Codelinq

I’m on the devlink 2011 front page!

scott — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 03:28:21 +0000

So one thing I love doing at devlink and codestock conferences is going to the open spaces technology conference. It’s kind of a conference within a conference. When the 2011 devlink conference page went up, the first thing I noticed was that I (along with a few friends) were on the front page. Seeing as its getting close to the conference, I decided to snag a screenshot of the page for fun.

StructureMap: Dynamically load Registry’s in a specific order

scott — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:21:36 +0000

Structuremap makes it easy to dynamically load and configure Registry objects at runtime.

Here is an example:

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public class Bootstrapper
{
public static void Bootstrap()
{
ObjectFactory.Initialize(init =>
{
init.Scan(scan =>
{
scan.AssembliesFromPath(path);
scan.LookForRegistries();
});
});
}
}

However, I ran into a problem where I have multiple registries in multiple Assemblies that need to be registered in a specific order.

To solve this problem I created a RegistryOrderAttribute that I can tack onto my registry classes like [RegistryOrder(Order = 1)]

This is what the RegistryOrderAttribute looks like:

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[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Class, AllowMultiple = false)]
public class RegistryOrderAttribute : Attribute
{
public int Order { get; set; }
}

Then I changed my ObjectFactory Initialization code to find and filter Registry types by the order and add them to the ObjectFactory:

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public class Ioc
{
public static void Bootstrap(string path)
{

var registries = FindAssemblies(path)
.Where(a => a != null)
.SelectMany(x => x.GetTypes())
.Where(t => t.IsSubclassOf(typeof (Registry)))
.Select(
t => new
{
Type = t,
Attribute = t.GetCustomAttributes(false)
.OfType<RegistryOrderAttribute>().FirstOrDefault()
});

var sortedRegistries = registries.Where(a => a.Attribute != null).OrderBy(a => a.Attribute.Order);

ObjectFactory.Initialize(init =>
{
foreach (var registry in sortedRegistries)
{
init.AddRegistry(Activator.CreateInstance(registry.Type) as Registry);
}
});

ObjectFactory.AssertConfigurationIsValid();
}

private static IEnumerable<Assembly> FindAssemblies(string path)
{
return Directory.GetFiles(path)
.Where(file => Path.GetExtension(file).Equals(".exe", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) ||
Path.GetExtension(file).Equals(".dll", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
.Select(p =>
{
try
{
return Assembly.LoadFrom(p);
}
catch (Exception)
{
return null;
}
});
}

public static T GetInstance<T>()
{
return ObjectFactory.GetInstance<T>();
}

public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllInstances<T>()
{
return ObjectFactory.GetAllInstances<T>();
}
}

SOLID Principles: Part 1

scott — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:16:07 +0000

On Sunday I arrived home from CodePaLOUsa in Louisville. The first geek conference of the year and it must have lit a fire in me, because when I got home I started building a slide deck titled “Class Design”. My original idea for the title was “SOLID, DI, IoC… WTF?”. I have decided to also put together a blog series covering the topic. This is the first post of the series and serves as a jumping off point.

SOLID

Solid is the acronym given to the 5 principles of class design as defined by Bob Martin.

SRP – Single Responsibility Principle

OCP – Open Closed Principle

LSP – Liskov Substitution Principle

DIP – Dependency Inversion Principle

ISP – Interface Segregation Principle

Using Concentrate for Pomodoro

scott — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:50:48 +0000

Using the Pomodoro technique has always been one of those things that I try to do with good intentions but fail miserably at. I am easily distracted and need to police myself from getting side tracked.

Get Concentrating

Today I setup Concentrate for use as a pomodoro timer, distraction blocker and “nagging boss”.

Step 1: Create a Pomodoro Activity

I created an activity named “Coding in Windows” because this will be my pomodoro for when I am writing .Net code.
I set its “Default time to concentrate” to 25 minutes.
I added a “Switch to Space” action since this will need to put me on my windows desktop (in space 16).
- Switch to “Space 16″ on Concentrate.
I added a “Quit Applications” action checked “Relaunch when done” and “Block applications while concentrating” and added the following apps:
- TweetDeck
I added a “Block Websites” action and added the following domain groups:
- General Distractions
- Social Networks
- Video Sites
I added a “Growl a Message” action to nag me at a specified interval:
- Title: “Still Concentrating?”
- Message: “Make sure you are focusing.”
- Display: Every 5 minutes

Step 2: Create a Break Time Activity

I created an activity named “Break Time”.
I set its “Default time to concentrate” to 5 minutes.
I added a “Growl a Message” action to tell me when break time is over.
- Title: “Breaks Over!”
- Message: “Get back to work!”
- Display: “When Done”

What’s wrong with this setup?

I have to remember to start Concentrate
I have to remember to start a pomodoro when I sit down to do work.
I have to remember to start the break time activity when I finish my pomodoro.
After breaking for 5 minutes I have to remember to start a pomodoro again.

Possible Solutions:

Solution for #1: Have Concentrate start on startup.

Solution for #2: Make it a habit so that I always do it.. yup easier said than done.

Solution for #3: AppleScript to the rescue

I created an “Run a Script” action to the “Coding for Windows” pomodoro activity and set to “Run when done”
Then added the following script:

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tell application "Concentrate"
tell activity "Break Time" to concentrate
end tell

Solution for #4: AppleScript to the rescue (again)

This time I didn’t want to just start a named activity because I may have multiple pomodoro’s that can be started from the break time pomodoro.

I created an “Run a Script” action to the “Break Time” pomodoro activity and set to “Run when done”
Then added the following script:

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display dialog "Would you like to concentrate again?" buttons {"Yes", "No"} default button 2
if the button returned of the result is "Yes" then
tell application "Concentrate"
set activityList to name of activities
end tell
choose from list activityList with prompt "Choose an activity:"
repeat with x in result
tell application "Concentrate"
tell activity x to concentrate
end tell
end repeat
end if

Estimates and Deadline Negotiations

scott — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 10:01:02 +0000

In 2007, I left a job where I had to regularly give time estimates and meet deadlines that I defined. I was pretty good at estimating my own projects. In the years since, I haven’t had to give a detailed estimate nor have I had to negotiate a deadline with management or the customer. You see, my project lead was very good at setting deadlines and working with the dev team to get tasks completed on time.

Unfortunately, that project lead now works for Microsoft.

Last week I was asked by management to estimate the hours for the next release and give them a code-freeze date for my features. I decided to back into a number. First I knew that the customer wanted the release delivered very early Q1/2011. Second I knew I was going on vacation the last week of December and wouldn’t be back until Jan 3rd. So I offered up Jan 15th for a code-freeze, and so the negotiations began. We finally agreed on 12/24 code-freeze, followed by 12/27 internal testing, 1/7 customer testing and a release sometime after that.

Hmm.. its a good thing I work better under pressure.

Even with ZenParticles, my business partner handles the estimates for the most part. I need to step up and sharpen my estimation skills by helping him and even providing detailed estimates for small tasks at Leaf.

I think there is a much better way to estimate than picking a date out of thin air and negotiating… now to figure out what that is.