Just Enough Technology » Software Development

Snippet Designed for VS 2008 and VS 2010

Dave Ranck — Sun, 16 May 2010 22:42:07 +0000

I love code snippets. Way back in the early VB days, I created add-ins for the IDE that allowed me to create and save an array of short snippets of code and automatically insert them into the code window. I like to use snippets for things that I either don’t use often enough to remember, or to quickly enter templates for things I use a lot to save time. Visual Studio .Net has a Snippet Manager and lets you create snippets in XML, but there is no built-in editor. There are a couple of editors available, some stand-alone and at least one called Snippet Designer that is integrated into the IDE. Snippet Designer gives you an explorer to find snippets on your drive and a nice editor for creating and saving snippets. One nice feature is you can highlight a section of code and save it as a snippet. Quick and easy. The designer allows you to quickly mark the replacement sections of the code set other properties and will create the “surround” type of snippet. Here’s a screentshot:

The Snippet Desginer IDE

I like this tool. I have had a few small issues with getting the tool to index alternate snippet folders, but that is a small thing compared to its usefulness. Try it. I think you might like it as much as I do.

Snippet Designer can be downloaded from http://snippetdesigner.codeplex.com/

Create Singleton in C#

Dave Ranck — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:02:57 +0000

One of the most basic and most useful object patterns is the Singleton design pattern. A Singleton is a class of which there will only be one instance created at any time. All users of the Singleton class will all use the same instance. This is great for a wide range of applications such as cached values and lookups or utilities that execute quickly. The Design Patterns book by Gamma et al . describes the structure of a basic Singleton. We’ll describe how to create one in C#.

The classic approach to creating a Singleton looks like this:

public class SingletonGamma
 {
      private static SingletonGamma instance;
      private SingletonGamma()  { }

      public static SingletonGamma Instance
     {
         get

         {
            if (instance == null) { instance = new SingletonGamma(); }
            return instance;
         }
     }
 }

The basic approach is to create a private constructor and an Instance method that returns the current instance if available, or returns a new instance if there is no current instance. We call that "lazy instantiation". The problem with this approach in C# is that it is not strictly thread-safe. That is, it is possible for 2 threads to create separate instances is some circumstances. This is not what we are looking to do. This approach does have an advantage in that there is a hook-point to do post-instantiation processing if required. In .Net though, this is not the approach usually recommended

The following example takes advantage of the better handling of variable ambiguity in .Net (vs. C++) to create a thread-safe Singleton:

public sealed class SingletonCSharp
    {
        private static readonly Singleton instance = new SingletonCSharp();

        private SingletonCSharp() { }

        public static SingletonCSharp Instance
        {
            get
            {
                return instance;
            }
        }
    }

This is the preferred approach in C# and is adequate for most programs. There are other approaches that allow for more flexibility and still maintain thread safety, but they introduce unnecessary complexity for most programs. Note the read only instance property that can only be set during instantiation and the sealed keyword that prevents inheritance of the class which could introduce unwanted side effects, such as secondary instances. This is a simple and straightforward approach to the design pattern. The only downside is the lack of flexibility to have non-standard constructors. For most applications, that will not be an issue.

What is an open web?

Dave Ranck — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:46:00 +0000

The following challenge was on my Firefox homepage today:

Creating an open web is at the heart of the Mozilla project. And you’re a part of that. As one of thousands of people in the project, you have worked tirelessly to keep the Internet open, participatory and full of life.

The question is: why? Why do you participate? Why does the open web matter so much to you?

As we work to grow the Mozilla community, we want to explain what you’re feeling to everyone — your neighbours, your co-workers, your grandparents. We want them to understand the open web.

I just shared my definition of what an Open Web means to me. Why don’t you share yours?

http://mozilla.org/open
#mozopen

Click read more to see my response

I’m a software architect, specializing in business web apps. Years ago, when the web was young, I attended a technical seminar at which the speaker spoke excitedly about how the web would change the world through freedom of information. It has. Knowledge is indeed power. Never before in human history has so much knowledge been available to many at so little cost. An open web means freedom from those who would control access to information. An open web can literally change and even save lives.

Technorati Tags: Open Web,Mozilla,Freedom of Information

Java vs. .Net – Another Blast From the Past

Dave Ranck — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:28:10 +0000

Here’s another ancient article I wrote that I recently reread. It is interesting to see what has changed since this was first published on SearchSOA almost 8 years ago (see link at end of article). There are also many things that have not changed in those years. Companies continue to be faced with the question of what technology platform to choose for their Line of Business (LOB) applications. Often decisions are made based on criteria that have not been properly matched to business objectives. Sometimes the result is that the new technology platform is abandoned in the not so distant future, with a corresponding loss of investment dollars.

With a Just Enough Technology approach, a company evaluates technology against its core problem or objectives. I work with business and technology leaders within a company to define their true objectives and then weigh the technology decisions with their business objectives as the main criteria. Read through this article on choosing between the Java and Microsoft platforms. Both technologies have evolved quite a bit since this was first published, but some of the core arguments remain to this day.

The article:
A user asks Dave, “Assume that we have a new mission critical Web application that we need to develop over the next six months. How would you recommend we compare & contrast the pros/cons of J2EE vs. .NET as the platform (assuming we have the proper skills)?”

There are many, many factors that come into play when deciding between J2EE and .NET. As a foundational statement, let me state that I personally believe you can build (and I have built) mission critical Web applications on both platforms. Sun Microsystems commissioned a white paper (see links at the end of this post) that states the theoretical scalability of each platform is unlimited. I say this because your decision should not based on whether or not you *can* build a more robust application in one or the other. It can be done.

As far as developing Web services, either platform offers a great foundation. Of course there are intrinsic advantages to each platform which I’ll list later. Web services and .NET are tightly integrated. It is *very* easy to create a basic Web service in .NET. It is simply a matter of placing a directive on each method you want exposed as a Web method. The compiler does the rest for you. Deployment is also a breeze. For the most part, you simply copy your files to the server and you’re done. Visual Studio .NET is also a development environment that has no peers, in my opinion. I still believe Microsoft has the edge in getting a project out the door as fast as possible.

J2EE on the other hand also has some good tools for creating Web services. IBM’s WebSphere Studio Application Developer 4 offers some great work-saving features for creating Web services. Basically you choose a Java bean or other object to “WebServicefy” and step through the wizard. When you are done, WebSphere Studio has created a wrapper for your object and all the SOAP, WSDL, etc. code needed. It also has created a JSP application to test your new Web service. It works and it is straightforward. I was able to create a simple Web service within 30 minutes of opening the environment for the first time. Pretty impressive for a Java IDE.

If you have developers skilled in one or the other platforms, then lean strongly toward that platform. The cost of training is high. Leveraging existing skills should be a priority.

That said then, what are the decision points one would consider when choosing between J2EE and .NET? Here are a few considerations and who I think has the advantage in each:

Multi-Platform: J2EE
———————-
Currently if you need to create applications that run on more than one platform, Java is your only choice. This may change in future as .NET is ported to other platforms – we’ll see.

Legacy Integration: J2EE?
———————-
If you need to integrate legacy systems you may have an easier time in J2EE. IBM for example, provided the iron for many of these systems and has very workable solutions to connect to mainframes through WebSphere. On the other hand, you *could* create a Web service on the legacy platform, making this point moot.

Multi-Language: .NET
———————-
If you have developers in VB, C++, Java and want a unified environment for them to work in, .NET is your choice. All languages are created equal and work together, including cross-language inheritance.

Choice of Vendors: J2EE
———————-
Is a choice of vendors important to you? There are advantages to a multi-vendor solution – you can choose the best-of-breed for each component of your system. There are also advantages to a single vendor solution, which include better interoperability between components. For example, .NET and SQL Server 2000 working together are a powerful, easy to use (relatively) combination.

Vertical Scalability: J2EE
———————-
If scaling up by buying bigger iron is your organizations preferred method, than lean toward J2EE.

Horizontal Scalability: .NET
———————-
If your organization likes the idea of a greater number of cheaper servers than there is probably an edge with .NET.

Finally, after all is said and done, many decisions are in reality based on shall we say, non-scientific criteria such as:

Like Microsoft: .NET
Don’t: J2EE

I say this only partly tongue-in-cheek. Prejudice against Microsoft and the underlying technology goes deep with many technical folks and some business folks. It is a real factor in making this decision. There is also a prejudice in the Microsoft community against Java that is also based on less than scientific findings.

LINKS:

Original Article:
( http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid26_gci819020,00.html )

J2EE vs. Microsoft .NET: (Copyright2001 The Middleware Company Prepared for Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Transaction Processing Performance Council
Roger Sessions’ comparison of .NET to J2EE
Software Dev Magazine article
O’Reilly article comparing J2EE and .NET

Technorati Tags: SOA,Java,.Net,Web Services,Scalability,ROI,TCO

Windows 7 God Mode

Dave Ranck — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:34:53 +0000

Just found a little tip / secret for Windows 7 that’s been making the rounds on the Internet. It enables “GodMode” – a term created by the Windows 7 development team. This secret “mode” provides a single place to access all the important Windows settings without having to drill down through a multitude of menus and folders in Control Panel. This tip is one of my favorites.

Here’s how to do it:

Create a new folder.
Rename the folder to GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}(note that you can change the “GodMode” text, but the following period and code number are essential).
The folder icon will change to — double click it to show the GodMode window.

The image below shows what you see in the GodMode window. There a host of links to utilities and settings. Having them all in one place is extremely convenient. This secret trick appears to work in Windows 7 32 and 64 bit, Windows Server 2008 32 bit and Vista 32 bit. BUT, it seems to crash Vista 64 bit. You have been warned

Tags: Windows+7, God+Mode, Vista, Windows+Server+2008, Control+Panel, Configuration

Another Security Breach

Dave Ranck — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:54:28 +0000

From InternetNews.com :

Hundreds of thousands of BlueCross customers are in for a scare. This week, the insurance company is sending out notifications to its customers fessing up to a significant data breach that saw a thief make off with 57 hard drives from a call center in Tennessee.

The hard drives contained encoded — but not encrypted – records of phone calls and video files containing sensitive patient information. eSecurity Planet has the details on the breach.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – it drives companies crazy. We need to obtain it to provide services, but if we mishandle it, we are in for big trouble. This latest case shows that security is an integrated problem. Often we concentrate on having strong passwords and software controls to limit access and guarantee that data only goes to the users who should have access. Yet we leave the front door open by not protecting physical access to servers and thereby the data that is on them. Think of the laptops that were misplaced a while ago. Had they been encrypted, the exposure would have been under control but the company’s reputation would still have been damaged. People don’t believe encrypted data is safe. If a thief can get the laptops or the drives in this case, the average person fears that the data is compromised.

In software and system design we need to pay attention to every aspect of loss prevention and that includes non-technical preventative security measures. I once had a client who spent a large sum of money on a hand reader for the data center main door, but left their database exposed to direct TCP access with the default system admin user name and password still set. Ouch. It is easy to get caught up finding technical solutions to problems like data security and forget to lock the front door at night. In this latest case encrypted drives would go a long way in preventing actual data loss, but once the data physically leaves the control of the company, the company cannot prove that the data was not compromised.

Lesson to be learned: Do not forget the real issues. Address the whole problem homogenously, taking all aspects into account.

Windows Azure Now Available

Dave Ranck — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:07:55 +0000

Microsoft’s Windows Azure and SQL Azure cloud services are now generally available with full SLAs. This ends the free test period for those who signed up last month. This is a key release milestone for Microsoft. Azure has been in development for several years and in beta since late 2008. From the Azure team blog:

Starting today, customers and partners in countries across the globe will be able to launch their Windows Azure and SQL Azure production applications and services with the support of the full Service Level Agreements (SLAs).Â The Windows Azure platform AppFabric Service Bus and Access Control will continue to be free until April 2010 for those that sign up for a commercial subscription. Additionally Microsoft codename “Dallas” will continue to be in a free CTP.

Why Just Enough Technology?

Dave Ranck — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:35:42 +0000

Just Enough Technology means providing the right technology to solve the right problem at the right cost. Not too much, not too little. The objectives of the business must be prioritized and kept in mind from concept to design to implementation to maintenance. Every decision made along the way must map to a business objective. Every software requirement must map to a business objective. This is the foundation of Just Enough Technology – clear and concise business objectives. Those objectives drive the requirements, and the requirements drive the design and implementation.

This is how I ended a short article about Just Enough Technology a while back. I’ve reproduced here for your reading pleasure. Differing opinions are invited

I’ve worked with many Fortune 500 and 100 clients, as well as small and mid-size companies. While there are many differences between the big guys and the smaller guys, they share one thing in common: the bottom line is their bottom line. Any business is in business ultimately to do one thing: make a profit. True, there are other drivers that individual companies may have, whether it is being a market leader or providing a service for the betterment of humanity. No business can stay in business unless they achieve a positive bottom line. I’m sure everyone understands this basic truth and yet, when it comes to creating, purchasing and maintaining software and perhaps to a lesser extent, hardware, this principle is often left by the wayside. One case in point I’m reminded of was a project for a national company (a household name you would recognize). This company undertook an integration project several years ago and engaged a large consulting firm to create a design and to do the implementation. The project began and the company spent over $20M over a period of perhaps one year. During this time, the company’s major web site was having daily stability issues and was going down frequently. No code was yet written to address these pressing problems. After a year, the only artifact from the project was a mountain of documentation, which included an architectural design. I was brought in to analyze the technical issues with the web site and servers, which I did in about 1 week of effort. At the end of the week, I produced an 18 point recommendation which included a rewrite of the application. Shortly thereafter, I was retained to lead the rebuilding effort and was shown the design that had been produced by the previous $20M effort. Frankly I was shocked. First of all, it was extremely complicated and over-architected and used bleeding edge (for then) technologies that no one at the company knew how to use. Second, the effort the design must have actually taken was minuscule compared to the mountain of paper it took to produce. I could not believe that they had spent such a large sum of money (lost profit) on what amounted to nothing. Had they implemented the design, it would have been a failure. It would likely have had serious performance issues.. We put a team together consisting of consultants from various firms and paired with employees, and produced our own design. We concentrated on solving the business problem in an efficient manner using technology the company could maintain once the development team was gone. The first thing we did was to shore up the current application so they could function properly. Only then did we begin work on the redesign. The project was completed – design and implementation – in much less than one year, with 1/4 of the price tag of the previous effort. The project was a great success and remained in production until it was upgraded to new technology. I can’t say who the client was, but if you are an IT professional, it is likely you have used the product at one time or another. That story illustrates the need for Just Enough Technology. Technology should drive business, it should enable business. Technology can provide savings or it can provide opportunities that would be difficult to take advantage of without it. That is, if it is used appropriately. When misused it can become an enormous profit-sink that consumes vast amounts of money with little to show for the cost and effort. Software can’t be seen or touched and it can be difficult to appraise a project’s real value or its real cost. Well-meaning tech-types convince business people that they need “the latest and greatest” or bad things will happen. To be fair, most of time I do think their intentions are good, but the truth is the average software architect or developer doesn’t know a thing about the bottom line. They know what is best in a pure sense, but they struggle with what is Good Enough. Since technology seems like witchcraft to many business people, they are hard-pressed to make decisions about how much is too much in regard to software and technology. The outcome many times is overspending and under-delivering. The wrong problem is solved and it is solved in a highly complex manner. Just Enough Technology means providing the right technology to solve the right problem at the right cost. Not too much, not too little. The objectives of the business must be prioritized and kept in mind from concept to design to implementation to maintenance. Every decision made along the way must map to a business objective. Every software requirement must map to a business objective. This is the foundation of Just Enough Technology – clear and concise business objectives. Those objectives drive the requirements, and the requirements drive the design and implementation. Too often this process is short-circuited and a company jumps right to design, resulting in an application that does not provide maximum benefit and probably is over-priced for the needs of the business.

Technorati Tags: Project,CBA,ROI,TCO,Ranck

Enable Joins WebSiteSpark

Dave Ranck — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:26:56 +0000

1/12/2010 – Today Enable Web Technologies has been selected to join the Microsoft WebSiteSpark program. Enable Web Technologies (www.enablewebtech.com) is the consulting company owned by myself and Victoria, my wife. We recently joined the Microsoft WebSiteSpark program.

From the FAQ on the WebSiteSpark partner site:

The program helps Web Pros drive new business opportunities through increased visibility and connections with partners (including Web Hosters) and customers around the world; WebsiteSpark also provides Web Pros with Microsoft tools and hosting solutions, as well as support and training.

WebSiteSpark gives Enable access to emerging technologies from Microsoft and a network of complementary professional service companies in the web space. This program and our nomination for participation provides a strong foundation on Microsoft technologies for our clients.

Is Software Engineering Dead?

Dave Ranck — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:23:35 +0000

A new article by Tom Demarco states: I’m gradually coming to the conclusion that software engineering is an idea whose time has come and gone. I still believe it makes excellent sense to engineer software. But that isn’t exactly what software engineering has come to mean.

When I first read this article I was taken aback. As I thought about it, I think I agree for the most part anyway. I found the article on Coding Horror and his thoughts about it as well.

One of the guys that I work with had the following well though out comments:

I like how they use the term “Craftsman” to describe what we do. It actually makes me think, if I were a knight getting ready to invade some castle in the dark ages, would I buy armor from an “Engineer” or a “Craftsman”? Sure I would expect it to have been designed at some point by an engineer, but designs are re-usable. I would think that occasionally someone would come back from wearing a similar, earlier design with specific flaws and maybe have things re-designed by engineers, and those tweaks perfected through practice and applied to other designs. When it comes down to it, those designs and tweaks become patterns and practices. I want my plate folded and shaped by a craftsman who knows those things, but more importantly, how to work with the tools and the different types of metal. One who’s reputation, and thus livelihood, hinged not on how sound a design it was but rather on how well it was executed. One who is meticulous and makes sure no impurities make their way to the critical pieces, making them prone to shatter or crack.

I don’t believe “Software Engineering” is dead, but I wouldn’t want to buy a piece of software from a shop full of them. In theory, they might solve every aspect of the design perfectly, but in reality, it would only work perfect in IE 5.5.3216 running Java 3.2.439. Data integrity might be protected, but how about the user experience. The ones I want writing software for me are the ones that take pride in the experience their software provides and make sure its practical and usable. The ones who have taken the time to master the tools that have been made available to them to assist in their craft.

You get the idea.

~Jeff

Tom Demarco’s article is here