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I have been reading a book on Object-Oriented Analysis & Design from O 'Reilly[1]. Now, O 'Reilly publishes books that, in my opinion, are most of the time good reads and contain a lot of in-depth information. This book appears to be different. Actually, it even says so in it's introduction: ''How can this be a serious programming ...

Please note that my explanation in this post is incorrect. I am sorry if I caused any trouble. In .NET 2.0 disposing the SqlConnection DOES return the connection into the connectionpool. In my experience .NET 1.1 acted differently; I will try to investigate this and let you know.   In many talks, tutorials and books you will find C# ...

Yesterday I attended a meeting that set me thinking: how could I, as a trainer and consultant, use more of the things that my students, my customers and I love about gaming? In one of the courses I teach, we do a simulation of a software development project and everybody likes it even though at times it may look silly to 'play' on the ...

MCPTS… MCPD… upgrading from MCAD and MSCD .NET   If you are confused about the new certifications that have been and are being launched this year, try reading this blogpost[1] Why doesn't Microsoft publish this kind of information more clearly is beyond me…   [1] Vishal Joshi's Tangent: Dynamics of VS 2005 Upgrade Exams

Rory[1] touches upon a sensitive area in his post about customer feedback. Although I hesitate a little in criticizing my customers/audience (I might end up with very bad scores on my future evaluations) I would like to add some of my own experiences.   First some personal positive experiences (to give some counter balance to the second part of ...

I just found out that, as of January 25th, I am a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS). I passed both required exams (in beta). The first exam is a general .NET 2.0 exam (pretty tough) and the second one is a Web Application Exam. Still waiting for the results of the Windows Apps exam (due end this month)

In this interview with Steve Ballmer I see the passion I want my audience to see when I am busy presenting. Of course the technical bits are nice but I really like the way he wants to be remembered; having three sons myself, I couldn't agree more (by the way: like his, they too expect an Xbox in my office)

Tomorrow I will be presenting a seminar on WCF at Microsoft's. After many seminars on .NET technologies, ranging from Smart Clients, ADO, VSTO, WPF it will be nice to get into some very technical stuff again. I really like the way Microsoft has abstracted the bad details away from the actual code you write and allows you to configure your way ...

I just learned that I passed the 071-528: TS: Microsoft® .NET Framework 2.0 - Web-based Client Development exam! It is a beta exam but counts as the real thing towards certification.   Still… I'm awaiting the results of three more exams I've taken and I've scheduled two more for March.

Looking at this presentation (which blows you away): OSCON 2005 Keynote - Identity 2.0 makes me wonder (again): how does one achieve an optimal viewer experience? Making your audience feel that the speaker is cool and knows it all could be a goal but it's not mine. I want people to learn to think for themselves based upon (objective) information, ...