Ten commandments of .NET

1. Thou shall learn XML, now! If .NET is an angel from Microsoft then its wings are woven with XML, and you need to understand the basics of XML before you can fly with .NET. XML is used for configuration files, SOAP,Serialization, and it's tightly integrated with ADO.NET. You can get away without knowing XML, but you won't get far.

2. Thou shall become an object-oriented programmer! To understand .NET and build successful applications you must understand OOP. VB programmers now have new object-oriented capabilities, but may not know how or when to
use them. You should understand interfaces and abstract classes (there's a difference between the two in .NET), implementation inheritance, function overriding, and shared members. If your not familiar with OOP at all, start learning ASAP. If your established with OOP as it applies to VB6 then dig deeper into OOP methodology, it will certainly make .NET more enjoyable.

3. Thou shall concentrate on the .Net framework, not the language being used. No matter what .NET language you use, your still using the same framework, so it's very important to focus on the framework, not a particular language. Keep in mind that most of the functions you'll use while programming are from the framework, so using a new language is easy,
simply adjust to the syntax. Plus, having C#, C++, VB, Perl, Pascal, COBOL, Fortran, and Eiffel on your resume is more impressive than having just one.

4. Thou shall not go it alone. Get involved in the .NET community. This is the best way to dive into .NET. Message boards are a great resource because you can read problems and questions posted by beginners, and examine the solutions they received. After all, it's better to learn from others mistakes than to learn by repeating them. DotNetNut.com is a great
place to start. You'll find message boards, original articles, constantly updated FAQ, and an enormous amount of links to other great resources. We 'll help you spend more time learning and less time digging for answers.

5. Thou shall adapt to new development environment. For VB programmers the VS.NET IDE is a big change, and it's going to take some effort to adjust. Not only is there much better support for debugging than in VB6, but there is also the ability to record and playback macros. Get intimate with the IDE, missing out on great new features is shameful.

6. Thou shall abandon DCOM and use remoting. DCOM was a big step in Microsoft distributed computing, but it's time has passed. Remoting is the .NET model for distributed computing. It's more flexable, featuring plugable channels and protocols, and it generally out performs DCOM. Administration is done easily through application configuration files
which elevate the headache of DCOM administration. Althought it takes a little more coding than DCOM the benefits are well worth it.

7. Thou shall not use VS.NETs code generators without understanding the code they generate. VS.NET has some great code generators that can save you time, but only use them if you understand the code they generate. Create a sample application, use the code generators, and be come very familiar with the results. It's impossible to support code ou don't
understand.

8. Thou shall use structure error handling in VB. VB developers have a choice, either learn how to use structured error handling, or use the old On Error method. Using structured error handling brings flexibility and maintainability to VB and is one of the best new features. There are two reasons On Error should be left behind. One is because Try Catch Finally
will be used in all .NET languages, On Error is VB specific. Two, because structured error handling is much more powerful, giving you the ability to nest Try Catch statements and layer exceptions.

9. Thou shall avoid using COM+ for single phase transactions. COM+ is great for two phase commits because of the DTC, but there is extra overhead for database locks due to the nature of the transaction. It's a waste of database resources to indiscriminately use COM+ when a less intensive lock can be used. Transactions through the Data namespaces are
lighter and should be used for single phase transactions. It is possible to get the same automatic transaction enrollment available in COM+ by using the SinglePhaseTransactionContext component available for download (complete with source files) at DotNetNut.

10. Thou shall not underestimate the complexity of .NET. Is .NET going to make development easier? Yes, but (there's always a but) the .NET framework is so vast, and there are so many new concepts involved that NET will be difficult at first. If your new to the .NET runtime, than you may not know what value types and boxed types are, how the garbage
collector works, or what application domains are. All these concepts are new to microsoft developers and important, to ignore them is sinful.

Courtesy: a Fellow MVP

Microsoft ....again in news...but this times its good

Microsoft has opened an IT academy in the flourshing state of Jharkand. For all those, who dont know abt jharkand.
Jharkand is the earlier brother of Bihar. Bihar was one of the big states and the state was split into two for convenience and the richer of the Bihar is called Jharkand and the poorer is known as bihar. Bihar is ruled by a lovable patriot calle Laloo. He has 9 children, 350 cattle for himself . This shows now why bihar is sitll an under-developed state.

Anyway, Bihar is once known for its educational stints, History says that Huen-tseung (hey i did not fake the name) visited Bihar (pataliputra) and came here for education.

XLRI is in Jharkand. So,

Do you sport a beard /moustache or both ? ..then read this

There is an ongoing competetion for those who have partial or full beard. Seems to be fun.. But alas, there are no Indians, 2 bad. Probs i need to ask Anand to participate in tis one .He has a good small beard, but neverthless i think he is pretty ok.....and moreover today is his birthday.

all-in-one psx game device

Sony Corp , the world's biggest consumer electronics maker, said on Friday it would unveil its all-in-one PSX game device to the public next week.The PSX, which packs a TV tuner, DVD recorder, hard-disk drive, and the Playstation 2 game player into a single white box, will be unveiled at the CEATEC Japan 2003 industry show in Makuhari, near Tokyo, on Tuesday, Sony said in a statement.

For more info....

BE proud to be an Indian

I donno how far it is true to separate people on their region, that too when the world has shrinked and we call it as a global village. But, I still feel that i need to proud about being an Indian. for these reasons

1. Indian American elected top 10 Scientist
2. Indian CBI director has been elected as V-P for Interpol
3. Indians are the most sought after people to build the War -savaged country IRAQ
4. My blog has crossed 125 !!

Bad news for the America Dreaming Indians (ADI)

There is an article in the Economic times , a finanical newspaper in India about the cut off on the H1- B visa cap. Seems, though US had passed the bill for 65000 Visas, it seems what we really get is all about
65000-7000-18000 = 40000 Visas only for this year.

Its gonna be a roller coaster ride for us. Wish US had kept the Visas to be @ 195000. But the politicans showed that they can stoop down to any level to be in Power. I wonder who said power is seductive..its always very true.

Hackers : Good or Bad

I am totally against ethical hacking. Do you still call a rapist as a virgin checker. Sounds weird right, its same when its called ethical hacking. I wonder how people can make others fools when they speak on both the sides . Look @ varun, whom i always liked for his techtree site. His article is totally out of way and i reject varun's thots. Anyway, the +ve way of looking @ bad things is also a means to advertisement.

I have sinned

I dont know how to write this paragraf, for i know that i am sinned and this is a bigger one. I have to go back to my classes. Yes!! i am currently doing my MBA (Executive-MBA) in one of the top institute (top 3 ranking) called
XLRI , where life is called classes and food is called books and punishment is termed as assignments.

I had a lovable break and i am off for 2 weeks. I have my exams on the tuesday morn (7th) and so i am leaving on monday evneing. Its a 1700 Kms far from chennai , the place i live.

I will be travelling to Kolkatta by jet airways , in their evening flight which starts @ 4:55 and wud reach kolkatta by 7 and a travel by taxi for an hour and half to the railway station and i have my train @ 9 PM (on dot). I would reach jamshedpur (the place where i have the XLRI situated) in the wee hours of the night.

So that means i am out of active blogging for quite sometime, but the give is i will be online updating non-technical stuff like financial management, banking and securities and some thing to do with strategy and all the other stuff for next 2 weeks. I know i am not good when i write non-technical. But let me see how many will be there active on my list when i write something other than geek stuff.


So until then, dont make my site a boring one....

You shud mail me @ ajay1_ajay@hotmail.com and not in my verizon id, for i would be out of office (oof in microsoft lingo). But before i go, i have few techie stuff to write and i shall not waste any more time.

Induction Program

you would not have seen any articles for the couple of days. I was in an induction program, getting inducted to verizon (been there for more than a month). It was a cool one... infact there is a young gentleman who happens to be one of our Executive directors (shankar) he impressed me a lot.

Boy!! i just knew that i am jack of all technologies, but never knew that i am really good at them also. Today when shankar was speaking about the Telecom architecture, about PSTN and PSDN it made really sense to me. I could understand and also we were discussing strategies on wher are we heading to. I cant write this i am under NDA (non-discloure agreement).

anyway, the other part of the induction was drag !! i wish i wud be let off sooner.


Well, i think i will write only this week, after that i am back to my studies (i am doing my Executive MBA in a premier institute in india called XLRI). I will be out of connectivity (I still did not get my laptop). So i think i will having some fun time with no-office-work.

hmm...i have to write more about virtual PC, and whidbey.. So as they say, stay tuned