From the .NET Developer's
Journal Archives: Getting
Reacquainted with the
Father of C# By Derek Ferguson  In our premier issue,
back in October 2002, we
ran a full-length
interview with Anders
Hejlsberg, the
Distinguished Engineer at
Microsoft responsible for
the creation of the C#
programming language.
Then, in March 2005, we
presented a follow-up
interview conducted... Feb. 20, 2008 02:15 PM Reads: 65,611 Replies: 6 |
From the .NET Developer's
Journal Archives: A Talk
with the Father of C# By Derek Ferguson In this interview with
the editor-in-chief of
.NET Developer's Journal,
Microsoft's Anders
Hejlsberg discusses the
origins and the future of
C#. The interview
appeared in .NET
Developer's Journal, Vol
1 issue 1 - in October
2002. Jan. 30, 2008 03:15 PM Reads: 8,859 Replies: 1 |
Product Review: RadView's
WebLOAD By Derek Ferguson  One of my key tasks at
Wine.com (the Magenic
project for which we were
awarded Microsoft's 2005
Worldwide Partner of the
Year Award for a Custom
Development Solution) was
architecting a sales tax
calculation Web service
capable of supporting the
tremendous volumes o... Nov. 20, 2006 09:00 AM Reads: 18,880 Replies: 2 |
Let's Face It, We're All
Screwed By Derek Ferguson  When I was a kid, I
remember someone saying,
'If you like where you're
sitting, you had better
stay there!' They were
referring to a prediction
that the Earth's
population was going to
increase to the point
that there wouldn't be
enough room for everyone
to sit, s... Feb. 9, 2006 09:00 AM Reads: 16,840 Replies: 3 |
Five Microsoft .NET
Development Tools I Wish
I Had By Derek Ferguson  I've been doing a lot of
coding lately. This has
been a bit of a departure
from my usual work as a
technology evangelist or
a development manager,
but - as you might
imagine - it has been
quite a lot of fun!
Having said this, the
process of actually
sitting down a... Jan. 13, 2006 01:30 PM Reads: 13,402 Replies: 4 |
Corporate Dalliance By Derek Ferguson  What would it take for
your organization to move
to all the
latest-and-greatest
Microsoft tools - Visual
Studio 2005, Team System,
etc.? This is a question
that I have been more
interested in since my
move from being principal
consultant at Magenic
Technologies, a... Dec. 15, 2005 09:45 PM Reads: 20,872 Replies: 3 |
The Evolution of .NET By Derek Ferguson  I am writing this on the
morning of the day on
which Microsoft will
officially launch Visual
Studio 2005, along with
SQL Server 2005 and
BizTalk 2006. I think
that it is fair to say
that this is the most
important technology
launch in the history of
Microsoft - and I'll tell
you why! Nov. 15, 2005 10:00 AM Reads: 10,978 Replies: 1 |
Derek Ferguson on
"Pragmatic Unit Testing"
An Introduction to NMock By Derek Ferguson  I differentiate what I
like to call 'pragmatic
unit testing' from the
two alternate approaches
to unit testing that I
have seen at
organizations. The first
'alternate approach,'
which I have seen at 95
percent of .NET
organizations, is best
referred to as 'no time... Oct. 24, 2005 06:30 AM Reads: 14,829 |
Linux - Mono - .NET: An
Exclusive SYS-CON.TV
Interview With Miguel de
Icaza By Derek Ferguson  Mono is the leading
non-Microsoft
implementation of the
Common Language
Infrastructure (CLI)
specification. The CLI is
the foundation of .NET.
Because Mono runs on a
number of platforms, it
is the main choice today
for people who want to
run .NET applications on
... Oct. 20, 2005 09:00 PM Reads: 25,006 Replies: 1 |
The Great OS Shoot-Out By Derek Ferguson  I have been redoing our
'family computer' this
week, as I am changing
jobs and have needed to
use a computer in between
the end of my work at
Magenic and the start of
my work at my soon-to-be
employer (more details on
that shortly). As a part
of overhauling our fami... Oct. 19, 2005 11:45 AM Reads: 12,277 Replies: 1 |
i-Technology Viewpoint:
"SOA Sucks" By Derek Ferguson  From time to time, I find
myself lassoing a sacred
cow in this Editorial
space, dragging it over
to the slaughterhouse of
rhetoric, and ultimately
barbecuing its falsehood
over the stainless-steel,
six-burner,
propane-powered grill of
real-world experience. To
wit... Sep. 24, 2005 12:30 AM Reads: 61,078 Replies: 9 |
.NET Developer's
Journal's Derek Ferguson
Introduces ASP.NET 2.0
Focus Issue By Derek Ferguson  As I write this, I am
simultaneously preparing
to present on ASP.NET 2.0
at three local MSDN
Events
(www.msdnevents.com),
building an advanced
ASP.NET 2.0 Web site for
my client at Magenic, and
pulling together the last
bits of the magazine that
you now hold in yo... Sep. 10, 2005 03:00 AM Reads: 13,724 Replies: 1 |
Parasoft's SOAtest 3.0 By Derek Ferguson  Recently, a client asked
me to create a new .NET
Web Service that would
let them do sales tax
calculations from any
computer on their
network. The product they
had been using was an
old-fashioned C program
meant for a single
computer. Aug. 26, 2005 06:45 AM Reads: 18,465 Replies: 1 |
An Exclusive Interview
With Rocky Lhotka, the
Creator of CSLA By Derek Ferguson  Derek Ferguson has
recently interviewed
Rocky Lhotka, the creator
of CSLA. In this
interview, Derek
discusses some of the
things that originally
led to the creation of
CSLA, as well as where
Rocky sees
object-oriented
development heading in
the future. A lot of ... Aug. 20, 2005 08:45 AM Reads: 26,322 Replies: 2 |
The Fun of Being Bound.
Web Applications Suck! By Derek Ferguson  Web applications suck!
Well, perhaps that is a
bit of an overstatement.
Let me rephrase: Web
applications are not
appropriate for all
situations. In my case, I
have spent the last few
months working on a
series of ASP.NET
applications that should
really have been ... Jul. 27, 2005 07:00 PM Reads: 13,388 Replies: 2 |
The Cutting Edge of .NET By Derek Ferguson  I'm constantly impressed
by the imaginative uses
to which people put
Microsoft's .NET
technology. As I reviewed
the articles for this
month's issue of .NET
Developer's Journal, it
occurred to me that the
microcosm of applications
presented in our magazine
this tim... Jul. 12, 2005 09:15 PM Reads: 14,812 Replies: 1 |
Book Review: Pragmatic
ADO.NET By Derek Ferguson  My first big assignment
for Magenic was described
to me by one of our
salespeople over a rather
expensive dinner
involving a copious
amount of alcohol. For
these reasons (reason #1:
salesperson, reason #2:
alcohol), by the end of
the conversation all I
really knew... Jun. 29, 2005 04:00 PM Reads: 12,721 |
Delphi Review By Derek Ferguson My first exposure to
Delphi came during my
interview with Anders
Hejlsberg at Tech Ed 2004
in San Diego. 'Whatever
happened to Turbo
Pascal,' I asked him? God
bless Mr. Hejlsberg for
the patience with which
he responded to this
rather foolish question.
'Well,' he ... May. 20, 2005 12:00 PM Reads: 14,967 |
InRule Review By Derek Ferguson I have, in the past,
worked on a few software
products that were years
ahead of their time. As
it turns out, being years
ahead of your time in the
world of Information
Technology is not
necessarily a good thing.
You wind of spending a
lot of your time
convincing p... May. 20, 2005 12:00 PM Reads: 14,548 |
Visual Studio Tools for
Office 2003 By Derek Ferguson The following editorial
will have little or
nothing to do with the
content of this issue.
Admittedly, it will be
about development and, in
fact, it will be about
development using .NET.
However, I will leave it
to Patrick Hynds, this
issue's Guest Editor, to
focus... May. 20, 2005 11:00 AM Reads: 14,904 |
WebZinc By Derek Ferguson Shortly before this
magazine was launched, I
was sent a product
announcement for
something known as
WebZinc. The first thing
I noticed about it was
that the company
producing it, White Cliff
Computing Ltd., was in
Yorkshire, England. 'That
can't be a very common
... May. 11, 2005 09:00 AM Reads: 14,980 |
Windows Mobile 5.0
Unveiled by Bill Gates:
Live Keynote Report By Derek Ferguson Speaking at the Microsoft
Mobile & Embedded DevCon
2005 (MEDC) in Las Vegas,
Bill Gates today unveiled
details of Windows Mobile
5.0 reports .NET
Developer's Journal
editor-in-chief Derek
Ferguson. Gates also
talked about Visual
Studio 2005, which he
said will Rel... May. 10, 2005 11:00 PM Reads: 18,170 |
Accelerating Mobility By Derek Ferguson Welcome to the 2005
Mobility Focus issue of
the .NET Developer's
Journal. Long-time
readers know that
mobility is an area of
special interest to me.
In 2001, I wrote the
first book about .NET
mobility - Mobile .NET.
From 2001 to 2004, I was
chief technology
evan... May. 10, 2005 10:00 AM Reads: 15,057 |
Windows Mobile Version
5.0 Revealed By Derek Ferguson; Jon Box There has never been an
operating system release
more important to .NET
developers than the
release of Windows Mobile
Version 5.0. With this
release, Microsoft is
poised to take your
productivity in writing
mobile applications
higher than it has ever
gone before. ... May. 10, 2005 10:00 AM Reads: 25,298 |
The Glory of Web Services
Edge 2005 By Derek Ferguson Last week, I was happy to
spend a few days serving
as .NET track chair for
the Web Services Edge
2005 conference in
Boston. It was the fourth
time I had served in this
capacity, and the
conference continued its
proud tradition of
improving on itself
year-after-year. Mar. 22, 2005 12:00 AM Reads: 15,136 |
How Well Does
Work-At-Home Work? By Derek Ferguson Fate likes to urinate in
my breakfast cereal! Just
days after submitting my
previous editorial for
publication - wherein,
you may remember, I had
extolled the virtues of
local software expertise
over those of off-shore
development - I was asked
to extend my consulti... Feb. 9, 2005 12:00 AM Reads: 18,231 |
Outsourcing Viewpoint:
The Future of Our
Profession By Derek Ferguson I am new to consulting.
For the past eight years,
I have worked as a
full-time software
developer with a couple
of startups here in
Chicago. Joining Magenic
Technologies - a
Microsoft-platform
consulting company - has
been a change of pace for
me, both in terms of... Jan. 12, 2005 12:00 AM Reads: 21,115 Replies: 11 |
A Look Back - and Moving
Forward By Derek Ferguson And so, we come to the
end of 2004. This is the
end of this magazine's
second year in print, and
we have made substantial
progress over the past
year in pursuing our goal
of becoming the premier
source for information of
interest to .NET software
developers! Dec. 7, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 15,713 |
Exclusive .NETDJ
Interview with Brad
Abrams: Talking
Frameworks, Namespaces,
and Programming By Derek Ferguson .NET Developer's Journal
editor-in-chief Derek
Ferguson and Don Box, a
leading authority on COM
and architect in the
Microsoft .NET Developer
and Platform Evangelism
Group, recently sat down
to talk with Brad Abrams,
Lead Program Manager for
the .NET Framework, about
that framework. Nov. 10, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 19,720 |
Politics and Microsoft By Derek Ferguson By the time you read
this, the election here
in America will
(hopefully) have been
decided. I inserted
'hopefully' in there
because, as I write this,
both candidates are tied
at exactly 48% of the
vote - indicating a very
high likelihood of
another extremely clos... Nov. 8, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 14,586 Replies: 1 |
Where Do You Want to Go
for the Next Four Years? By Derek Ferguson I develop mobile software
for a living. I also
train developers to
create their own mobile
applications using the
Compact Framework. This
issue is focused on
mobile development.
However, because this
issue was largely put
together by our Mobility
Editor, Jon Box, ... Nov. 6, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 14,849 Replies: 12 |
NET: Platform of Choice By Derek Ferguson I recently wrote an
editorial as
editor-in-chief of .NET
Developer's Journal in
which I openly questioned
the value of
re-architecting existing
systems to use the latest
and greatest
technologies.
Specifically, I
illustrated my argument
with the case of a local ... Oct. 28, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 13,478 |
Product/Book Reviews By Derek Ferguson The Compact Framework is
not perfect. In
particular, its class
library represents an
abbreviation from the
Framework with which we
are all familiar on the
desktop. This means that
in many cases, the
classes and namespaces
that one wants to use
based on one's knowl... Oct. 4, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 12,955 |
Make a Great First
Impression By Derek Ferguson Maintainability and
extensibility are
over-rated. If you work
in a start-up
environment, at least,
you should focus
primarily on bringing
your products to market
in the fastest, most
bug-free manner possible.
The market never gives a
second chance to make a
grea... Sep. 13, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 11,227 |
An Interview with Rob
Howard By Derek Ferguson .NETDJ: How did you come
to work for Microsoft on
the ASP.NET team? RH: I
was originally on what
was then known as the
Developer Relations group
at Microsoft. I was a
technical evangelist. I
was part of a team of
folks that Microsoft
would send to the top 100
'med... Sep. 13, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 13,821 |
Certifications
Reconsidered By Derek Ferguson A few months ago, you
might recall, I publicly
declared that Microsoft's
new Partner Points system
had dissuaded me from
renewing my long-since
lapsed MCSD
certification. For only
slightly more than 1% of
the total points my
company, Expand Beyond,
would need in o... Aug. 10, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 13,253 |
Exclusive .NET
Developer's Journal
"Indigo" Interview with
Microsoft's Don Box By Derek Ferguson I am an architect in the
Distributed Systems
Group. I am responsible
for the protocols and the
plumbing that we do in
that group. I'm on an
architecture team, so the
responsibility is
distributed, but
basically five other
architects and I work on
the WS-* protoco... Aug. 10, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 45,170 |
Product/Book Reviews By Derek Ferguson I took the 70-315 exam at
Tech Ed 2004, which was
held just two months ago
in San Diego, California.
I hadn't been planning to
take it for several more
weeks. However, I was
encouraged to take it
earlier on the basis of
two key facts: Aug. 10, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 11,880 |
Time Well Spent at Tech
Ed By Derek Ferguson Welcome to the SQL Server
2005 issue of the .NET
Developer's Journal. We
have structured this
issue to be immediately
useful to those of you
working with Beta 1 of
SQL Server 2005. Inside,
you will find articles
hand-picked by two of the
leading SQL Server
authori... Jul. 6, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 12,955 |
Focusing on the
Presentation Layer By Derek Ferguson .NET Developer's Journal
Editor-in-Chief Derek
Ferguson caught up with
Dean Guida, CEO of
Infragistics. In this
exclusive interview,
Guida talks about how
Infragistics adds value
to Microsoft products,
competition with offshore
ISVs, and the importance
of the user experience. Jul. 6, 2004 12:00 AM Reads: 14,254 |