Silverlight 2.0

Ok, so I went to my first Dev Conference on Thursday night. I was invited by a guy named Paul and you can see his blog here. It was in the Microsoft office in Islin, NJ which is seriously like ½ mile from my office where I just so happened to be on Thursday (I usually work out of my home). So, anyway, I went there and got there early and felt a little weird so I pretended to be busy on my iPhone. A friend of mine told me that a lot of the girls that go to these things are recruiters. I tried to look as technical as possible and as uninterested in hiring people as I could. I can’t forget to mention there was free pizza.

 

So, anyway, let’s talk about Silverlight 2.0. Before the conference I heard it described as “Microsoft’s answer to Flash.” That made me wonder why so many developers were interested, but I got it after the “seminar?” It’s Microsoft Flash ++, ++++++. So, the guy (I think his name was Justin? If it wasn’t it is now), so Justin started talking about the History of JavaScript and web design trending (hmmm… where have we heard that before?). Showed us some old crap and made us chuckle. He then proceeded to start telling us about Silverlight 1.0.  Now 1.0 didn’t wow me. I mean it was pretty cool, introduced a super HTML called XAML… kind of like AJAX it just worked with some special easily manipulated async controls. It allowed any type of media to be embedded *yawn*. This was cool, but as I’m not too interested in streaming media (at least when it comes to development, when it comes to hogging bandwidth rock on, brother) it wasn’t super awesome. You have to remember that Silverlight is a little painful because like ActiveX or Java or Flash you have to download it the first time you use it. Yuck.

 

We worked a little in Expression Blend (which I downloaded and never played with)…. I do like the Expression Suite because of the marriage it makes btw developers and designers…. But that’s just about it. The greys and blacks make me want to seize….. that’s about as far as I hope to get with it. ANYWAY, I got to see a lot of things familiar to flash and the Macromedia suite. We made some videos dance. I mean, the fact that you can put videos in buttons, eeeeh, neat.

 

So, the real fun came when we started looking at Silverlight 2.0. Now, hold on, are you ready for this? I don't think you are, take a breath. There is a built in browser CLR compiler. I’m going to let that sink in for a second. You do know what that means, don’t you? CLIENT SIDE C# THAT’S WHAT THAT MEANS. How cool is that? Gone are the days when I am saying “damn it, how the heck am I going to do this is JS it would be so much easier to do it in C# (oh yeah, VB.NET too). Imagine all you can do with a little cached data? We’re talking postbacks are history…. Basically…. I mean, we just will be using them a lot less.

 

Also, imagine the functionality you can add to videos with this stuff. We got to see some sites like HSN.com where there was live streaming TV that you could manipulate and change like no other website (or tivo, for that matter) could.

 

So, all in all a great experience, I got to meet some other developers. I’m really excited about the Silverlight thing too. I hope I will have access to it during my redesign. My company gives me access to a lot of Microsoft Products. So, maybe it will be on the server by then.

 

Join us next week when we talk about “Computer Kharma: Fact or Fiction?” and my ongoing work as well as my coming Vista/VS 2008 switch.

What the heck is wrong with people?

So, my baby Steven the cat was outside, and didn't come home for a while. I was worried about him, then he finally came back at 3am with his mouth looking all jacked up. I thought he got into a fight or something but it looked really serious and he couldn't eat. I bought him some broth and gave him some milk and then brought him to the vet ASAP this morning.

The Vet was really nice, he said that he may have a fractured jaw and someone may have kicked him. Because if he was run over or something it would be worse and usually when a cat fights he doesn't fracture a jaw or anything.

Well I just talked to them and his jaw is fractured and they were wiring it shut.

What the fuck (sorry, but I'm really upset) is wrong with people? Who would EVER kick a cat? How the fuck did your parents raise you to think that is EVER ok? I know some people don't like animals, and that's fine. However, even the people I know that don't like animals would never hurt them like that.

I'm really upset, my poor little guy. I was going to blog about my first Dev Conference last night on Silverlight 2.0 but I have a lot of work to do and I'm really upset.

Just some links... mad sick, bros!!

Hey Guys, been really sick the past 24 hours. Think it was some crab soup I had for lunch yesterday. Have lots of development updates, but those have to wait for now. Figured I'd do something short and sweet and try to entertain by passing on some things that I think are hilarious. So, strap in and prepare to laugh.

Punching People In The Face Before Eating -  Ok, so this is an oldie and a goodie. I am one of the few people in this world that think SNL NEVER SUCKED. I have been a huge fan since I was very little. You know how everyone has one dream? Like, if I could do anything in the world it would be.... well, for me it would be to be on SNL. I think those people are some of the smartest and most creative people in the world. You have to have a lot in your noggin to consistantly make people laugh.

So, anyway, the digital shorts are pure awesomeness. Andy Samburg is a genius, in the way that most people > 40 say "Man, that kid is an idiot, who thinks that is funny? What did his parents do to him?" (side note - couldn't sit through more than 4 mins of his movie "Hot Rod" don't know why. Still think he is great.) This is my favorite digital short. I must watch it at least once a day.  Click Here To Watch PS Hulu is awesome.

Best Online Comic - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. Otherwise known as XKCD. Makes me laugh a lot, sometimes I just like to sit there and hit "Random" over and over. It's at XKCD.com, but here are some of my favorites, there are a lot of them but once you get started you will realize it's 100% worth it:

http://xkcd.com/327/

http://xkcd.com/249/

http://xkcd.com/148/

http://xkcd.com/331/

http://xkcd.com/385/

http://xkcd.com/325/

http://xkcd.com/292/

http://xkcd.com/153/

http://xkcd.com/130/ -  I actually do remember this, and not only was it awesome but it was SUPER AWESOME. This was my favorite show as a kid.

http://xkcd.com/190/

... ok I "m done now.

Funniest Sports Writer - Hands down this guy: Bill Simmons. He's a really great writer, and notices all the hilarity that is sports. Such as the fact that sports writers and radio personalities are the biggest drama queens on the planet, and that the Wire was the best show on TV, and that Yankees fans are possibly the biggest douches as a rule.. His podcasts are very funny, except when he has his friend Dave Dameshek on, that guy is a sexist and a total ass. 

Best Cancelled Show Ever - And you can watch it online! Arrested Development was the best show on television (before the Wire). For some reason the proletariat didn't like it, and it got canceled. Horrible, I've rarely seen anything so clever. You can watch it all on Hulu, there are three seasons it should entertain you for a long time.

Funniest Show Currently On Television - 30 Rock I freaking love Tina Fey.... she is a big role model of mine. So is a natural choice. Tina Fey does most of the writing and Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan are hilarious.

Guilty Pleasure -  What Would Tyler Durden Do? I hate celebrity news, I think its so dumb, and I don't care what they do with their free time. However, this guy makes it funny, so I like it. However, please don't tell anyone.

Ok, well, I'm feeling a little better so I'm going to try to get some work done. Blech. (I don't know if anyone noticed but I apparently love NBC.)

Mind Your Intar-Business

Seriously, I am still loving this social networking crap. I like feeling closer to people with little to no effort. I like being able to see what my friends are doing. I like taking inventory of the people I know, where they are. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, now my blogtastic goodness. I always know everyone’s status. Everyone knows mine. Right now I am “So glad to get my iPhone back”.

You know my likes and dislikes and I know yours. You know that I think Arrested Development is by far the best cancelled show ever. You know I like the Mets and the Packers, and I would knife someone to steal a plate of sliders. If you didn’t know that it would be relatively easy to find that out. You would just need google and a penchant for stalking people on the internet (an epidemic in and of itself).

Is it bad that our identities can be wrapped up in 1000 words or less in an “About Me” section (and the first 10 seconds of a song)? Yes, but that’s not the worst of it.

The worst of it is that we know too dang much about each other. I am not being ignorant and anti progress. I love new things, especially when they are flashy with bright colors. However, there are tools being published all the time that are enabling us to greedily give away the the fabric that makes us unique.

 Microsoft Search Together: AHHHH, I don’t want people to know what I am searching for! It would be one thing if we were all classy and chummy like the people in the example. We were all searching for places to stay in our jet setting tour of Europe where all we need is our backpack and our dreams. No, we are not. We are searching for stupid crap. Here are some things from my google search history:

Clearly this was a banner day. I was trying to find a new haircut, a place to get it done, and some princess quotes to vandalize my brother’s xbox live profile with. I don’t want you people knowing this crap about me. Heck, I wish google didn’t know this stuff about me. I can only imagine the things boys are searching for. Somehow I would rather not to learn about your “midget thousand island dressing tarp” searches.

Ok, so that’s just google searching, I mean what do you really have to hide (you know, besides “rick roll funny video bababooey”). Check out  this bad boy. Social networking based on DNA. Because that’s an awesome idea. I really want to learn that my ex boyfriend was really my 14^th cousin on my mother’s side. I really want BoiCrzyBston08 to know that I have carry the Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency gene, and that my mother passed me Tay-Sachs. I also definitely want to be stored in a semi secure database, you know, in case Americans decide to arbitrarily give away more freedoms or something (WHAT? There are lots of brown people, some wear hats.)

We have to wonder if we are unwittingly creating our own Big Brother. Not, like, 1984 Big Brother, like a cool Big Brother, that plays catch with you and lets you hang out with his older friends yet sometimes comes home from school and inexplicably beats the crap out of you leaving you to wonder “What did I do wrong?” We have to draw the line for ourselves I suppose. Watch it, as much as you want people to know what makes you YOU, how about choosing some intar-modesty sometimes. Keep the mystery alive.

 

Dev Diary - 04/27

Ok, so, I am veto-ing putting NANT on the staging server. Even though its good practice for Agile development to have daily builds, there is only one developer (me). It makes it a little overzealous. While it would be best to get that done at some point, time is a factor now and there are more important things than NANT on the horizon.

 

Looking for a good cheap bug tracker. I LOVE fogbugz. Also worked with unfuddle which is good. Both can be pricey based on what you are using them for.

 

I have started making little changes to the app of Project:Awesome just to get things working. Looking at this application recently I have discovered the following things:

·         Weird security for an internal app. I don’t really understand the necessity? Maybe to make it scalable (which brings me back to my original point).

·         UI is pretty raw. Orig developer even admitted he kind of threw it together. Looking forward to gutting it.

·         Bad variable naming. I don’t like non descriptive variables, and there are a whole bunch. Along with digits on the end of them. Annoying. Also did prefixes for stored procs like SEL and DEL I really don’t like that and plan to sp_rename the crap out of them.

I mean the app works (mostly), but the structure is pretty wild and difficult to get a grasp of. Lot of third part apps. From what I can understand it takes text and turns it into .pdf then into another printable format and sends it to a printer. I really don’t understand the need for the pdf conversion. Its nothing that can’t be done with just html.

Also learned that the original dev is an ISTJ. Which pretty much means he (inaccurately) thinks I’m an idiot. Really can’t rely on him to help me without speaking badly about me. Been there. So, I’ve been trying to ask him as little as possible. Update -This actually isn't true. I was thinking of my interaction with a INFJ, I got the two confused. This is good to know. Basically it means that I think he has a lot to learn. I don't know this to be true because I haven't really spent time with him.... but it does make me trust him a bit more. In the future I wont be as cautious asking him for help.  There is another dev I am working with, I met him last week. Seems pretty smart and will be a big help. He is not on Project:Awesome but he’s on my team.

Pretty much have my PM pegged as an ISTP. Which means he doesn’t really “get” me. Thinks I’m a little unconventional, but is open to my style as long as it brings results. Also means he’s a hard worker, honest, and enterprising. I think we will work together well.

Think my boss is a male ESFJ (rare). Which means he’s warm, kind, likes people, and works HARD. A lot of my friends are ESFJs, also means he respects my brilliance. Which is always good in a boss. 

 

For those of you wondering what I am talking about look here: http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html

So, now that the vpc is set up and the app is running. We are going to be moving on to the other development items. That’s exciting.

On a lighter note me and Erika went out this weekend and had a fun time. We went to a club and found this guy on the dance floor. I asked him for the specs to the flux capacitor. He took it in stride, lol.

UI Design - Developer Kryptonite?

Ok, so we’ve all been there. You tell a compu-gentile what you do and they say something like “Oh, wow, web development that must be fun. Web designers are so cool.” NO! You have to clarify, “I am not a designer, sorry. I do the backend stuff. I’m not good at making things look nice. I have people that do those things for me.” There is a certain stigma that is attached to “softer science” of interface design. Kind of like “NO, I’m the architect, not the decorator. “ However, this is an important facet in any developer’s knowledge base. Like hardware setup, and server installs. Not technically part of the gig, but it makes you a more resourceful, and valuable asset.

“Awesome. So the girl starts out by attacking UI design. Softball.” Hey, give me a minute. This is something that I have recently become quite passionate about. I’m really trying to change some minds out there when it comes to friendly, intuitive design. (No, this has nothing to do with a boy.) Plus, I will be re-designing the front end of Project:Awesome within the next few months so this is something that has been brewing.

So how do I personally go about designing a new interface?

1.        Steal other people’s sh*t. Seriously, not kidding right now. If you’re a developer designing a front end you are most likely in a small organization. You don’t have the money for focus groups and research teams. This type of thing is important though. Remember, the most important thing in web design, you want to make a site that people want to be at. There are an unlimited number of websites out there. Unlike physical business people aren’t limited by location. If you think you have something unique you don’t. If you do it won’t be for long. So, first, go take a look at some sites that are in the same genre as yours and get some ideas. I’m not saying steal their style, I’m saying glean some knowledge from the buku bucks they are spending.

2.        What do you hate? Ok, so we all have our pet peeves when it comes to websites. Por exemplo: I hate when a site has huge ads all over the place. In the middle of articles, monster quarter page flashy “SOMEONE HAS A CRUSH ON YOU CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT WHO” “KILL THE SPIDER TO SAVE 234098723 DOLLARS A YEAR ON YOUR CAR INSURANCE FREE MORTGAGE WITH PURCHASE” I know that ads are a large portion of the revenue for many sites, but there is a way to make it tasteful. Yes a 400x500 px monstrosity will get you the big bucks, but how much traffic will you lose? Facebook manages ad placement perfectly. Trust in your instincts. Also, ask other people what they dislike about the web.

3.        What do you like? I like AJAXy looking JS submenus. They save you page space and look snazzy. I like lots of information in a little area. The fact that I am logged in, that I have 54709 new messages, that I have a new comment… all in the same place. These are things that I will remember when doing my redesign.

4.        Web Fashion No joke this past Saturday I went to a makeup event and the one girl said “Looks from the 40s are really in this season.” HELLO??? That’s so Winter ’07. No, but seriously, like clothing the web has a fashion as well. Right now if you take a look around you will find very dual-chromatic themes. Meaning one, maybe two colors on white. Simple ROYBGIVs. Reds, blues, very big. Simplicity is key. I see rounded edges on pages and components. Square corners on menus.

5.      Find the least intar-friendly person you know and ask them if it makes sense to them.One of the best developers I’ve ever had the privilege of working with sent me this article: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/fog0000000249.html (It’s a tie btw him and this guy, really can’t call it). It’s an older article but the wisdom is timeless. One of the most important pieces of wisdom I garnered from that is make sure it makes sense to the people that are the least comfortable with the web. I use my mom, but she’s getting better at the whole web thing so I could use a new candidate.

 

 

 

These are my 5 steps to simple and effective web design. Remember, its nothing to be afraid of. It doesn’t make you less technical to be a good designer. That’s an antiquated notion along the lines of HD DVD and two way pagers. Learn it!

 

 

Welcome!

INAUGERAL POST let the fun begin! So, right now I am working on my Visio model of what will be the environment for my newest project. Let’s call it “Project Awesome.” Anyway, so, I’m working with things I am familiar with. Dev to Staging to Prod, using Nant for builds and SVN for source control. These are all things I know, however, I haven’t ever implemented them myself,. The thing I am most scared about is Nant, I remember a much more experienced developer than I setting it up the last time I worked with it and he ran into some road blocks. However, that’s part of the adventure, no? I have finished downloading all the exe and iso ‘s so heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we go.

Visio is an awesome tool. Haven’t worked with this before and it makes life so easy. As with any programmer worth his salt I hate doing documentation (I’m just making that up, but it is now a fact. Do you like it? So there. ) This whole WYSWYG thing is awesome. Drag -> drop -> done. Rockstar.

We put together a vpc that held the development environment (in project Awesome “we” refers to me and a project manager). Apparently the company we are doing this for only had the app on one server, no backups. Bitchin. So, the PM decided that step one was putting a vpc together so we could deploy it on any PC. I thought this was redundant, and wanted to just put together production (or staging) for that matter and copy the image. Set up backups and builds and the like. However, I was veto’d. I would have fought more if I understood the app better. Down the road I wont back down so easily.

This has been an adventure, there are multiple third party tool involved and the structure is a bit foreign to me. Far as I can tell there is a webservice that is internal to the app on the local machine. After looking into this I was told this is for an external interface, but I don’t think there is one. Once I sit with it for a while longer I’m sure I will understand more. The good thing about it is if I don’t like how it’s being done I can change it.