The Code Wizard's Musings

Aha Moments

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:00:00 -0500

I was working on a side project to remove http post operations to a web service and replace it with a proxy component. Easy right? I thought it would be. But the service I was looking at didn't utilize a WSDL or SOAP. And Visual Studio 2008 doesn't like that when you set up a service reference. So, I had to look at writing my own proxy. Not so easy, but doable. The real issue is that the group that writes the web services uses VS 2012 and .Net 4.0. The group I work in uses VS 2008 and .Net 2.0 (when we actually use .Net.) These two don't play well together when you need to create references.

It took me a little while to realize the dll's the dev had sent me were targeted at .Net 4.0, and the best I could do was target .Net 3.5. Goodbye project references. (Except, a little magic with managed C++ might do the trick. I'll discuss that in another post.)

"Best laid plans of mice and men" and all that other rot that doesn't really help solve the problem.

Piddling around with JavaScript/Browser Performance

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 08:07:00 -0500

Here's some results I got while piddling around with webkit's SunSpider benchmark program this morning.

It's not scientific, or even well controlled. I'm using the latest updates for IE 10, Chrome and Firefox as of April 20. Links will take you back to the test results. My laptop is an old dual core machine running Windows 8 64bit, 8GB RAM and a slow 500 GB hard drive.

IE10 - 203.5 ms

Chrome - 280.9 ms

FireFox - 310.9 ms

Just some food for controversy.

Document Your Code

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:17:00 -0500

I've heard just about every excuse in the world why code is not documented. The excuses are bogus. All of them. Documentation must be a part of the corporate culture. Most organizations do not understand the need for effective code documentation. There's no training, no policy and no will to make it happen.

Ignoring documentation at the code level, the application level and the infrastructure level leads to another form of technical debt. An organization that ignores documentation, doesn't train personnel to develop it and doesn't incorporate it into their culture is living for today.

This is one of the better articles I've found on the internet regarding the mechanics of .Net program documentation using Sandcastle. It's long, detailed, and effective. You should read it.