Codeguru Update eNewsletter – February 19th, 2008

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CodeGuru Newsletter
February 19,
2008
http://www.CodeGuru.com


This newsletter is part of the Developer.com, EarthWeb, and
internet.com networks.
Jupitermedia Corporation


___________________________ Sponsors
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TOPICS:



–> Editorial
–> Recently Published
Books


–> New on
CodeGuru: 
        ==>
Algorithms
               
– [Updated] Sorting Algorithms In
VB
        ==> C++
Language
               
– Function Calls, Part 4 (What Exactly Is
“this”?)
        ==> Keyboard
(VB)
               
– [Updated] SendKeys
        ==>
Misc.
               
– OP-ED: Fixed-Price Software Projects, or, The Quickest Way to a Financial
Calamity
        ==> .NET
Tip
               
– Return File Contents as a String
       
==> Web
Development
               
– Turn Image Hotlinking to Your Advantage



–> Discussion Groups — HOT
Threads 
        – Question
about pixels (VC++)
        – OLE Drag
problem with RTB | RichEdit (VB 6)
       
– Code not running Win98 (VB 6)


–> Highlighted new articles on
Developer.com 
        1.
Dynamic Service Discovery with
Java
        2. Creating Excel Files with
Python and Django
        3. Adding
RDL-Resident Code to Reporting Services Reports


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Comments
from the
Editor
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The final nail in the coffin for HD-DVD seems to have been struck. Toshiba is
pulling out of the HD-DVD market. It will be phasing out production of HD-DVD
players between now and the end of March. You can see the press release at:


http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,h8h,5653,jorm,i5r0


Toshiba has brought to market very inexpensive players and drives for playing
high-definition content. You have to give them kudos for that. What is
interesting in the press release about Toshiba ending production of the HD-DVD
players is the comment by Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba
Corporation. He states, “We carefully assessed the long-term impact of
continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift
decision will best help the market develop.”


Although they seemed to be losing the battle, they could easily have kept
pumping systems into the market and could have continued to hope to turn the
tide. After all, many would argue that HD-DVD was the cheaper standard, and that
the lower cost did not come at a notable cost. Even  so, Toshiba decided to
call an end to their part in the format war and let the market develop around a
single, more expensive standard.


HD-DVD players are not really a developer technology; however, the same
situation that has occurred with the dueling formats for high-definition digital
content also happens all the time with standards around technologies that do
impact developers. A prime example is in the area of open documents. Currently
OpenDocument is battling OOXML.


Is this battle good for developers and consumers? Or, would it be better for
one of the parties to step aside and let everyone focus on a single standard?
What if the standard that wins cost more to implement?


Similar standard wars have been fought in the past. The longer they are drawn
out, the more painful it is when one of the standards finally loses. How long
did technologies like CORBA fight to stay alive before finally resigning their
fate? Worse, how many man hours are lost due to the standard finally closing
down in favor of others?


In the long run, we have to be smart about what technologies we choose. We
have to learn to avoid picking the betamax, HD-DVD, and CORBA formats if we want
to make sure our products are going to be usable for the long run. If you’ve
figured out how to determine which will survive, let the rest of us know! In the
meantime, do you know anyone interested in buying some used HD-DVD
movies….


Until next week…


Brad!
—————————
Bradley L.
Jones
www.CodeGuru.com
—————————


[2/19/2008] – Note: Robert pointed out that betamax
as a standard did not actually die. It lost as a consumer standard, but it was
actually maintained and used at a professional, video production level.


/——————————————————————-
Crystal
Reports & MS 2008 Global Launch Wave
Crystal Reports makes an encore
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Bundled with Visual Studio 2008 and winner of the
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developers. Visit us in LA at the Microsoft Launch
Wave
Feb 27th and find out why.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,cpat,dst1,jorm,i5r0
————————————————————–adv.-/


=========================================================
Recently
Published Books
=========================================================


For those of you keeping up by reading books. The following are just a few of
the new books that have been recently released. If you’ve read any of these,
feel free to write a review to be posted on CodeGuru. See the submission
guidelines at:


http://www.codeguru.com/review-guidelines.php


–> Windows Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket
Consultant
      By William R. Stanek for
Microsoft Press
      640 pages for $34.99

      http://books.internet.com/books/0735624372

      Don’t try to put this book in your
pocket….


–> Presentation Zen:
      Simple
Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery

      By Garr Reynolds for New Riders
Press
      240 pages for
$29.99
      http://books.internet.com/books/0321525655


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New
& Updated Articles on
CodeGuru
==========================================================


Following are short descriptions of new articles on CodeGuru. If you are
interested in submitting your own article for inclusion on the site, then you
will find guidelines located at


http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,fka1,909i,jorm,i5r0


This week’s CodeGuru posts:


==> Algorithms


– [Updated] Sorting Algorithms In VB
   
By Richard Newcombe
Cover a few of the better-known sorting algorithms with
sample code for VB6.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,gk4k,9463,jorm,i5r0


==> C++ Language


– Function Calls, Part 4 (What Exactly Is
“this”?)
    By kirants
Learn about a dissasembly
view of function calls, and decipher the __thiscall calling convention.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,jztf,arn4,jorm,i5r0


==> Keyboard (VB)


– [Updated] SendKeys
    By TT(n)
The
existing SendKeys class does not have a managed way to activate an external
application. MSDN recommends that you should use the FindWindow and
SetForegroundWindow APIs. However, this alone does not ensure that the desired
application will have keyboard focus while the keys are being sent. This
replacement module sends keys directly to the specified window without
error.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,ifx1,1br,jorm,i5r0


==> Misc.


– OP-ED: Fixed-Price Software Projects, or, The Quickest
Way to a Financial Calamity
    By
Paul Kimmel
Successful software projects have to begin with the premise that
a fixed price, time, and project that is accurate may be a fantasy because there
are too many unknowns — people sometimes being the worst offenders. Fix a time
and price to what can be fixed and pay for what must be paid for.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,j7l6,f807,jorm,i5r0


==> .NET Tip



– Return File Contents as a String
    By
Jay Miller
What do you do when you need to read in an entire file and process
it as a string? Here is a simple solution.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,9ouy,acx8,jorm,i5r0


==> Web Development


– Turn Image Hotlinking to Your
Advantage
    By mendhak
Don’t block hotlinked
images; instead, learn how to label them to bring visitors to your web site and
increase your web presence, even if you are restricted by a shared hosting
environment.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,a727,23c7,jorm,i5r0


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Discussion
Groups
==========================================================


Check out the CodeGuru discussion forums at:


http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,bcr8,cx5j,jorm,i5r0


Forums include Visual C++, General C++, Visual Basic, Java, General
Technology, C#, ASP.NET, XML, Help Wanted, and much, much, more!


… HOT THREADS …


Some of the current threads with the most activity are:


==> Question about pixels
(VC++)
        http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,8ufu,eqpn,jorm,i5r0


==> OLE Drag problem with RTB | RichEdit (VB
6)
        http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,gi85,lvo1,jorm,i5r0


==> Code not running Win98 (VB
6)
        http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,edrn,91cs,jorm,i5r0


==========================================================
New
Articles on
Developer.com
==========================================================


Below are some of the new articles that have been posted to Developer.com (http://www.developer.com).


1. Dynamic Service Discovery with Java
   
By Rob Lybarger –
Learn what dynamic service discovery is and what it can
do  for you. Then see how easy it is to integrate this magic into your own
project.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,5sbr,960d,jorm,i5r0


2. Creating Excel Files with Python and
Django
    By Chris McAvoy –
Dumping data to
Excel through a web interface saves everyone a lot of time. Find out how to
do this quickly with Python and the Django web framework.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,ey29,35gq,jorm,i5r0


3. Adding RDL-Resident Code to Reporting Services
Reports
    By William R. Vaughn –
Sometimes,
it’s just easier to use your Visual Basic skills to incorporate complex
logic in a report expression.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,3sn6,1,8z02,ame8,jorm,i5r0


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