NHibernate
NHibernate is a library that supports the Object Relational Model ( ORM ). It supports regular SQL queries. It also has a Hibernate Query Language. It’s got a small learning graph but it’s worth the attempt since the developer developing .NET code can think in terms of object orientation and not be concerned about the relational database. It can be termed as the bridge between object and relational world. To know more about it downloads the library from here.
http://wiki.nhibernate.org/display/NH/Home
Architecture centric project management
Software Architecture centric project management is an interesting concept. Here project management is done with the focus on the architecture. Often teams have this question why they should do it this way and why should project managers focus on this aspect. I am not going to explain all this in a simple Blog but probably later in an article. But my question is would you build a dog house without a blueprint. Most likely yes, but would you build your house without a blueprint? Never, well that is the answer for a need for architecture centric approach to project management. Better estimations are done as well as clearly defined iterations are created because the architectural model would contain functional as well as the non functional requirements. Using this the quality of the software created can be evaluated as well as the variations and issues in developing the software is easily predictable. Software projects that do not follow this mechanism is too dependent on the implementation details, here I mean the code and the database. These results in uneven expectations created as well as unpredictable results leaving the success of the project to few individuals than a well defined process.
Open VS.NET 2003 quicker.
Its an often heard complaint that VS.NET 2003 opens very slowly. This is more seen if you are connected to a network. This is because of all the caching that occurs for VS.NET. There is a tool called VSTweak that cleans all the cache and after this opening of VS.NET 2003 is very quick. Here is a link to download this tool.
http://www.gotdotnet.com/workspaces/releases/viewuploads.aspx?id=b9330ea5-096d-45b7-8a5b-17450d7a0d5a
AJAX
AJAX stands for Adaptive JavaScript. It primarily is a technique of using asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest and several other features like XML, CSS etc all tied together with JavaScripts. Example of web sites using are
http://maps.google.comIt improves user experience since the calls are asynchronous.
But this has a downside it increases the amount of JavaScripts needed and more work for the browsers. This problem is further compounded by poorly designed applications which in the end result bad user experience as well as maintenance difficultly.
Designing such a system is also difficult and does not follow most of the regular design process.
Overall I see it as good but the good could be a "cloak and dagger" game. So it is better to be cautious at the design stage. These and other considerations should be part of the risk assessment for the project if you intend to use AJAX.
There are several good articles on it, read and also be wary of it.
Zap it.
Sometimes Windows Installers would not uninstall properly due to reasons such as dependancy or simply some type of corruption. This would result in partly removed component on the machine. If the installer belongs to you, then it can be corrected but meanwhile to have the machine cleaned of the unwanted component a nice cool tool is available.
Its called MSIZAP.exe. Its available as part of the Windows Platform SDK install can be installed from here
http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/ .
To run it just type MsiZap.Exe T {Product Code}. Product Code is an unique GUID of the installer. If you have the actual project installer in VS.NET the product code can be seen in the properties. It has several options associated with it, and you can explore it on the command line.
If the installer does not belong to you then you can still open the installer by opeing it in ORCA which is "One Really Cool App" and it really is. ORCA is also available from the same download as ORCA.MSI which you would need to install on your machine.
SOA
Service Oriented Architecture is being adopted by various organizations. Here is a link that helps to create a simple SOA.
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/050119.htm
