In all of the prep guides to these exams, Section I is identical.
Here are the goals I looked at:
Manage data in a .NET Framework application by using .NET Framework 2.0 system types. (Refer System namespace)
- Value types
- Reference types
- Attributes
- Generic types
- Exception classes
- Boxing and UnBoxing
- TypeForwardedToAttributes class
Nothing too special here. Everybody should know about generics by now. The TypeForwardedToAttribute is new. Here some info I found on that:
http://www.heege.net/blog/PermaLink,guid,8d076332-4fb0-44b5-a829-4c4d653de2d6.aspx
http://notgartner.com/posts/2955.aspx
Manage a group of associated data in a .NET Framework application by using collections. (Refer System.Collections namespace)
- ArrayList class
- Collection interfaces
- Iterators
- Hashtable class
- CollectionBase class and ReadOnlyCollectionBase class
- DictionaryBase class and DictionaryEntry class
- Comparer class
- Queue class
- SortedList class
- BitArray class
- Stack class
Again, nothing too new here. The only thing to be aware of is the yield return statement in C#. It seems that a similiar construct is not available in VB. Some good discussion can be see here:
http://robgarrett.com/Blogs/software/archive/2005/09/13/1588.aspx
Improve type safety and application performance in a .NET Framework application by using generic collections. (Refer System.Collections.Generic namespace)
- Collection.Generic interfaces
- Generic Dictionary
- Generic Comparer class and Generic EqualityComparer class
- Generic KeyValuePair structure
- Generic List class, Generic List.Enumerator structure, and Generic SortedList class
- Generic Queue class and Generic Queue.Enumerator structure
- Generic SortedDictionary class
- Generic LinkedList
- Generic Stack class and Generic Stack.Enumerator structure
Just the generic implementations of the collection classes. Know that generics are faster because they prevent a lot of boxing/unboxing operations.
Implement .NET Framework interfaces to cause components to comply with standard contracts. (Refer System namespace)
- IComparable interface
- IDisposable interface
- IConvertible interface
- ICloneable interface
- INullableValue interface
- IEquatable interface
- IFormattable interface
Some neat stuff here. A lot of it existed in 1.1, I just never had a chance to use it.
IConvertible
Specifies means to convert an object to a native value type. Convert.ToInt32… Throw InvalidCastException if no meaningful conversion.
INullableValue
Removed in RTM
http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2005/08/11/450640.aspx
IEquatable<T>
Implements the CompareTo<T> method so that different object types can be compared.
IFormattable
ToString implementation. Difference between overriding ToString and implementing IFormattable is that the currentCulture is provided when implementing IFormattable.
That's it for now. Next post-> Configuration Manager and Debugging.
I haven't been blogging lately, because life has been pretty busy with the holidays, new baby and trying a few spare-time projects in VS2005.
If you are a MCAD or MCSD in .NET, you can take the upgrade exams to upgrade your certifications to the new MCPD. They are currently in beta, and it looks like they've opened the beta to anyone. See the training section at http://msdn.microsoft.com/flash/currentissue.htm
I'm scheduled to take all the upgrade exams between mid-Feb and mid March. I've found that studying for exams forces me to examine areas that I otherwise don't take a serious look at. Like tracing, code access security, reflection and some of the more arcane areas of web services. And, if I schedule exams ambitiously (really close together), I'm more likely to spend the time that I should preparing.
My practice has been to go through the preparation exam guide with a fine tooth comb, play with the areas that you haven't touched and prepare "cheat sheets" (Study guide). As I finish a study guide, I'll publish them here. Hopefully you will find them useful.
I've been using Virtual PC for over a year now for a variety of different purposes: running beta software, running Linux, testing installs and creating a machine to use for telecommuting. Just last night I helped a coworker on a problem with Windows Server 2003. Instead of having to keep a dual boot machine, I was able to walk through and test various scenarios using my virtual PC image.
Over the past three months or so, the performance has just sucked. To the point where it took two hours to download updates from WindowsUpdate. It didn't used to be that slow, in fact it was almost as fast as my host PC, so I starting checking things out, trying to find the problem.
Turns out the problem was Windows XP Service Pack 2. With Service Pack 2, there was a change that caused virtual machines to run very very very slowly. The recommended solution was to install service pack 1 for Virtual PC. That helped, but things were still pretty slow. The other part of the solution is to uninstall the virtual machine additions and then reinstall them on all your client images. This reduces the amount of thrashing for virtual XP Sp2 machines. This was all information that was contained in the readme file for Service Pack 1. Sometimes it pays to read the Readme files.SP1 includes the following additional software updates.
Updated version of Virtual Machine Additions. You should update the version of Virtual Machine Additions on all virtual machines where Virtual Machine Additions is installed. For more information, see "Installing Virtual Machine Additions" in Virtual PC Help.
This is crazy. The Digital Rights technology used by various media companies is going too far by stealthly putting software on people's machines. This post is a great read, detailing some interesting techniques for discovering the presence of rootkits on your system.
Last night I posted a webcontrol that I wrote to my website that makes life more difficult for spammers. It's a substitute for hyperlink control in ASP.NET named the obscure hyperlink control
One of the ways that spammers get email addresses is that they have programs that spider the web, looking for email addresses embedded in webpages. They target forum based sites because people are more likely to leave their email addresses there. This has caused people to start leaving their email addresses in cryptic formats (for example: me {at} mydomain.com). I find these techniques annoying as an end user trying to contact someone, but I also have to believe that spammers have caught on and look for variants with the word "at" in them. The obscure hyperlink control can be used for any hyperlink, mailto or http. Besides thwarting spammers, another use of the control would be to link to an objectionable site without contributing to its search engine rank.
What the obscure hyperlink control does is scrambles (note - I'm not saying encrypt) the hyperlink when the page is being created on the webserver using a random technique. An scrambled example of my email address is 'mcstiostucoe@ipolamit:hldnnorascae.o'. You can see a functioning example here. A matching javascript function is added to the webpage that unscrambles the hyperlink when the user clicks on it. When you view the source of the webpage, the link is removed, and an onClick handler is added to the hyperlink. Nowhere will you see the text of the hyperlink. It is present in the onClick handler, but it is not very legible. The Url is not stored in Viewstate, so it can't be taken from there, either.
Here are pros & cons of this control:
Pros:
- Easy to use (works exactly the same as the existing hyperlink control)
- The hyperlink information is not in the href attribute, but in the onClick (an area that spammers don't always pay atttention to)
- The diversity of scrambling algorithms makes it difficult for spammers to target a specific implementation
- Doesn't require a lot of server resources
Cons:
- Doesn't completely prevent spammers from getting email addresses. A determined spammer could reverse engineer the control. This is just adds a roadblock for spammers.
- Requires that the user's browser supports javascript and that it is enabled.
- Limited number of scrambling algorithms. Right now there are 5. If this fills a need, I intend to add more, but it will still be a finite number.
I've just finished uploading the presentations I did at the New Jersey Code Camp to their site . The demo files can be downloaded at my website under the file tab. Sorry for the delay!
Microsoft has released details for the next generation of .NET Certifications. (Information here). I've been certified by Microsoft for 10 years now (my MCP ID is in the 36000 range) and I currently hold the MCP, MCP+SB, MCSD, MCDBA, MCSA, MCSE, MCAD, and MCSD.NET certifications. I was fortunate enough to work for a Microsoft Partner for a few years who paid the testing fee for as many tests as I wanted to take. These certifications haven't gotten me jobs by themselves or increased my billing rate. But they do help employers/clients overlook that I didn't get a 4 year degree in Computer Science (I just have a two year degree) and have made clients feel more comfortable with my skillset.
It looks like that I just have to take an upgrade exam to bring my certs current. 4 tests for all the developer stuff. However, I also have the DBA certifications. There is an upgrade exam for the DBA Cert, but if I want to become a MCITP: Database Developer, or MCITP: Business Intelligence Developer , I have to start from scratch for a total of 5 exams.
One of my pet peeves is developers who think certifications are worthless. For the most part, the rant sounds something like this: "I know everything I need to know to do my job, I'm a .NET god, why do I need to prove it to other people?". Well, you don't know what you don't know. Take one of the practice tests. Every developer I know who has taken one is humbled by the results. For the most part, developers use only a fraction of the .NET framework. Until I started preparing for the exams, I had never used EnterpriseServices, Reflection, or Code Access Security. You can write a lot of good applications without ever touching any of these areas. But, by knowing these areas, you can write more complete applications, and troubleshoot all those weird problems that crop up every now and then.
It's been known for some time that Microsoft is going to offer a Microsoft Certified Architect program. I'm on the fence with this one. It strikes me as Country Clubish. You begin the program by having someone who is an architect recommend you. To gain acceptance, you are grilled by a "board" of other Architects about your solutions and experience. I would like to see it be a little more capability based. The costs are unclear, but I can't see that it would be cheap, and I'm not sure what advantage this credential gives me compared to some other guy who doesn't have it.
Apparently, the servers that host my site are based in Boca Raton, Florida and have been without power for the past two days. They're working off of generators right now. This is a tremendously minor inconvenience compared to what the people who live there must be going through. My prayers go out to all the people affected. Donate as you can.
Visual Studio 2003 stores Reference paths for projects in the .User file. Not in the csproj file. I can't see why they wanted to store that information in a separate file. The settings pertain only to the specific project. Anyway, if your application's build is dependant upon having the reference paths set, make sure you are adding the .User files to your source control system. The csproj file is not enough.
Normally you can find the .User file in the same directory as the project file... Unless it is a web application/service. Then you will find the file in the VSWebCache folder. Which makes it very difficult to put that file under source control. I don't see a good solution to this problem. Maybe porting the build to use NAnt. Although that would be burdensome if we just wanted to debug the project.
I guess the best solution is to architect your project so that it isn't dependant on a reference path.
The New Hampshire Dot Net User Group meets tomorrow:
Boston University Corporate Education Center
72 Tyng Road
Tyngsboro, MA 01879
The meeting schedule is
The third Thursday @New Hampshire Dot Net
Oct 20 Jesse Liberty - Creating Personalized Sites with ASP.NET 2.0 and C#
Topics will include: forms-based security, roles and personalization including: anonymous personalization, personalization with user-defined types, master pages, themes and skins and personalizing with web parts and catalogs.
I'm not sure if this critisism violates the agreement I have with gooogle. It seems everybody is talking how great their ad technology was and how easy it is to implement. So I put in on this site just to play around with it. While it is true that it is very easy to implement, I think their matchmaking sucks. Right now, if you go to the homepage of this blog, you are presented with ads for the XXXXXX XXXXXX (The name of the basketbal team from bostom). How did that happen? I don't even like that sport (I'm a small guy). Am I missing something? There are no references to that team on this page (I misspelled stuff in this entry so that there wouldn't be in the future, either). I think I'm going to try ads from other companies to see if they do a better job.
|
Copyright © 2010 Phil Denoncourt III. All rights reserved.
DasBlog 'Portal' theme by Johnny Hughes.
Pick a theme:
|
|
|