You've reached the internet home of Chris Sells, who has a long history as a contributing member of the Windows developer community. He enjoys long walks on the beach and various computer technologies.
Friday, Jun 20, 2003, 1:12 PM
MS.COM's Web Services @ Applied XML Dev. Conf.
Here. This just in: the web services team at microsoft.com will be showing off their next-gen web services at the Applied XML Developer's Conference. Register today!
Friday, Jun 20, 2003, 12:53 PM
Free Seats Awarded for the Applied XML Dev. Conf.
Here. The contest entries were so good that I had to award three winners, not just one. Winners, email me to claim your prize.
Friday, Jun 20, 2003, 12:00 AM in The Spout
Naming My Feed
Fri, June 20, 2003
When I built the Windows Developer News feed on my
home page, it was an attempt to build a Windows equivalent of SlashDot.
Unfortunately, I'm not interested in keeping up on all the news in the Windows
developer space and the few folks that have stepped up to post on this site are
largely spammers (although not all of them). Also, in my own feed subscriptions,
I find that the ones I'm most fond of are from individuals, not groups. Plus, my
grandboss recently put a fine point on it, "I hate the name of your feed. That's
not what it is."
So, I've moved this feed to be just stuff from me. The
problem was, I didn't know what to call it. In addition to posting links to
stuff I produce, e.g. tools, writings, editorial, etc., my site's feed is really
about the things that I find interesting and my personal insights, so I need a
name that reflects that. Also, I'm a big fan of puns, alliteration and double
meanings (the logo has *3* meanings), so a name with those elements was
important.
As always, when I'm faced with something like this, I turn to the community, specifically my own readers, who seem to have an unhealthy desire to participate in things like this. When I asked them for their input, I was overwhelmed with more the number of responses; and good ones, too (it probably helped that I was giving away a free seat at the Applied XML Developer's Conference [July 10th -- register now!] to the one I picked)! Here're some of the best that I didn't pick:
- "The Naked Programmer" from Richard Caetano. This has a nice tie in with the logo and connotes the openness I'm fond of in my writings. The problem with this one is only that it already appears on the web.
- ".Nirvana" from Yaniv. This one goes nicely with the logo and my current technology of choice. However, as much as I like .NET, it's not likely to be the last disciple I embrace, so I don't want to tie myself to it.
- Sells-A-Go-Go from Michael Weinhardt. This one from a former protege very much appeals to my sense of fun, but it only has one meaning.
- Longhorn Foghorn from Mickey Williams. Again, this one ties me to a wonderful technology, but one that I'm legally obligated to stay mum about for a while longer. However, if I have anything to say about it, Mickey, you have named the Editor's Blog for the Longhorn DevCenter when it goes live. Thanks!
The one I did pick was a blend from three guys: Mike Prilliman, Chris Burrows and Roland Tanglao. They each gave me parts of my new RSS feed name: "Marquee de Sells: Chris's insight outlet". This name has tons of wonderful qualities:
- it's unique on the web
- it's short and distinctive
- I share a birthday with the Marquis de Sade
- the Marquis and I share an unhealthy obsession with our respective writing topics of choice
- my logo is an abstract of my naked picture (the Marquis's topic of choice : )
- a marquee is an entrance (like my homepage) with a sign announcing what's new (like my feed)
- my feed is an outlet for my insights, whether code, writing or interesting things I find I the web
- "insight outlet" sounds like
"inside out," which connotes how open I try to be (ok, I'm stretching on
this one, but "insight outlet"
*does* sound cool : )
Of course, once I'd picked a name that blends entries from three people, I had the problem of how to award the prize: a single seat at the the Applied XML Developer's Conference. And then I remembered that it's my conference, so all three of them get free seats. Welcome!
BTW, the Applied XML Developer's Conference is going to rock. Register now before all the seats are gone.
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003, 5:09 PM in Tools
XmlSerializerPreCompiler
Here. Tired of the XmlSerializer's generic "File or assembly name ctewkx4b.dll, or one of its dependencies, was not found" exception? The XmlSerializerPreCompiler tools checks to see if a type can be serialized by the XmlSerializer class and if it can't, shows the compiler errors happening behind the scenes so that the type can be modified. Enjoy.
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003, 4:09 PM
End-To-End RSS + Comments
Here. The one where I release my RSS 2.0 feed, complete with end-to-end comment support.
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003, 12:19 PM in .NET
Hosting Windows Forms Designers
Here. This article comes with the full source for hosting the WinForms Designers to enable form design in your own app. To my knowledge, none of this stuff is supported, but that doesn't make it any less cool! [mikedub.net/GalleySlave]
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003, 12:00 AM in The Spout
End-To-End RSS + Comments
My RSS 2.0 feed exposes end-to-end support for the comments specifications I'm aware of:
- The RSS 2.0 <comments> element to expose a link for a browser-based UI to view/add comments
- The <slash:comments> extension element to expose the number of comments current made on an item
- The <wfw:comment> extension element to expose the URL endpoint for posting comments via the CommentAPI
- The <wfw:commentRss> extension element to expose the RSS endpoint for consuming the comments of an RSS item.
Several other folks are working on producing and/or consuming the <wfw:commentRss> extension as well, including Joe, Sam, Scott, JamesS and Kevin. JamesD posted instructions on how to do it with MoveableType. Hopefully Dare, Luke and Nick will follow suit.
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003, 12:00 AM in Tools
XmlSerializerPreCompiler
Tired of the XmlSerializer's generic "File or assembly name ctewkx4b.dll, or one of its dependencies, was not found" exception? The XmlSerializerPreCompiler tools checks to see if a type can be serialized by the XmlSerializer class and if it can't, shows the compiler errors happening behind the scenes so that the type can be modified. Enjoy.
This just in: Mathew Nolton has posted a GUI front-end to my XmlSerializerPreCompiler that you might find useful. Thanks, Matt!
Tuesday, Jun 17, 2003, 4:32 PM
Reminder: Win a Free Seat at the Applied XML Dev. Conference
Here. Don't forget to help me rename my RSS feed and potentially win a free seat at the Applied XML Developer's Conference. Even if you don't submit a contest entry, don't forget to reserve your spot at the conference! Seats are going fast and all three other DevCon's have sold out.
Monday, Jun 16, 2003, 1:54 PM in .NET
Releasing Nested Objects in Rotor
Here. ChrisT continues to make progress in the "Adding Ref-Counting to Rotor" project.
Monday, Jun 16, 2003, 12:51 PM
Filter Files With Unknown Extensions For XP
Here. The fact that Windows XP Find in Files only searches files with known file extensions drives me crazy because it skips, among other things, .cs files. Every time I set up a new system, I have to re-figure out how to fix this. To facilitate that, I put together a .reg file that enable Find in Files to search all unknown file extensions as text files. Enjoy.
Monday, Jun 16, 2003, 5:54 AM
(web) matrix reloaded
Here. From Rick Childress (www25.brinkster.com/rchildress): Web Matrix 0.6 has been released.
Monday, Jun 16, 2003, 12:00 AM in The Spout
Releasing Nested Objects in Rotor
Chris Tavares is making more progress finishing up the Ref-Counting in Rotor project:
class
FinalizerObj {
int n;
public FinalizerObj( int n ) {
this.n = n;
Console.WriteLine("Created Finalizer
object {0}", n);
}
~FinalizerObj() {
Console.WriteLine("Finalizing finalizer object {0}", n);
}
}
class
FinalizerContainingObj {
FinalizerObj subObj1;
int n;
FinalizerObj subObj2;
public FinalizerContainingObj( int n ) {
this.n = n;
subObj1 = new
FinalizerObj(n * 100);
subObj2 =
new FinalizerObj((n * 100) + 1);
Console.WriteLine("Creating containing object {0}", n);
}
~FinalizerContainingObj( ) {
Console.WriteLine("Finalizing
finalizer containing obj {0}", n);
}
}
class
TestApp {
static
void Main() {
for(
int i = 0; i < 5; ++i ) LeakAnObj(i);
}
static void LeakAnObj(int
i) {
FinalizerContainingObj obj =
new FinalizerContainingObj(i);
}
}
Running this app under our ref-counted Rotor yields the following output:
C:\Home\Chris\Projects\Rotor\src\tests>clix FinalizerTest.exe Created Finalizer object 0 Created Finalizer object 1 Creating containing object 0 Finalizing finalizer containing obj 0 Finalizing finalizer object 0 Finalizing finalizer object 1 Created Finalizer object 100 Created Finalizer object 101 Creating containing object 1 Finalizing finalizer containing obj 1 Finalizing finalizer object 100 Finalizing finalizer object 101 Created Finalizer object 200 Created Finalizer object 201 Creating containing object 2 Finalizing finalizer containing obj 2 Finalizing finalizer object 200 Finalizing finalizer object 201 Created Finalizer object 300 Created Finalizer object 301 Creating containing object 3 Finalizing finalizer containing obj 3 Finalizing finalizer object 300 Finalizing finalizer object 301 Created Finalizer object 400 Created Finalizer object 401 Creating containing object 4 Finalizing finalizer containing obj 4 Finalizing finalizer object 400 Finalizing finalizer object 401
In other words, all top-level and 2nd-level objects are finalized deterministically. Wahoo!
Sunday, Jun 15, 2003, 10:44 AM
Much Improved FxCop v1.21 Released
Here. FxCop should be part of the build process for any .NET code that has a build process. Recommended!
Saturday, Jun 14, 2003, 2:57 PM in .NET
nprof - Open-source .NET profiler
Here. From Matthew Mastracci: I just released the fifth alpha version of my free, open-source .NET profiling application. It supports everything I've thrown at it so far (multi-threaded programs, NAnt, SWF apps) and is getting close to feature-complete. It comes with a basic VS.NET add-in that lets you profile from DevStudio. There is a complete source package on the downloads page for those who are interested in learning how a profiler works, or just want to tinker.