While looking around for a few C# bits to help with quickly parsing Apache log files I found this usful bit of code from Mark Focas. It needs some work to adapt it for what I need to do but seeing as how there are very few results when searching for C# related Apache Log file format it is probably a good idea to mention this and incease the google juice for it.

OK, I admit, it has taken much longer to bring this website online and have it move in the direction I wanted to. It wasn’t procrastination but just the fact that I haven’t had time to get around to it, move some DNS entries around, switch to a new host for the site. Work has kept me extremely busy and every time I plan to take a breather it only seems to result in more work that needs to be done. Which, of course, I am not going to complain too much about.

Now that the site has finally moved to a new host and the DNS will be switched in a week or so I hope we can grow this site into a useful resource. I have a little help so shouldn’t have to take care of the entire site all the time on a daily basis.

I’ve recently been really getting into PowerShell and investigating its potential as a new automation and scripting platform for the countless command line based processes I’m running all the time. The first thing I did was purchase a copy of PowerShell Analyzer, which I think is one of the most valuable tools for anyone getting serious about digging into PowerShell’s object paradigm. And while you’re checking out PowerShell Analyzer, check out what the Shell Tools guys are working on; PowerShell Plus. Amazing stuff.

A few resources to help you on your way, as they did help me:

• A guided tour of the Microsoft Command Shell by Ryan Paul
• The PowerScripting Podcast by Jonathan Walz
• The Windows PowerShell Team Blog
• The Wikipedia page on PowerShell (with more resources)
• The online PowerShell Owners Manual
• The PowerShell Guy (Marc van Orsouw)
• PowerShell Community Extensions (PSCX)
• PowerTab

The latest version of Subversion and TortoiseSVN are now 1.4.5. Note that these are important security fixes!

Download Subversion (SVN)

Download TortoiseSVN

Mark Russinovich at Microsoft has released a new version of Process Explorer (version 11.0). Once you start using this you’ll forget all about the Windows Task Manager. New features include:

• New treelist control for better UI responsiveness
• Asynchronous thread symbol resolution on threads tab of process properties
• More flags on groups in security tab and SID display
• Thread IDs on threads tab
• On-line search uses default web browser and search engine
• Vista ASLR column for processes and DLLs
• Vista Process and thread I/O and memory priorities in process and thread properties
• Vista Process and thread I/O and memory columns
• PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION support on process permissions on Vista
• Run as limited user runs with low IL on Vista
• Reports information for all object types on Vista
• Show details for all processes elevation menu item on Vista
• Supports replacement of task manager on Vista
• /e to launch elevated
• /s switch to select a process at startup
• Compiled w/ASLR, DEP
• Faster startup
• Miscellaneous bug fixes and minor improvements

Roland Weigelt has released a new version of GhostDoc, version 2.1.0, the add-on for Visual Studio that helps speed up the writing of XML comments in your code. I’ve been using GhostDoc for many months now and I strongly suggest checking it out (unless you’re one of those developers who doesn’t like comments and prefer to inflict maintenance horrors on others). New to 2.1.0 is VB.NET support and full support for events, including inherited documentation and user-defined custom rules.

Resharper 3.0 adds a lot of new features that, without a doubt, are going to be welcomed by developers dealing with Visual Basic.NET, XML, and XAML. The cross language functionality is most certainly a welcome addition for those of us that have mixed code projects!

A new version of the continuous integration server, CruiseControl.NET version 1.3, has been released. Check the release notes for more details. Some of the new features include integration queue support to control project build serialization, and AccuRev and FinalBuilder support.

What do you mean you’ve never heard of those groundbreaking development methodologies? Well, perhaps you haven’t but I do think you should check them out if you’ve got a minute so Scott Berkun can explain these to you in detail. I would like to add, OOCDD, Out Of Control Driven Development. Unlike most methodologies, it’s an encapsulated methodology that derives from all others. Especially considering how out of control development gets, regardless of methodology.

Have you already taken the Programmer Personality Test? The website describes this as being based on “the Myers-Briggs Personality Test and has been changed to relate to your programming personality type. This is not a joke test and is really only relevant to programmers, however anyone is welcome to take the test”.

We think it’s high time the Programmer Personalities list of possible results is extended with the various personalities that are also often encountered; the HTS [hide the screen] personality (programmers who shield their screens from the prying eyes of colleagues and usually won’t leave a single comment in their code), the CMA [coffeemaker architect] personality (software architects who gather their input from programmers at the coffeemaker), the NAWYNT [never around when you need them] personality (programmers who avoid crunch time and allow others to solve their bugs for them), and the SGNTRN [sorry got no time right now] personality… which is what I am, so if I had more time I’d probably be adding more fun personalities that we all know are out there in the real world.

Image.NET is an interesting development of an open-source .NET 2.0 based image viewer application. According to the description it is designed to be lightweight and fast. Anyone who has used any of the commercial image viewers on the market over the past year will have noticed they are turning into bloat-ware so this is a welcome development.

Of course it would be even more interesting to see how RAW files and/or specific features of RAW files (like Nikon’s NEF format, for example) are going to be supported, if they are going to be supported. One of the things that would be really interesting is seeing some source code other than DCDraw.c that deals with all the various RAW flavors.

JetBrains has released a new version of their TeamCity build management and continuous integration product. You can find out about the new features in 2.1 here.

TheKua has offered some tips on speeding up Visual Studio 2005. Of course, we believe that anyone who still hasn’t disabled the Startup Page must be heading to the coffee machine when starting Visual Studio. We do of course recommend frequent visits to the coffee machine, regardless. Maybe the Startup Page load time is an excellent excuse.

Stefan Didak, one of the founders and a development patron of MantiCORE Labs certainly has a crazy home office. Is there a sign above the door that reads “Development Nirvana” or something?

If you are looking for the “Is .NET the future of 3D applications and development?” article that used to be on this site then follow this link to get there. Originally written and published 19-08-2002. Since the initial publication by mantiCORE Labs several companies such as Avid/Softimage (Softimage XSI 6.0) and Autodesk (3ds max) and have recognized the relevance of .NET and have, at the end of 2006 both released products that offer some integration with .NET. It ‘only’ took 4 years.