Joteke's Blog

If your XML is somehow always written using UTF-16 (in .NET) , no matter what you try...

joteke — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:25:00 GMT

I suggest you have a look at Kirk Allen Evan's blog post:

XmlWriterSettings Encoding Being Ignored?
http://blogs.msdn.com/kaevans/archive/2008/08/11/xmlwritersettings-encoding-being-ignored.aspx

Short explanation is that if you directly or indirectly end up using StringBuilder under the covers, it forces your XML to be written in UTF-16. For deeper explanation and workaround, see Kirk's post.

VS2008 SP1 and .NET 3.5 SP1

joteke — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:23:00 GMT

Yes, now it is released and you'll get it at: http://www.asp.net/downloads/3.5-sp1/

Interesting point regarding some old posts of mine e.g

Potential solution for "Validation of viewstate MAC failed"
http://aspadvice.com/blogs/joteke/archive/2007/08/14/Potential-solution-for-_2200_Validation-of-viewstate-MAC-failed_2200_.aspx

In SP1 is included a fix for ASP.NET 3.5, which lets you control if the hidden fields are rendered on top or at bottom of the form. There is a new setting in <pages> element of web.config, as follows:

<pages renderAllHiddenFieldsAtTopOfForm="[true|false]" / > // Defaults to true in 3.5 SP1

Note that this SP also adds SQL2008 support for VS2008, so be sure to install it.

Microsoft releases SQL Server 2008

joteke — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:56:00 GMT

Look no further: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/aug08/08-06SQLServer2008PR.mspx

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 6, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the new version of the company’s acclaimed data management and business intelligence platform. This version of SQL Server provides powerful new capabilities such as support for policy-based management, auditing, large-scale data warehousing, geospatial data, and advanced reporting and analysis services. SQL Server 2008 provides the trusted, productive and intelligent platform necessary for business-critical applications.

“Microsoft developed this release of SQL Server with the customer in mind,” said Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of the Data and Storage Platform Division at Microsoft. “SQL Server 2008 is the only major database that includes comprehensive, tightly integrated functionality for data management as well as advanced business intelligence out of the box. By offering a complete solution, we save customers time and money and allow them to focus on deriving the most value from their data assets.”

With more than 450,000 customer and partner downloads of SQL Server 2008’s community technology previews (CTPs), more than 75 large-scale applications already in production and more than 1,350 applications being developed by nearly 1,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) on SQL Server 2008, it’s clear that customers and partners are excited about the capabilities now available in SQL Server 2008. Tim Whitehorn, founder and chief executive officer of event management software provider ServiceU Corp., said, “We selected SQL Server 2008 because we can entrust it with our critical business applications. SQL Server 2008 is highly secure and reliable, and offers the best value on the market today. In addition, it accelerates the time frame for deploying new features and enhancements, and that to us makes SQL Server a winner.”

A number of enterprise customers from various industries are testing SQL Server 2008 including Clear Channel Communications Inc., Fidelity Investments, Hilton Hotels Corp., Simon & Schuster Inc., Siemens AG and Xerox Corp., among many others.

SQL Server has been well-received in the analyst community. Noted Forrester Research Inc. analyst Noel Yuhanna wrote in a January 2008 report, “The Forrester Wave: Information-As-A-Service, Q1 2008,” “Microsoft is (one of) the only vendor(s) with top enterprise search and business intelligence reporting capabilities. It offers strong support for aggregation, summarization, search engine and dashboards. Transactions across distributed data sources and long-running transactions are also strengths for Microsoft.”

SQL Server is an industry leader in both scalability and performance. It is the first and only database management system to be proven capable of delivering scalable results on TPC-E, the Transaction Processing Performance Council’s (TPC) newest and most challenging online transaction processing (OLTP) benchmark, with 13 published benchmarks to date.¹ Seven benchmarks are published on Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 by multiple hardware vendors, demonstrating strong price-performance and performance results, including IBM Corp.’s new No. 1 performance result using SQL Server 2008 on a 64-core System x3950 M2 server.² Also demonstrating the performance of SQL Server 2008, Unisys Corp. and Microsoft set a new extract, transform and load (ETL) performance record by loading 1 terabyte of data in less than 30 minutes using SQL Server 2008 Integration Services. In addition, SQL Server 2008 has proven its scalability in large-scale data warehousing, as demonstrated by its recent 10-terabyte TPC-H benchmark.³

“We saw a 35 percent improvement in throughput on the system that we upgraded to SQL Server 2008, with no code changes on our end,” said Gary Oberg, vice president of IT and development at Applied Discovery (a member of the LexisNexis group). “This translates straight to the bottom line for us, as the more documents we can upload, the more we can process.”

Microsoft is setting additional benchmark records with ISV solutions, including a world record on four-socket industry-standard blade servers in a three-tier SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) Standard Application Benchmark, and demonstrated the largest benchmark ever on the Siemens Teamcenter digital product life-cycle management solution, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics AX and the Camstar Manufacturing Execution System solution.

SQL Server is a key component of the Microsoft Application Platform, a suite of products and technologies designed to help customers build, run and manage dynamic business applications. SQL Server 2008 is available in the following editions:

•	SQL Server 2008 Enterprise. SQL Server 2008 Enterprise is a comprehensive data management and business intelligence platform that provides enterprise-class scalability, data warehousing, security, advanced analytics and reporting support for running business-critical applications. With this edition, it is possible to consolidate servers and perform large-scale online transactional processing.
•	SQL Server 2008 Standard. SQL Server 2008 Standard is a complete data management and business intelligence platform that provides best-in-class ease of use and manageability for running departmental applications.
•	SQL Server 2008 Workgroup. SQL Server 2008 Workgroup is a reliable data management and reporting platform that delivers secure, remote synchronization and management capabilities for running branch applications. This edition includes core database features and is easy to upgrade to the Standard or Enterprise edition.
•	SQL Server 2008 Web. SQL Server 2008 Web is designed for highly available, Internet-facing Web-serving environments running on Windows Server. SQL Server 2008 Web provides the tools necessary to support low-cost, large-scale, highly available Web applications or hosting solutions for customers.
•	SQL Server 2008 Developer. SQL Server 2008 Developer allows developers to build and test any type of application with SQL Server. This edition features all of the functionality of SQL Server Enterprise but is licensed only for development, test and demo use. Applications and databases developed on this edition can easily be upgraded to SQL Server 2008 Enterprise.
•	SQL Server 2008 Express. SQL Server 2008 Express is a free edition of SQL Server that features core database functionality including all of the new SQL Server 2008 data types, in a small footprint. This edition is ideal for learning and building desktop and small server applications, and for redistribution by ISVs.
•	SQL Server Compact 3.5. SQL Server Compact is a free embedded database designed for developers and is ideal for building stand-alone and occasionally connected applications for mobile devices, desktops and Web clients. SQL Server Compact runs on all Microsoft Windows platforms, including the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems, and on Pocket PC and smartphone devices.

Pricing and Availability

SQL Server 2008 is now available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers and will be available for evaluation download on Aug. 7, 2008. SQL Server 2008 Express and SQL Server Compact editions are available for free download today at http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver. As previously announced, pricing for SQL Server will not increase with SQL Server 2008. More information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/sqlserver.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

TPC benchmarks are produced by the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC). Full results are available at http://www.tpc.org. Results referenced are current as of July 29, 2008.

² IBM System x3950 M2, 1250 tpsE, 1311 $/tpsE, available Aug. 30, 2008.

³ HP Integrity Superdome, 63651 QphH@10TB, 38.54 $/QphH@10TB, available Aug. 30, 2008.

Who are the ASPInsiders?

joteke — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:43:00 GMT

I'm also member of AspInsiders. In case you've wondered who they are and what they do, see Rob Chartier's blog post. There's nothing mystical in AspInsiders, it's just a group of trusted individuals sharing passion especially for ASP.NET.

ASP.NET MVC CodePlex Preview 4 is here (or there) :-)

joteke — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:21:00 GMT

See Phil's post:
http://haacked.com/archive/2008/07/16/aspnetmvc-codeplex-preview4.aspx

And of course ScottGu's post:
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/07/14/asp-net-mvc-preview-4-release-part-1.aspx

My blog scored 8.2 (great) on Blogged.com

joteke — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:10:00 GMT

Dunno if it means anything to anyone, but I just got email stating that Joteke's Blog has scored 8.2 on Blogged.com. According to them "

We evaluated your blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style.

After carefully reviewing each of these criteria, your site was given its 8.2 score.

I was also got a score bad, which you can see on news section on right-side of the main page. And here's the dedicated page: http://www.blogged.com/blogs/jotekes-blog.html

Personally this means a lot to me because I'm not native in English - I'm from Finland, EU if someone still doesn't know -, and I don't feel being experienced writer by no means. I just write about things and occurrences focusing on technical aspects that cross my mind and that's it. Nice if someone likes it.

Anyway, I'm going to get more active, since seems that in becoming months I have a lot more to blog about. :-)

Firefox 3.0 and (ASP.NET) caching observations

joteke — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:07:00 GMT

1. Have a page with code in Page_Load

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        Response.Cache.SetAllowResponseInBrowserHistory(False)
        Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache)
        Response.Cache.SetNoStore()
        Response.Expires = 0

Response.Write("" & DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString())

End Sub

2. In aspx

...

<form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
        <asp:Wizard ID="Wizard1" runat="server">
            <WizardSteps>
                <asp:WizardStep ID="WizardStep1" runat="server" Title="Step 1">
                </asp:WizardStep>
                <asp:WizardStep ID="WizardStep2" runat="server" Title="Step 2">
                </asp:WizardStep>
                <asp:WizardStep ID="WizardStep3" runat="server" Title="Step 3">
                </asp:WizardStep>
                <asp:WizardStep ID="WizardStep4" runat="server" Title="Step 4">
                </asp:WizardStep>
                <asp:WizardStep ID="WizardStep5" runat="server" Title="Step 5">
                </asp:WizardStep>
            </WizardSteps>
        </asp:Wizard>
    </div>
    </form>
...

3. Now run the page in IE, click the links etc in the wizard and then hit Back button, IE complains that content is expired (so does FF 2 if you try with that)

4. Now run the page in FF3.0, click the links etc and then hit Back button, it just shows the previous version as if nothing is expired

Do you get the same behavior?

What's for VB.NET in the Future, interesting to see...

joteke — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:59:00 GMT

By being momentarily pissed off to the level of job I needed to do with classes working with DB and business logic in a project, I made suggestion in Connect, a while ago

Ability to specify a default method for object instance which is called when any or certain method/properties will be accessed
https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=349999

Description shortly:

"For VB team (why not for C# too :-) )

Writing logic to check object's state when properties are accessed can cause quite a bit repeated code, because at least you need to duplicate the call on every property accessor.

Certainly there are other ways around this which usually is checking the state then on some method, but not on the property accessor (design guidelines state that property accessor shouldn't throw an exception), but it would be great if compiler would be able to inject a call to a "default" method which will be called when any or given property is accessed.

Properties are methods under the covers and I believe they should be allowed to throw exceptions if state of the object demands for it. For example in my scenario, it represenst an object deleted from database. One must not use the object anymore because it doesn't really exist...
"

I got a response quite fast from Jonathan Aneja, Program Manager on VB Team, here's what he said:

"Hi there,

Thanks for taking the time to file this suggestion. I've got some good news and bad news for you. The good news is the scenario you mention is one we've been thinking about a lot lately, and we have some ideas on how to address this in a big way.

The bad news is the timeframe we're thinking of for this feature is actually two releases away, not one. This is part of a much larger feature we're building that's going to take a while to build.

I'm going to resolve this as "By Design" for now, but rest assured this scenario is high on our list."

Oh, and I got also a nice community comment that I'm looking for aspect-oriented programming (with link to: http://www.bodden.de/tools/aop-dot-net/), thanks for that btw!

Point is that it's actually pretty nice to know that these things are also thought at MS. Not that I mean component and 3rd party vendors providing these as products should not exist, but I've always loved the idea that I have all the stuff in the one and only development environment, plus of course, what I use works as a product. I'm definately going to have a look at aspect-oriented programming, it indeed seems what I'm looking for. But it's important to know that the future of my toolset is going to evolve - and with VS201x I still might see something groundbreaking cool in VB.NET. :-)

When I asked the permission from Jonathan to post his comment publicly, he thought that there might not actually be much to see in his response, but I disagree. Mostly because knowing that MS thinks these scenarios also basically calls for feedback too, at the early stage (involving community in design-related tool development etc is better to happen sooner than later - not least because there are almost as many opinions as commenters)). So it's good to know there's design work going on, which community can comment on, at least it's targeted at something, even though community doesn't know what they're commenting (or MS does based on their comments). :-D

Certainly, this is something that language team is now designing for the future, so how wide can that feature be, without it falling out of the context or needing already coordination and cowork with other teams? Hard to say as Jonathan didn't tell more about what they are thinking at the moment. But I hope they reveal it on one day. :-)

What comes to the idea itself, what I proposed, is one thing I'm looking for eagerly and it's great they gonna solve it somehow (although years will pass before it's out), but is there something else someone would want to see in VB.NET in the Future? Suggesting that in Connect might be a good idea.

Using the information your (development) environment provides - is allowed!

joteke — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:31:00 GMT

Huge title while the subject or the example in this case is actually very simple and straightforward. I saw a question on newsgroups which went something like:

- poster states he doesn't know much about control events
- he/she asked if he/she had a method like

protected void tbPreRender(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        tb1.Attributes["value"] = tb1.Text;
        tb2.Attributes["value"] = tb2.Text;
    }

wired to two separate TextBoxes Prerender event, is it fired twice? He/she hoped that ASP.NET would deal this somehow that it would be called only once, like SQL Server does with subqueries.

First thing to note in this case of course is that ASP.NET cannot do much assumptions, due to its generality, it does what it can in the most common case, and that definately is all. So this logic (UI logic) is up to the page developer right away. Second thing is that SQL Server is totally another beast, important though and lots used with ASP.NET, but it's not really comparable in that sense, that ASP.NET would somehow reuse similar logic. ASP.NET does what's needed to abstract HTTP, and SQL Server does the same for relational database and its additional featureset stuff. Third is that you can write the previous case like:

//Wiring events somewhere
tb1.PreRender += new EventHandler(tbPreRender);
tb2.PreRender += new EventHandler(tbPreRender);

protected void tbPreRender(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        //Use the knowledge that control raising the event is available via
sender argument
        TextBox tb=(TextBox)sender;
        tb.Attributes["value"] = tb.Text;
    }

when you basically take use of the knowledge what the environment does, in this case, how ASP.NET exposes events and what's available via them.

Sounds like I'm patronizing and ditting the i's and crossing the t's, but my point is that this is normal unawareness for newbies , but emphasizes how important it really is that you learn to know the "landscape" of technologies you're working on, what each one of them does and what's each one's responsibility. Kind of think it as understanding your personal development architecture. It doesn't mean you need to know everything (measuring what one does or doesn't need to know is actually a hell of a problem for any developer these days, be it newbie or not) but you should be comfortable with the environment, especially if you earn your living by using it. You can learn while working - work is the best teacher - but you cannot be blind.

In this case, reading a good book, or looking at the documentation or definately asking someone mor eexperienced, of course brings lights on - learning always starts from somewhere, but be prepared that you'll do that rest of your life, at least in this profession. :-)

Book Review: C# In Depth by Jon Skeet (Manning)

joteke — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:12:00 GMT

Author: Jon Skeet
Publisher: Manning Publications Co.
ISBN: 1933988363
April 2008, 424 pages
http://www.manning.com/skeet/

The book focuses on C# 2 and C# 3, but goes a bit relevant things on building on C# 1. It is targeted at developers familiar with C# 1 and making the move to C# 2 and C# 3. The book is not syntax reference -like, and focuses more on the aspects and use of the language while of course, introducing the new and exciting features in C# 2 and C# 3.

Table of Contents

foreword xvii
preface xix
acknowledgments xxi
about this book xxiii
about the cover illustration xxviii
comments from the tech review xxix

Part 1 Preparing for the journey

1 The changing face of C# development
1.1 Evolution in action: examples of code change
1.2 A brief history of C# (and related technologies)
1.3 The .NET platform
1.4 Fully functional code in snippet form
1.5 Summary

2 Core foundations: building on C# 1
2.1 Delegates
2.2 Type system characteristics
2.3 Value types and reference types
2.4 C# 2 and 3: new features on a solid base
2.5 Summary

Part 2 C# 2: solving the issues of C# 1

3 Parameterized typing with generics
3.1 Why generics are necessary
3.2 Simple generics for everyday use
3.3 Beyond the basics
3.4 Advanced generics
3.5 Generic collection classes in .NET 2.0
3.6 Limitations of generics in C# and other languages
3.7 Summary

4 Saying nothing with nullable types
4.1 What do you do when you just don’t have a value?
4.2 System.Nullable and System.Nullable
4.3 C# 2’s syntactic sugar for nullable types
4.4 Novel uses of nullable types

5 Fast-tracked delegates
5.1 Saying goodbye to awkward delegate syntax
5.2 Method group conversions
5.3 Covariance and contravariance
5/4 Inline delegate actions with anonymous methods
5.5 Capturing variables in anonymous methods
5.6 Summary

6 Implementing iterators the easy way
6.1 C# 1: the pain of handwritten iterators
6.2 C# 2: simple iterators with yield statements
6.3 Real-life example: iterating over ranges
6.4 Pseudo-synchronous code with the Concurrency and Coordination Runtime
6.5 Summary

7 Concluding C# 2: the final features
7.1 Partial types
7.2 Static classes
7.3 Separate getter/setter property access
7.4 Namespace aliases
7.5 Pragma directives
7.6 Fixed-size buffers in unsafe code
7.7 Exposing internal members to selected assemblies
7.8 Summary

Part 3 C# 3—revolutionizing how we code

8 Cutting fluff with a smart compiler
8.1 Automatically implemented properties
8.2 Implicit typing of local variables
8.3 Simplified initialization
8.4 Implicitly typed arrays
8.5 Anonymous types
8.6 Summary

9 Lambda expressions and expression trees
9/1 Lambda expressions as delegates
9.2 Simple examples using List and events
9.3 Expression trees
9.4 Changes to type inference and overload resolution
9.5 Summary

10 Extension methods
10.1 Life before extension methods
10.2 Extension method syntax
10.3 Extension methods in .NET 3.5
10.4 Usage ideas and guidelines
10.5 Summary

11 Query expressions and LINQ to Objects
11.1 Introducing LINQ
11/2 Simple beginnings: selecting elements
11.3 Filtering and ordering a sequence
11.4 Let clauses and transparent identifiers
11.5 Joins
11.6 Groupings and continuations
11.7 Summary

12 LINQ beyond collections
12.1 LINQ to SQL
12.2 Translations using IQueryable and IQueryProvider
12.3 LINQ to DataSet
12.4 LINQ to XML
12.5 LINQ beyond .NET 3.5
12.6 Summary

13 Elegant code in the new era
13.1 The changing nature of language preferences
13.2 Delegation as the new inheritance
13.3 Readability of results over implementation
13.4 Life in a parallel universe
13.5 Farewell

appendix: LINQ standard query operators
index

My opinion:

This is a great book for anyone taking their first steps with C# 2 and C# 3. It's not a syntax reference book, so don't expect seeing pages after pages of endless tables describing what can be told in the documentation. In this book Jon Skeet provides deep insight into C#. His experience is nicely included in the writing as he goes on the topics with great care - and the result is this -, a first-class book about C#.

VB.NET or C# - which one to choose? I choose BOTH :-)

joteke — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:48:00 GMT

Joe Stagner discusses in a blog post based on reader feedback, if one should choose VB.NET or C# and he ends with that it doesn't matter. Well, I sort of disagree, but let me first explain in which way I disagree, before you judge me and burn me in the eternal fire. :-) It's semantical difference in thinking, as in straight terms, Joe is 100% right.

I've started my career as a VB and VBScript (classic ASP) "programmist" ;-) , and when .NET came I jumped on it, and of course went with VB.NET. It was easy step - .NET I mean - and has been the one correct choice ever since. But in the early days, I was also forced to learn C# due to some aspects in ASP.NET 1.0's server controls and bug in VB.NET - which forced me to write my controls in C#. And it was definately the best thing that has happened to me since. It forced me to:

- use both of the languages fluently
- choose the one language over the other based on the task
- not to do my decisions based on some general "bee in one's bonnet" or just for attitudinal reasons

I've grown to think that in .NET you really should master all the mainstream languages in a way that it actually makes it non-important thing what language you use or choose. With .NET it means thinking in terms of the Framework, 'seeing the trees for the Forest'. To access its services languages are just one of the tools (very important ones, of course). Your customers don't give a crap what tool you actually use - at least if they aren't technically-oriented, and not sure if your bosses do either unless it is some general decision of IT management or something - which it might be, though. There can be limiting factors, and they belong to life. :-)

Anyways, if the choice is yours as a developer - responsible for customer's satisfaction, responsible for your and your family's income and responsible company's success :-), you probably don't want to fall on language choice when there is your ass on the line in any case. You use what's best to use to get the job done, efficiently but correctly.

The VB vs C# debate has been there since .NET's first days. Partly, because MS's language teams basically compete with each other, and C# was promised to be the language, or at least was marketed as such. The debate has probably matured a bit over the years, but it's also healthy aspect in a way that it benefits not just language communities, but the entire framework (usually a new feature in a language spreads fast to the others in a way or another). Therefore it's good that the discussion goes on as long as it brings good results.

Free eBook: Foundations of Programming by Karl Sequin

joteke — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:07:00 GMT

View and download at: http://codebetter.com/files/folders/codebetter_downloads/entry179694.aspx

Hyper-V for W2008 is in RTM

joteke — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:45:00 GMT

See: http://blogs.technet.com/virtualworld/archive/2008/06/26/ittttttt-s-heeeeeeerrrrreeee-hyper-v-rtm.aspx

:-)

Microsoft's "Velocity" project

joteke — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:15:00 GMT

Some skillful people at Microsoft have started yet one interesting project to increase our toolbox. It's "Velocity" which targets to help dealing with caching - local and distributed - through all the .NET application types, not just ASP.NET.

From: http://msdn.microsoft.com/fi-fi/library/cc645013(en-us).aspx

“Velocity” is a distributed in-memory application cache platform for developing scalable, available, and high-performance applications. “Velocity” fuses memory across multiple computers to give a single unified cache view to applications. Applications can store any serializable CLR object without worrying about where the object gets stored. Scalability can be achieved by simply adding more computers on demand. “Velocity” also allows for copies of data to be stored across the cluster, thus protecting data against failures. “Velocity” can be configured to run as a service accessed over the network or can be run embedded with the distributed application. “Velocity” includes an ASP.NET session provider object that enables ASP.NET session objects to be stored in the distributed cache without having to write to databases. This increases the performance and scalability of ASP.NET applications

Scott Hanselman releases BabySmash

joteke — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:50:00 GMT

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IntroducingBabySmashAWPFExperiment.aspx

BabySmash is an application - written with WPF - for all the kids who share interest in computing (or keyboards :-) ) and for their parents trying to keep the machine safe. Application "sounds, shows letters and numbers while ostensibly protecting the machine (the software at least) from the kids". I've used BabyMash, oldie but goldie, and all my three kids have loved it while in diaper age, and the youngest one - still in that age - likes BabySmash too.

While Scott has done BabySmash to test WPF and to entertain his kids and wants to share the result, it's also indication how in-the-end small things can make things better for our children - and how its creative to combine fun and real objectives . After all, I suppose kids are meaning of the life (or watching while grandchildren play) . :-)