Joel From Canada

Joel Semeniuk's Blog

  • My Tablet Rocks..."M-O-O-N" - that spell's rocks!!!

    I've tried for years to go digital - PDA's from the Palm to CE just didn't do it for me.  The problem is that they weren't input devices (even though it was possible with extra keyboards and fairly good hand writing recognition)...but I just couldn't do it.  Had to force myself to use these devices - not natural at all to work on a 3 X 4 inch surface...that would be good for the detectives on Law and Order though...

  • New Hardware and the System Restore Process

    Just got myself a brand spanking new computer.   Intel 3.08Gig Hyperthreading with 2 Gigs of RAM with a 128MB ATI All in One 9700 Pro....can we say power?  Laws yes... M-O-O-N that spells "power"...Laws yes.

  • Inspiration comes from many places…

    For me, I get inspired by software.  I’m not sure why, but truly innovative software (not just new releases of existing software like going from Office 2000 to Office XP – NO Smart Tags didn’t inspire me) really tickles my fancy.  Now, new and innovative software coupled with new and innovative hardware takes me right to the edge!!!

  • Code Smarter? How about more consistent

    I've always been a mentor of some kind.  With that I'm always looking for ways to help unify how people and teams work - and I commonly look at document templates, forms, etc to help the process.  But what about code?  Sure, you could use features like Enterprise Templates to help guide the structure of your projects - but what about code?    I want to see everyone on my teams code the same way - no matter what their background is or what they are used to.  In most team environments, I usually wrestle with getting people to write nice, consistent, maintainable code according to some coding convention (which seems to change from project to project for some reason).  Face it, coders are lazy (and that includes me!!!)  and they like to do things their way because they are always smarter then anyone else.  This makes maintenance a nightmare and code reviews painful.  So, how do you achieve consistency across your development team?  You can also RAM coding conventions down people throats with little success.  You can spend endless time training people - who's got time for that anyway?  Or...you can make it easy to conform to coding standards using the tool you actually cut code in (well, not notepad...I mean VS.NET).