> > > Are you the weakest link? Below are four (4) questions. You have to > > answer them instantly. > > > > You can’t take your time; answer all of them immediately. > > > > OK? Let’s find out just how clever you really are. > > > > > > > > Ready? > > > > > > > > GO!!! > > > > > > > > First Question: > > > > > > > > You are participating in a race. You overtake the second person. > > What position are you in? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Answer: If you answered that you are first, you are absolutely > > wrong! > > If > > you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are > > second! > > > > > > > > Try not to screw up in the next question. > > > > To answer the second question, don’t take as much time as you took > > for the first question. > > > > > > > > Second Question: If you overtake the last person, then you are…? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Answer: If you answered that you are second to last, > > you are wrong > > again. Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST > > person?! > > > > > > > > You’re not very good at this are you? > > > > > > > > Third Question: Very tricky math! Note: This must be > > done in your head > > only. Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator. > > > > Try it. > > > > > > > > Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. > > Now add 30. Add > > another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. Now > > add 10. What is the > > total? > > > > > > > > Scroll down for answer.. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Did you get 5000? The correct answer is actually > > 4100. > > > > > > > > Don’t believe it? Check with your calculator! > > > > Today is definitely not your day. Maybe you will get > > the last question > > right? > > > > > > > > Mary’s father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, > > 3. Nini, 4. Nono. > > > > What is the name of the fifth daughter? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Answer: Nunu? > > > > NO! Of course not ya BIG dummy. Her name is Mary. > > Read the question > > again > >
WinFX Posters
Thanks to Brad Abrams and John Hawkins at Microsoft for shipping me gobs of the WinFX posters to give to attendees of my Whidbey Base Classes presentation (next week!) and share with some other user groups.
They had a few left over from PDC.
Hey Jeff Prosise, want an all expense paid trip to Hartford, CT on March 2nd?
Kathleen Dollard’s Code Generation book gets rave review from Mr. Code Generation, himself
Jack Herrington, who, if you google his name comes up over and over as “the force behind code generation” (and author of this well received book on Code Generation) gave Kathleen’s new book Code Generation in Microsoft .NET (MSPress) a 5 star review! Way to go Kathleen. Another review by someone who seems to know what they are talking about is also 5 stars. Too bad some meany who for some reason missed the fact that all code is in VB AND C# and didn’t like the binding of the book posted his one star nasty review TWICE making Kathleens’ current average of two 5’s and two 1’s not good. Whether you are interested in codeGen or interested in getting a better understanding of how .NET works, definitely check out this book!
Generics benchmarking
Found this little C# app on iDesign’s download page to demonstrate perf gains with generics. (scroll down on page and look for Generics Performance.) These are demos from iDesign’s classes. I believe it’s the same demo that is in Juval Lowy’s C# Generics MSDN article.
From the iDesign downloads page:
When using value types in a generic type there is typically a 200 percent performance gain, and with reference types you can expect up to a 100 percent performance gain. This demo is a micro-benchmark application, which executes a stack in a tight loop. The application lets you experiment with value and reference types on an Object-based stack and a generic stack, as well as changing the number of loop iterations to see the effect generics have on performance.
I am finding it painful to try to help people understand generics in such a small amount of time. I have to keep reminding myself – it’s an introduction, an overview, a look, a hit list, a reference. But it is SO satisfying to help someone get to that “oh!” of real understanding and uncomfortable to knowingly leave them hanging.
msdn architecture dev center overhauled
(thanks Leon, I fixed the spelling in my title – glad someone’s actually reading it!)
Just this morning I was visiting the MSDN Architecture Dev Center with the idea that if Duncan Mackenzie’s info is on the VB area, etc. then I could find out who the person in charge of the Architecture area was. But that site was very different and completely impersonal.
This afternoon, into my aggregator pops this from Keith Pleas announcing the revamped Architecture and voila! it is TOTALLY different than what I saw this morning and now exactly what I had expected to see!
So with all of the great architecture posts and discussion out there, here is a fine place to follow up!
first real longhorn application???
A few days ago, I posted a completely bullshit post (with caveats) about working with Longhorn. The post was nothing more than a commentary. I sometimes wonder if some of the people who write broad statements about Longhorn have even touched it, and are merely writing something, anything, for appearances’ sake. I have not even installed Longhorn. I’ve seen pieces of it at PDC, read a bit about it, looked at the sample stuff people are developing (videos or screenshots). But I’m not doing anything bleeding edge there.
The one person who commented, who missed my (a bit too unobvious I realize) irony, was Jason Nadel, who I quite like, and truly *is* working with Longhorn. So I was tickled to see this post by Chris Sells, saying that it seems Jason has built the “first real custom app for Longhorn I’ve seen that doesn’t have to do with demonstrating or building for the platform”.
Go Jason!
hmmmm…
I am a little saddened by this “conversation” between two people who have wonderful and intriguing, voices, similar in some ways, different in others … Liz Lawley and Shelley Powers.
IBM hiring again in Burlington area – software jobs posted today
There was something in the local news the other day that IBM was doing a small amount of hiring (small in comparison to the thousands that have been laid off in the last few years). The newscast showed people in full lab gear, so I assumed it was jobs right in the manufacturing area.
However, I just noticed that Dice.com posted a bunch of software jobs today at IBM in Essex Jct (just outside of Burlington, VT). In fact I think they are doing it as I type because it was 8 when I started this post and now there are more.
If you’re curious, go here, type “IBM” in the Full Text Search box and select “Vermont” from the state dropdown, then go. There’s some WebSphere, C+, etc. Some are pretty focused on particular industries.
Whidbey Beta comes in “June time-frame”
okay from Kent Sharkey, via Chris Garty from the proverbial horse’s mouth (sorry Scott! you’re not a horse…)
Chris asked Scott some straightforward questions and got some straightforward answers.
The summary:
- The first public beta will be released in June
- There will be releases before the first public beta with limited availability
- Second beta release will be after issues from first public beta are resolved
- There will be a “go-live license” available for the second beta
(copy paste sure helps prevent “telephone operator” here…)
If you can’t wait till June and you live in the u.s. , get thee to a DevDays show! (where alphas will be distributed)