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Windows Server 2008 support a special installation option called Server Core where only minimal operating system functions are installed, and for example the general Windows graphical user interface is missing.
Of course, this places restictions on which Win32 API functions you can call on a Server Core installation. On MSDN, there's a topic called "Server Core Functions by Name" which lists all supported API functions in Server Core.
If you are targeting your applications to run on Server Core, make sure you check the list.
Although not a development issue per se, virtualization is a topic that developers also need to understand. Even if modern virtualization requires no modifications to applications, developers need to understand the scenarios under which their (.NET) applications are being run.
Speaking of the alternatives, there's VMware, and then there's Microsoft with it's Hyper-V virtualization on Windows Server 2008. A very nice blog article has been written about the combatants. Be sure to check it out.
Photosynth is here! Microsoft today announced, that the venerable Photosynth 3D digital photo application is now available for everybody. To see it in action, you need to install a 8.3 MB application and browse plug-in, and then visit the Photosynth.net web site.
Of course, I wanted to test the system immediately, but seems there's a big rush to the site, and I do get some errors with my IE browser. I also tried Firefox, and it appears to work better on my Windows XP SP2 machine.
If you are serious about your photographs, remember to read the license text, which says:
However, with respect to content you post or provide you grant to those members of the public to whom you have granted access (for content posted on shared and private areas of the service) or to the public (for content posted on public areas of the service) free, unlimited, worldwide, and nonexclusive permission to:
Other than that, I'm impressed with the service. I hope to find the time to upload my own photos there in the coming days.
Developer.com (or to be more precise, CodeGuru.com) has published my latest article about WPF applications and database access.
The article is titled "Accessing Business Data in WPF Applications" and it is available to be read online here.
Enjoy!
The latest TechNet magazine (September, 2008) has a great article about improving performance of web applications on IIS 7.0. The article is titled "Top 10 Performance Improvements in IIS 7.0".
If you are developing web applications and interested what Windows Server 2008 can do for you, then this article is recommended reading.
The Finnish Tietokone magazine has published my latest software development article about LINQ (Language Integrated Query). The article appeared in the August, 2008 issue of the magazine with the title "LINQ helpottaa SQL-kyselyjä".
Happy reading!
The wait is over: Microsoft has just announced the availability of Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 first update: the Service Pack 1 (SP1). The new features include support for SQL Server 2008, the ADO.NET Entity Framework, WPF application performance improvements, more slicker TFS integration with Office 2007 products, and a lightweight .NET runtime installation called the "client profile".
To download, follow these links:
Personally, I find the WPF improvements, SQL Server 2008 support and ADO.NET Entity Framework the most interesting new things.
The well-known TIOBE Programming Community Index has just recently been updated, and the C# language is now #8 (number eight).
Comparing year-to-year, there's a slight decrease in apparent popularity, down -0.29% to 3.697%. (Sorry for sounding like a stock broker. :-) Last year, C# was a position #7, so it's probably Python that took C#'s spot as number seven.
Microsoft announced today, that SQL Server 2008 is now in the RTM (Release To Manufacturing) mode. Of course, this means that the RTM version of the venerable database is now available for download from TechNet and MSDN web sites.
The same DVD image contains versions for 32-bit (x86), 64-bit (x64) and IA-64 architectures. The basic editions are Standard, Enterprise and Developer, but also the Web, Express, Workgroup and Express with Advanced Services editions are available. SQL Server 2008 also supports installation to a Hyper-V virtualization environment on a Windows Server 2008 box.
Feature highlights in the new version include data compression and sparse columns, data encryption, better performance analysis tools, spatial data support and Resource Governor utility.
I noticed from Windows Vista team blog today, that Microsoft is finally seeing the adoption rate of Windows XP/Vista 64-bit raising fast. Yes, both these OS versions have been here for a long time, but it seems from the blog post that the turning point is approaching fast.
Well, the general public might continue to use 32-bit OS versions for a long time, but when 64-bit versions get more common, the driver issue will be a thing of the past. For example, I've checked my peripherals, and almost everyone (except my EOS camera) have 64-bit drivers, from sound cards to printers.
Being able to use .NET 3.5 and LINQ queries is a great ability for .NET developers. Since LINQ supports querying many different object types, you might wish to query for example the Windows Event Log with LINQ statements. Here's how to it.
Your first attempt might be to write code like this:
EventLog systemLog = new EventLog("System");
var events = from e in systemLog.Entries
select e;
Unfortunately, this code fails to compile with the error message "Could not find an implementation of the query pattern for source type 'System.Diagnostics.EventLogEntryCollection'. 'Select' not found. Consider explicitly specifying the type of the range variable 'e'."
To fix this error, you could simply add the EventLogEntry type specifier to the statement like this:
EventLog systemLog = new EventLog("System");
var events = from EventLogEntry e in systemLog.Entries
select e;
Now, it works just fine. The next step might be to add a where clause, for example like this:
EventLog systemLog = new EventLog("System");
var events = from EventLogEntry e in systemLog.Entries
where e.Source == "eventlog" &&
e.InstanceId == 6007
select e;
That's how to do it! Here's a nice MSDN article about how LINQ works, which gives you a great place to start.
Keywords: HowTo, LINQ, query Windows Event Log, EventLog.
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