Microsoft Releases Roslyn Project, Open Compiler API
This is amazing. Microsoft has made the inner workings of their IL compiler open to everyone by exposing the inner workings through an API. As the Overview describes, they've rewritten the IL compiler in managed code and in doing so have un-boxed the black box that was once the best IL compiler for Windows. It will be amazing to see how exposing this API will provide new development tools for increasing code-completion/style/correctness. Traditionally, compilers are black boxes – source code goes in one end and object files or assemblies come out the other end. The Roslyn project changes that model by ...
How to alter table column to increase varchar size
The top results in a general search through Google for keywords in the title of this post will return results which will not work with SQL server. Some suggest using the ALTER tablename MODIFY column syntax for which SQL Server does not support MODIFY. In order to change the size of a varchar column (or make many other changes to a column in SQL Server) one utilizes the ALTER [tablename] ALTER [columnname] syntax. So for the table: TABLE [Users] ( [userID] int identity, [State] varchar(2), ....) to change the size of column [State] from ...
myIP: A robust command line tool for retrieving local and remote IP addresses
In usual fashion I sat down the other day and tried to come up with a useful tool I could quickly code. After about a week of coding and testing I’ve come up with a simple command line tool that will retrieve and display both v4 and v6 IP address information for one or more network adapters enabled within a computer. Written in C#, it utilizes the NetworkInterface classes to retrieve information about your computer's network configuration. It also will ping a remote web service I created to retrieve your outward facing IP address if you’re on a proxy network. ...
Three Web Design Prototyping Tools Pros and Cons
Several considerations must be made when choosing a website design tool. Platform, hardware, and cost should all be taking into account before finalizing selection of a tool that will be used as your primary design software. For this topic, I have chosen to focus on tools available on the Windows platform. Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Ultimate is the latest web design and development toolset from Microsoft Corporation. The product has come a long way since its first iteration and in this version includes many features important to a web design team. The center piece of the design capabilities ...
This is amazing. Microsoft has made the inner workings of their IL compiler open to everyone by exposing the inner workings through an API. As the Overview describes, they’ve rewritten the IL compiler in managed code and in doing so have un-boxed the black box that was once the best IL compiler for Windows. It will be amazing to see how exposing this API will provide new development tools for increasing code-completion/style/correctness.
Traditionally, compilers are black boxes – source code goes in one end and object files or assemblies come out the other end. The Roslyn project changes that model by opening up the Visual Basic and C# compilers as APIs. These APIs allow tools and end-users to share in the wealth of information the compilers have about code. The Roslyn CTP previews the next generation of language object models for code generation, analysis, and refactoring, and the upcoming support for scripting and interactive use of VB and C#.
Original Source: MSDN Roslyn
Posted in Geektopia Programming by .
The top results in a general search through Google for keywords in the title of this post will return results which will not work with SQL server. Some suggest using the ALTER tablename MODIFY column syntax for which SQL Server does not support MODIFY. In order to change the size of a varchar column (or make many other changes to a column in SQL Server) one utilizes the ALTER [tablename] ALTER [columnname] syntax.
So for the table:
TABLE [Users] (
[userID] int identity,
[State] varchar(2),
....)
to change the size of column [State] from 2 characters max to 30 characters we use the following SQL:
ALTER TABLE ide_Users ALTER COLUMN [State] varchar(30) GO
That’s it!
Posted in Programming Snippets by .
Posted in Ponderings The Bit Bucket by .
In usual fashion I sat down the other day and tried to come up with a useful tool I could quickly code. After about a week of coding and testing I’ve come up with a simple command line tool that will retrieve and display both v4 and v6 IP address information for one or more network adapters enabled within a computer. Written in C#, it utilizes the NetworkInterface classes to retrieve information about your computer’s network configuration. It also will ping a remote web service I created to retrieve your outward facing IP address if you’re on a proxy network. It doesn’t stop there however. You can also export your adapter information to both XML and the Windows clipboard. A simple icon can be configured on your desktop to allow a quick copy of your internal or external IP address information to the clipboard with just a double click. For example, using the command “myip -a 0 -eo -c” will get the external IP address for your first network adapter and copy it to the clipboard. Hope you all enjoy and be sure to write back some comments if you find the code and software useful.
C# Source Code (Requires CmdParamLib library): myip.1.0.final.sourcecode.zip
UPDATE: I’ve compiled and added a Linux based version of the tool for those who wish to use the program on their Linux machines. Compiled for Debian let me know what versions of Linux this does and does not work with!
Linux Package: myip.1.0-final-linux.tar.gz
Posted in Downloads Snippets Source Code by .
Several considerations must be made when choosing a website design tool. Platform, hardware, and cost should all be taking into account before finalizing selection of a tool that will be used as your primary design software. For this topic, I have chosen to focus on tools available on the Windows platform.
Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Ultimate is the latest web design and development toolset from Microsoft Corporation. The product has come a long way since its first iteration and in this version includes many features important to a web design team. The center piece of the design capabilities is the new prototyping interface called SketchFlow. SketchFlow allows a designer to quickly and effectively map out and iterate the flow of an application UI, the layout of individual screens, and application state transitions. (Microsoft, 2010) The tool allows designers to interact with customer clients more effectively through digital story-boards that can be marked up and returned to the designer for further development. This digital collaboration allows for efficiency not seen before in an all-encompassing design package. The down side to Expression Studio is its learning curve. There is no easy way for new designers to simply pickup and design quickly and the overall price tag is $599 retail. This may not be in the price range of a small design shop.
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Web Premium includes many development tools that are staples to the serious web design professional. Among these are Photoshop for image manipulation, Fireworks for graphic page design, and Dreamweaver for standards-based web page coding. (Adobe) The price tag on this software suite is $1799, but when considering the multiple software suites included, it saves money overall than buying the products separately. Also, this suite is not for the new designer and will take considerable time and training to become proficient.
Lastly of the three is Mockingbird. This is simply a wireframe design product that exists solely on the web at http://gomockingbird.com/. The tool allows a designer to build a complete wireframe of their product and share it with others for manipulation or review. The site is supported across multiple web browsers and is highly portable. It does however have its limitations in that an internet connection must exist in order to use it. Also there is limited product support as it is a running Beta application. That said this product has promise for those designers that want to wireframe their product on the cheap. (Mockingbird)
Of these products a common problem is solved. That is the need to allow designers and clients easily and quickly exchange ideas and concepts efficiently. All these tools from the expensive to the free do this fairly well.
Posted in Ponderings Programming by .
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