Codeguru Update eNewsletter – March 27th, 2007

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CodeGuru Newsletter
March 27, 2007
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 – Architects &
Birthdays

–> New on
CodeGuru: 
        ==>
GDI+
               
– Rendering Graphics in ASP.NET with
GDI+
        ==>
Graphics 
               
– [Updated] Creating Your Own Drawing Application with Visual Basic .NET, Part
1
        ==> .NET
Tip 
               
– Managing Development and Production Configuration
Files
        ==>
Security
               
– Implementing a UserNameForCertificate Security Using
WCF
        ==> VB
OOP
               
– [Updated] Comparison Between VB 6.0 and VB.NET Objects,  Parts 1, 2, and
3
        ==>
WCF
               
– WCF Chat Application
        ==>
XML
                – DocMounter Help File Builder


–> Discussion Groups — HOT
Threads 
        – Loop
problem: CPU usage (C++)
        – Pass-by
reference (Java)
        – Database and
graphs (VB 6)


–> Highlighted new articles on
Developer.com 
        1.
Modeling Content Types with
Schemata
        2. Secure Design
Principles
        3. Four Ways to Optimize Your MySQL Database


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Comments
from the
Editor
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Today I attended a presentation by Tim Landgrave on what
it is to be an architect in the world of computers. It seems that a lot of
people over the last few years have added the term ‘architect’ to their business
card, yet when you ask people what an architect is, you can get a lot of differing answers.


I’m not sure that the presentation I attended today
helped to do the best job of clarify what an architect is, or isn’t. It did,
however, hit on a number of points that fall into the realm of an architect’s responsibilities. In doing this, a great question was asked:


What top three new technology trends will impact your organization on the next two years?


This was a great question that got a lot of good
responses. If you read sites like DevX.com or Developer.com, then you can likely
name many such technologies. AJAX was one of the first mentioned. SOA, SaaS,
VoIP, RFID, and wireless communications were other items mentioned. I’m sure you can list several others that might impact your organization.


Once you’ve listed these, then there is a follow up question:


How can these trends be used as a competitive advantage for your organization?


This is an interesting question. Many developers fall
into the trap of believing that you need to implement the newest technologies
because they are, well, new. Being new, they must “save you time and money” and
will make it easy “for you to be more productive”.


Of course, this is marketing at its finest. This type of
logic has been used by marketers for decades, and strangely, many developers
believe it is true. What, however, is the real question? How will this give you
a competitive advantage? Saving your time doesn’t necessarily equate to a business advantage.


The discussion of technological advantage needs to be
viewed from the same perspective of other business advantages. At its core,
business is a focus on revenues minus expenses equating to a profit. If there is
no profit, then there will be no business — at least not for very long!


So how do the technologies you believe will impact your
business lead to greater revenue or less expenses so that you can in turn
realize a greater profit? Part of an architect’s job should be to help clarify
and support such realizations. If you can’t quantify how a new technology will
increase revenue or decrease costs, then you probably shouldn’t be using the technology.


The role of architect is becoming more visible.
Justifications in using new technologies are just one part of the role. Over
time this role will become better defined. In the mean time, the role is one
that should focus on the core business rules as well as helping to solve the right problem at the right time.


… Birthdays …


Normally we don’t point out birthdays in the newsletter, but there are two very special birthdays that have recently occurred.


The first is for Bob who entered the world about 12
years ago. You might remember Microsoft Bob. He was an innovative look at user
interface design that didn’t sit too well with humans…. Bill Gates later
married the person running the project; however, it is not believed that there is a connection between the two events….


The other birth date worth noting is that of Visual Studio. Visual Studio has
just hit the decade mark — it turns 10.


Until next week…


Brad!
Special thanks to Tim
for his presentation today.
—————————
Bradley L.
Jones
www.CodeGuru.com
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New
& Updated Articles on
CodeGuru
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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=1,32t0,1,fka1,909i,jorm,i5r0


This week’s CodeGuru posts:


==> GDI+


– Rendering Graphics in ASP.NET with
GDI+
    By Paul Kimmel
Web forms do not have a
canvas, so you can’t ask a Web form for its Graphics object. But, you can
simulate this behavior by rendering graphics in ASP.NET — with some help from
GDI+.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,gf7g,2h7i,jorm,i5r0


==> Graphics


– [Updated] Creating Your Own Drawing
Application with
Visual Basic .NET, Part
1
    By Hannes du Preez
Learn how to create your
own drawing application, step by step. This part (Part 1) creates the framework
for your drawing application.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,kck7,cmbz,jorm,i5r0


==> .NET Tip


– Managing Development and Production
Configuration
Files
    By Eric
Smith
If you use one server to develop your applications and  another to
deploy them, you probably have to change your database connection settings each
time you deploy your configuration files. Learn a quick fix for this
problem.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,igkg,dcez,jorm,i5r0


==> Security


– Implementing a UserNameForCertificate Security
Using WCF
    By Vijay Pandey
Learn how to design
a secure WCF service using UserNameForCertificate and how to write a Custom User
name validator.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,dm1y,l5ws,jorm,i5r0


==> VB OOP


– [Updated] Comparison Between VB 6.0 and VB.NET
Objects, Parts 1, 2, and 3
    By Hannes du
Preez
Learn about the differences in the Visual Basic 6 Project Explorer and
the Visual Basic .NET Solution Explorer and about the differences of how VB6 and
VB .NET manage project files and projects.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,i4bk,5aro,jorm,i5r0
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,jfsu,1s7j,jorm,i5r0
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,237f,igf3,jorm,i5r0


==> WCF


– WCF Chat Application
    By Jayant
Kulkarni
The application uses .NET 3.0 and WCF to establish a peer to peer
communication using netPeerTcpBinding. It uses .NET 3.0 predefined contract and
.NET predefined services.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,6po4,27ue,jorm,i5r0


==> XML


– DocMounter Help File Builder
    By
10Tec
Tool for creating MS Visual Studio XML documentation files. These files
can be used in Visual Studio, and to get the modern help using such tools as
NDoc and SandCastle.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,8eew,bv5o,jorm,i5r0


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Discussion
Groups
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Check out the CodeGuru discussion forums at:


http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,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:


==> Loop problem: CPU usage
(C++)
        http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,ku1c,luwr,jorm,i5r0


==> Pass-by reference
(Java)
        http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,8y28,drj5,jorm,i5r0


==> Database and graphs (VB
6)
        http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,lo2u,hbx8,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. Modeling Content Types with
Schemata
    By Sean Kelly –
Explore Archetypes,
a content schema system, and see how it fits in with content management systems.
You will also create new content types to tackle simple but real-world
challenge, managing your DVD library, and all with a pretty user
interface.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,51ou,l838,jorm,i5r0


2. Secure Design Principles
    By Neil
Daswani, Christoph Kern, & Anita Kesavan –
Security doesn’t start with
the coding. You must understand and implement security practices in the design
stage to security within your applications.
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,i6ts,6nbx,jorm,i5r0


3. Four Ways to Optimize Your MySQL
Database
    By Jason Gilmore –
See how you can
make your MySQL database absolutely scream!
http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,32t0,1,hxhc,dqo0,jorm,i5r0


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