent interface between the Object-oriented model and the relational. The Entity Framework allows developers to work with data in the form... Read more...

Sid: Vicious

by Dan Archer | 22 April 2008 |

2 comments |

Dan Archer documents his epic struggle with an apparently simple task of authenticating user credentials. For some reason, a task that should be performed by a simple API call leads to a great deal of head-scratching and googling. Read more...

.NET Collection Management with C# 3.0

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 25 February 2008 |

18 comments |

Generics in C#, enable you to define classes, interfaces, delegates or methods with placeholders for parameterized types used within. This allows you to define classes that use a generic type, and define the type at the time of instantiation or method calls. This... Read more...

Silverlight Skinnable User Interfaces

by John Bower | 05 February 2008 |

2 comments |

John Bower demonstrates more of the features of Silverlight, and Expression Blend, and shows how one might write an application that avoids UI pitfalls by placing your design responsibility squarely on your users’ shoulders. If it looks bad, it’s their fault! Read more...

Taking Exceptions

by Steven R. McCabe | 19 January 2008 |

7 comments |

Steve looks at the requirements that are usually in force for the support of a team-based 'production System' and suggests a way that exception-handling in C# can be used to provide robust error reporting Read more...

Silverlight-Speed Loop

by John Bower | 18 January 2008 |

3 comments |

John Bower steps up a gear, produces a Lamborghini, and examines the process of using a high-speed function loop to create a fast-paced Silverlight application. Read more...

Let there be Silverlight

by John Bower | 05 January 2008 |

9 comments |

John Bower stays calm, and so will you, whilst guiding you to producing your first Silverlight application. It may just be 'Hello World' but soon... Read more...

Integrating with WMI

by James Moore | 17 October 2007 |

6 comments |

James shows how to add a simple WMI provider to a service so that you can monitor it, and make changes to it, remotely across the network Read more...

.NET 3.5 Language Enhancements

by John Papa | 25 July 2007 |

53 comments |

LINQ may be getting the most attention in the forthcoming .NET 3.5, but there are also several new language features that add functionality and make life easier for the programmer. John Papa explains more... Read more...

Implementing Real-World Data Input Validation using Regular Expressions

by Francis Norton | 14 May 2007 |

14 comments |

Francis Norton shows how to use regular expressions to fulfil some real world data validation requirements, demonstrating techniques ranging from simple number format checks, to complex string validation that requires use of regex's powerful "lookahead" feature. Read more...

Getting Started with XAML

by Jesse Liberty and Alex Horovitz | 16 March 2007 |

3 comments |

See for yourself the flexibility of XAML, as Jesse Liberty and Alex Horovitz show you how to create an interactive Windows application declaratively, in .NET 3.0. Read more...

Building Active Directory Wrappers in .NET

by Jeff Hewitt | 09 February 2007 |

13 comments |

The ability to authenticate .NET application users against Active Directory is a common requirement. Here, Jeff Hewitt demonstrates how to build wrapper classes in Visual Basic that can convert AD data types into ones that can be used in a .NET application. Read more...

.NET Application Architecture: Logging SQL Exceptions in the Data Access Layer

by Damon Armstrong | 11 September 2006 |

8 comments |

Damon Armstrong demonstrates an efficient way to capture and manage SQL exceptions in your .NET application, by adding a SQL logger to your data access layer. Read more...

Asynchronous Processing in .NET Part 2

by Julian Skinner | 18 August 2006 |

10 comments |

Julian Skinner presents an in-depth tutorial on thread synchronization in .NET, covering the most important Synchronization objects and including a full worked example. Read more...

.NET Application Architecture: the Data Access Layer

by Damon Armstrong | 11 July 2006 |

153 comments |

Find out how to design a robust data access layer for your .NET applications. Read more...

Simple COM server registration

by Phil Wilson | 09 March 2006 |

2 comments |

Looking at COM activation context on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Working with manifest files and XML. Exposing .NET COM class libraries using interop. Read more...

.NET Collection Management

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 08 December 2005 |

23 comments |

This article focuses on managing a collection of objects using generics, an important addition to the .NET Framework 2.0, and examines the capabilities provided by the generic list. Read more...

ADO.NET 2.0 Factory Classes

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 25 October 2005 |

17 comments |

This article explains how to use .NET 2.0’s data provider factory classes to develop a pluggable data layer that is independent of database type and ADO.NET data provider. Read more...

Does your app need an independent data layer?

by Steve Joubert | 03 October 2005 |

8 comments |

This article looks at the benefits and drawbacks of building an independent data layer into your application. Read more...

Data Synchronization

by Steve Joubert | 01 October 2005 |

9 comments |

Making your smart client application work in a disconnected environment - considering data loading and return synchronization. Read more...

Custom Events in VB.NET 2005

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 26 September 2005 |

27 comments |

Visual Basic .NET is well known for its event-driven programming capabilities. VB.NET 2005 adds new functionality for custom events that provides flexibility in handling and controlling events. Read more...

Schema and metadata retrieval using ADO.NET

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 02 August 2005 |

7 comments |

How to obtain different types of information from your SQL Server 2000 database using ADO.NET 2.0, part of VS.NET 2005 and .NET 2.0. Read more...

Using partial classes to make intelligent datasets

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 13 July 2005 |

3 comments |

This article looks at how partial classes can be used to implement business logic into datasets so that they are more business aware and intelligent. Read more...

.NET 2.0 transaction model

by Amirthalingam Prasanna | 22 June 2005 |

28 comments |

.NET 2.0 introduces a new System.Transactions namespace that brings in a lightweight, simplified transaction model. Read more...