CristiPotlog

Everybody I know is starting photoblogs:

• photoblog.e-nabled.ro
• ciprianpripoae.blogspot.com

Maybe this is the winning trend. Maybe is something I should consider for myself.

Here are some shots I took with my mobile phone:

What do you think? Am I worthy?

UPDATE: after some consideration and a long weekend I decided to start a photoblog.

Labels: Life, Photos

Microsoft has released Glimmer, a tool that allows you to easily create interactive elements on your web pages by harnessing the power of the jQuery JavaScript library.

Without having to hand-craft your JavaScript code, you can use Glimmer’s wizards to generate jQuery scripts for common interactive scenarios. Glimmer also has an advanced mode, providing a design surface for creating jQuery effects based on your existing HTML and CSS.

You cand download it for free (as in open source) here.

If you like to see what the tool is capable of, please review the samples:

1. Multiple/"Freestyle" Animations
2. Image Sequence / Rotating Banner
3. Custom Tooltip
4. Dropdown Navigation
5. Click to fade item or multiple items
6. Click to fade paragraphs

Labels: jQuery, Microsoft, Open Source, Software

Here it is: http://microsoft.com/ie

Labels: Internet, Microsoft

ASP.NET MVC 1.0 has been released today at MIX09!

Here's the download link.

Phil Haack explains on Channel 9 what makes this version 1.0 of the MVC Framework for ASP.NET and spends a little time explaining the MVC pattern. Phil then demos the scaffolding functionality which allows you to quickly build a functional website based on your existing data services.

Labels: ASP.NET, Microsoft, MVC, Programming

After the second release candidate of ASP.NET MVC, Scott Guthrie is publishing a step-by-step tutorial on the theory and approach for using this new technology that enables you to build Model View Controller (MVC) applications by using the ASP.NET framework.

Well, actually, the free eBook is a single chapter of 185 pages, filled with screen-shots from NerdDinner.com a complete ASP.NET MVC reference application. It begins by using the File->New Project menu command within Visual Studio to create a new ASP.NET MVC Application. And then incrementally adds functionality and features. Along the way it covers how to create a database, build a model layer with business rule validations, implement listing/details data browsing, provide CRUD (Create, Update, Delete) data form entry support, implement efficient data paging, reuse UI using master pages and partials, secure the application using authentication and authorization, use AJAX to deliver dynamic updates and interactive map support, and implement automated unit testing.

This is an unedited draft, the rest of the book being still in production. The free chapter is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives 3.0 license.

You can download a copy from http://tinyurl.com/aspnetmvc, or you can use this direct link.

You can also download NerdDinner.com application from CodePlex.

Labels: ASP.NET, Microsoft, MVC, Programming

Here's a great talk about Social Software, the many-to-many two-way communication pattern and group psychology.

In case anybody cares, I just passed my first Microsoft Certification Exam today. I hope it will not be the last, as I plan to gain a full MCPD Certification (Microsoft Certified Professional Developer), hopefully by the end of this year.

Labels: Life, MCP, Programming

Microsoft has developed and released via CodePlex an alpha version of a new open-source content-management system, codenamed “Oxite.”

This is a simple blog engine written using ASP.NET MVC, and is designed with two main goals:

1. To provide a sample of “core blog functionality” in a reusable fashion. Blogs are simple and well understood by many developers, but the set of basic functions that a blog needs to implement (trackbacks, rss, comments, etc.) are fairly complex.
2. To provide a real-world sample written using ASP.NET MVC.

The Oxite content-management platform is built to take full advantage of ASP.NET MVC but broken into assemblies so that even ASP.NET WebForm developers can use the data backend and utility code, supports use of Visual Studio Team Suite (DB Pro, Test, etc.), and Background Services Architecture (sending trackbacks, emails, etc. all done as a background process to prevent delays on the web site itself).

I should give it a try and come back with more details in the following days.

Microsoft's MIX Online site is run on Oxite. This is the first real-life implementation of the CMS system.

Labels: CMS, Internet, Microsoft, Open Source

I've just read an article in eWeek about lean software development, which is an approach to building software that promotes simplicity and minimizes resource usage.

In fact the term is a translation of lean manufacturing principles and practices to the software development domain. Adapted from the Toyota Production System, a pro-lean subculture is emerging from within the Agile community.

The term Lean Software Development originated in a book by the same name, written by Mary and Tom Poppendieck The book presents the traditional Lean principles in a modified form, as well as a set of 22 tools and compares the tools to agile practices.

But what's most interesting from this article is Rymer's predictions. First prediction was, "Lean software specialists will thrive." The second was, "SAP's platform influence will shrink." Third was, "Microsoft will beat IBM and Oracle to PAAS ... I think Microsoft is being much more aggressive in developing this new cloud-based model than IBM and Oracle." What about that?!

Labels: Programming, Project Management

Just two months after announcing its intent in supporting open-source JavaScript library jQuery, Microsoft's Scott Guthrie, corporate v.p. in the Microsoft Developer Division, published a blog post stating: "Over the last few weeks we've been working with the jQuery team to add great jQuery intellisense support within Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Web Developer 2008 Express (which is free)."

The jQuery IntelliSense annotation support will be available as a free Web download. He also posted some installation instruction for this plugin in the same post.

Labels: Microsoft, Software, Visual Studio