SQL Server, performance, data, analytics
admin .Net University? It might sound a little corny, but hey it’s another free resource for getting up to speed with .NET 3.0 (WPF, WCF, WF and CardSpace).
“Content is freely downloadable, and available for re-delivery to technical
audiences…includes four 75 minute lectures and four 30 minute labs.”
Thanks to tip from Brian Randell
Whilst searching for the solution of referencing a control defined in a content page from JavaScript, I found this great article ASP.Net 2.0 – Master Pages: Tips, Tricks, and Traps by K. Scott Allen. It’s definitely one of the most comprehensive, in-depth articles I’ve come across (despite having bought two fairly advanced books on ASP.NET 2.0!). Scott Guthrie linked to this article a while ago here. The article describes how master pages and content pages are combined, event ordering, interacting between the master page and content pages and vice versa, JavaScript and naming containers, and name mangling (the bit that solved my particular problem).
Microsoft Learning has several introductory courses currently being offered for free:
The Visual Studio section is also providing a series of free e-learning courses centred around .NET 3.0 (Collection 5134 : Developing Rich Experiences with Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.0 and Visual Studio® 2005). These courses introduce working with Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Windows Communication Foundation. They are aimed at experienced Developers and Software Architects who are looking to adopt Microsoft’s next generation technology:
A post over on Larry O’Brien’s blog prompted me to put together this short list of resources that can assist with database factoring and understanding an unfamiliar database:
“One limitation is that the tool does not have a “Print” capability. I would
like to print out a (huge, wall-sized) poster of the dependency for study. It
does, though, have an “Export to image…” capability. If you save to .PNG it
does not preserve detail, but if you save to .EMF, you can import it into
Illustrator and divvy it up there.”
Having access to an A1 size plotter is also very useful!
Saw this great tip via Eric Gunnerson’s blog post on two tools that can help with web page layout and design. I’m in Eric’s corner when it comes to CSS; I’m definitely no expert, and need all the help I can get!
CSSVista lets you see the effect on CSS changes in real-time:
CSSVista is a free Windows application for web developers which lets you edit
your CSS code live in both Internet Explorer and Firefox simultaneously. … This
is a very early version of the software. It probably won’t explode, but it may
not work perfectly 100% of the time.
The IE Developer Toolbar has a DOM viewer that lets you see a tree view of how a web page is structured.
Here’s one SQL Server 2005 book I’m really itching to get my hands on: SQL Server 2005 Practical Troubleshooting by Ken Henderson.
Ken posted a blog entry on his new book here. If you have not heard of Ken Henderson before, he is renowned for his excellent ‘Guru’s Guide’ series books on T-SQL and SQL Server internals.
Rob Farley posted an entry on how skills are evaluated at both the CV and interview stages when employers are recruiting staff. I agree that having certifications increases the odds that you know more than the next guy, but I think the phrase “Use it, or lose it!” certainly applies. Certification coupled with real-world experience is definitely a plus.
Several months ago, I spoke with guys in an IT department and they actually thought it was a minus when candidates had a MCSE due to the fact there are so many BrainDumps out there. They had interviewed a large number of candidates and a pattern emerged that a large proportion of people were getting the MCSE but had very little on the job experience. I know Microsoft is making headway against the dumpsters by steering towards sandbox exams where you actually have to perform some task in a ‘live’ simulated environment. This is a much more realistic way of accessing skill levels and much harder to ‘cram’ for.
Earlier this year (and the end of last year) I participated in the SQL Server 2005 beta exam program. The interesting thing about the beta exams is that there is very little information around at the time you take them.
As an aside, I’ve attended a couple of interviews recently and not one of the interviewers asked me about my MCSD and MCITP SQL Server 2005 certifications, or wanted to see any proof of passing. But I still think they are worth having.
I would hardly call myself a web designer, so I always take note of resources that can help with the look and feel of web pages. Here a few resources I’ve found. There is a superb and short web design tutorial here by Jennifer Apple, including links to other great resources. Elsewhere on the site, she has advice on using subtle borders to make images really stand out.
You can find a lovely web based colour scheme generator here. This is one of the best and easy to use that I’ve come across. Have a quick read through the help section, where you will find tips on creating an optimal colour scheme.
I can also recommend Scott Kelby’s very accessible book “Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers”.
(You can tell I’m originally from the UK, by my refusal to spell ‘colour’ as the US version, ‘color’!)
I’ve been a keen photographer for several years, and have a few images with the UK based stock photography agency, Alamy. I’m particularly fond of designs in nature and abstract themes. The whole stock library scene has changed dramatically since high quality digital became affordable.
Stock photography by Mitch Wheat at Alamy
A professional photographer (it may have been Roger Garwood) once told me that unless you have 1 or 2 world famous images, you can expect to earn $1 per year for every 100 photographs you have in stock. I don’t think he was too far out with that estimate!