Reading Notes #79

Suggestion of the week

• A personal approach to organizational time management - This is the most realistic and logic time management idea I heard from long time.
• Using the VM Depot - Get started with VM Depot.

Cloud

• The Right Way to Handle Azure OnStop Events (Craig Kitterman) - This post contains a lot of details information about the Azure stop event.
• All Your Base Are Belong To Us - Create example of what can be done using Windows Azure Media Services.
• Find, deploy and share images for Windows Azure - Learn more about VM Depot this brand new community-drive web catalog.
• Broadcast push notifications to millions of mobile devices using Windows Azure Notification Hubs (Scott Gu) - Great addition to the Windows Services, this post explains how to get started.
• How to redeploy a deleted Windows Azure Virtual Machine - Good catch!
• ‘Pay for what you use’ cloud services may change the culture of IT project management in small businesses, for better - See how Windows Azure could help you in your next project by reading this true story about Datownia the winner of the UK Government Technology Strategy Board research and Development grant.
• The truth about PaaS vertical scaling and why you are being “oversold” (Ruslan Synytsky) - This post introduces Jelastic PaaS. A cloud solution for Java and explains how it is elastic.
• Windows Azure Store: New add-ons and expanded availability (Scott Gu) - Great new features! Learn everything about the newly available Windows Azure Store.

Database

• SQL SERVER – Select the Most Optimal Backup Methods for Server - While I was looking for backup detail in the cloud I found this article. It is a good review/explanation of all on-premise possibilities.
• SQL Server Backup and Restore to Cloud Simplified (Craig Kitterman) - This post explain how to backup our on-premise database in Azure. This way you have easily a backup offsite. Even more, since this backup can be restore on premise or directly in the cloud!

Practice

• All Effective Enterprise Architects Are Agile - Interesting post about the strength of Agile methodology.

Integration

• Windows Azure Service Bus EAI EDI Labs April Release – How can I Get Start - If you didn't have the chance to try Windows Azure Enterprise application Integration (EAI) part, this is your chance.

Programming

• The Mobility Iceberg (David Pallmann) - Interesting post that describes what is a superior mobile application.
• Build Yourself a Windows 8 App Dev Lab (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Perfect post to get started and build your first Windows 8 app.
• 10 Bonnes Pratiques JavaScript (Christophe Porteneuve) - A must to read. 10 simple best practices to improve your code.
• éco-conception logicielle : 10 fois moins de serveurs pour LinkedIn - Very interesting article about the design of LinkedIn and why it is so performan.
• Things I learnt creating a jQuery Plugin (Part I) - First post of a series, this post get you started with the best practice of a jQuery plugin structure.

Miscellaneous

• Managing Programs With Agile and Traditional Projects (Johanna) - Good tips about how we could manage a mixte of agile and no-agile projects.
• How to Refresh Your Brain--in 10 Minutes (Francesca Fenzi) - 10 minutes that's easy!
• You are not your code. (Scott Hanselman) – Nice pep-talk that motivate us to share. I can agree more.

~Frank

Reading Notes #61

 
[This week, the image is provided by Marc Gagné @marc_gagne, a Windows Azure Ninja.]
Cloud

• Amazon AWS is the Cloud (for now anyway) (Ofir Nachmani) - It is true, Amazon web services is a strong well establish cloud provider. And big players like Google and Microsoft will force it to always improve the quality of their services.
• Cloud Fundamentals Video Series (Alfred Thompson) – Wow! 25 good reasons to bookmarks this posts... if you want to get started on Windows Azure.
• Importing and Exporting Virtual Machine Settings (Michael Washam) - A post to bookmark. Very useful cmdlets that will save you a lot of trouble... and money.
• To TechDays 2012 and Beyond (Jonathan Rozenblit) - A lot of possibilities to learn more great Windows technology are coming, here is a sneak peak.  
• Connecting to the Cloud–Part 1 (Tyler Doerksen) - Nice post that explains at high level two ways to connect the cloud with a on premise solution: data synchronisation and application layer.
• Connecting to the Cloud-Part 2 (Tyler Doerksen) - In this second post learn more about two other way to connect Azure with both on-premise or another cloud provider (like amazon or Rackspace): machine to machine and network layer.
• How does Hyper-V compare to VMware? - The main idea is this: Windows Azure is no longer running to catch up there has leapfrogged the competition. Download the entire whitepaper.
• Episode 89 - Windows Azure Mobile Services (Channel 9) – Great demo in this episode about the brand new Windows Azure Mobile Services.

Programming

• Custom jQuery UI Draggable bounds (Name) - Great demo of JQueryUI Draggable. I will surely you this in a future project.
• What is GOOD software design? - I would add that a good design is not always easy to do.
• Traffic Technique 6: Backlinks (Darren Rowse) - Today's website/blog are prettier than in the past with all the bling-bling. So the to increase the traffic you need to play in subtlety. A good series to learn more on those basic rules.
• The best way to manage Ruby applications - Everything is in the title, and now it's even better...
• ASP.NET MVC DisplayTemplate and EditorTemplates for Entity Framework DbGeography Spatial Types (Scott Hanselman) - Really nice sample that leverage the axp.net mvc scafolding complex type with EF. And nice trick with NuGet when compiling.
• WebMatrix 2 is Released! + New Windows Azure Features (blogs.msdn.com) - WebMatrix is a great tool now with this new version it's even belter! From Windows Azure Portal you can download your web site edit it and republish it in few clicks... that only one thing among the things WebMatrix can do to simplify our lives.
• The Hanselminutes Podcast - Very nice, I cannot wait to try the update database feature with the code first...
• EAI Bridge Message Sender and Queue Message Receive tool - Great tool! It will be very useful for demo, debug and for quickly see some under the hood code.

Miscellaneous

• The Right Way to Speak to Yourself (Peter) - Nice reading that can to be more efficient with yourself.
• Why Remote Workers Are More (Yes, More) Engaged (Scott Edinger) - Nice post that explain how today with all the alternative we have to communicate that the distance is not a factor anymore. In business at least...
• Cost Comparison: Amazon Glacier vs S3 - Quick post that shows the advantage of going with AWS Glacier from S3 from a money perspective.
• Unofficial Amazon AWS Glacier Calculator - Nice initiative. A calculator is always welcome.
• The price of textbooks is ramping up far faster than inflation, and with good reason, say publishers (Danielle Kurtzleben) - Interesting topic. I thought that with all the options available today all students can found their way to get all theirs books at a price they are willing to pay.
• Shifting Blog From WordPress to Bloggers (gotchacode.blogspot.in) - I did the same choice for mostly the same reason few years ago. But now that you can host Wordpress in Windows Azure... maybe ;)
• The Dew Review – Intel Next Generation Ultrabook™ with Windows 8: Initial Impressions - Review of a dream machine... thin, fast and light.
• Pro tips: 20 steps to the perfect website layout - Nice tips that should be considered not only for website but for any user interface.
• Cloud Computing: Start with the problem (BuckWoody) - Interesting exercise to do... and you WILL be surprise.

Reading Notes #53

This post is an important milestone for this blog. It completes the first year of Reading Notes, since a year as 52 weeks and it’s also the 100th post!

Thanks for being there and continue reading, a lot of good stuff is coming…

~Frank

Cloud

• Cloud Strategy Begins with Value and Balances Risk (Microsoft Enterprise Team) - Nice post that help to identify risks. The information is display in tables that helps.
• Windows Azure Performance: Best Practices (Rick Saling) - Good reference to more detail video on the topic.

[…]great video of a presentation on Federations by Cihan Biyikoglu at the 2012 US Tech Ed conference in Orlando. […]

• Windows Azure PowerShell and Ruby Cloud Services - Great post where updating is RubyRole project the author make interesting discovery. Learn more about some new functionality available in the Azure SDK 1.7.
• Deploying Windows Azure Website using Visual Studio Web Publish wizard - Nice quick tip to use Visual Studio with the new Azure website.
• Data Series: SQL Server in Windows Azure Virtual Machine vs. SQL Database - Great big post that cover every difference between those two Sql database. Perfect reading to stop being confuse.
• Windows Azure Websites, Virtual Machines, and More « Jonathan Rozenblit - Great! If you missed the conference at Toronto on June 20th this is your chance to catch-up. The full conference is available to watch by steaming or offline by downloading.
• 10 Questions to ask when Outsourcing to Azure (Surf4Fun) - Good questions.
• Data Synchronization using SQL Azure Data Sync (Félix Martínez Retama) - Nice post first of a serie. This one is illustrating few possible scenarios of synchronisation with Azure Data Sync.
• Data Series: Exploring Windows Azure Drives, Disks, and Images (BradCalder) - Amazing article that pass throut all details about Azure drive, disk, image and cache. A must to all cloud developer.
• New Article: Windows Azure Queues and Windows Azure Service Bus Queues (Valery Mizonov) - Very good article that perfectly summarises the content of the longer MSDN article about the difference between Azure queues and Azure Service Bus Queues. Simple easy to read and accurate.

[…]Following is the high-level technology selection considerations section from the full article on MSDN. […]

• Windows Azure - When do I use What? (Andrew Coates [MSFT]) - Nice quick post that demystify when it's the time to use a Azure website, webrole or a VM.

Programming

• JQuery 1.8 beta 1: See What’s Coming - Wow, a lot of things are coming with the next version of JQuery. This a good post to catch the big picture.

[…]new build system based on Ben Alman’s awesome grunt tool. […]

Miscellaneous

• Reminder, basic quick fixes for troubled gear - Nice check list for no-technical people of what they can do by them self before calling you to rescue when they computer/gadget stop working. ;)
• ScrumMaster Tales – Learning How to Estimate (Mark Levison) - Interesting post that relates the experience of an Agile team. Also refers some other post of that still.

~Frank

Reading Notes #52

Cloud

• Ridiculously Fast and Easy Migration to the Cloud with Windows Azure (David Pallmann) - Nice post that re-groups 7 scenarios that are perfect match for a cloud (Azure) migration.
• Azure Storage Explorer 5 Preview 1 Now Available with Logging & Monitoring Support (David Pallmann) - Amazing job on Azure Storage Explorer that is at is fifth version already. This post is introducing one of the new features: logs. Guys update your version and if you did have this tool, this is your «cue».
• Overview of Windows Azure Caching (Preview) - This new Azure Cache look very promising. Here is some information about how it works.
• Amazon Web Services – Each Service in plain English - Nice idea, a one line description of most Amazon Web Services AWS... in plain English.
• Windows Azure – Write, Run or Use Software - Nice post that explain the three types of Azure service and the services in each one.
• What is the new Windows Azure? - Nice graphics that contain a lot of information. Spend some time reading the graphic you will not be disappointed.
• Three cloud ops lessons you should learn before your next outage - This post is about how you learn from unpredicted event. You know that it will come, but you can control anything... except you.
• Windows Azure Website: Uploading/Downloading files over FTP and collecting Diagnostics logs (Avkash Chauhan) - Quick tip about using ftp with the new Azure web site.
• Chris Koenig (Chris Koenig) - Nice overview of what's new in the Windows Azure Training kit.
• REST Interface for Managing Service Bus EAI/EDI Labs (Nitin Mehrotra) - Regroup interesting links about the REST API of the Azure Service Bus.
• We Need a Good Developer Cloud (Andrew Binstock) - Interesting thoughts, a bit dark, of what really the cloud situation today and what it should be. Even if I don't agree with everything in this post, I should say that I agree with the fact that user shouldn’t have to care about redundancy. It make sense that it could be done be the provider.
• The AWS outage reveals bigger issue - Short post that says that if you planned and architected correctly you application, even big outage should affect you.
• How to point your own Custom Domain Name in Windows Azure – #Meet Azure Edition - Really useful tutorial that explain with nice screenshots how to configure your domain name. Nice job.
• Using EAI Bridges to Send Flat File Messages from FTP Server to On-Premise SQL Server - Good tutorial that provides more details about one Azure EAI Labs.
• Managing the Cloud from the Command Line (Hanselman) - Great post about available script option to "play" with Windows Azure for a Windows or Linux pc.

Programming

• Create and deploy a Node.js application to a Windows Azure Web Site - With these new websites combine with the new Git for Windows, I really need to find some spare time and give it a shot. This nice tutorial could be the perfect get started.
• Considerations when Sharding - When having hard time to find how to shard your data, this alternative could give you ideas.
• The Caching Application Block - This post is the starting point for any developer that wants to do caching. Great references.

[...]When Should I Use the Caching Application Block? This topic will help you to decide if the block is suitable for your requirements. It explains the benefits of using the block, and any alternative techniques you may consider. It also provides details of any limitations of the block that may affect your decision to use it.[...]

• PowerShell - grabbing values out of the registry and running them (Rob Farley) - Nice use of PowerShell.
• Adding Ninject to Web API (Peter Provost) - Nice tutorial about Ninject (great dependency injection framework). Ninject is also available thru NuGet.
• Why Your Links Should Never Say “Click Here” (Anthony) - Good tips that for sure will improve your UI and the user experience.
• Getting Started with Lucene.net (Ricci Gian Maria) - Nice tutorial that explain with a simple case how to get started with the great library Lucene.net.
• Rethinking Web Service Development (Matt Aimonetti) - Nice post that explains how we should build and document our API.

Miscellaneous

• How to Stop Sucking and Be Awesome Instead (Jeff Atwood) - Seriously not serious. Download the slides...Awesome.
• New Series for Beginner Game Masters. (The Chatty DM) - A fantastic idea! That exactly what I was looking for. And just before the big vacations it's perfect!
• Positive Thinking: 7 Easy Ways to Improve a Bad Day (Geoffrey James) - Positive thinking is important, 7 easy tips to improve your day... and it’s not magic thinking.
• The Emotional Adventure of Leadership (Peter) - Interesting post that explains why being a leader you need to manage strong emotions.

~ Frank

Reading Notes #47

Cloud

• Is AWS or Windows Azure the Right Choice? It’s Not That Easy. - Really good question that compare AWS with Azure.
• Downloading Windows Azure Publish Settings (Subscription Configuration) file (Avkash Chauhan - MSFT) - Time saver quick tips to retrieve Azure Publish settings in one click.
• Avoiding cloud lock-in - Nice post that explain why it is important keep our application loosely couple. Or if we don't to know what we do.
• Corporate Filesharing with Security and Control - This is the perfect alternative for a super private "DropBox" and it is true that it make full of sense in a corporate perspective.
• WordPress on S3: run a beautiful website on Amazon S3 cloud storage (Artem Livshits) - Great initiative! This is a perfect example of a application that take the advantage of the cloud safe cheap and that will grow with your need.
• Comparing Windows Azure Blob Storage and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)–Summary (Gaurav) - Very long and exhaustive comparison between those 2 services. I didn't even know some features... Nice post.
• Episode 80 - Getting Started with SQL Azure Data Sync Preview (Channel 9) (Nick Harris Nathan Totten) - Really nice episode. I try the Azure Data Sync in one of my project (I should post something about it...) it is a very promising tool.
• Maarten Balliauw {blog} (maartenba) - Nice post about the changes that append now because of the cloud computing.
• Why You Need Compuware for Application Performance Monitoring - This looks like a very useful tool.
• Comparing Windows Azure Blob Storage and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)–Part I (Gaurav) - Amazing post that covers ALL features of both Windows and Amazon cloud service. This is the part 1 of a series and it focus on containers and buckets.
• CloudTip #13-What do you need to know to get started? (mbenkov) - Great post that presents all 9 screencasts of soup of nuts. If you like watching video to quickly get started, you will like this one.
• Comparing Windows Azure Blob Storage and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)–Part II (Gaurav) - Second part of a series, this one compares Azures blob storage to Amazon Simple storage. It covers all details even the different methods to upload and download files.
• Cloud Ninja Metering Block - Really promising project that provides tools to measuring a multi-tenants Azure solution. More to come.
• Windows Azure Service Bus EAI Doesn’t Support Multicast Messaging. Should It? - The Azure service bus EAI is still at a hurly stage right now, but Seroter is highlighting a good point... It should.
• An Introduction to Windows Azure (Part 2) - Really nice post part 2 of 2 this introduction post is focussing on available services in Windows Azure.
• Scott Guthrie on Cloud-Powered Revolutions (scottgu, Jonathan Rozenblit) - Really nice (and funny) introduction of Azure by the great Scott Gu. (1h video)

Programming

• An Introduction to NuGet - Nice post that explain quickly what is NuGet and witch tools are available.
• Why I Hate Unit Testing - What a nightmare! I'm not sure that this post will help the undecided to join the unit testing but this JusMock tool deserved a look.

"This is easy to do with Telerik JustMock. I wrote about using JustMock to get you started in From Legacy to Dependency Injection.
Steve Forte and Joel Semeniuk have a great presentation on this called The Agile Buffet Table."

• Automating Visual Studio 2010 builds and deployments with Nant.Builder (Iain Hunter) - Really interesting series. The steps are simple and well explained. In the next one deploy to Azure...

Miscellaneous

• A Super-Efficient Email Process (Peter) - Explain a simple method to be more productive and efficient with e-mail management.
• the Continuous Client (Joshua Topolsky) - So true, I'm looking for a continuous Twitter client for a long time now. I don't understand why this isn't in all application. Congratulation to Kindle for this! You can start reading on one device and continue to another one without effort.
• 9 Steps to Take When You Loathe Your Own Blog (Guest Blogger) - Having a blog is a lot work. Here are 9 tips to keep you inspired and proliferates.
• 5 Things to Ask Your Cloud Backup Services Provider - I'm a Mozy user and really happy with it. Of course this post is also a sales pitch but the questions are the good one and should be considered when selecting your backup solution. When did you do your last backup?
• 5 Steps To Choosing The Right Challenges (Brendon Burchard) - Nice post that give good tips to identify good challenges.

~Frank

Reading Notes #42

Cloud

• MCSE is Back–and Better Than Ever!! - Important new from Microsoft this week: certifications for the cloud. This post is a good summary of this new reality.
• An Up-Close Examination of the Microsoft RDP Vulnerability (Guest Author) - Important RDP vulnerability was fixed in the March patch. Since in Azure the remote is disabled by default and that some firewall rules protect some connections, if you use Azure you are now safe and probably you were never really in danger. But if you are using an image on AWS you probably should apply you Windows Updates...
• Announcing the Refresh of Service Bus EAI & EDI Labs (Harish Agarwal) - The Windows Azure team listened to our feedback and new features and a lot of performance improvements in the updated version of the EAI & EDI labs.

• Illustrating the CQRS Pattern with Windows Azure and MVC4 Web API (David Pallmann) - Nice sample to understand the advantage of the pattern CQRS over the more common CRUD.
• What The Cloud Doesn’t Do (Alexander Haislip) - Nice post explaining why on-premise computer are not obsolete since the cloud arrives. Nice comparison with the evolution of the radio and the TV.

• What is Azure Subscription and How to Setup a Windows Azure Subscription? (Arun Rakwal) - Nice post that gives a way to structures your Windows Azure subscription.
• Using the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network - This is the perfect post to get started with windows Azure CDN. It’s also providing some best practices when using Azure CDN.
• Let Power Users Create Their Own oData Feeds (Julie Lerman) - What a amazing tool! The Data Explorer is still in CTP but if you are like me go to Azure Labs and try it now.
• Azure Service Bus Pusher (Roman Kiss) - An amazing post from Roman. Everything is explained from the model to how to test your Azure Service Bus.

• Three cloud models; three very different risks - A different way to present the difference between SaaS, PaaS and IaaS: the security/ risk.
• Azure Deployment hangs with Status "Preparing to upload, please wait" (Arun Rakwal Arun Rakwal Microsoft MSFT 10 Points 2 0 0 Recent Achievements First Forums Reply New Blogger View Profile) - Good to know before we got this type of issue.
• There’s no need to be a one-cloud company (Switch Mark Thiele) - Nice post. Being in the cloud with one provider is easier but it's like putting all our eggs in the same basket. Do we have other options?

Programming

• Why NoSQL Equals NoSecurity - Great post with a lot of information about many different NoSQL databases. It also suggests some best practices to get a correct level of security on your NoSQL database.
• Dynamic Image Generation, ASP.NET Controllers, Routing, IHttpHandlers, and runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests (Scott Hanselman) - Nice tips about the dynamic element generation in web development.

• A geek with a hat » What Refactoring is, and what it isn’t - Nice quick post that explain perfectly the difference between refactoring and ... other things ;)
• Becoming A Better Developer - This is definitely a good question and the author of this post takes the time to give a good answer.

[…] Are people who speak at conferences speaking because they are the best, or are they the best because they are speaking…[…]

[…]The best way to learn is to teach.[…]

• The Big Glossary of Open Source JavaScript and Web Frameworks with Cool Names (Scott Hanselman) - Wow so many open source projects that look awesome... take a peek.
• Professional WCF 4: Windows Communication Foundation with .NET 4 – With a lot of code samples this great book explain all the facets of the Windows Communication Foundation WCF. The authors put all pieces together so block by block we are prepared to build a Service Oriented Application SOA.

Miscellaneous

• Succeeding with Agile - Nice tip that look simple and efficient.
• My car ships with crapware (Scott Hanselman) - Hilarious and true, why we can have a super dual-core computer in our pocket but our car come with a so crap old "computer"?
• 5 Presentation Apps to Try - Quick list of nice tools helping us to pass through a presentation or after to share some files.
• 12 Ways to Attack Any Challenge - Facing difficulties is good. It's mean you are challenging yourself. That you try to become better. This nice post is refreshing your memories about ways to overcome those challenges.
• More of What You Came For (Michael Desmond) - The team of the MSDN Magazine are since ... forever trying to always offer more. This time is by giving more content (some exclusively) on their web site. Like the column Azure by Bruno Terkaly.
• 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done (Peter Bregman) – A great book that explain a lot of little think that we could do every day to help to focus on the thing we want to accomplish. Nothing magic but it help to take better decision. Peter use a lot of personal story to explain is thoughts and that improve a lot the comprehension. It was my first experience with audio book, and I really like it. It was done by Peter Bregme himself.

~Frank

Reading Notes #36

Cloud

• Microsoft Private Cloud Part 1 - Nice first post of a series comparing Azure with private cloud. This one is more about being prepare to the real comparison and define what is private cloud.
• Windows Azure Storage and Concurrent Access (Larry Franks) - Known a to read/write in Azure Storage is not enough when doing multi-instance. Learn how-to manage this situation in this post.
• Cloud Needs Application Architects To Understand IaaS - Great post explaining how Amazon build the great platform they are and why it work.
• Come for the PaaS Functional Model, stay for the Cloud Operational Model - A really complete post about all those "things" that cloud provider are talking about and how it should be see by customer.
• Uploading Big Files in Windows Azure Blob Storage using PutListBlock - A really great tutorial to upload files in Azure Blob Storage. Two technics are presented with the code, pros and cons for each of them.
• Cloud computing and the “me versus you” problem - An interesting discussion about different cloud's structures and the pros and cons of each. Also a nice idea of what could be the future.
• SignalR powered by Service Bus (clemensv) - Nice post about using the SignalIR with Azure Service Bus, with all the reference you need to get started.
• If you're using Node.js, you're doing life wrong - A really specific opinion about Node.js. if thinking about picking this server... then should read that.
• Is uptime the wrong metric for cloud service-level agreements? - Really interesting thoughts about what more important for cloud SLA, elasticity or reliability?
• Full Version of AdventureWorks database for SQL Azure and and SQL Azure Federations - Now available the classic AventureWorks database for Azure SQL and Azure Federation. More advanced version is coming soon.
• Everything you need to know about Windows Azure Blob Storage including permissions, signatures, concurrency, … - Amazing post that contain really EVERYTHING on Azure blob storage. It's documented, well explain and complete.

  The only reason you would not be interested in the Windows Azure storage platform would be if you’re called Chuck Norris …

• A few things you should know about EC2 - Quick post about some less know EC2 facts.
• Azure deployment stuck Preparing node (ASP.NET Debugging) - Nice to know this tips can save a lot of time.
• Exploring Cloud Architecture - Nice article that present different cloud architecture to follow your cost/efficiency strategies.
• BizTalk in the Cloud, One Step Closer Part 1 (Jean-Paul Smit) - Great post (first part of series of two) that present the new interface of schemas and mapping in the new CTP release of Azure Service bus EAI and compare them to the BizTalk ones.
• BizTalk in the Cloud, One Step Closer Part 2 (Jean-Paul Smit) - A really great post that continue to pass all the functionalities of the new (still in CTP) Azure Service Bus EAI and making the correlation with the BizTalk equivalence.

Programming

• Mercurial vs Git: Why Mercurial? - Great posts series about source control. Because source control is so important, knowing why to pick git or mercurial is really important.
• WebAPI and Ninject (Shawn Wildermuth) - Nice trick with Ninject...as the author said easy when you know how to.
• JavaScript for C# developers: currying - Nice trick with Javascript to avoid copy/pasting code... looking forward to to the next part.
• PowerGUI 3.2 Released! – Everything is in the title... And it's a good news.
• Differences Between jQuery .bind() vs .live() vs .delegate() vs .on() (Elijah Manor) - Give a simple but very clear description, pros and cons of JQuery .bind, .live, .delegate and the new .on.

Miscellaneous

• The myth of the eight-hour sleep (Stephanie Hegarty) - Nice article talking about sleep and pattern.
• Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 1 (critical-hits.com) - Another great dad's time with the great Chatty DM.

~ Frank

Reading Notes #29

Cloud

• Update: Deploying Ruby Applications to Windows Azure (Larry Franks) - Great post explaining every steps to have a simple Ruby application in Azure. I definitely need to try this.
• the question is not if, but when (Ken Terry) - Good post examining the tendency for the cloud from healthcare.
• Cloud is complex—deal with it (James Urquhart) - It’s up to people to make technologies that survive cloud as a complex system—one component at a time. That’s, well, how you deal with it.
• …So Isn’t the Root Database a Bottleneck for Federations in SQL Azure? (Cihan Biyikoglu) - Nice post that explain the magic of USE FEDERATION and how the process became decentralized so the master database don't come the bottleneck.
• Part 1-Cloud Architecture Series-Durable Messages using Windows Azure (Cloud) Service Bus Queues–Establishing your service through the Portal - Good post explaining the structure of pub-sub pattern and the first steps to start creating a project.
• How the Azure ServiceBus EAI & EDI Labs SDK impacts Microsoft integration - Nice post show the difference between regular BizTalk and the future Azure Service Bus EAI.
  • Kent Weare posted two articles (introduction & mapper) on his blog.
  • Rick Garibay discussed the various components in his blog post.
  • Mikael Håkansson showed the content based routing capabilities in this article.
  • Steef-Jan Wiggers added an overview TechNet wiki.
  • Harish Agarwal wrote an overview on EAI bridges.

The biggest missing link here, is the extensibility with custom components.  At this moment, it doesn’t look possible to have (de)batching, custom validation, zipping and all these other things we do in BizTalk pipeline components.

• Windows Azure Caching Strategies - Great article that demystify where we should cache our data by adding a layer of indirection.

  A good post about using the Windows Azure CDN can be found on Steve Marx’s blog.

  There are a couple of variations on that theme available, and I discussed one in a blog post from March 2010.

• How Cloud Computing Will Affect Businesses in 2012 (cloudtimes.org) - A optimistic 2012 prediction of the cloud business.
• Accessing Windows Azure blob Storage as Network Drive (Avkash Chauhan) - This post present a product. Good idea of how Azure blob storage can be use.
• Self-service, security and storage tools for the private cloud - Nice post that present a lot of tools to use the cloud more safely and smartly.
• Book Excerpt: "To The Cloud: Cloud Powering an Enterprise" (Pankaj AroraMS) - Good post that recap what is "the cloud" and how it could be good for business. 
• SQL Azure Federations and the Entity Framework (dpblogs) – A good quick post to explain the plan of the Entity Framework looking forward to work with Sql Azure Federation. More detailed posts are referenced: SQL Azure Federations with Entity Framework Code-First and Understanding SQL Azure Federations No-MARS Support and Entity Framework.
• The Which, the When, and the How of Windows Azure Services: Websites - A well done post that highlight how different service can be used to meet certain requirement thru frequent scenarios.
• Node.JS on Windows Azure Part 1: Setting Up Your Environment - A really good tutorial than explain step by step how to install-create-try-publish your first Node.JS application in Azure. First of a promising series
• Azure Elasticity with Wasabi Application Block - Nice tutorial showing every step of project creation to monitor and auto-scale some Azure application, using Wasabi. Code and video.
• The Developers Guide To AppFabric October 2011  - A reference document for everyone doing or planning to use Azure AppFabric. bookmark it!

Programming

• Repository Pattern with Entity Framework 4.1 and Code First - Nice post that present the repository pattern. Once you understand the pattern a suggest you to use the magic nuGet package and the mcvScafofding. More here 
• JavaScript for C# developers: the Module Pattern (part 1) (blog.boyet.com) - I really like those JavaScript tutorial for C# people. very useful. part 2 part 3
• JavaScript Module Pattern - Another great tutorial about Module pattern in JavaScript.

Miscellaneous

• Your Blog is The Engine of Community (Scott Hanselman) - A great burning post, blogger must read. Other why are you not blogging?
• Be A Creator, Not a Consumer « Blankenblog - Good quick post 110% of prepping... Read it! it's the beginning a new years after all.

~Franky

Reading Notes #26

 

This is the last post of 2011. Happy Holidays to every one and see you next year for others Reading Notes!

Cloud

• Utiliser la puissance du Cloud Azure pour faire votre propre raytracer - Really nice idea and great demo of parallelism. Imagine this using the power of HPC. [french] 
• Announcing the Service Bus EAI & EDI Labs Release (ItaiRazMS) - Great release that arrived earlier than expected. This is a good timing to try the labs everything is free.
• SQL Azure Management Portal Tips and Tricks: Part I (R Syam Kumar) - After the portal face lift, it's good to have a walkthrough all the new capabilities. [video demo]
• SQL Azure Management Portal Tips and Tricks: Part II (R Syam Kumar) - Nice post. It past in detail all the novelties of the new SQL Azure Management Portal 
• How you can store decimal data in Windows Azure Table Storage? - Nice tricks that simplify a lot the usage of decimal.
• Developing Windows Azure Applications with Visual Studio - Nice presentation where Jay Schmelzer show how develop debug and of course deploy.
• Azure Service Bus Connect EAI and EDI “Integration Services” CTP (Rick Garibay) - I great post about the new release of EDI and AIS that is now available in labs.
• Microsoft's Scott Guthrie and his impact on Azure - As a .Net and Visual Studio user I'm happy with the current toolset... but I'm curious to see what will happen.
• How to get to SQL Azure Query Performance Data (mbenkov) - This post present the new UI of the Azure SQL management portal. A big improvement that for sure.
• Responsive Cloud Design (David Pallmann) - This nice post talk about a close future where a good Responsive Web Design (RWD) will be the key.
• Hands on Lab for Moving Applications to the Cloud - Starter kit for moving in the cloud. The post quickly present the labs.
• Important Announcements Regarding the Access Control Service (Himanshu_Singh) - Great news!
• An Introduction to EAI Bridges - This post present the news EAI Bridge capability in the last Labs release and explain how to get started.
• Windows Azure Resource: A Guide to Claims-Based Identity and Access Control, Second Edition - Introduce a free eBook about Claims-Based Identity and Access Control.
• Cloud Cover Show
• Episode 67 - Technical Computing with Windows Azure
• Live at  Learn Windows Azure event

Programming

• Create a Node.js App on Azure in 3 minutes - A Hello word demo in few words. Could not be simplify.
• Design pattern "Template" avec Ruby - Very clear post that explain the utility of inheritance.
• The Elements of Distributed Architecture (Clemens Vasters) – I just watch few minutes, but it look great! Introduction to the key elements of distributed software architecture. [video]

Miscellaneous

• Predictions for the future (Maarten Balliauw) - Maarten present is prediction and as usual... interesting.

~Franky