I knew I had read about it somewhere. I did a search to confirm after I was reviewing some code from a more junior developer, and it occurred to me that there is a cooking concept is very applicable to software development, probably even more so than all of the construction metaphors.

Mise en place (often translated as meaning "working clean", or perhaps I'm just confused and they are actually different but related concepts) is the idea that everything has its place, and you should always try to keep everything in its place when you're not using it.

Its the little things that make our code readable by others, and easy to change when we need to fix a bug or add a feature. Sure, refactoring is a part of it, but it is something that occurs even before you finish a method. Things like putting the statement on a separate line from the "if", and enclosing in braces, even if it is only one statement, so that the next guy (probably you) doesn't have to figure out exactly whet you meant to do - it is obvious.

Where it actually came up - he had commented out large chunks of code. We use source control - this kind of "source control" isn't necessary. Make sure that they changes were checked in to source control if they are important, then rip them out and leave the code clean for the next check-in.

Bottom line - if you always keep your code clean, people will thank you for it - the life you save may be your own!

...and I'm not sure I did very well. The test has a lot of questions about obscure stuff - and definitely assumes you do infrastructure, WinForms, AND WebForms. At least there wasn't anything about Culture and Globalization (two very big topics on the last round) - does anybody even do any of that?

A fair number of questions about threading, especially the BackgroundWorker. Quite a few about Master pages and Web Parts (which I haven't even played with yet - I think that gamble didn't pay off... :)) Click Once also figured heavily, as did security, both Identity/Role and Code Access Security.

I remember some questions about the new encryption classes, as well.

Several of the questions were well structured such that if you didn't know the exact details, but were familar with the concepts, you could manage to narrow it down to what was probably the right answer.

But therein lies the problem - I was hoping to see a test that probed you as much about your thinking as it did about your understanding of Microsoft .Net trivia, and that still is not the case. The process is still very much cram and rote, which doesn't do anybody any favors.

But, I'm sure I'll keep on the wagon because I'm [1] a glutton for punishment, and [b] a certification addict.

I'm taking 70-554 in two weeks - at least I have some idea what to expect.

Not that I physically went anywhere, but I seem to have fallen off of the wagon. I'm going to try and post at least once a week, and I'm hoping it might even be every other day... :)

What have I been up to?

Well, I:

• Did a presentation of NHibernate for BADNUG.
• Managed to make it through requirements, architecture, and design for the project I'm the technical lead on (and I've even managed to keep the BDUF/Waterfall to in check, which hasn't been easy - some of the other people on the project seem to like IBM/Rational).
• Set up a daily build using Visual Build Pro. (There may be a review - short review - its a hell of a lot easier than NAnt)
• Explore the wonders of big company procurement processes.
• Did a little web development on the side (no, you can't see it).
• Signed up for a couple MS upgrade exams - I'm still on the certification treadmill.
• Read a bunch of books (hopefully there are some reviews coming).
• Managed to still find time to play with my kids.

I'm now into the coding phase of the project, and in addition to being tech lead, I actually get to write some code. And manage the build. And be the DBA. It may look like I'm complaining, but I'm not - I'm having a blast, so far. Ask me again when the too-tight deadline comes up... :)

Yes, finally, things are starting to come together for a real, live, Pittsburgh Code Camp. It will be April 8, at the University of Pittsburgh CS department. Check out the site for all of the details - note that Penn Staters are still welcome (at least, I hope they are, since I am one).

I'll be speaking (need to get the actual abstract together) on Object-Relation Mapping (ORM). I did a presentation on NHibernate for BADNUG back in January, so I'm going to build on that. Even if you think I suck, you should still come - there will be lots of other speakers there - we're planning 3 rooms of talks (kind of like a 3 ring circus).

Don't forget to sign up - See you there!

About two weeks ago now, my brand spanking new Dell arrived - I don't care what the other bloggers say, I still love Dell. Its really my first full-blown, kick ass system (past machines have been a compromise between speed and budget - well, I guess my 8250 was decent in its day, and its still great for the wife and kids). No excuses now.

I ended up with a Dimension 9100, with a dual-core 3.0, 4 GB RAM, and a pair of 160 GB 7200rpm SATA drives (RAID 0). I haven't really unleashed it yet, but so far it's screamed through installing all those tools you have to have... :)

The case is actually almost pretty (of course, I have little sense of asthetics, so your opinion probably differs) - its a silvery white, and it has a slightly different cooling system, which makes it relatively quiet.

After many trials and tribulations (and rumors, allegations, and backchannel discussions), the moment we (well, Rich and I, anyway) have long awaited has arrived - Pittsburgh Code Camp.

I need to find a topic, since Dave and Craig (of PghDotNet fame, but without a weblog) have been after me to speak (and I have to represent BADNUG!). Any suggestions greatly appreciated - I'm thinking Smart Client, since somebody seems to have forgotten that Microsoft has a database product line and neglected to put in a Data track. Dave (who's heading up the Architecture track) is begging for people to do Architecture, but I just don't think an unstructured hack like me can speak about such high falutin' things.

You knew they would eventually, but they finally went and did it.

Less cynical people might instead think they crossed the Rubicon, and this is the beginning of great things, but everyone has tried to put a word processor on the web, and no one has bought it. I don't think this time will be any different.

Ripping all of our CDs to the home computer was a major pain in the ass, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the results. It's nice having a jukebox with loads of music on it.

So, I was doing some work, and decided I was in the mood for some Led Zeppelin, which is odd, since I really don't listen to much classic rock anymore. The thing that struck me was how well much of it has aged (unlike the Beatles and the Stones). But the coolest part was rediscovering songs I'd forgotten about - Achilles Last Stand is an awesome track. I mean, The Ocean is still cool, but everybody knows that one, and it gets some airplay still (especially when the rappers sample it :)).

Then last night, I came across some PWEI. Why don't they make music like that anymore? I guess it will just take another decade - after all, 20 years later, we have The Killers channeling the ghost of Duran Duran (wait, they're not dead yet...).

So, the question is, am I old, or do they really not make much good music anymore? :) I know the answer, and it's that they don't play good music on the radio anymore, but they still make it...

I guess there was no real point to this post, except maybe this - go right now and dig deep into your music collection and listen to something you haven't heard in a while.

So, after what has to have been the longest negotiation process (9 months since the initial sales inquiry, 7 months since they seemed to be actually interested) for the work of 2 or 3 consultants (fortunately, I was only involved in a couple meetings of it), I am moving on to a new client. Actual end date here and start date there are not yet certain, but it is good to finally have it happen. Current client has been one of those - yeah, we need a consultant - and then you get there and find out that it's staff aug. Next client is a real project, with real requirements, and real deadlines. I am looking forward to it.

red-gate software has released a new tool, SQL Dependency Viewer. It is currently free, but it is in beta. They haven't announced any pricing or bundling, so we'll see how that turns out, but I've used their comparison tools before, and have always been impressed with them.

It's not exactly feature rich - it just shows a diagram with all of your database objects in it. If your database is at all large, the diagram is pretty unwieldy. There doesn't seem to be any way to limit it to just a certain set of objects (like perhaps everything dependent upon one base table). I'm not sure it's terribly useful at the moment, but it has potential if they improve the navigation. The nice thing is it includes non-table objects, like stored procedures. It is an improvement of EntMan's dependency view (which isn't even resizable).

It's been forever since I posted - I'm sorry. Not that you probably care - I'm sure you've stopped reading me already. :)

Anyway, it's been an interesting near month since that last post. I've decided to change programs - RMU just added a Master's degree in Competitive Intelligence Systems (everybody else refers to this as BI, but whatever). So, I'm moving to that program, since it really captures my interests. As you may have been able to tell, I'm a developer who loves data.

The benefit to you, dear reader, is that you may find any posts I make about grad school to be more relevant. Or not, if you are reading me and interested in business, but I can't imagine why you'd be doing that (not being interested in business, seeing as I am interested in business as well - my undergraduate degree is in business - but instead why you'd be reading me as a source of that sort of information).

So, anyway, I'm going to blog more, honestly. I plan to talk about business intelligence (as well as some development stuff), with some database stuff and useless rants thrown in.

Tomorrow I start grad school. I'm attending Robert Morris and working on an MBA. I know it's not a prestigious school, but my reasons aren't to get a high-profile degree. I'm more interested in the experience, and RMU is convenient and inexpensive (relatively speaking). It is amusing that they named a school after a famous hacker, though... :)

All this talk about business schools reminds me of a joke I heard, back in the day:

There was a Wharton grad taking care of business at the urinal. A Penn Stater walked in to the urinal next to him, and did his thing. When they met at the sink, the Penn Stater looked in the mirror, fixed his hair, and proceeded to walk out without using the sink. The Wharton grad, in a snobby voice said, "At the University of Pennsylvania, we learned proper manners and to wash our hands after we relieve ourselves."

To which the Penn Stater replied, "At Penn State we learned not to pee on our hands."

...when a Wharton grad starts talking about the price of oil being "negotiated". Um, Mr. Trump, did you ever hear of the laws of supply and demand? Oil is a commodity - the price is set by the market. There ain't no getting around that - it is globally traded. You'd think a capitalist like yourself would know better. The problem isn't supply, per se, but demand, as the rapidly growing Asian economies (India and China) are consuming more and more than they did before (and it should be noted that on a per capita consumption basis, they still aren't even in the same ballpark as we are, so things are only going to get worse).

I agree with The Donald - we need to look harder at alternative energy sources (and I'm not expert on anything science related, so I won't go into any details about that, because I'd probably just be wrong). But to suggest that we can just haggle with the sheiks over the price of oil? Come on now, Mr. Trump - you know better than that.

So, the meeting I referred to here has been postponed. Sorry to see it, but on the other hand, glad, because I couldn't attend and I really wanted to see the presentations. See Rich's post for more details.