My Top Five Daily Web Curators - Five Bloggers that will keep you up to date on most things Microsoft, Dev and more...

With GReader dead, you might be rethinking your feed reading habits. Maybe cut back to the bare minimum of feeds, maybe using some alternate news reading means. If you were to ask me, "What are the five sites that if you had to drop all other feeds, you would keep?"

These guys are feed crazy, all are human aggregators who scour the bazillion of web feeds so you don't have to... daily.

Here's my current top five, if I miss everything else, feeds I must read. In no particular order;

• The Morning Brew (feed) - The Morning Brew #1390 Chris Alcock
• Interesting Finds (feed) - Interesting Finds: July 3, 2013  Jason Haley
• Random thoughts about Life, Technology, and Software (feed) - Windows Store Developer Links - 2013-07-03 Dan Rigby
• Cloud Feed (feed) - Daily Mobile Computing Feed – Jul 2, 2013
• Morning Dew (feed) - Dew Drop – July 3, 2013 (#1,578) - Alvin Ashcraft's

SSMS Tools Pack 2.7 Released (BTW, if you're on an older SSMS, you can use this free...)

I want some Moore - SSMS Tools Pack 2.7 is released. New website, improved licensing and features.

New website
Nice, isn't it? Cleaner, simpler, better looking and more modern.
If you have any suggestions for further improvements I'd be glad to hear them.

Simpler licensing
With SSMS tools Pack 2.7 the licensing is finally where it should be.
It is now based on the activate/deactivate model.
This way you can move a license from machine to machine with simple deactivation on one and
reactivation on another machine. Much better, no?
Because of very good feedback I have added an option for 6 machines and lowered the 4 machines option to 3 machines.
This should make it much simpler for you to choose the right option for yourself.

Improved features
Version 2.5.3 was already extremely stable and 2.7 continues with that tradition.
Because of that I could fully focus on features and why 3.0 will rock even more that 2.7! ;)
In version 2.7 I have addressed quite a few improvements you were requesting for a while now.

• SQL History ...
• SQL Snippets ...
• Run script on multiple databases ...
• Search through grid results ...
• CRUD generator ...

SSMS Tools Pack

SSMS Tools Pack is a Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) add-in.
It can be used with SSMS versions 2005, 2008, 2008 R2 and 2012.

Licensing only applies to SSMS 2012 and higher versions.
For previous SSMS versions the SSMS Tools Pack is still FREE.

SSMS Tools Pack - Features

• SQL History Keeps your query history safe in local files or database.
• Execution Plan Analyzer Analyzes the execution plan and suggests possible improvements.
• SQL Snippets Keep your favorite statements accessible with a shortcut of your choice.
• Window Connection Coloring Color the query windows based on the server name or a regex.
• Format SQL Uppercase, lowercase and propercase your SQL scripts.
• Search Dataase, Table or View data Search through your data in a database or table/view.
• Run script on multiple targets Run a single script on multiple databases on the same server.
• New query template Modifies New Query windows with a template of your choice.
• Copy execution plan to clipboard/file Copy one or all execution plans to the clipboard or to a file.
• Search Results in Grid Mode Search through your query's results sets.
• Insert statement generator Generate insert statement for a table, view or the whole database.
• Regions and Debug sections Add regions and/or debug sectios to your code.
• Run custom scripts from Object Explorer Run custom scripts from a chosen node in Object Explorer.
• CRUD stored procedure generation Quickly generate CRUD stored procedures for the whole database or a single table.

Lots of cool things and if you're not yet on the latest and greatest SSMS, the price is hard to beat. Heck even if you are on the latest and greatest it's a pretty good price... :)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Five Free For Friday - SQL Server Tools
Enhance your SSMS - SQL Server Management Studio Tools Pack 1.0 Released

"25 Secrets for Faster ASP.NET" Free [ Name and Email Ware] eBook from Red Gate

Michaela Murray - 25 Secrets for Faster ASP.NET: the Eagle has landed!

On Friday we launched our new free eBook, 25 Secrets for Faster ASP.NET Applications!

Heading for 1000 of you have picked it up already, but if you haven’t got your copy yet, you can grab it from http://www.red-gate.com/25secrets.

It’s the follow up to the wildly successful 50 Ways to Avoid, Find and Fix ASP.NET Performance Issues, which we released back in January this year (you can download from www.red-gate.com/50ways).

Once again, we collected tips from some of the smartest brains in the ASP.NET community, but this time around, we’ve covered the latest stuff in the .NET framework – async/await, Web API, and more.

...

Red Gate - Free eBook: 25 Secrets for Faster ASP.NET Applications

• 25 tips from the ASP.NET community for boosting performance in your web applications.
• Learn the secrets of your fellow developers and read advice from MVPs and other experts.
• Covers async/await, Web API, ORMs, interactions between your code and your database, and more...

Here's some snaps from the PDF; (BTW, I love that cover, very "Modern" ;)

Nice tips and the price is just right...

Immutable isn’t just for Breakfast anymore [okay, isn't not just for parallel code]

jaredpar's WebLog - Immutable isn’t just for parallel code

For the last 6 months the BCL team has been hard at work shipping an out of band release of immutable collections for .Net.  Most recently delivering an efficient implementation of ImmutableArray<T> http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2013/06/24/please-welcome-immutablearray.aspx

Unfortunately with every announcement around these collections I keep seeing the following going past in my twitter feed.

That looks neat.  Next time I’m writing parallel code I’m going to try that out.

No, no no!!!  Immutable types are not just for parallel code.  They are very useful in even single threaded applications.  Developers are missing out by thinking of them as a parallel only construct.  Any time you want to enforce that the contents of a collection never change you should consider an immutable type.

...

This is just a small sample of cases where immutable collections are useful in day to day code.  The more you use them the more uses you will find for them.  At some point you may even find yourself asking the following question when writing up a type

Do I actually need to mutate this collection after I finish building it?

Generally speaking the answer to this is no.  And this is why you should be using immutable types.

HEY! How did he know I was "that guy?" The guy who said, "That looks neat.  Next time I’m writing parallel code ..." Now, after reading his post, I don't have that excuse and will just have to take another look at these. Oh well, it IS shinny and new... :)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Threading threading safely with the Immutable Collections Preview from the BCL Team

Want to see Bill Gates speak live (via webcast)? Watch a day Microsoft Research coolness? Check out the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit on July 15th...

IT Manager Connection - Bill Gates, Krysta Svore, Doug Burger, David Pennock--Microsoft Research Faculty Summit to Be Streamed Live July 15

From the ACM Bulletin on this noteworthy event:
”Join us for a broadcast of the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit streamed live from Redmond on Monday, July 15, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. PDT (12:00 to 8:30 p.m. EDT). This free online event offers highlights, such as the opening and closing keynotes, streamed on location from the Faculty Summit. Plus, you'll hear from leading scientific and academic researchers who are making social and scientific advances-from prediction engines to quantum computing breakthroughs-with the help of technology.

...

Watch the Faculty Summit live!

Our program includes these featured speakers.
Bill Gates
Krysta Svore
Doug Burger
David Pennock

Broadcast Live!

Join us for a broadcast of the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit streamed live from Redmond on Monday, July 15, from 09:00 to 17:30 Pacific Daylight Time. This free online event offers highlights,...

Watch it when you want.

You can view Faculty Summit sessions here, at your convenience, after July 15. Please check back and watch these videos plus bonus segments.

Now that's a bunch of interesting topics. Sure it's not going to help me create my LOB's of today, but it sure sounds like some interesting stuff (just imagine the dinner discussions! :)

Playing with SQL Server 2014 (and VS2013) the Azure VM way

Home Of The Scary DBA - Getting Started With SQL Server 2014 the Easy Way

You know you want to at least take a look at the new Client Technology Preview (CTP) of SQL Server 2014. I don’t blame you either. I want to spend hours swimming through it too. But, you’re thinking to yourself, “Heck, I’d have to download the silly thing, provision a new VM, walk through the install… Nah. Too much work.” I don’t blame you. I found myself on the road the day the software was released, so I was going to attempt to do all that work on a hotel wireless system. In short, I was going to have to wait, no options. Or were there? Actually, there is a much easier option. Azure Virtual Machines.

And no, it’s not that I can simply get a Windows Azure VM ready to go faster than I can a local one (and, depending on just how I set up and maintain my local servers, that might be true). No, it’s that I can immediately get a copy of SQL Server 2014, no download required. It’s that I can, within about five (5) minutes have a server up and running with SQL Server 2014 installed and ready to go. How? Microsoft maintains a gallery of images for quick setups of Azure Virtual Machines. A couple of those images include SQL Server 2014.

To get started on this, and not pay a penny, you need to make sure that you pass the MSDN permissions listed at that link. I know that some people won’t, and I’m sorry. However, get your MSDN subscription set up and link it to an Azure account, then you’re ready to go. Throughout this post, I’ll refer to paying for Azure, if you’re running through MSDN, just insert, “using up my credits” for “paying” and it should all make sense.

...

..."

There's also a Win Server 2012 R2/VS2013 image too. I've whined about not having this for years and years. Man, I am glad to finally see happening...

So if you have a MSDN Subscription, you can start playing with these right now, very likely MUCH faster than you can locally. And you don't even need a Credit Card!

Lucian Talks Up Async - The Complete Async Set from TechEd Europe

Lucian's VBlog - Talk: The Complete Async -- three talks from TechEd Europe 2013

I gave three talks on Async at TechEd Europe. These cover everything you need to know about async, from beginner to advanced.

Intro: Using Async in Windows 8. This introductory talk introduces how to use async, the connection between IAsyncOperation and Task, and how to cancel an async operation.

...

Intermediate: Three Essential Tips for Async. (1) Only use Async Void for event-handlers; (2) use TaskCompletionSource to wrap events; (3) understand IO-bound vs CPU-bound code and handle them differently.

...

Advanced: How to be a responsible async library developer. (1) If your signature looks async, then your implementation should be truly async, and vice versa; (2) always use await Task.ConfigureAwait(false) in libraries; (3) Optimize the fast path.

...

Talks, lots of Async tips from someone who's deep in the know...

350 .Net Dev Interview Questions and Answers PDF from F5debug

F5debug - Releasing Printable PDF document on 350 Interview Questions and Answers on .NET Framework, C#, OOPS, ASP.Net, SQL, WCF

Few months before I released a series on Interview Questions and Answers on .Net Framework, OOPS, C#.Net, ASP.Net, SQL Server and WCF which got attention to all the Job Seekers in Microsoft Stack. Many of the readers requested for a printable version of the document which can be used as a offline mode when they are on the move. So one of my friend and follower Mohit Chhabra consolidated all the questions and answers in one document which can be downloaded and used offline.  

Topics Covered:

Below are the list of topics covered, you can navigate to this page to see the list of questions that are answered in this series.

• .NET Framework
• C#.Net
• Object Oriented Programming
• ASP.Net
• SQL Server
• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
• XML Programming

Download Link:

...[GD: Click through to download it]

Here's a snap of the PDF:

Not that I'm job hunting, but still I thought this kind of, sort of interesting (only kind of, sort of, because I'm not a huge fan of SAT like, tie them to the chair and grill them till they cry, interviews). Heck worse case it's an interesting refresher resource. :)

300 for 320 - 320 Windows 8.1. app and code samples, C++, C#, JavaScript, in a 300MB download... (Or get language level download or pick and choose singles)

Windows Dev Center - Windows 8.1 app samples

Windows 8.1 Preview Code Samples

This sample pack includes all the app code examples developed and updated for Windows 8.1 Preview. The sample pack provides a convenient way to download all the samples at once. The samples in this sample pack are available in C#, C++, VB.NET, and JavaScript.The Windows Samples Gallery contains a variety of code samples that exercise the various new programming models, platforms, features, and components available in Windows 8.1 Preview and/or Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview. These downloadable samples are provided as compressed ZIP files that contain a Visual Studio solution (SLN) file for the sample, along with the source files, assets, resources, and metadata necessary to successfully compile and run the sample. For more information about the programming models, platforms, languages, and APIs demonstrated in this sample, please refer to the guidance, tutorials, and reference topics provided in the Windows 8.1 Preview documentation available in the Windows Developer Center. This sample is provided as-is in order to indicate or demonstrate the functionality of the programming models and feature APIs for Windows 8.1 Preview and/or Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview.

This pack may be very large and take some time to download.

That should be enough to keep you busy over the upcoming July 4th weekend? Maybe?

"Utilizing SysInternals Tools for Windows Client" - The Seven Part Series..

Channel 9 - Utilizing SysInternals Tools for Windows Client

Microsoft Premier Field Engineers the step through a technical deep dive on utilizing SysInternals Toolsets. This course focuses on key administrative and diagnostic utilities, and addresses key insights, and best practices.

Utilizing SysInternals Tools for Windows Client  - Utilizing SysInternals Tools for Windows Client: (01) Introduction

In this module you will be introduced to the key utilities and tools that IT Pros can leverage from the SysInternals toolset.

Full course outline:

• Mod 01: Introduction
• Mod 02: Windows Internals
• Mod 03: ProcessExplorer
• Mod 04: ProcessMonitor
• Mod 05: PsTools
• Mod 06: AutoRuns
• Mod 07: Other Tools

I know you've all got about 1.97 million TechEd and Build sessions queued for viewing, but this is Sysinternals, baby! :)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
A Sweet Summer Sysinternals Suite Refresh
Mark TechEd's you... See all four of Mark Russinovich's recent TechEd North America sessions

It's a sweet suite! Windows Sysinternals Suite gets a summer refresh [August 3, 2012]...
Sysinternals Suite 2010 Refreshed - All the latest versions, one 12.4MB zip…
Sysinternals Suite Refreshed – All the latest Sysinternals Utilities, one tiny zip (well 10MB zip…)
Sysinternals Suite (8MB of Complete Sysinternals Goodness)

Mesh'ing Live.Sysinternals.com, using Vista Scheduling and Robocopy|
A handy PowerShell script to keep your Sysinternals Suite up to date
The latest Sysinternals utilities are just a URL away, Live.Sysinternals.com

Use the Sysinternals Utilities? The EULA bug dialog you? Then try this…

The “Windows Sysinternals Primer: Process Explorer, Process Monitor, and More” from TechEd 2010 North America
Sysinternals 101 – “Notes from the field,” a quick intro to a few Sysinternals utilities (Process Explorer, TCPView, Process Monitor, VMMap)
Hands On Learning How to Use the Sysinternals Process Monitor Utility

Google .Net API's go portable... The v1.4.0 Google APIs .NET library is now a Portable Class Library (PCL) And now uses TPL and the new HttpClient lib too

google-api-dotnet-client Announcements - Announcing the release of 1.4.0-beta

We are excited to announce the Google APIs .NET library 1.4.0-beta release.

There are amazing new features in this release, the library was upgraded to support .NET 4.0, and the core Google.Apis assembly is now a Portable Class Library (PCL, see below). We support now HttpClient as our transport layer and TPL for asynchronous tasks. Resumable upload was also improved and media download support was added to the library.

For users who run on .NET 3.5 or earlier versions of .NET framework, release 1.3.0 is still available for you to download from: https://google-api-client-libraries.appspot.com/download/library/[API_NAME]/[API_VERSION]/csharp?lv=1.3.0-beta.

For example to download the Blogger API library that works with 1.3.0-beta, use the following link -  https://google-api-client-libraries.appspot.com/download/library/blogger/v2/csharp?lv=1.3.0-beta
All the new generated APIs can be downloaded from: http://code.google.com/p/google-api-dotnet-client/wiki/APIs

The release highlights:

Portable Class Library (PCL)

From this release, the Google.Apis core assembly is a PCL.

Portable Class Libraries support cross-platform development of .NET Framework apps. Use PCL to write and build portable assemblies that work without modification on multiple platforms, such as Windows 7, Windows 8, Silverlight, Windows Phone, and Xbox 360. ...

HttpClient

HttpClient provides developers an extremely simple programming interface to connect to services across the internet including REST-based services. It is part of .NET framework 4.5, but we use a .NET 4.0 PCL version using NuGet (which is available here).

In addition HttpClient exposes the new Task based asynchronous methods, which makes writing responsive and performant UI applications across all platforms a lot simpler....

...

Breaking changes in ClientServiceRequest...

Media Upload and Download...

Service names...

...

NuGet

From this release, we support NuGet for managing our 3rd party dependencies. You can also use the assemblies in the bundle (for .NET 4.0 full profile only), although our recommendation it to use NuGet.

Follow our Build wiki page for more details regarding building your project with or without NuGet.
* Notice that the Google packages are NOT served by NuGet, but it is scheduled to be in the future.

While I'm not really a happy google camper this second, this IS a great move by them. I'm really happy to see them continue in this investment and how they've moved to PCL. This should REALLY help in making Google reading/consuming/producing app's for most of the Windows platforms MUCH easier.

 

(via Bnaya Eshet - Google API)

Goodbye Google Reader... Need an alternate app? Here's an ultimate alternate list, by AlternativeTo (GReader)

AlternativeTo - Google Reader shuts down, but we have the alternatives!

Since you visit the AlternativeTo blog the chances are great that you’re one of the many people around the world that use an RSS-client powered by Google Reader to follow news, blogs and other types of web content. You probably already know that Google Reader is shutting down in just a few days. July 1 is getting closer very fast and it’s time to move on.

On AlternativeTo you can find loads of great alternatives and even though we all have different needs and taste there should be something there to make everyone happy. The most popular service right now according to our users is Feedly but a good idea is to have a look at the full list of alternatives and make up your own mind. Remember to click the like button on the alternative you like the most!

...

AlternativeTo - Google Reader (GReader)

I've been using NewsBlur (Premium) for the last month and am pretty happy with it. It's a one man show, but a pretty good show at that... even with big names now in the game, Digg, AOL, I still expect both a continued explosion of alternates and a later die-off and consolidation.

How to track all these alternates? AlternativeTo of course!

 

Related Past Post XRef:
“Is there a free alternate to application X, Y or Z?” Probably, but just how the heck do you find it? (Hint: You go to AlternativeTo.net)

LifeHacker step by step guide to get going with your own hosted Tiny Tiny RSS

Using Google Docs to find a Google Reader replacement - the community project
Web Feed Reader Wish List - My Must Have/Should Have/Would Be Nice Feature List
And so dies my desktop feedreader of choice too, Google Reader's shutdown also kills FeedDemon
Google Reader Bytes the Dust - Google Reader is being turned out to pasture on July 1, 2013