vsbabu.org : dotnet http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/categories/dotnet/ Gluing passing thoughts to foregone conclusions en-us vsbabu@gmail.com Copyright 2009 2003-09-23T06:27:55+05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Is ADO.Net portable? http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/09/23/is_adonet_portable.html Wondering why common database functions are named differently in different .Net providers. 900@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ One thing I noticed when I used Oracle provider for .Net from Microsoft is that all Oracle specific methods are named like Oracle*. Eg: OracleConnection, OracleReader, OracleException. Wouldn't this mean that I will have to change my code if I switch from Oracle --a fat chance-- to SQL Server?

]]> dotnet 2003-09-23T06:27:55+05:00 Oracle with C# http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/09/08/oracle_with_c.html What has 3 seconds got to do with opening an Oracle connection from Microsoft's .Net provider for Oracle? 880@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Since I work a lot with Oracle databases, the way I usually evaluate technologies is by checking how well behaved (execution/development/deployment speed) the technology is with Oracle. Java, Python, PHP and Perl are all very good in working with Oracle. ASP with VBScript was a miserable experience, especially when combined with stored procedures.

Recently, I tried Microsoft's Oracle.NET provider. Wrote a program to print results of a simple SQL; way too slow.

]]> dotnet 2003-09-08T07:41:36+05:00 Slashdot: Java vs .Net http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/09/05/slashdot_java_vs_net.html Interesting (for a change) discussion on the subject, on Slashdot. 879@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Slashdot discussion - this one has the usual flame war bit, but there are some *excellent* comments also.

]]> java 2003-09-05T18:20:55+05:00 Variable number of function arguments in C# http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/08/27/variable_number_of_function_arguments_in_c_.html Unlike what I thought last week, this is possible in C# 875@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ During the training last week, my instructor was quiet sure that you cannot define a function that takes in multiple number of arguments, like **kw in C or Python.

Further research on MSDN reveals that it is indeed possible to do that with C#. In short, you use the keyword params to achieve this.

]]> dotnet 2003-08-27T19:15:34+05:00 C# day 3 http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/08/25/c_day_3.html Notes from third day of learning C# 872@http://vsbabu.org/mt/
  • I love object.Parse() method, especially for dates.
  • Quite a few C# code samples seem to use object.ToString() liberally. Kasia talked about abuse and overuse of toString in Java.
  • Like Java, C# also provides only single inheritance. Python can do multiple inheritance. I favour single inheritance coupled with interfaces though.
  • Unlike Java, C# needs a virtual keyword for virtual function. In Java, methods are assumed to be virtual unless specified by final. This might cause some performance enhancement due to less dynamic binding. There is also a sealed keyword!
  • I think I like the keyword override. It is better to be explicit.
  • C# supports operator overloading. Java doesn't, Python does.
  • I like Properties a bit more than usual getX/setX in Java. Python descriptors.
  • as and is are useful little operators to compare object types. I've come to love is in Python.
  • Like Java, C# also has abstract classes. This is something I miss in Python; though it is possible to prevent instantiation of base classes in Python. Additionally, there is metaclasses in Python, but that is a bit too much for me, most of the time.
  • Like Java, C# support interfaces. Python doesn't have an interface keyword, but good folks at Zope Corp has a scarecrow implementation.
  • The list (or Collection) classes are there just like in Java. I still can't figure out why these modern languages chose to re-invent the wheel rather than implement something like Python's simple but much more powerful lists, dicts and tuples.
  • C# has a concept of attributes. Pretty powerful stuff, but I would've preferred it to be inside the method code immediately after method definition rather than immediately before it.
  • Reference data types are always passed by reference. The only way to make sure your object doesn't get modified after you pass it to a method (say, from a third party library) is by creating and passing a clone.
    • ]]>     dotnet 2003-08-25T08:40:44+05:00     Mozilla intentionally breaks ASP.Net pages? http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/08/22/mozilla_intentionally_breaks_aspnet_pages.html F.U.D meets "I'm OK, you are not". 871@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Yesterday, during C# training, a very interesting discussion happened. The topic was a demo of amazing (not my adjective) capabilities of .Net.

    The instructor gushed about how web programming is as easy as Windows GUI programming - personally, I would've preferred if GUI programming is as easy as web programming. Just drag and drop controls from Visual Studio.Net and deploy it to IIS.

    Naturally, someone told that the HTML generated doesn't seem to work in Mozilla or Opera at times.

    ]]>     dotnet 2003-08-22T06:19:02+05:00     C# day 2 http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/08/20/c_day_2.html Notes from second day of going through C# 869@http://vsbabu.org/mt/
  • Can catch multiple named exceptions AND have any uncaught exception caught in a generic exception clause. Good.
  • Can call a function with named arguments like func(myname=”Babu”). [Better than Java, as good as Python].
  • Through delegates, functions can be passed as parameters to other functions. However, these functions should return void, and can't accept any parameter - like a subroutine.
  • Multithreading is pre-emptive.
  • Arrays are decent and size can be initialized using a variable size. [As good as Java, but completely smoked by Python's lists (forget slices, reverse indexing etc.)]
  • Strings are comparable to Java strings. Can't come anywhere near Python's strings (No easy slices, no reverse indexing, AFAIK multi-line strings are a pain just like C, no triple-quoting or freely using single and double quotes).
  • The good old method of using %s %d etc. to format a string is replaced with {0} {1} etc. I can't quite see any benefit. Again, smoked by Python's ludicrously simple mechanism
  • Date processing and threading is pretty simple. In these two areas, I think C# surpasses Java and to a certain extent, Python (without mxTools).
    • ]]>     dotnet 2003-08-20T19:13:10+05:00     C# day 1 http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/08/19/c_day_1.html Thoughts from first day of going over C# 867@http://vsbabu.org/mt/
  • Claims again and again to be a more modern language. Still as annoying to type as C. Or C++. Or Java. I think making M capital in main is not enough :-)
  • Has a foreach construct. This is better than Java or C++. Still not as elegant as simple for x in y of Python. [better than Java, not as good as Python]
  • Cannot pass default parameter values to functions. Modern, you say? [not as good as Python]
  • XML documentation comments. Seems to me that such comments should all start with ///. Pain to keep typing this unless you've smart editors. [worse than both Java and Python]

    • Things I need to look up:

    ]]>     dotnet 2003-08-19T19:54:02+05:00     KOBRA - .Net for Python http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/01/30/kobra_net_for_python.html A .Net wrapper, just like the COM wrapper. 704@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ KOBRA is a .Net wrapper for Python by Chetan Gadgil. Anyway, long story short, I have a half baked version which is quite usable, even though it is still in somewhat a developmental stage..

    .]]>     python 2003-01-30T05:28:39+05:00     .NET viable on other platforms? http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/01/10/net_viable_on_other_platforms.html Some opinions on the subject. 683@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Ted Neward thinks that .NET is viable on other platforms.

    Simon Brunning: Is it just me, though, or are his points one and two somewhat contradictory? He says that WinForms, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, etc. won't be available off Windows. If you start leaving this sort of stuff out, how valuable is .NET anyway?

    ]]>     dotnet 2003-01-10T07:09:29+05:00     First thoughts on ASP.NET http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/01/09/first_thoughts_on_aspnet.html I think .Net has some strong points. Some scary points too. 682@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Read a little bit more about .Net and ASP.NET. Downloaded the free IDE Web Matrix on my XP Home machine and played with it. Very good. No need to have IIS installed. I've mixed feelings about ASP.NET now.

    ]]>     dotnet 2003-01-09T20:18:49+05:00     Installing .NET SDK in Win98 http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/01/06/installing_net_sdk_in_win98.html Short instructions on installing .Net SDK in Windows 98. 672@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Microsoft does not recommend this and the installer you download will tell you to upgrade to NT, 2000 or XP. If you've a Windows 98 machine that has atleast 600MB free disk space and 64MB RAM, you can install .NET. Here is how I installed it. It compiles the "Hello World" C# program. I've not tried other stuff though.

    ]]>     dotnet 2003-01-06T11:48:18+05:00     Sharp Develop http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/01/05/sharp_develop.html A good GPL'ed IDE using C# for .Net 670@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ It has been snowing from the morning. Perfect opportunity to check out all this buzz about .Net. Went through some articles onOnDotNet. To me, it looks a lot like Sun's Java idea. C# is pretty decent too. I liked the Windows Forms idea. At the moment, I don't care much for the hoopla around web services using .Net. XML-RPC would do just fine for me.

    Anyway, this led me to #develop, a free IDE for C# and VB.NET projects on Microsoft's .NET platform. It is open-source (GPL), and you can download both sourcecode and executables.

    ]]>     dotnet 2003-01-05T19:06:59+05:00