Dr. Neil's Notes 8 - special edition

Show 8

Greetings from Seattle, Washington
A special edition with Jim & Michele McCarthy - raw and unedited
http://mccarthy-tech.com/

ViaVirtualEarth

eXtreme .NET

Jim's voice navigation system - was it Madge?

Happy coding!

Dr. Neil's Notes 7

Show 7

Greetings from Seattle, Washington
Weekend in New York
Sync Center Web Cast
UMPC
CTIA Mobile.com
ViaVirtualEarth team members in Seattle
Virtual Earth Commercial use
Live.com
MEDC Melbourne Australia, May 25th
Happy coding!

Playing with a UMPC

This weekend I have been playing with a UMPC ;)
It is a pre-production unit that was lent to me for the weekend. It takes a bit of getting accustomed to a touch screen. I am used to the screen only reacting to my stylus. After an hour with the UMPC I went back to my Sahara slate and found myself trying to use my finger to interact with the machine. Touch is a very intuitive way to interact with a user interface.
I feel there a number of exciting opportunities for the UMPC. I would like one as a coffee table device at home. I can see it would be useful as quick note taking device and have been using it for IM. If the battery lasted a bit longer (getting just over 2 hours on this one) I would like it as a portable media player. The sync story needs to be better, if all my email and contacts could easily (without me having to do anything) sync between my desktop and my UMPC then I would get one as a diary / organiser.

I would recommend getting one with 512MB of RAM, or more. I see some of the offerings out there are shipping entry level units with 256MB and 30GB hard drives. WTF!
I can’t see the point, the device will be unusable for much more than web browsing. I expect many sold with this configuration will lead to disappointment.
The minimum spec should be 512MB RAM and 40GB hard drive. My iPOD has a 60GB drive and is nearly full, and that is just music, podcasts and photos.
I will probably get one this year to play with. I would like to cut some code for the device. I have a couple of ideas rattling around in my head.

What no PodCast?

Sorry I am at the end of the world here in Seattle, where things go a little slower. I am so used to living in the future in Sydney!
It has been a really busy week, members of the ViaVirtualEarth team have been in Seattle. It has been a week packed out with meetings. A true Aussie would say "I'm flat out like a lizard drinkin' "
Tricky has been hanging out with me and getting his head around some cool new technology.
The Poly9 boys have also been in town. It has been a week of mashup madness!

Webcast: Centralizing Data Synchronization - 3/30, 11am PT

I am doing a Web Cast on the Vista Sync Center tomorrow.

Centralizing Data Synchronization
The new Sync Center in Windows Vista will become the hub for all data synchronization between the PC and applications, services, devices and other computers. Join Dr. Neil Roodyn as he takes a closer look at the development framework as well as the end user experience that Sync Center helps create.


Attendee link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/lmevents/join?id=msft033006ts&role=attend&pw=att2459

Dr. Neil's Notes 6

Show 6
Greetings from the UK
Mix 06

Vista Touchdown Airlift
Ian G. http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/
3 things Ian likes about Vista
1: UAC
2: .NET & Winfx ships by default
3: The little things that all add up ;)
Happy coding!

Dr. Neil's Notes 5

Show 5

Greetings from London
Sunday Sydney - breakfast by the beach
Singapore - Monday meetings
Tuesday night London
Richard "Tricky" Bassett from TrickyBusiness
http://www.trickybusiness.co.uk

Ways to get creative with software development
Tricky will post more here:
http://trickybusiness.blogspot.com

Happy coding!

A Tricky Blog

Over the last 10 years Tricky has become both a great friend and we have worked on some cool projects together, such as ViaVirtualEarth.com. Tricky has started blogging on things that interest him, such as design and branding. Welcome to the wonderful world of blogs!

Dr. Neil's Notes 4

Show 4

Welcome to Dr. Neil's Notes
Another sunny sunday breakfast - with Wayne Smith from the Microsoft Expression group http://www.wayne-smith.org/ http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.mspx

SWMUG http://www.swmug.org/
Talk'n Tablet Downunder
http://ubertablet.blogspot.com/2006/03/talkn-tablet-downunder-show-3.html

Project schedules - Parkinson's Law "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion"
Schedule delivery on Friday not Monday!

Tuesday was my Birthday!! I got iLife 06 http://www.apple.com/ilife/

ViaVirtualEarth news
- new competition http://www.viavirtualearth.com/vve/Blog/1/108.ashx
- Driving Directions http://www.viavirtualearth.com/vve/Blog/1/110.ashx

Windows Live Preview at NineMSN office in Sydney
If you want an invite to Windows Live Messenger let me know

Happy Coding
Background music by Alex
http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=dfad1507256f9a67e967eacd17ee9991

Tablet Guys Hijack Windows Mobile User Group

Tonight was the Sydney Windows Mobile User Group, I was going to give a presentation on ActiveSync development but for various reasons that got side tracked and then canned. It turned out that Craig Pringle was in Sydney from New Zealand and Uber Tablet Geek Hugo Ortega was also at the meeting.
So all the talk was about Tablet PCs, apps such as Active Words, speculation about Origami and Vista on Tablets. Oh well people seemed to have a good time, maybe that was because we were in the XBox room :)

Another Sunny Sunday Breakfast

This morning I drove into the CBD to meet Wayne Smith who is in town from the UK. Wayne works in the Expression group at Microsoft and was in Sydney for WebDU.
It didn't take much to persuade him to get a ferry across the harbour to Manly and then to my favourite breakfast place.
We chatted about many things; news in England, Tablet PCs, Windows Vista and of course the new Expression tools.
It was a gorgious morning and a perfect way to start a Sunday.

Dr. Neil's Notes 3

Show number 3 is up.

Shownotes
Welcome to Dr. Neil's Notes
Breakfast by the beach - Cogans, Billy Hollis, Luke Burton, UberTablet Geek Family Ortagas
Doing the night shift - a week of getting up in the middle of the night for LiveMeetings
Vista LiveMeeting for Sync Center
MEDC http://www.medc2006.com/
Virtual Earth Madness - want to win an XBox 360? http://viavirtualearth.com/vve/Blog/1/105.ashx
AusDotNet -
Origami discussion
http://www.origamiproject.com/
Estimating time for developer jobs
Break it down - break it down
New version of Windows Live Messenger Beta
what happened to seeing contacts by status?
Happy Coding
Background music by Alex
http://music.podshow.com/music/listeners/artistdetails.php?BandHash=dfad1507256f9a67e967eacd17ee9991

Dr. Neil's Notes 2

Show number 2 is up.

Shownotes
Greetings
Weekend in Coffs Harbour making new friends.

Patterns and Practices Summit in Sydney
http://www.pnpsummit.com/apac2006.aspx
Lots of content on Agile ;)

Patterns for Introducing Change

Win32 development left for dead?

Scoble nudges us towards Origami Project, what could it be ?
http://www.origamiproject.com/

Until the next time, Happy Coding

Dr. Neil's Notes

Dr. Neil's Notes is the first in what I hope will become a regular podcast. Containing my thoughts and comments for software developers.
Show Notes:
Grettings to Dr. Neil's Notes
Why am I doing this?
Alex Brooke http://japanese.libsyn.com/
UberTablet - http://ubertablet.blogspot.com
Topics from the AusDotNet mailing list
http://www.stanski.com/services.aspx#dotnetlist
Zero Defect Mindset
Chairs - Aeron - Herman Miller

Happy Coding

SWMUG

Last night I went to the Sydney Windows Mobile User Group. A great bunch of gadget geeks. UberTabletGeek, Hugo presented on Tablet PCs, he is very funny and you should read his blog post and his demo video is great!

Update: I promised I would post which VNC viewer I was using on my Pcoket PC - I use the VNCViewer from http://dotnetvnc.sourceforge.net/

Update 2: Leon's email arrived!

Another Tablet Fan Downunder

Hugo Ortega has been busy preaching the benefits of Tablet PC's ever since I introduced him to the wonderful technology last year.
He has now started blogging at UberTablet.
Great work Hugo, and welcome to the blogosphere.

New Wheels for new technology

'tis the season to recieve new technology! One of my recent aquisitions has been a desktop PC to replace the 3 year old box that has been hidden under my desk. The new box is heavier and bigger than the previous one and I have had enough of messing around under my desk.
The plan a set of wheels for the new PC, essentially a skateboard for my PC. The parts; 1 shelf, 4 casters, 2 door handles a bunch of screws. The tools; a drill, a screwdriver, some elbow grease.
The results:

Tablet Guy has left the building

Tablet PC Guy decided to leave yesterday. He now has his own blog where you can follow his adventures.
Good luck Tablet PC Guy.

The Desktop Goes Online with Goowy

If you want to waste some time and explore a possible future for the desktop check out Goowy.com
This is very cool. I love the streaming podcast feature, really neat.
I hope they produce some kind of API so 3rd party developers can start to produce content for Goowy.

Tablet Guy Goes Exploring

He has only been in Sydney for a day but already Tablet Guy has been getting out and about. He is obviously an adventurous kind of fellow.
Today he managed to hitch a ride on boat and take a trip across Sydney harbor.

Tablet Guy joins the party

This morning a little foam chap knocked on my door asking if he could stay. All he had was the stylus he was holding in his hands. As I already have a few foam tenants next to my desk, I figured he could join them. He looked pretty happy to me.

I carried on with my work.

Imagine my surprise when I turned around and saw that he had started brawling with the other characters. Obviously the pen is mightier than I realised!

Tablet Guy is now grinning ear-to-ear as he has his own special place on the window sill.

Mobile PC development samples

Ever since MSDN released the Power Management and Network Location Awareness articles I wrote I have been recieving emails asking where the sample code can be found.
Well here are the links to the sample code applications
Network Location Awareness Sample
Power Management Sample

So now you have no excuse not to build applications that help extend battery life and also seemlessly work with multiple network connections.
Happy coding....

BEROCCA wakes you up in the morning - good for me - not so good for my PC

Waking up a little bleary eyed this morning I went to the kitchen and dropped a tablet of Berocca in a large glass of water and then went to sit down in front of my computer to check email.
Fizzing away I starting checking my email...
In a less than full awake state I reached out for a Tablet stylus and knocked my glass of Berroca over. Spilling all over the desk and down the back onto the power sockets, Fizzzzzzzzzzz,
Arrggghhhhh!!!!!
Everything went dark.
PANIC!
I was awake now! I moved fast to unplug everything, grabbed some cloths and started mopping up.
Lucky for me the power for the entire home was tripped off and nothing seems to have been damaged.
So the food and drink rule is now back in full force, no food or drink near the computer!

KinetiSketch

In the endless quest of avoiding doing any real work I came accross this really cool project called K-Sketch. The aim is to simplify creation of animations using Tablet PC technology. Check out the video. I would love to have a play with this.

TDD: Microsoft is close but no cylindrical smoking thing!

MSDN has a page entitled Guidelines for Test-Driven Development
It has steps for getting going with TDD that state:

1. Define the requirements of your application.
2. Familiarize yourself with the feature areas of your application, and decide on a single feature, or the requirements of a feature, to work on.
3. Make a list of tests that will verify the requirements. A complete list of tests for a particular feature area describes the requirements of that feature area unambiguously and completely.
4. File work items for feature requirements and for the tests that need to be written.
5. In Visual Studio, create a project of the type you want. Visual Studio supplies the initial production code in the form of files such as Class1.cs, Program.cs, and Form1.cs, depending on the project type.
6. Define the interfaces and classes for your feature or requirement. You can add a minimum of code, just enough to compile. Consider using the Class Designer to follow this step. For more information, see Designing Classes and Types.

Note
The traditional TDD process does not contain this step. Instead, it advises that you create tests first. This step is included here so that, while creating tests, you can take advantage of two features in Visual Studio 2005 Team System: the GUI design capabilities of the Class Designer, and the automatic test-generation capabilities of Team Edition for Testers.

7. Generate tests from your interfaces and classes. For more information, see How to: Generate a Unit Test.
8. Compare the tests that have been generated with the list of tests you prepared in step 3. Create any tests that are missing from the list you wrote in step 3. For more information, see How to: Author a Unit Test.
it goes on...

While they do bother to make the note about traditional TDD, they are missing out on several major benefits of TDD:
• TDD is design as you go.
• When you use TDD the interfaces and classes you create emerge as an outcome of writing the tests. This helps to keep the code as simple as possible.
• TDD is about writing one test at a time to DRIVE the DEVELOPMENT of the code. This way the developer does not attempt to predict how the code (interfaces+classes) will look when finished, rather code that passes the tests will be written and refactored as needed.

Dave Glover: How to Globalise/Internationalise Dates and Numbers using the Compact Framework

I was chatting to Dave Glover from the Australian Microsoft team on MSN IM last night. He built this cool conversion app for the Smartphone. Some of the people who were downloading it in France were having some issues. I thought the issue was a globalisation issue and Dave figured out the rest: How to Globalise/Internationalise Dates and Numbers using the Compact Framework

Becoming Agile: How TDD improves development speed and is very cost effective

A common misconception is that test driven development will take longer and cost more.
Dan has a go at answering this on his blog .
A good read.
Becoming Agile: How TDD improves development speed and is very cost effective

Windows SideShow

Windows SideShow is a new technology that will be shipping as part of Windows Vista. It enables hardware to support auxiliary displays whose contant can be defined in Windows Vista software.
SideShow is a project I helped out on by reviewing the APIs and building some sample code. Some of that sample code has been morphed into the examples that will ship with the Windows Vista Platform SDK.
I am looking forward to getting my first machine that supports SideShow.

New Forums section on ViaVirtualEarth

We have just launched a new section on the ViaVirtualEarth site to help developers communicate about building with VirtualEarth - check it out.

Microsoft Professional Developer of the Year?

Recently sited this developer is believed to be an imposter.
A fairly good disguise, but the hair gives him away!

Channel 9 Video

Last month I dropped by Robert Scoble's office and we had a chat about what I've been doing around Microsoft's campus for a couple of weeks. You can see the video Robert took here http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=113881

Where is PDC 2005?

I have built a little site using Virtual Earth to help PDC attendees find their way between hotels and the convention center.
http://viavirtualearth.com/PDC/PDC2005.htm
Want to build your own Virtual Earth page?
Check out all the cool things going on at ViaVirtualEarth.

How they built Virtual Earth

Check out this video on how they built Virtual Earth. Too funny.

PDC - will you be where?

I will be at PDC this year.
Where is PDC this year? It is here.
Thanks to Paul Neeve for building such an awesome Flash app that sucks data from Virtual Earth.

Visual Studio 2005 and Windows Vista

I know I should not be pushing the limits by trying to use a beta development tool on a beta operating system! Sometimes life requires a few little trials and this is one of them.
If you have a few issues with getting it installed you should have a look at this: http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=64277

Oh and one more thing if you try this at home...
Good Luck :)

Where in the World was Dr. Neil?

So you want to know where I have been this year, well here is the answer:
WhereWasDrNeil?

Via Virtual Earth goes live

If you have wondered what has kept me so quiet for the last few weeks, now I can tell you.
I have been working on a developer website to help you build applications that use Microsoft's Virtual Earth.
Check out ViaVirtualEarth

eXtreme .NET Quick Links

A number of people who have attended the talks I have been doing have asked for links to resources. Here you go:
Tools
Build batch file
Short presentation

eXtreme .NET MSDN Technical Briefing

Yesterday I presented for a full day on eXtreme .NET in London. It was a lot of fun and I hope everyone who attended had a great day.
Many thanks to John allwright for kicking the day off and to Sean Puffett and Marcus Perryman for their superb demos that provided the audience with relief from my voice!
Topics discussed included:
-Automating the build process
-The Planning Game
-Test Driven Development
-Refactoring
-MSF Agile
& plenty of demos showing off new features in Visual Studio 2005

Mobile Developer Center: Mobile PC Network Location Awareness

This great article has been recently released on the MSDN site.
The full sample can be downloaded
here.

Mobile.Dev.Challenge

I am really looking forward to MEDC Australia next week. I will be presenting a session on using MapPoint in Mobile Applications; Putting Maps in Your Mobile Apps.
There is also a great competition running where developers can showcase their mobile applications. Find out more here. I am looking forward to seeing the entries. It is always good to see what other developers are doing with the technology.

I got PodAttacked!

I have to say it was not a huge surprise to be assaulted by the PodSquad in the middle of my TechEd session. Thanks guys for adding that extra special something to my presentation!.

download the PodAttack

Calling all Virtual Earthlings

Virtual Earth is being talked about so much that there is going to be another demo of Virtual Earth on Thursday between 12 and 1pm at the Mobile Cabana.
If you are at TechEd then I recommend you get there.

eXtreme.NET

Lot's of interest in eXtreme .NET here at TechEd. I was at the TDD discussion last night and it is great to see so much interest in developing better code.
The best news is the book is selling fast in the event store.

Virtual Earth at TechEd

My friend Chandu is going to be talking about Virtual Earth next week at TechEd! This will be a great session.
I have been doing some work in Redmond on the Microsoft campus for the last few weeks and had the chance to see some of the Virtual Earth technology. It is very cool, especially if you are a map geek ;)
The talk is on Monday morning at 10:45.
I am looking forward to doing some work with Virtual Earth, watch this space...

Visual Studio Magazine: Take .NET to the Extreme

My book eXtreme .NET gets a great review in Visual Studio Magazine!

Make your desktop apps mobile!

More figures suggesting that all developers building applications for desktop computers should be paying more attention to the issues faced by mobile users.
PC sales lifted by laptops: survey.

All application developers should consider power managment, network connectivity and data synchronisation. Using these effectively can greatly improve the user experience for the end user on a laptop, notebook or Tablet PC.

Virtual Earth

Now I am a BIG FAN of mapping technologies and the new online products coming from Microsoft and Google are looking super cool.

Books to help get started with NUnit

A number of people have asked for a list of books that would help them get started with NUnit.
Here is a list:

Browser Compatibility

I've made some changes to my main website this weekend. While the number of non-IE users coming to my site is still less than 10% of all visitors, their voices have been getting louder.
In an attempt to keep all visitors to my site happy I have changed the menu control and updated the main page template to accommodate other browsers.

eXtreme .NET Events

I am halfway through a road trip around Australia talking about eXtreme .NET.
I am then off to the USA for MEDC and TechEd before heading back to the UK for another eXtreme .NET Event.

Roll up your display

Now this is so cool - I want one.
Philips unrolls 'paper' display

Chandu Thota's WebLog - MapPoint Team is hiring

Chandu has asked me to let you know that the MapPoint team is expanding and looking for some talented people. You can find all about the postions by clicking through on Chandu Thota's WebLog
Good luck!

eXtreme .NET Day

In partnership with the MSDN Connection program and dotNET Solutions I am doing a series of one day events around Australia next month.
The eXtreme .NET Day event should be a lot of fun and I am sure everyone who comes will learn something.
There will PCs so we can do hands-on exercises throughtout the day and build some cool code using the lessons we learn.
If you've not yet booked your place you better hurry up. Places are going fast with Canberra already sold out.

See me at the Security Summit?

Lots of people have been emailing and asking if I will be at the Microsoft Security Summit events that are occurring around Australia this month. I am afraid not. I will be presenting at the Microsoft Windows Anywhere event in San Francisco.
I would recommend you go to the security summit even though I won’t be there in person. :) It looks like they have some very interesting material to cover and it’s a great chance to brush up on skills while networking with peers.

Carl Franklin praises eXtreme .NET

Listen to what Carl Franklin of Franklins.NET and the .NET Rocks Show has to say on eXtreme .NET.
Download the full show here or the clip of Carl talking about eXtreme .NET here.

Software process costs and savings

I want you to think about a development project and consider two scenarios. Imagine each of these scenarios represent a different set of practices you use to develop the solution.

In the first scenario you develop a solution for your customer and it takes time t to produce the solution. The solution you deliver has x bugs and y security issues. This solution costs you $m.

In the second scenario you develop the same solution for your customer and it takes time t+s. This solution has x-a bugs and y-b security features. This solution costs you $m+n.

The values of s, a, b and n are critical for you to decide which scenario you use.
The question in your mind should be; is the extra cost and time of fixing x-a bugs and y-b security issues worth more or less than $n in s time.

Now here is an interesting thing to consider. How do you budget for your software development project? Is it:
i) from the beginning of the project until you ship the code (bugs and all), or
ii) from the beginning of the project till that code is decommissioned and never is run again?

Think about what you are doing when you budget for software using the first option. You are actively encouraging poor quality. If the cost of fixing issues is not taken into account in the development budget then why spend time and money worrying about it?
The only sensible answer is to use the second option to budget for software development. So why don’t companies do that? Maybe you should suggest your company does!

Now what would happen if I told you that I could show you some practices that help you obtain the following values in your variables for the second scenario.
s tends towards 0 (or even a negative number)
a tends towards x
b tends towards y
n tends towards 0

How much will you pay for those practices? Write a check to Dr. Neil and send it to me now!

Now which scenario do you chose?

What if I give you a list of practices to choose from and tell you that with each of these practices you implement you will get:
s closer to 0 (or even into the negative)
a closer to x
b closer to y
n closer towards 0

You want to see the list?
Ok here it is (in no particular order):
Test driven Development
Pair Programming
Refactoring
Automating the build-test-deploy process
Breaking the solution down to tasks that each take less than 4 hours to complete
Small iterations – ship early – ship often

Does this list look familiar?
Good – so you know where to get started.
Of course if you are developing in .NET the best resource to learn the practices in the list is eXtreme .NET.

PayPal introduces AUD payments

Now that PayPal supports the Aussie dollar I have changed my site so that you can buy a copy of eXtreme .NET in Australia and pay for it using the local currency.

Last August (2004) I presented MapPoint WebServices at the conference for the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA). They must of liked the presentation because I received this award today!

I just bought myself this new monitor and as I have long suspected screens are the wrong way around. It is so much easier working in portrait than landscape. Does anyone know why screens are usually in landscape?

eXtreme .NET Tech Breakfast

At the end of this month I will be hosting an SSW Tech Breakfast. The topic will of course be eXtreme .NET: introducing eXtreme Programming practices to .NET Developers.
It is on 28th January 2005 - 8.00am - 11.00am in Neutral Bay. Sydney.
If you are based in Sydney come along, it will be fun and there will be plenty of coding examples. Plus I'm sure I can find a copy of the book (or two) to give away.

Recommended Reading List

I have just posted the list of recommended books from the appendix of my eXtreme .NET book on to my web site.
Are there any books you think should go here?

CoolSmartPhone.com raves about SMSUtils

Gears at CoolSmartPhone.com has put together a great piece on my SMSUtils.
Thanks Gears.

Dr. Neil's Smartphone Toolkit

All these public holidays do have an upside. I get to work on my own fun projects :)
At the end of the day yesterday I released new versions of
Dr. Neil's SMS Utils and the SmartSMS Dev Kit.
These are projects that have slipped back due to 'real work' pressures. I am pleased to get them out there.

Developers Dilemma – Rewrite vs. rework part 3

If you were following this post then you might be wondering whatever happened. I started blogging about this issue and then went quiet. Well the main thing that happened was that blogging didn’t seem important. Funny how that happens when you get stuck into a project ;)
So on the second day I wrote a bunch of tests and fixed a load of issues with the device driver. That allowed me to move forward on the third day with starting to add new features to the device driver. In fact by the end of that day (it was a long day) I had driven (through tests) the development of all the new features required at the device driver level.
It became clear the following day that a couple of the other components presented different ways of communicating with the device driver. I am sure there is a Pattern for this. These components were easy to add tests to and most of the code called simply performs some data translation and then calls the device driver. The way these components worked drove the creation of some extra tests back in the device driver. It is always good to see how a component is being used :)
Finally the rest of the components presented the UI for controlling the device (the one that the driver talks to). These UI components communicate with the components that communicate with the device driver. On Friday I got to add the new features to the UI components and the project is pretty much finished. The UI has very little logic to it (which is great and as it should be!)
The answer in this case seems to be very much biased in favour of reworking and driving the work through the tests. I was surprised how quickly progress accelerated once a number of core tests were in place. Once again the process of driving development through tests proves its worth and makes me realize how powerful this technique is.

Developers Dilemma – Rewrite vs. rework part 2

Today I started working on one of the components. This components is the one that already had some tests. The component is a device driver (written in C!) and it is the component that I mentioned yesterday already having some tests.
Within the first hour of adding some extra tests I found a couple of bugs that had not been reported. I suspect that these bugs have never been seen because the driver is never used the way it is in the tests I have written.
Is there any point in writing these tests then?
I think so. Firstly there is nothing stopping another developer from writing another component that uses this driver that way. That developer will get somewhat annoyed when they find out the driver is misbehaving. Secondly, based on my current understanding of the expected new functionality to be added later in the project, that other developer will quite likely be me.
After fixing the broken tests I continued adding a few more tests, finding bugs and fixing tests. That has been my day. I am happy because the driver (while not finished) is now a lot closer to ‘zero defect’ than it was when the day started.
I have a suspicion that tomorrow might be a similar day, I’ll let you know…

Developers Dilemma – Rewrite vs. rework

I’m just embarking on a new project today and looking through the existing code base. One of the components has some unit tests, which made me smile. None of the other components (about 8 in total) have any tests :(
This suite of components was written in a short time frame over a year ago and it works perfectly for the job that was required then. In fact it has been in use by (so I am told) several thousand users around the world for the last year. Of course there have been a few issues reported but no show stoppers. In many ways I have to say "good job" to the original development team.
The issue now is that the suite of components needs to extend its functionality further to cater for some technology changes and to open up new opportunities.
So the classic dilemma; do I rewrite the parts that need changing (in a test driven manner of course) OR do I rework the existing components and add tests as I go?
I don’t want to rewrite code that is working and has been field tested. I also don’t feel comfortable adding to code that doesn’t have unit tests. Without unit tests for the existing code I won’t know if I’ve broken any of the current functionality through the changes I am making.
To be continued …

The flyer for my book

The flyer for my book is looking pretty good even if I do say so myself!

New MSN Messenger Beta

I have been playing with the new MSN Messenger Beta. I like it a lot. Some neat new features.

Team Room

William Pietri has put together a really great page describing a Team Room that he helped put together for an XP development team recently.

The Brits are getting worried and rightly so

I saw this report in The Register today:'World's Biggest Luddite' heads for the UK. At least they know what's coming!

Be part of the solution!

As my book is being released I thought I'd put together a Cafe Press store with some eXtreme .NET goodies. Now you can read the book and wear the T-Shirt ;)

.NET Developer's Journal

Seems like a deluge of goodies are coming through the mail this week. Yesterday my book and today a copy of the .Net Developers Journal with a fabulous article by yours truly entitled Shiny New Tablets.
I wonder what will arrive in the mail tomorrow?

eXtreme .NET is here!

The UPS man just rang the door bell - guess what he had for me? Yes that's right I finally have a 'dead tree' copy of my book! It's on the virtual shelves in Amazon and I'll have signed copies for sale on my web site shortly.

I love Skype

At 6am this morning my friend David Platt the .NET Professor called me on Skype we had a chat about a number of topics relating to mobile development.
Now here is the thing, I am in Sydney and he is just outside Boston, MA on the other side of the world and the call was very high quality and free! In fact because it was free I think the quality was higher ;) Of course we both have high speed internet connections, but we have already paid for those and would do so even if we couldn't call on Skype.

Portable .NET

I'm always intetested in what other platforms .NET is being ported to, the DotGNU Project is aiming to create a version of the CLI that runs on many platforms. Looks like they have done a lot of work. It will be interesting to see if this will help to create more drive to develop software on the .NET Framework.

A cool Tablet PC app by Companion Systems

I had lunch today with Mathew from Companion Systems Pty Ltd. These guys have built a super cool application for the building intustry. The best thing is it has some great features when running on a Tablet PC. Can't wait to see more of what these guys do. Oh and the lunch was good too :)

Singapore .NET User Group presentation

The super cool developers at the Singapore .NET User group have posted a photo gallery of the session I attended last week. There are some great pictures there.
Thanks guys.

Strong Bad teaches you about being a radio show host

Some tips for all the budding PodCasters out there.

I'm Test Driven

You might notice down the right hand side a new banner/logo stating that I'm Test Driven. Of all the technical programming practices I teach I think that test driven development is the most important and the practice that has most effect on improving the quality of code.
Are you Test Driven yet?

Back in Aus - again!

I've just arrived back in Sydney from Singapore. It was a good trip and I hope some more good things come from the meetings I had and the presentations I gave.

My MSN Space

I've created my own place in MSN Spaces. There is not much there yet. I'm not sure I see what I'll put up there as I now have this blog and Always Summer Time.

Where have I been?

Wow still so much of the world to explore, I better get on with it!


create your own visited countries map

Dr. Neil's Phone Map saves the day

I've recently been doing a whole bunch of development with the MapPoint Web Service.
For the local Sydney Microsoft team I wrote a small mapping application for their Windows Mobile devices.
Today I had this IM conversation with one of the team, Lawrence Crumpton:

Lawrence says: yo Dr. Neil... I'm on my smartphone... I have to send through a testimonial on how your PPC mapping application saved my life. literally.
Dr. Neil [Sydney] says: wow - how?
Lawrence says:was with a group-we got lost with no map and found our way into a not so nice neighborhood. I remember having the app pulled it out, took the address off the building across the street and got a map to the city! it was very impressive. great job.
Dr. Neil [Sydney] says:cool!

How long will it be before we can all have maps on our phones? Apart from being able to talk to people I still believe this is the killer application for mobile devices.

Listening to PodCasts on my phone and strolling on the beach. I have to take it easy today so my neck can get better.

Timeout!

As Kris mentioned yesterday I have hurt my neck. I went to the physio this morning and the healing has begun. I have to take it easy over the next couple of days. That means I can't spend 18 hours a day in front of my PC writing and hacking code.
So off to the beach...

Lunch and REST

I had lunch with good friend Luke Burton. Lots of interesting conversation from trading systems for investment banking, through to PodCasts and then on to the topic of web services and REST.
The recurring theme was "It's funny how sometimes we get so bogged down in the technology we forget what we are actually trying to achieve".

Finding your way with MapPoint

I love the fact that Chandu found out about and blogged about this article 'Finding your way with MapPoint' before I did!
You'd think I might be told when it was published!
I hope you enjoy reading it and get started with some MapPoint development, maps are cool!

Podcast crazy

I've been sitting and doing quite a lot of writing this last few weeks. Mostly articles for magazines. While writing I have been listening to lots of PodCasts.
PodCasts are a form of Audio Blog, to find out more have a look at iPodder.org
I am using iPodder to download the Podcasts.
Some of my favourite PodCasts are:
Daily Source Code
Evil Genius Chronicles
IT Conversations
Dot Net Rocks
Podcasting from SoftwareLand

iSIM Saga - case closed

Well today I recieved a refund of the money that iSIM took from me last month. I can't say if posting the entire story here made any difference.

The iSIM saga - Don't sign up with iSIM

The iSIM saga
On the 13th of October I found a new online prepaid mobile phone deal called iSIM. The rates looked good and they provide GPRS access on their prepaid plan.
You can find out all about them here http://www.isim.com.au/Prepaid/Home.aspx
BUT WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T SIGN UP WITH THEM.
FIRST READ THIS….
So I signed up and paid $19.95 on my credit card
I promptly got this reply (personal details removed):

---

iSIM - Powered by Optus Welcome - Invoice

Dear Dr Roodyn,

Thank you for choosing iSIM. You can now enjoy the great competitive rates, which include:
• 39c a Minute (per second billing)
• No flag fall on calls within Australia
• 15c per SMS (up to 160 characters)
• 19c voicemail retrieval.
You also have the convenience of recharging your account 24 hours per day, 7 days a week online or via SMS.

iSIM would like to confirm your user name and password are correct when you signed up with iSIM:
User Name:
Password:

If the above details are incorrect, please email us on:

mailto:help@isim.com.au

We hope you enjoy your service with iSIM. For further information, please visit www.isim.com.au today. If you require help related to your account or services, please read our FAQs at:

Frequently Asked Questions

Please find attached your Tax Invoice for future reference.

Once again, thank you for choosing iSIM!

Kind regards,

The iSIM Team

---

So I thought that’s great – and expected to get my SIM card in the mail.
A couple of days later I decide to go to the iSIM website and check the status of my order – I wonder if my SIM card has been sent to me yet.
I discover that the order has been cancelled so I wrote iSIM the following email:

---

Hi,
My user name is NRoodyn.
On October 13th I used the web site to order an iSim card for my phone.
There were a few issues with getting the website to accept my details – maybe because I am not an Australian resident?
Anyway eventually it seemed to be accepted and I was notified that my transaction was complete,
Now when I look on the web site it states that “Your iSIM order has been cancelled.”
Please can you contact me so that I can use your services?
regards
Dr. Neil Roodyn
Increase the value of your Software Business
Neil@Roodyn.com

---

To which I received this prompt response:

---

Dear iSIM customer,

Thank you for your enquiry.

This is what we have been informed by the credit department as below.

CANCELLED BY CREDIT DEPARTMENT. CANCELLATION: SIMplus may immediately cancel the Service in a variety of circumstances, including: if, there are reasonable grounds to suspect that you provided incorrect information to activate the Service; there has been fraud or misuse by you in relation to the Service; you transfer your SIM to another party without obtaining SIMplus' consent to do so; or you breach the terms of the SFOA. You may cancel the Service if SIMplus breaches the terms of the SFOA. Upon cancellation, you must promptly return the SIM to SIMplus.We hope you enjoy our service with iSIM. For further information, please visit www.isim.com.au today.

Kind regards,

---

To which I replied thus:

---

Ok, so how can resolve this?
I would like to order a SIM card for use in my phone.
Is there a way you can call me and get this happening?
My phone number is:

regards
Dr. Neil Roodyn
Increase the value of your Software Business

---

And their response was:

---

Dear iSIM customer,

Thank you for your enquiry.

Unfortunatly there is nothing that we are able to do now, credit have cancelled the order, we are unable to change this. if you have been charged for this transacion a credit will be reaised with in 72 hours to your credit card.
We hope you enjoy our service with iSIM. For further information, please visit www.isim.com.au today.

Kind regards,

iSIM Team

---

To which I responded with:

---

I understand that this order has been cancelled and there is nothing you can do about this particular order.
The question I am asking is how do I go about placing another order for an iSIM card when the web site doesn't accept my details?

regards
Dr. Neil Roodyn
Increase the value of your Software Business

---

And they came back to me with this:

---

Dear iSIM customer,

Thank you for your enquiry.

Unfortunatly if you have had a order cancelled you wont be able to sign up for a service with isim. We suggest that you do seek a mobile service with a different service provider.
We hope you enjoy our service with iSIM. For further information, please visit www.isim.com.au today.

Kind regards,

iSIM Team

---

One thing I was interested in was how I was supposed to ‘enjoy our service with iSIM’ when they refused to do business with me.

At this point I thought, ok fair enough I’ll get my money back and stay with Vodafone.
So when 5 days later my $19.95 had still not been refunded I thought I should contact them again:

---

Hi,

I have been told that my account has been cancelled. I am not sure why this is. It appeared at first to be an issue with my credit card, but I now see from my credit card statement that you have taken the money from my credit card.
The money was taken on 13th October. It is now 20th October and neither has the money been refunded or my iSim card arrived.
I would like to receive an iSim card. If this is not possible then I would like to know why my money has not been refunded.
I would appreciate it if someone could call me to work this out on

regards
Dr. Neil Roodyn
Increase the value of your Software Business

---

Of course they did not phone me but they did get back via email again:

---

Dear iSIM customer,

Thank you for your enquiry.

Your refund was raised on the 15th October and approved by my Manager on the 18th October. so your refund will be processed in the next few days.

We hope you enjoy our service with iSIM. For further information, please visit www.isim.com.au today.

Kind regards,
Marlene
iSIM Team

---

Great so I should my money back in a few days, but I wanted to clarify this os I wrote them another email:

---

Hello,

Just to be clear, I want to make sure this is correct.
The payment was made on 13th October, on the 15th October I am told that for credit reasons the account cannot be opened, and yet iSIM still deducts the money from my account. It then takes 3 days to get the 'refund' approved and then from today (20th October) it takes another 'few days' for me to get my money.
Is this correct?

How does this equate to the 72 hours I was told previously it would take to refund my account?

regards
Dr. Neil Roodyn
Increase the value of your Software Business

---

To which they responded:

---

Dear iSIM customer,

Thank you for your enquiry.

The funds are deducted at the point of sign up, it is only after this that you did not meet the criteria for credit.

Unfortunatly we need to follow procedures, this refund has been processed and sent to the banks, it can take the bank a few days to process this request.
We hope you enjoy our service with iSIM. For further information, please visit www.isim.com.au today.

Kind regards,

iSIM Team

---

Another 6 days go past and no sign of my money so I figure it is time to write to them again:

---

Last week I was told I would receive my refund for the iSIM account that could not be activated for credit reasons. I still have not received the refund.
Will you please advise as to when this is likely to happen?

regards
Dr. Neil Roodyn
Increase the value of your Software Business

---

To which they responded:

---

Dear iSIM customer,

Thank you for your enquiry.

You should recieve the refund with in the next working week. I will look into the credit today to make sure this has been done for youWe hope you enjoy our service with iSIM. For further information, please visit www.isim.com.au today.

Kind regards,

iSIM Team

---

Well I have still not received the refund and right now I don’t really expect to see that money again. So I am posting this here in the hope that some other folks read this and don’t sign up with iSIM.

Share Keyboard and Mouse between Desktop and Tablet PC

So now I have my Tablet sitting in it's stand next to the screen of my desktop PC I want to share the keyboard and mouse that is plugged into my desktop PC and use it on my Tablet PC. I dont want to clutter my desk with another keyboard and mouse.
Of course I could use a remote PC connection but then I basically give up the Tablet PC screen and might as well have the Tablet PC sitting on a shelf!
A friend suggested I try MaxiVista which looks good and would allow me to use my Tablet PC as a second screen on my desktop PC. Trouble is I just couldn't get MaxiVista to work. So they don't get my $50!
I have downloaded the Tablet PC Utility: ShareKMC this looks pretty good but it seems to work quite slowly. There is obvious delay in the mouse movement. I might try it some more.
My latest download is Synergy this looks really promising and the source is avaiable too! If it doesn't do exactly what I want I can make it do what I want :)
If I remember I'll keep you posted on progress and let you know what I end up using.

What's Dr. Neil doing?

I've been keeping busy this week with a couple of projects.
This week I finished reviewing what I hope is the final maniscript for my book eXtreme .NET
I've also been working with some clients on new features for Dr. Neil's Smartphone Toolkit.
Of course I've also been providing support to existing customers of the SmartSMS Dev Kit.

Aside from this I've been listening to a bunch of PodCasts using iPodder.NET. A .NET Framework implementation of iPodder proposed by Adam Curry.
I've been trawling through some old IT Conversations. Interesting stuff.

My new Tablet PC stand

I have been thinking of getting a dock for my Toshiba M200. But the issue with the dock is that I have to take off the portfolio case each time I want to dock it and then put it back on when I want to go out and about with the Tablet.
I wanted a solution that would let me stick the Tablet on my desk and use it, then be able to pick it up and go.
I also wanted access to the ports at the side so I can plug cables in and out etc... Of course the dock would solve the cable problem but not the case problem.
Today I have found a solution that might just work.
I bought a plastic plate stand from a homeware store. It wasn't a perfect fit but with the help of a file I removed some of the stand and shaped it to hold the Tablet.
Here it is:

My New Tablet Stand in action 


This is it! 

The best thing is the price!
$2.50 + about two hours with a file and some sandpaper :)

Saturday morning bike ride

Last week I got a new bicycle. It's a Cruiser 800 from Learsport. It is good to have a bike again. Last week, the day after I got the bike, I went for a short ride down to Manly beach .
This morning I did a slightly longer ride north along the coast. The sun is out, the sky is a crystal blue and the sea is a beautiful blue/green.
Life is very good today.

Thought for the morning

It is good to be back in Australia. This morning I went for a run on the beach and then a splash in the sea :)
Back home in the shower (the place I tend to get most inspiration) I was thinking through some of the things I've done in my life. Lots of success but also some failure. I thought how I have learnt more from failure than success, yet we tend measure people from their record of success rather than the lessons they've learnt from failure. Strange huh?
I think:
"The past is a history to learn from not repeat"

No more wires

I've arrived back in Sydney to discover that there is now an option to have a broadband connection without having a phone line called Unwired I've signed up and so far so good.
I'm also now signed up with Engin a VOIP provider. This means I don't have a phone line coming in to the apartment at all and yet I have a broadband connection and very cheap phone calls.
Goodbye to those nasty old telecommunications companies.

Too busy to blog

Blogging seems to be one of those things I can do more of when there is less to talk about!
When I'm doing lots of things that would probably be interesting to put in my blog I am too busy doing those things to write in my blog!
This leads me to wonder if blogging is a way of creating something interesting when there is nothing else interesting going on :)
I know when I was writing my book my blog became a good distraction.
Now that my book is pretty much done. I'm back out on the road working with companies and visiting interesting places. Some of what I am doing I cannot put in blog as I have signed many NDAs in the last few months. The rest of it I could bring you up to date on.
I am now in San Francisco. The sun us shining and life is good.
I flew in the other day from Seattle where I have been for the past two weeks.
In Seattle I was doing some work with Microsoft. Everything I am doing revolves around the mobility space. This includes Tablet PCs, Windows Mobile and MapPoint.
MapPoint has really got me excited now that it is possible to have maps on mobile devices. Watch out for some articles and code samples soon.

eXtreme .NET

A few folks have been asking about the book I've been working on. As you can see it's now listed on Amazon. I'm in the final stages of the copy edit and it is on schedule for release this November. I'm looking forward to getting this project completed now!

European tour

I've just finished traveling around Europe. I started in Greece at the end of the games and then was in Italy for a while before ending up in Paris. More travel means more books getting read. The last 3 books are:

	This book was a little harder going than I remember other Bill Bryson books. Still it is jammed full of interesting facts. I give this book 6 out of 10.
	Moore is funny and serious at the same time. The contents of this book are horrific and yet somehow manaaged to get me to laugh most of the way through it. this book gets 8 out of 10.
	After reading The Da Vinci Code I wanted to read some more by Dan Brown. I don't think this was as gripping as The De Vinci Code but I still wanted to get to the end and see what happened. It's a good thriller. 7 out of 10.