And so it Begins...

If It Weren't So Sad, It Would Be Funny: The New York Monaghan Association decided against carrying its traditional banner in the New York St. Patrick's Day parade, because apparently County Monaghan (a map of which is featured on the banner) bears a striking resemblance to Iraq.

New Yorkers, of course, are still angry with Iraq due to its involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks.

 21 Mar 03 4:51 PM · Comments (0)

VB.NET: Too Complex to be Considered "BASIC?"

In the vb.dotnet.discussion group at DevX, .NOT-regular Mike Mitchell rants that VB.NET is too complex to be considered "BASIC." Not surprisingly, I disagree:

Just this past week,...my employer wanted a simple app for importing data from flat files into a relational database. I decided that a "Wizard" UI made the most sense (Step 1: Select data source; Step 2: Select destination; Step 3: Perform import).

Now, I've created plenty of wizard-type apps in VB3 through 6: In 1996, I wrote a VBPJ article about how to create efficient, maintainable multi-page UIs, and I gave VBITS presentations in 2000 and 2001 which featured an updated technique for VB6 based on UserControls.

Guess what? VB.NET was much less complex, but just as efficient, as the techniques (read: hacks) I had devised for VB3-6. I wrote the entire app in less than one day.

How do you explain that, Mike? If VB.NET is so inherently complex, how could I have developed a polished VB.NET UI in a fraction of the time it took me to create the same UI in VB6?

The technique I used for this app, incidentally, is visual inheritance: I created a generic wizard form to serve as a base class, then I inherited from this form to create each page of the wizard. Cake!

 15 Mar 03 4:07 PM · Comments (2)

J2EE vs .NET

J2EE vs .NET: In a piece for Java Pro Magazine, Budi Kurniawan compares and contrasts J2EE with .NET, and concludes that J2EE had better watch its back. I'm curious whether other Java programmers feel it's a fair comparison?

 15 Mar 03 3:31 PM · Comments (1)

TemplateColumn = Goodness

Manipulating data is a primary capability of any dynamic Web app. Unlike rich clients, providing a user-friendly interface to do so can be painful. Users want dropdowns, checkboxes, radio buttons... and ASP.NET has made it easy!

See how using the TemplateColumn provides a richer UI when working with the ASP.NET DataGrid control.

[Ironically, Chris' article on the virtues of ASP.NET appears on a JSP page! :-) -- PW]
Source: Chris Goldfarb's Radio Weblog

 13 Mar 03 4:09 PM · Comments (0)

Future of IT in USA?

Over in the FTPOnline discussion groups, Ray asks:

Now that foreign H-1Bs have flooded the IT job market in the USA and many firms are simply "off-shoring" their IT work to Asia, is there a future?

First of all, I'm not sure I accept that "H-1Bs have flooded the IT job market in the USA." What exactly does that mean? Are there more H-1B workers than Americans in the U.S. IT industry? I think not. But setting that aside for the moment...

I think there is a future for IT professionals who are willing to adapt in order to remain competitive in today's changing market.

In the 1970s, the U.S. auto industry faced stiff competition from Japan. Protectionism didn't work; Americans bought Japanese cars because they offered consumers what they wanted: improved fuel efficiency at lower cost. In order to compete, Detroit had to adapt in order to meet Americans' needs as effectively as the Japanese were.

Similarly, if U.S. companies are hiring H-1B employees or sending IT work offshore, it's because foreign workers are meeting those companies' needs better than Americans are willing or able to. In order to compete, Americans must adapt: Are we willing to relocate to where the jobs are? Are we willing to work as diligently as foreign workers without demanding unreasonably high compensation? If coding becomes a commodity, are we willing to learn new skills, such as architecture, design, or project management, to distinguish ourselves and justify the salaries we desire?

Where do Americans work in, say, the garment industry? Hint: It's not in the sewing sweatshops. We learned long ago that, to make a decent wage in that industry, we needed to learn new skills to justify that wage. The IT industry now faces a similar situation. Those willing to adapt will remain competitive and employable; the others should perhaps consider changing careers. Or moving to India.

  8 Mar 03 12:31 PM · Comments (1)

Quote of the Day

Fran Lebowitz: "Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying."

  8 Mar 03 9:22 AM · Comments (0)

Easy RSS in VB.NET

Implemented an RSS feed for FTPOnline last night; .NET's XML Serialization capabilities made it relatively painless... [Read more]

  5 Mar 03 11:18 AM

Quote of the Day

J. W. Eagan: "Never judge a book by its movie."

  5 Mar 03 10:37 AM · Comments (0)

How Evil are You?

  3 Mar 03 9:27 AM · Comments (0)

Dave's Web of Lies

Dave's Web of Lies: An hilarious repository of Internet "facts," such as:

It is against U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations to advertise or sell as "Prime Rib" any cut of meat containing a non-prime number of ribs.

Source: JWalk Blog

  1 Mar 03 10:24 AM · Comments (0)

There Goes the Neighborhood

This cool applet creates an interactive map of sites similar to one you specify. Here's my "neighborhood":

Source: Scott Hanselman's Weblog

  1 Mar 03 10:09 AM · Comments (0)