Schedule for DevWeek 2013 is now out RSK will be presenting a range of materials from distributed systems, C# 5 threading , debugging, HTML 5 , and some of the future stuff such as Roslyn. Dr Rockman will be present in the exhibition area to answer any of your technical questions.
Look forward to seeing you there
The furniture is currently being installed for our first Cisco Video Advantage based CAT solution for Harrow Council. Rich and myself will be installing the software on Tuesday.
Harrow are currently rolling this out to three libraries initially, allowing residents to access housing services from a convenient local location.
Richard and myself receive a batch of Microsoft Windows Embedded licence keys. Having only ordered four we were a bit amused by the size of the box they came in .
At my recent Async talk at DevWeek I built an Asynchronous queue that enables the consumers to take advantage of async and await keywords available in C# 5. You can download the code here, the final step in that implementation was to make use of double check locking. A delegate came up to me afterwards and said my code wasn’t thread safe, in that I could end up with a partially completed object. This was due to the fact that the CPU can re-order write operations to optimise memory bus, and that is true of some processors. In that the reference to the object could be flushed out to main memory before the data associated with the object constructor. This certainly was the case in .NET 1.1 with certain chip sets not true for your classic x86 and x64 but the Itanium I-A64 family of processor. The work around was to make the pointer to the constructed object volatile forcing the compiler to place the appropriate memory barrier instructions.
However in .NET 2.0 the CLR team enforced a more strong memory model since they didn’t like the idea of managed code behaving so differently on the final target hardware. Here is a link to the write up from MSDN mag by Vance Morrison the compiler architect of the .NET runtime explaining why you don’t need to use volatile from .NET 2.0 onwards.
In addition to my responsibilities at RSK I also teach for developmentor, and this summer we are trying something new. We are running days of events, so you don’t have to give up a whole week from the office to attend a training course during August we are running a day of .NET threading featuring C# 5 and Visual Studio 11. So at the end of the day you will be up to speed on threading for .NET 4 and have a good insight to how things will be different in C#5 when it ships.
In addition to the days of threading we are running a day of design patterns, so if you still find yourself using the same techniques to solve problems, feel your OO skills are getting rusty then come along for a day, and immerse yourself in OO and design patterns.
For more details click here
Just completed two screen casts describing the mechanics of how async and await work using Visual Studio 11 Beta, along with how you can create your own types to await on rather than always using tasks.
In addition to working hard at RSK myself and Richard are also instructors for Developmtor. Both of us author and teach a range of courses for them. This year has seen Developmentor move from Hammersmith to central London, for all of you who are based in and around London they are offering an evening of tech and nibbles to show case the new location. Details below, hopefully see some of you there.
Come and see us! On Monday 6th February 2012, 5-7pm to cement the move to our new London City location in Moorgate, we invite you to our house warming, entertainment provided by Richard Blewett and Andy Clymerwho will be revealing the magic behind the new and exciting C#5 Async and AWait keywords. To register your interest for this free event, please email us salesuk@develop.com or call 01242 525108 .
Just finished updating the Code Smarter with Design Patterns for Developmentor.
The course traditionally has focused on GoF design patterns, in this release I have added MVC and Repository pattern, to round off the offering.
Both these patterns build upon the GoF patterns discussed earlier in the course, and show how the basic GoF patterns are often compounded to produce elegant solutions.
Other enhancements include addition of Prototype and Builder patterns, and a general upgrade to the latest features offered by the .NET framework.
To learn more click here
