I'm on vacation and am sitting in a coffee shop catching up on some blogs.  Sergio Pereira posted the other day his praises of the new crop of .NET screencasts.  His post explicitly calls out Steve Bohlen and his Summer of NHibernate series.  I wanted to echo Sergio's sentiments about the .NET screencasts and in particular Steve's new series.  I have used the quiet evening in the cabin to watch the excellent videos that Steve Bohlen has put out.  The quality of the videos both in production and content are unsurpassed.  I've used NHibernate before but this is a much better primer than reading a few blog posts/tutorials here and there when a roadblock is hit.

If you've not seen these videos yet and are looking for a good introduction to NHibernate, check out the Summer of NHibernate series.  When you do, make sure you donate (at least a dollar).

In a few hours I'm off to Minnesota for a week on the lake.  I'm ready for a break.  I'm looking forward to some time with the family and really just watching Lincoln take in all the new experiences.  I'm hoping to get through a few books that are not technical.

See you all in a week when the MVC resumes.

This is the third in an ongoing series of articles about my team's transition to the Asp.NET MVC Framework.  In my last post I blogged a bit about how I haven't quite got comfortable enough with the new MVC framework to feel über productive.  What augments the feeling is the difficulty of finding quality information.  The data is few and far between and only sometimes relevant.

I was struggling yesterday to find information on the ComponentController class.  Things I was finding were from the Preview 2 release but finding something on the Preview 3 release was a bit more challenging.  Things are rapidly changing in the framework and the MVC team is not afraid to refactor, rename , or even remove a class.  For example, with the release last night, ComponentController is no longer a worry of mine because it's now gone, removed completely from the framework. 

The MVC framework has been around for under a year (Nov 2007 I believe).  It is now in it's fourth iteration (Preview four, released last night).  While a number of people have downloaded and are using the framework the amount of data/tutorials/blogs/articles pales in comparison to the same information about web forms.  This makes finding the info you need much much tougher.  It's exciting though and must say I enjoy the challenge.  The change in releases doesn't bother me.  It's a bit of a nuisance but I signed up for this trip.  Also the changes are for the better.  The ComponentController class that was replaced yesterday was not easily testable.  The MVC team removed it in favor of the Controller class, which is testable!  Fundamentally it boils down to the fact that I trust the guys on the MVC team and where they're going with the framework.

That trust doesn't help me day to day in moving my project forward though.  In order to find the data I need I've had to be both resourceful and thorough in my reading.  The trick I've found is following a few bloggers closely and reading all of their posts regarding MVC and all comments made to the posts (that's where I find the real gems, in the comments).

Here is a list of bloggers I'm following, obviously some are well-known, others are not.  If you follow some bloggers who post about the MVC framework that aren't on my list please share!! My list:

• Scott Guthrie
• Phil Haack
• Scott Hanselman
• Rob Conery
• Matt Hinze
• Ben Scheirman
• Matt Hawley

Updated to add new blogs (7/23/2008) ... thanks Ben

• Steve Sanderson
• Stephen Walther

Yesterday I reported that I was learning to walk and while I can't quite say I'm walking yet,  I'm feeling a bit more comfortable.  My velocity increased ever so slightly today and I'm encouraged by that and excited for tomorrow!  And to be quite honest that's a perfectly find place to be.

I recently posted some code that could have taken advantage of format strings available when using the ToString() for integer output.  The other day I was building a report for a moonlighting gig where some of the text had to be right aligned and left aligned.  String.Format() does that as well.  I've seen some goofy attempts at formatting text, presumably not realizing the makers of the framework built it in.

Check out the code below:

   1: var phone = "319-585-6594";

   2:  

   3: Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0,20}", phone));    // right aligned

   4: Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0,-20}", phone));   // left aligned

Which produces:

Next time you find yourself calculating lengths of strings and prepending/appending spaces and/or padding stop and take use of what is already provided for you.

First, it's been tough wrapping my head around the shift from web forms to MVC.  I would caution anyone making a similar shift or considering it, that despite the recognized short comings of web forms and the postback model that one should approach the change expecting a bit of a rough going in the beginning.  Never underestimate what years of articles, blogs, and webcasts about web forms and working in web forms will do to your perspective.  OnClick...gone.  PreRender...gone.

Does the experience thus far cause me to regret the choice to go MVC route?  Absolutely not.  It was 100% the correct decision.  Despite the difficulties of making the shift, there are points where something clicks and it feels better and more natural.  I'm waiting for that shift and those clicks to be more permanent.  The best analogy I can use to explain it is likening the experience to my one year old son who is learning to walk. To him crawling feels right.  When crawling, he's quicker, self-assured, and can generally get where he wants to go.  When he attempts to walk however, he falls down, he struggles to keep his balance, and generally getting anywhere takes longer.  It's temporary though, we know it and that's why we encourage him to walk and push through the awkwardness. In a few years Lincoln will realize (if not verbally but by the way he chooses to move) how much more natural walking is than crawling, a fact that I'm reminded of every time I get down on all fours with Lincoln.

So what am I doing to push through?  First I'm trying to keep in the project.  With smaller tasks and projects always requiring attention, I'm trying to stay in the project as much as possible.  Secondly, I'm thinking about how I think (Metacognition).  Thinking about MVC, testability, loose coupling and other such principles only aid in the transition.  I'm hoping the next two days this week give way to breakthroughs.  Near the end of the day I had some small wins and started to gain some velocity which leaves me optimistic for tomorrow.

Last week I blogged a about Unappreciated Open Source projects.  In the post I made a commitment:

From here on I've resolved to donate a dollar any time I download a free library or webcast where a donate link is presented.  Why $1?  In all honesty it is something I can commit to.

I'm thoroughly looking forward to watching the Summer of NHibernate next week while on vacation.  As I was downloading the videos I came across the "donate" link so I whipped out my Paypal account and made good on my promise.

We recently decided that with the effort we're putting into our website and some changes that we're making that now would be as good of time as ever to make the switch to the new Asp.net MVC Framework.  We're no Google, but we're currently receiving around 18,000 unique visitors a day and 300,000 page views and hope to grow that number as we make our site easier to use for our customers.  I hope to rely heavily on Phil, Rob, and Scott for assistance if needed. 

The MVC design appeals to us because the large amount of business logic that has crept it's way into the codebehind.  Despite the best intentions, the current site, which is programmed in asp.net 1.1, has had too much logic to creep into presentational areas while running with webforms.  The biggest drawback to this is reduced testability.  Testability should be important in any project but for us it is paramount. We have business rules that if not adhered to amount to real-world fines:

A few years ago a customer bought some lubricant that is sold in an aerosol can.  Since 9/11 aerosol cans cannot be shipped as cargo on airplanes.  Somehow this order made it though the checks we have for this type of thing in the warehouse and made it onto the UPS truck.  At the UPS facility, a UPS employee heard something emanating from a box that sounded like an aerosol can.  At that point he is required by law to check the contents.  When he opened the box he found the aerosol cans.  Despite knowing us and our reputation, he was required to call the FAA and say something to the effect of, "I found some aerosol cans in a package that was scheduled to be flown."  It didn't matter that this was an accident or "just a few cans", we were still fined.  We were warned that if this were to happen again that we would face a fine somewhere in the low six figures. The FAA doesn't mess around.

As we go forward I plan to document on this blog the highs and lows of our transition.  I'll post questions and problems we're having that I hope you can help with as well as tips and tricks our team has found helpful.  Stay tuned as we make the transition.

A coworker ran across the following and shared with me.

   1: Dim strpage

   2: strpage = pageNumber.ToString()

   3: If Len(strpage) = 1 Then

   4:     strpage = "000" & strpage

   5: ElseIf Len(strpage) = 2 Then

   6:     strpage = "00" & strpage

   7: ElseIf Len(strpage) = 3 Then

   8:     strpage = "0" & strpage

   9: End If 

The programmer is trying to ensure that the page number, when printed out, is always four characters long.  This is not the best way to write this code.  I thought I'd keep this post to myself but unfortunately this isn't the first time I've seen code like this, it is quite common.

The better way to write the above is:

   1: Dim strpage

   2: strpage = pagenumber.ToString("0000")

It's shorter, more concise, and easier to read.  Further the second example is more extensible.  If the requirements change to say the page number should be five characters, the first example must recompile.  The second example must be recompiled as well in it's current state, however the string "0000" could be moved to a configuration file somewhere and then wouldn't need to be.

Chris Sutton tagged me yesterday asking how I got started with programming. So here it goes.

How old were you when you started programming?

I suppose I first started with my TI-86 in physics class making text based adventure games.  After that it was HTML and building a website on geocities (remember them?).

What was your first programming language?

HTML, if you count that, otherwise Pascal.

What was the first real program you wrote?

I wrote a small portion of an application in VB6 for a local paper company while I was an intern in college.

If you knew then what you know know would you have started programming?

Yes, most definitely, and would kick myself for not taking advantage of the abundant resources and time while in college.

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?

First, have passion for your craft.  Second focus less on languages and specific technologies, but instead focus on principles and core fundamentals.

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had … programming?

In college I wrote my own compiler for an honors project and I used to stay up every Thursday night and program in preparation for a Friday morning meeting with my advisor.  About 2am I'd make a run to the local grocery store and buy some Mt. Dew and a box of Nutty Bars.

I'd like to hear from:

• Rhys Campbell
• Chris Missal
• Zac Harlan