Profiling .NET managed Services using VS 2010

In order to profile/analyze .NET managed services, make sure to run VSPerfCLREnv /globalsampleon from the command line.

VSPerfCLREnv can be found under:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Team Tools\Performance Tools

More details here.

Note that profiling is not available for all VS releases. I had to get a VS 2010 Premium just for that. It is also available for the TEAM editions.

Happy Profiling!

Two Free MS downloads

XML Notepad 2007

Microsoft Network Monitor

Sketch Path

Sketch Path, a handy XPath tool

Adding Scripting to a .NET app

Iron Python is a good option.
How to embed IronPython script support in your existing app in 10 easy steps?

Palm Pre

The amazing Palm Pre; the picture says it all a QWERTY Keyboard & a 3.1" display.
More like they put all the good from a Nokia E71 and an iPhone !

The Perfect Solution for quering hierarical data

Recursive Queries Using Common Table Expressions

WITH cte_name ( column_name [,...n] )

AS

(

CTE_query_definition –- Anchor member is defined.

UNION ALL

CTE_query_definition –- Recursive member is defined referencing cte_name.

)

-- Statement using the CTE

SELECT *

FROM cte_name 

SQL Server CLR Functions

SQL Server CLR Functions is simply put, mixing SQL & .NET (Can life be any better?)

To enable CLR:

exec sp_configure 'clr enabled', 1
reconfigure

References:

How to create a SQL Server Project?

How to create and run a CLR SQL Server User-Defined Function?

How to deploy SQL Server Project Items to a SQL Server?

Example

BBC Botnet experiment

More details here and here

AMD's Phenom II pushed to 6.5 GHz !!

PowerCommands for Visual Studio

Yes it does that ! It also has a lot of handy commands like opening a command prompt in the solution/project directory and copying references (instead of using the non-sense Add Reference dialog!).

Sony Vaio P Series - One Sexy NetBook !

NetBooks NetBooks NetBooks. The upcoming Laptop replacement.
What started as a cheap portable platform is taking the markets by storm!

Sony is redefining the NetBook with their Sexy new P series.
With the following specs, it sure is one hell of a netbook:

Intel 1.33GHz processor (that is 430MHz more than the Asus EEE PC)!
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM ( 1 GB more than Asus EEE PC)
60GB HDD/SSD
8" screen (not 7" not 9")
1600x768 resolution
Wireless LAN
Weight 1.4 pounds (0.635 kg! 300 grams less than the Asus EEE PC)

They saved a lot of space removing the touch pad.
The catch: it sells at $900!

Microsoft Code Names - Solved!

Have you ever wondered where all those "names" came from ?

Here is the answer:

Obama's ride is a rolling tank with windows

MacBook Wheel, no more stupid keyboards !!

(should have posted that next April!)

Don't shout at your disk drives!

Cool Tool: Paint.Net

Not just .NET based, not just free it is open source too !
Paint.Net is an awesome light weight photo editor for everyday photo editing needs.

Cool Tool: Slick Run

Slick Run could literally really save you hours of dragging your mouse to program shortcuts!

Quoting the author:

SlickRun is a free floating command line utility for Windows. SlickRun gives you almost instant access to any program or website. SlickRun allows you to create command aliases (known as MagicWords), so C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe becomes MAIL.

Enter a web URL into SlickRun and it will launch your browser and navigate to the specified address. Run multiple programs in a few keystrokes, jot a note, look up a definition... SlickRun is the most natural way to interact with your computer.

Another 2D game

This game looks like it is going to make it to top games in 2009 !


Crayon Physics Deluxe from Petri Purho on Vimeo.



For now you can go for a free alternative (NERD ALERT!) :

It sums it all up

Nokia E71

Whoever said iPhone will dominate was partially correct. With Nokia's years of experience, they sure wont give up that easy!
(Although a $99 iPhone will sure make a huge difference )

One example of a really good deal from Nokia is the Nokia E71. Which is essentially a good price/features deal.

Key Features include:
- Full Qwerty Keyboard
- 369 MHz processor/128 MB SDRAM Memory
- Wifi/Bluetooth/Infrared/v2.0 microUSB
- GPS
- 3.15 MP camera
- MP3/AAC/MPEG player
- Email/IM
- Slim!
- 10 hours talk time battery