This article looks at the potential performance issues of String.Format() when used with StringBuilder.

Get the details here.

For those of you who like to live on the edge (are you hearing me Sam?), Microsoft has released an October CTP for Orcas -- the next version of Visual Studio. You can get it here.

Once again, it is in the form of a Virtual PC image but the 4GB download has been separated into chunks of 700MB. Also, don't forget to download the base image if you haven't already. Happy downloading!

For many programmers (except Mark Miller -- he's mostly caffeine-free, believe it or not), coffee is probably the most consistenly-consumed beverage. For me, it's like a warm security blanket in my mouth. And, by extension, my coffeemaker is probably the kitchen appliance that I have the most dependence on. If the coffeemaker doesn't work, my whole rhythm can be thrown off.

Yesterday, my coffee maker failed me.

Until yesterday, I was the owner of a Mr. Coffee 10-Cup Thermal Programmable Coffeemaker. Unfortunately, it decided to take a leak all over my countertop. Only half of the coffee actually made it into the pot. So, it was like pouring out 5 cups of coffee all over my kitchen. Needless to say, I was pretty hacked off. And, worse than that, I had far too little coffee to have a productive day of coding!

I toughed it out until my trophy wife got home. She sympathized and recommended that we head over to Kohls to purchase a new coffeemaker. We decided that, because of my obvious chemical dependency, we should go ahead and drop the $200 to get the Bunn BTX 10-Cup Home Coffee Brewer. After all, it's a business expense, right? This morning, I got my first 3-minute pot of quality coffee and I'm not disappointed. But, I'm wondering if I can claim this thing on my taxes.

Exploring some of the cool things you can do with extension methods in C# 3.0.

I will be giving the following talks in November and December:

Coding: Get Back to the Basics

Abstract: In the ever-changing world of software development, we must constantly keep up with new technologies. In fact, so much time is spent absorbing new APIs, documentation and hype that we are often left with very little time to improve our coding skills. This session will some discuss general ways to improve code quality that apply to all languages. In addition, we’ll cover several ways to use C# 2.0 (and some future C# 3.0) features to create readable and elegant code.

November 15: Great Lakes Area .NET Users Group (GANG)
December 13: Dayton .NET Developers' Group (DDNDevGroup)

Getting to Know Generics

Abstract: Since the release of the .NET Framework 2.0, generics have been a hot topic. But, beyond the basic generic collection classes, they can be challenging to understand and use properly. This session delves into less-obvious uses of generics to create elegant and flexible code. Topics covered include defining generic types and methods, consuming generics and generic constraints. Along the way, we will explore some of the pitfalls of generic development and highlight some of the lesser-known generic nuggets found in the .NET Framework.

Novement 29: Findlay Area .NET Users Group (FANUG)

Feel free to drop by if you're in the area and throw some popcorn.

Today I was iterating a List<int> using a foreach loop and feeling a bit smug in knowing how much more performance-conscious I was being than if I'd tried doing the same thing with an ArrayList filled with ints. Thanks to the wonder of generics, the C# compiler neatly avoids numerous boxing operations by using a System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerator<int> instance instead of the older System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerator. Then I got to thinking: "is this really the fastest way?" Upon investigation, it turns that, no, it isn't the fastest way.

Microsoft has released the first Community Technology Preview of the next version of Visual Studio here.

Note that this download is not for the faint of heart. According to this screenshot taken from the webpage mentioned above, it will take approximately 6.25 days to download with a 56K modem. Fortunately, with my bad-boy DSL, I got a 313 KB download rate and it only took about three hours.



There is one other catch: after you download this massive thing, there is yet another download containing the base operating system for the VPC machine. That download is another 1.1 GB. I'm nearly finished downloading this last chunk now. I'll post here if I have any trouble installing.

OK. I admit it. I have a problem: I am an iTunes junkie. It's always had its share of annoyances but not enough to keep me from using its clean and simple interface. Thanks to yesterday's release of iTunes 7, most of the minor problems are gone. A lot of the press is going to the new feature-length film and game support. But, in my opinion, its the little improvements that make this the best release yet.

The word is out. Thanks to Carl Franklin at PWOP Productions, Mark Miller now has his very own podcast called Millahseconds. This could very well be the end of Mark's professional career.

Of course this might be a very good thing for me. One way to increase your chances of a promotion is to get a job directly beneath the most publicly insane person in your field. I have the distinct privilege of having this position. Perhaps this is the beginning of vertical movement up the corporate ladder for me? Only time will tell...