http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/this is the .NET Home rss feed17 June 2009.Net FrameworkAndrew HunterOnce 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 the usage of memory when you're developing .NET applications if you wish to avoid memory-related errors and some performance issues.http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-framework/understanding-garbage-collection-in-.net/04 June 2009.Net ToolsLaila Lotfi We were recently taken to task by a reader who felt that the one place he'd expect to find a nice simple introduction to memory profiling with ANTS Memory Profiler™ 5 would be on Simple Talk. Memory profiling has an intimidating reputation, but fortunately Laila Lotfi came up with a simple introduction that even ordinary mortals could appreciate. http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/profiling-the-memory-usage-of-a-.net-application-with-ants-memory-profiler-5/28 May 2009.Net FrameworkNick HarrisonCode-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 introduces the CodeDom...http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-framework/a-gentle-introduction-to-.net-code-generation/21 May 2009.Net ToolsBen HallIt is great to be able to inspect the contents of an assembly with .NET Reflector, but to really understand the behaviour of code, it is nice to be able to call methods and see the results immediately within .NET Reflector. Now you can, thanks to the magic of IronPython and the DLR. Ben builds a REPL add-in for .NET Reflector and makes a great tool even more useful. http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/methodist-make-.net-reflector-come-alive-with-ironpython/15 May 2009.Net ToolsBrian HarrisDevelopers of software that is used in the office need to be aware of what Games Developers are doing to make the learning of games intuitive. Games don't require you to read a manual or engage in training. Maybe Office software should inveigle the users into a gentle pedagogical experience so that they fully exploit the potential of the software without having to read screeds of instructions. The only question is how….http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/what-can-software-designers-learn-from-video-games-part-2/27 April 2009.Net FrameworkNick HarrisonBad 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 Generality', 'Inappropriate Intimacy' or 'shotgun surgery'. They're useful because they give us words to describe antipatterns that we all come across in code. Nick Harrison explains...http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-framework/exploring-smelly-code/24 April 2009.Net ToolsRichard MorrisQuite often, .NET Reflector is downloaded in an emergency. Whereas most of the users are developers who use it as a routine to explore objects and methods inside Assemblies, the occasional user is getting it because they are in desperate straits. We've always felt that we, and other NET Reflector users, would like to hear more about these real-life emergencies, so we sent Richard Morris to investigate.http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/.net-reflector-saved-their-bacon-the-gremlins-strike-back/23 April 2009.Net FrameworkBen HallYou 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 plug-in architecture, such as SQL Data Generator and NET Reflector. Be Hall takes SQL Data Generator and shows how this technique allows you to create simple generators specifically for your needs.http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-framework/embedding-ironruby-and-the-dlr-into-sql-data-generator/22 April 2009.Net ToolsStephen ChambersThere are user interfaces that just seem to work naturally, such as Spreadsheets, email clients, or word processors. Even some development tools have reached a shared maturity. What about memory profilers? How can you represent the way that memory is being used in an application? How can you make it simple to use, yet sophisticated enough to track down complex memory problems?http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/memory-profiling-turning-the-scarily-complex-into-the-ingeniously-simple/21 April 2009.Net FrameworkAndrew HunterWhen 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 benefit from the computers processing resources. http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-framework/when-to-run-and-when-to-block/20 April 2009.Net ToolsShereen Qumsieh When a page in SharePoint takes 30 seconds to load, it is time for any developer to be concerned. There is much to be gained by taking the obvious steps of removing functionality that is not required, but at some point, you'll need to take a close look at the code to see what parts need optimizing. Shereen Qumsieh describes how she reduced loading time to less than a third of what it had been. http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/working-with-the-ants-profiler-to-optimize-sharepoint/31 March 2009.Net ToolsGeoffrey Braaf You have a Data-Access Layer that is generating dynamic SQL, and you haven't the time to understand the implementation of the business layer. Something that is firing unexpected volumes of queries is slowing the code down. What do you do? You can now avoid having to hunt methodically for the cause from the queries up; you can now do it rapidly from the code down. Geoffrey Braaf explains...http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/solving-performance-problems-in-an-asp.net-application-with-ants-profiler/22 March 2009.Net ToolsNick HarrisonYou can automate .NET Reflector processes, and run .NET Reflector from within IDEs or other applications. You can even use it as a web control within a browser! . Here Nick shows how to develop a web control that accepts metadata for a method, uses .NET Reflector to disassemble the method and displays the decompiled output in a web page.http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/hosting-.net-reflector-in-your-own-application/19 March 2009.Net FrameworkAndrew HunterYou'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, there is another serious memory problem in .NET that can happen out of the blue, especially if you are using large object arrays. Andrew Hunter explains... http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-framework/the-dangers-of-the-large-object-heap/12 March 2009.Net FrameworkJohn PapaSilverlight 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 Silverlight such as Data binding, Media elements, Resources, Transforms, Visual states and Dynamically generated controls. He has placed the complete source on Codeplex, so that you can enhance it if you feel the urge.http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-framework/using-silverlight-to-build-a-guitar-chord-calculator/05 March 2009.Net ToolsBrian HarrisApplication Developers and designers often seem addicted to playing video games. Is this wasted time? Perhaps not, if they are quick to learn from the game that there must be no blind alleys in software, you must always provide a way of making progress, and that users of tools don't want to use software particularly, they need to get a job done.http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/what-can-software-designers-learn-from-video-games/27 February 2009PerformanceRyan GaraygayUse a profiler to measure before you optimise. If ever you doubt this advice, then you should read this fascinating account of how an application was given a five-fold speed increase just by finding out exactly where the performance problems were and then tackling them in detail. http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/performance/using-a-profiler-to-speed-application-performance/24 February 2009.Net ToolsBob Cramblitt.NET Reflector is not just a handy adjunct to Visual Studio for developers to browse their assemblies and understand classes and methods; Sometimes it can have a vital role. Many developers have told us that, occasionally, it had 'saved their bacon'. We were intrigued and decided to find out more by offering prizes and cash for “.NET Reflector Saved My Bacon” stories.http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/.net-reflector-saved-their-bacon-chris-kapilla’s-story/23 February 2009.Net ToolsNick HarrisonTom Carter's Dependency Structure Matrix Plugin for .NET Reflector turns the tool into a means of tracking inter-module dependencies in .NET. Why is this such a powerful way of keeping the complexity of an application in check? How can you benefit from being able to track dependencies between objects? Nick Harrison provides a simple explanation.http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/using-.net-reflector-to-manage-complex-software-dependencies/21 February 2009.Net FrameworkGayani DevapriyaGayani 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 provide a robust run-time infrastructure for managing relational data as objects.http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-framework/designing-a-data-access-layer-in-linq-to-sql/