SBC DotNet Weblog

MSDN Nuggets - A good idea! In about 10 minutes, view the technical know-how regarding MSDN topics. Works with a Media Player 9.
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Not suprisingly,  the Code Camp 3 has filled up . Now, I just hope I get into the particular sessions I have in mind (its first-come, first served). It should be a fun week-end.
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Got to get that one - Customizing the CLR.

Microsoft and Imation have collaborated to bring you the revolutionary new MSDN-enabled Disc Stakka CD/DVD Manager. This comprehensive disc management solution, designed specifically for MSDN developers, includes an automated process for exporting disc information from your MSDN subscription index into the Disc Stakka's database.
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Chris Garrett has a very reactive post to ThreadWatch's MS bashing. I concur with Chris - a website that professes to be "less noise, more signal" is certainly not using the Dolby System to lessen their noise about Microsoft. There is nothing more debilitating than listening to MS Bashing at work when you are developing .NET applications! About 2 years ago, I had encountered a tech lead (manager) whose constant MS Bashing at the start of every morning and opportunity was most demoralizing to the team members who were making a living with the .NET technologies. I saw that as very poor management and deplorably weak leadership that sapped motivation and was counter-productive.
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Jon Galloway's posting on why 'Joel got it wrong' has made me rethink Joel's College Advice. I had added to Joel's advice earlier on but I too don't think that 'C' in particular, is the correct choice. The emphasis really must be on *'Data structures and Algorithms' . Why? The most critical CS course, in my opinion, is *DS-A. Usually, this is a sophmore course in college and taught after a course or two of structured language programming (these may be Pascal, Java, C# or even C/C++). The *DS-A course is the foundation and a pre-requisite for most other CS courses - compilers, databases, networks, automata, etc.

If a student is very familiar with Pascal, Java or C then getting into another structured language is almost trivial (quite a few C++ programmers claim that they got into Java/C# over a week-end).

So, in terms of 'College Advice' - I would recommend taking a *DS-A course (and the near-mastery of a structured language would be presumed). *DS-A courses make better programmers (eventually better developers & architects) who go on to write systems with fewer bugs and thus, obviating the need for bug-tracking tools. ;-)
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I just spent an enjoyable ~2 hours listening to the 100th DotNet Rocks Show. Congratulations to Carl & crew for this milestone. Sorry to see wunderboy Rory leave because of a hectic work schedule but with the new incoming talent (Richard Campbell) - the show will go on! Check it out!
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A three-part series by Aaron Skonnard on .NET XML Best Practices  [via Ken Brubaker].
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