Reading Notes #285

Cloud

• 10 tips for enterprise integration with Logic Apps (Toon Vanhoutte) - Nice list of integration / LogicApps best practices.
• Azure Automation Graphical Editor from a Coder’s Perspective (Brian Christopher Harrison) - Pretty cool post that explains how someone with PowerShell base could use the designer interface in automation.
• Azure CLI Samples for Azure Cosmos DB - Just a quick reference to see what's available today.
• Azure Logic Apps - Retry Policy (Sriram Hariharan) - This post explains how to customize a key feature to build successful integration solution in cloud programming.
• Microsoft Cognitive Custom Vision Service .Net Core Angular 4 Application (Part One) - With all those code snippets and screen captures, this tutorial is extremely well detailed.
• How to Serve Serverless with Examples in Azure (Jeremy Likness) - Nice post that decorticates the serverless using Azure Functions as an example.
• Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit version 2.0 - Super, new version of the toolkit.
• Top 5 mistakes when people talk about Azure (Saverio Guardato) - Yep, same here.All true.

Programming

• How to reference a .NET Core library in WinForms - Or, .NET Standard Explained (Scott Hanselman) - Nice explanation, very clear.

Suggestion of the week

• Solve Node.js issues faster with Application Insights for Node.js (Josh Gavant) - Awesome post that shares a lots of very useful tips and guidance.

Miscellaneous

• 10 strategies for beating “programmer’s block” (Madison Moore) - Interesting top ten.

Reading Notes #284

Cloud

• Azure TLS Certificates changes (Rashmi Jha) - Because security is always a big concern, I thought it would be nice sharing this post.
• Deploying Visual Studio 2017 Function Projects with VSTS (Donna Malayeri) - This tutorial explains in simple steps how to configure our build in vsts, a reel time saver.
• Docker for AWS and Azure: Secure By Default Container Platform - Docker Blog (Riyaz Faizullabhoy) - Like they say build it ship it run it.
• Kicking The Tires On This Serverless Thing (Rob Conery) - Very interesting post that introduces many different flavors of serverless.
• New sample model for Azure Analysis Services (Josh Caplan) - Nice little post that gives everything we need to get started.
• What is Azure PowerShell? How It Works, Installation, Best Practices, and More (Angela Stringfellow) - The perfect post to get started. It a really good source of references.

Programming

• .NET and Docker (Scott Hanselman) - Very interesting post that clarifies the purpose of all those dotnet container.
• Connecting Power BI to your Visual Studio Team Services Account (Charles Sterling) - It't always cool (and potentially useful to get better) to visualize our data like that.

Miscellaneous

• How to buy and read e-books in Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update (Cale Hunt) - Nice tips. However, I do read from tine to time books on my Surface, but I simply use the App from my e-book reader.
• Pomodoro Technique – the Good, the Bad and the Tomato | Rubik's Code on WordPress.com (Nikola Zivkovic) - Interesting method. Simple and yet efficient.
• The humble checkbox (OneNote Team) - Nice to see how a simple checkbox could change your work.

Reading Notes #177

Suggestion of the week

• The Modern JavaScript Developer’s Toolbox  - If you eared about those buzz words: Grunt, Gulp, Sublime, LESS, Angular, want to know more, This is THE post you are looking for.

Cloud

• Get Your Reading On: Azure eBooks (Jonathan Rozenblit) - 8 free books, what else to say... Thanks of course.
  
• Cloud Computing Can Make Any Old Beater a Connected Car (Alex Davies) - Interesting article about the close future.
  
• Azure API Management Part 1: An Introduction - Nice introduction about the APIM, nice warm up.
  
• Free ebook: Microsoft Azure Essentials: Azure Automation (Kim Spilker, Mark) - Nice free ebook.

Programming

• Getting Started with TypeScript – Classes, Types and Interfaces - Very nice and clear introduction wit also a video.
  
• Welcome Back! - The AJAX Control Toolkit March 2015 Update (Vittorio Bertocci) - Yeah! A long wait but it's here now... Learn all the nice features of this new release in this post.
  
• Comprendre et maîtriser npm - Introduction - The perfect post to get started, for whom read French.

Miscellaneous

• How Leaders Should React When Someone Disappoints (Peter Bregman) - Interesting post about how we should react, simple and efficient.

Reading Notes #172

Suggestion of the week

• Using #PowerShell to Upload Content to #Azure Storage - Very useful script here that will save you a lot of time more than once… A post to bookmark!

Cloud

• Starting with Continuous Integration in the Cloud with Steven Edouard - Very interesting podcast episode to learn all about CI. I like the compilable resume.
  
• Security and Performance Tips for Azure Storage Queues - This post is a great list of tips, and you will also find answers to frequent asked questions about security.
  
• Free ebook: Microsoft Azure Essentials Fundamentals of Azure (Jan Kim Spilker) - Fantastic, all that in one book…a free book!
  
• Announcing Azure Preview Portal Improvements (Leon Welicki) - Wow! This preview portal is was nice, but with all those little tweaks… It a great tool.
  
• Azure vs Amazon vs Rackspace vs HP vs Google - Interesting infographic that compares some major cloud providers.
  
• Continuous Delivery on Windows Azure Websites using Visual Studio Online (VSO) - Great tutorial about doing continuous integration using Visual Studio Online. A must to all .Net developer.
  
• Azure WebJobs are awesome and you should start using them right now! - Everything is said in the title, Azure Websites are awesome.
  
• Securing Production #Azure SQL Databases - This post if the perfect security checklist.

Miscellaneous

• Automating Azure Virtual Machine Deployment with Chef (Diego Viso) - This post is a quick introduction about how Chef could help you in your automation.
  
• 10 Ways to Improve Your Pairing Experience - Interesting post to read before your next team work.
  
• VIDEO: Do you really know how to use Microsoft Word? The Power of Tabs and Indents (Scott Hanselman) - Awesome video. you must watch this.it for everyone!

~Frank B.

Reading Notes #151

Suggestion of the week

• How I’ve started loving PowerShell (Fabien Dibot) - This nice post is a real pep-talk. And gives references for more information about PowerShell.
  
• MSDN magazine brings you a wealth of practical info about Azure Websites (Erez Benari) - Here why we soundn't miss the July's MSDN Magazine if we are interested to cloud computing...
  
• Automating Integration Testing with Microsoft Azure - This post gives a lot of detail on how a test environment could e build in Azure, iteration by iteration. Really interesting.

Cloud

• Introducing Azure Web Sites Services - This post describes an overview of the current Microft Azure Website situation.
  
• Building Cloud Apps with Microsoft Azure - This book fantastic, and fill with important pattern and best practices. Even more because it's a free book!
  
• Desktop in the cloud: synchronize user logon and log off with Microsoft Azure - Interesting trick to get one step further in automating the Azure VM start stop process. Simple but cleaver.
  
• Azure Mobile Services .NET Updates (Henrik Frystyk Nielsen) - Great new update in the azure services, learn more here.
  
• Architect for the Cloud Using Azure Web Sites - That the article we need to read before doing our website on Azure. From A to Z, everything is explained to plan exactly what we need.
  
• Hybrid Connectivity: Connecting Azure Web Sites to LOB Apps Using PortBridge - Excellent deep-dive post / tutorial about a connection on a premise to the cloud.
  
• Azure Storage Explorer Preview 3 Now Available: Queue Support, Blob and Table Enhancements (David Pallmann) - Very happy about these new features.

Programming

• NuGet Package of the Week: MarkdownLog makes log files much prettier - I like markdown I found it very easy to read or edit on any platforms or devices. This package could be very useful.
  
• ASP.NET MVC 6: New HttpContext - Interesting post that talks about what is coming next in the MVC framework.
  
• Kendo UI Grid Custom Columns: How to Show a List of Links (Rachel Hagerman) - Nice tutorial for my co-worker that are on a project where Kendo grid is really present...;)
  
• Tips for Best Practices in WordPress Development - Tuts+ Code Article (Damian Logghe) - This post explains the best practices to follow when "playing" with WordPress. It's true that some info are available on the WordPress website, but here is a little "je ne sais quoi" that make it very clear.
  
• Migrating from Subversion to Git with svn2git on Windows (the tricky bits explained) (Troy Hunt) - Useful walkthrough.

UX

• Hey Developers - is it UI, UX, UI/UX or Something - Very interesting post that explains things clearly.

Miscellaneous

• The Experience Paradox -How to Get a Job Without Experience (simpleprogrammer.com) - Great post that can help junior developers to get started, or even the not so young to continue...
  
• How to create a file with a . dot prefix in Windows Explorer - Nice tip!
  
• Surface Pro 3 - Initial Impressions - Really good review of the Surface 3 from a user / tech guy point of view.

~Frank

Reading Notes #149

Cloud

• Using the Internal Load-Balancer with Azure Virtual Machines - Fantastic post that explains how we can use the internal load balancer in Azure. Even the PowerShell scripts are included.
  
• Using Reserved IP Addresses with Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines - Nice PowerShell scripts and comments to help us with our Azure fixed IP.

Programming

• Free eBook on Model View View Model design pattern (Surf4Fun) - MVVM is a very useful pattern, so a free e-book on he topic is a good news!
  
• Unusual Ways of Boosting Up App Performance. Boxing and Collections - Interesting post that explains how to find and fix different memory issue in our application.

Miscellaneous

• How To Come up with Great Ideas for Blog Posts, Every Single Time - Good advice to fight the white page situation.

Reading Notes #124

Suggestion of the week

• Windows Azure: Staging Publishing Support for Web Sites, Monitoring Improvements, Hyper-V Recovery Manager GA, and PCI Compliance (ScottGu) - Great update again this week, may of the new features will be very appreciated.

Cloud

• Windows Azure Websites Development Stacks Support (Mark_BrownMS) - Nice post about how Azure website manages config version with his different supported languages.
  
• Using the Same Client-Side User with Multiple Azure Mobile Services (Chris Risner) - This nice post explains what are our options to bridge a UserID across multiple mobile application.
  
• GUIDs VS. IDs on Windows Azure SQL Database - Nice post, where the author gives is answer to a timeless question.
  
• Announcing E-book version of Scott Guthrie’s “Building Real-World Cloud Apps with Windows Azure” - Interesting talk that you can now download as text. However, the video is still available...

Programming

• Code First Goodies in Entity Framework 6 - Nice article that explains more in details some new features of EF 6.0.
  
• Comments should be sentences (About me) - Interesting point of view about how should be the comments and why.

Miscellaneous

• WTF is an Architect Anyway? - Interesting thoughts about the definition of the role architect.
  
• How Do I Get Things Done? New Pluralsight Course Reveals All My Secrets - Learn the best tips from a real Jedi.
  
• 5 Myths that Can Ruin Project Management - Interesting post that uncovers some myths in project management.
  
• 30 Ways To Leave Google Apps Behind (Ciara Byrne) - Great post not because I agree or disagree with the title idea, but because it presents a lot of great applications.

Reading Notes #118

Suggestion of the week

• Windows Azure: General Availability Release of BizTalk Services, Traffic Manager, Azure AD App Access + Xamarin support for Mobile Services - New Windows Azure features walkthrough by Scott Gu.

Cloud

• How much data can you put on VSOnline? (Brian Harry MS) - Interesting numbers and calculus about estimating the quantity of code we can put before having issues.
  
• Windows Azure Cache: Feature Comparison Matrix (Ashish Goyal) - Ashish did a great job here by bringing all the features of the Azure Cache side by side so we can compare them easily.
  
• Windows Azure IaaS Host OS Update Demystified (Pradeep M G) - Important notice. If you are an Azure user, you should have received an e-mail about it... There is a Windows Azure maintenance that is coming...
  
• SaaS, PaaS, IaaS… que choisir? (1/2) (Pour consulter tous les articles de Nadia Bourha →) - Very interesting article about where the cloud comes from. (in french / en fancais)
  
• SaaS, PaaS, IaaS… que choisir? (2/2) (Pour consulter tous les articles de Nadia Bourha →) - Second part of a serie that explain, in French, what are the advantages to use the cloud for a business.
  
• Free ebook: Microsoft System Center: Cloud Management with App Controller (KimSpilker, Devon Musgrave karsz) - Free e-book in different format: pdf, epub and mobi.
  
• Understanding NoSQL Technologies on Windows Azure (David Chappell) - White paper on nosql with azure. The paper focuses on what these technologies are and why you'd use them, rather than how to use them.

Programming

• Visual Studio 2013 Launch Highlights (Jonathan Rozenblit) - This post highlights some moments of Visual Studio presentation.
  
• Introducing node.js Tools for Visual Studio (Scott Hanselman) - It's pretty incredible how Microsoft technologies is evolving these days, and here is another example of that.
  
• Microsoft Launches Node.js Tools For Visual Studio (Frederic Lardinois) - Another post that lists some of the best features included in the brand new Visual Studio tool.
  
• Test Cases with NUnit - I love that! I didn't know... Get how I will write my next tests?

Miscellaneous

• Software Architecture (Paulo Zemek) - Interesting post about "home-made" framework.

~Frank

Reading Notes #117

Suggestion of the week

• One ASP.NET – Welcome to the Web Development Buffet! - Great post that introduces quickly a really nice project Asp.net One and how it's integrated with the new Visual Studio 2013.

Cloud

• Migrating Database Workloads to the Cloud - Great source of information. This article describe all the scenarios with the pros and cons then helps you in the steps to do it.
  
• First look at Visual Studio Online “Monaco” - | Gunnar Peipman - Programming Blog - The idea is fantastic, let's see how all this will turn in few months.
  
• Amazon takes Virtual Desktop to the Cloud (Paul Thurrott) - That a incredibly cheap solution that a lot of people / companies will definitely appreciate.
  
• Introduction to WebSockets on Windows Azure Web Sites (Mark Brown) - Very nice tutorial to use websocket in an Azure website.
  
• SaaS’s Real Triumph (Geoffrey Moore) - Good post that explains why we should embrace the SaaS in our enterprise.
  
• How much data can you put on VSOnline? (Brian Harry) - Interesting numbers and calculus about estimating the quantity of code we can put before having issues.

Programming

• Using web.config transforms with App.config files - | Gunnar Peipman - Programming Blog - Nice post that explains the few steps you need to do, to have a different config file for different compile setup.
  
• LICEcap – best screen capture tool I’ve ever used - Definitely, a very convenient tool that generates animated GIF of your screen capture. A tool to add to our toolbox...
  
• Things to avoid when customizing TFS work items (Dan Hellem) - The best time to read this post is before going in with TFS. But still, it's never to late!
  
• Scott Hanselman - Nice update about portable class library and great news for Xamarin and mobile device developers.
  
• A Better Syntax For Unit Tests (Andrew Binstock) - This post describes how nice is the syntax of some unit tests frameworks.
  
• Enterprise Library 6: Developer’s Guide Released (Grigori Melnik) - This book is a must in your bookshelf. And h0ey good news it's free!
  
• Linqpad – bring the power of LINQ to SQL Server development - Linqpad is a great wonderful tool. If you never have the chance to try it, now will be the time.;) And you won't recreate it.

Miscellaneous

• December Exam Preparation: Exam 70-487: Developing Windows Azure and Web Services (Sarah Arnold) - Nice initiative. Does this event happen in other cities?
  
• Personal branding, the recording of my presentation - Interesting presentation for all bloggers or people with a more public profile.
  
• 10 Surprising Social Media Statistics That Will Make You Rethink Your Social Strategy (Belle Beth Cooper) - Interesting thoughts about how we can reach more people that we expect, using the good social media for the targeted public.

Reading Notes #48

Cloud

• Windows Azure Start-up Tasks Part 1 - First of a series this nice post explain the basics of start-up task when deploying in Windows Azure.
• Windows Azure Start-up Tasks Part 2 - Great post that gives a lot of information on Azure start-up tasks: environment variables, useful xPath query, important tips that will save you a lot troubles.
• Windows Azure Myths - Nice post that demystify 5 important myths about Windows Azure.
• Cloud SLAs: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You - SLAs are an important topic. Here is a good post to have a better understanding of it. This post talk about SLAs in general so you will also need to get more info from your cloud provider.
• Amazon Attracts Windows and .NET Developers to the AWS Cloud (Saroj Kar) - Amazon is really pushing harder to be attractive for the .Net developer. That good news since it will give you more options ;)
• My CDN Progression - Great post about true life experience. This post will definitely help people, looking for a CDN, to take better decision or at least start their search with more wisdom.
• Debugging Windows Azure Web Role Application_Start() method in Global.asax.cs (Avkash Chauhan - MSFT) - Nice quick tips to reach break point in Application_Start().
• 5 Issues Cloud Computing Can’t Solve (Xath Cruz) - The cloud is good but not magic. Here are 5 frequent ideas where in fact the cloud (whoever is your provider) can’t help you.

Programming

• 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...
• [MONITORING] Les 10 raisons de développer son application en HTML5 (Web App) (Gamorlive) - If you agree with the fact that your user must be connected (like when looking your web site), then here are 10 reasons why you should do your new application in HTML5.
• Le Monkey Patching - I'm new to the idea of dynamic code, and I tend to use it to help me testing/ mocking. These posts illustrate how it could be very useful in other situation.
• Quick Status of Your Windows Azure Apps with PowerShell - Really nice script. Thanks Steve!

Miscellaneous

• I took Hanselman's advice and now look at me... - Nice post a thru story telling how by following Scott Handselman advice someone become more productive.
• Cool Tools: How to Find Free and Cheap Ebooks - Good references of tools to get eBooks and also to search them.

[…]Sources, InkMesh is the best search engine I have found for identifying if an author or a book is available in eBook form,[…]

 
~ Frank