Web Sheets

There are a number of web sites that now provide on-line Spread Sheets, google has spreadsheets, there is also numsum spreadsheets, and yet another one iRows spreadsheets.  Each one of them is free, and each one of them is functional, and once Microsoft comes out with Office 12 / Office 7 and the Excel Services functionality, we should see a slew of offerings utilizing the Excel Web Access functionality.  Perhaps even a web enabled Excel Compute Cluster solution, now that would be cool, if it could take compliant spreadsheets and run them across the compute cluster, and give me back the results, does any one know of such an initiative? 

All of this activity in the spreadsheet space may give products like KDCalc cause for concern, this will be interesting to watch.

Windows Workflow and Web services join forces

Joining forces are Web Services and the Windows Workflow Foundation, this article provides a good starting point for those wanting to get up to speed.

IronPython and WPF

Check out this little gem

911 5 years on

As you may have seen on TV, all the news channels have been covering the memorial, and rightly so.  I remember very clearly what happened that day, I was sitting in my office when the first plane hit, we could see the twin towers very clearly from our conference room.  Watching the first tower burn was painfull, and then when I heard my office manager scream, as she watched the second plane hit, was sickening.  Panic throught out the office, my fellow collegues wondering what was happening as was I.  We sat in silence watching the towers burn, and then to my horror to see the first one fall was heart breaking, it is impossible to find the words to describe what emotions ran through my head, and then the second fell it was mind numbing.  My first priority was to the people in the office, to make sure that they could get home by what ever means possible.  I was the last to leave the office.

I live in the Village, so walked home, the closer I got to my building, the sicker I got, the smell of burning material was over powering, and the realization of the horrors that had occurred that day started to hit home, nothing that occured in London over the years could have prepared me for the level of devistation and hatred that had been directed not just at New York, but also at the pentagon and flight 93.

I will never forget that day, even now I can still smell the fumes from that day, a constant mental reminder.

My heart goes out to those that lost loved ones, and those that are now suffering from the toxic waste that they breathed in that day, they where there to help when it was needed most.  The government should be there now to support those that are suffering.

Peace.

Refactoring Multiple Type Files

JetBrains’ ReSharper is an essential tool for all developers, if you are not using it on your projects, then start doing so ASAP.  I do have one gripe, which is as follows;

I am currently re-factoring a C# code base into logical layers, i.e. UI, business layer, abstraction between application and Fix engine vendor, etc.  My initial intention is to isolate all of the specific Fix Engine functionality into a separate assembly hidden by an interface, as I will need to in the future replace one Fix Engine with an alternative, and it also allows me the ability to provide a mock Fix Engine, which allows UI developers to concentrate on the UI components without the need to have access to a full Fix Engine Install.

The issue at the moment, is that the original designers of the code, decided to place multiple type’s into a single file, making it difficult to separate the code into the appropriate assemblies.  I in general dislike this practice, I personally prefer that a file contains one type (perhaps this is a throw back to my java days where this was mandatory), there are exceptions to the rule, but in general that’s my preferred approach. 

ReSharper does have the ability to move types between namespaces and also files, which is a solution, but I would also like to see a facility within ReSharper that will, given a selected file, automatically take each type identified within it and generate a corresponding source module for that type, using the same name as the type (obviously), this would avoid the need for me to have to select each type in return and perform the move type operation.  This operation would not be needed in most cases, but when taking what is a large unstructured project, I think it is essential as I want my refactoring efforts to be quick and with minimal error.

Windows Aero

Spent some time trying to hunt down a WDDM driver for my Display chipset which is the Intel(R) 915GM/GMS/910GML and it looks like I am out of luck, it would seem that Intel is refusing to support Aero on this chipset and instead only offering up the necessary WDDM driver for the 945 chipset.

Vista Build 5536

I have just installed 5536 on my Hp Dv1000, which I have just upgraded to 2Gig RAM, all went smoothly once I decided to do a clean install rather than an upgrade.  For some reason when I tried the upgrade path, the install was insistant that I remove Borland Delphi 9.0, which is kinda odd, as I have never installed Delphi 9.0 on my machine, hmmm something smells rotten there.

The install detected my Wireless device and installed the appropriate drivers, and I was online instantly, all of the requirements for running Windows Aero are meet except for the necessary WDDM driver, which I have yet to find for my model.

A read of the HP link may offer me some solutions, fingers crossed.