Reading Notes #68

Cloud

• Getting Database Connection Information in Windows Azure Web Sites - Great clarification about how to access connection string in Azure using PHP or Node.js
• Node.js specific diagnostics for Windows Azure - Great source of detailed information that will speed-up your next bug investigation.
• How To Create a Base Disk or Image in Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Share It Across Accounts (Stephen W. Thomas) - Great tutorial to prepare a master custom virtual image for Azure.

[…]Shan McArthur has a great blog post on the difference between an Image and a Disk. […]

• Trying Out the New Windows Azure Portal Support for Relay Services - Nice walk around of the new Windows Azure features focusing on the service bus capabilities.
• Jolicloud Pivots Again, Now As A Start Page For Cloud Services — Have they Cracked It This Time? (Mike Butcher) - I really like the idea being Jolicloud. I'm not sure I will use it that often, but it's a good idea.
• Readability Comes to Jolicloud (David Sleight) - Nice! Jolicloud is useful when on the road. Now I can keep track of me reading too.
• Announcing Public Availability of Service Bus for Windows Server (Service Bus 1.0) (Himanshu_Singh) - Great news. We will now be able to develop with the Service Bus for Windows server than switch, if we want, to Windows Azure Service Bus on prod, transparently!

[…]APIs exposed for developing applications are consistent with those of the public cloud service, making it easy to develop applications for either and switch between the two. […]

• Exporting and Importing VM settings with the Azure Command-Line Tools - Great idea! Very useful! I can easily see one or two script staying on my desktop waiting to be double click...
• .NET 4.5 now supported with Windows Azure Web Sites (Scott Gu) - Perfect timing, ready to upgrade and be able to use the last version of EF.
• Using Trace in Windows Azure Cloud Applications (Himanshu Singh) - Useful tips to get easily a nice trace from Windows Azure project.
• Windows 8 and Windows Azure: Convergence in the Cloud - Nice article from MSDN Mag. This tutorial explain how to build a windows 8 application that pull data from Windows Azure.

Integration

• BizTalk 2010 R2 CTP: Azure Service Bus Integration–Part 5 Sending messages to Service Bus Queues using Sessions (Kent Weare) - Nice demo using session, I like this alternative.

Programming

• What is SSDT? - Since I try this tool I can’t live without.
• Analyse : Différentes façons d'intégrer un script Javascript - Nice analyse I will bookmark it to use it as reference.
• CoffeeScript 1.4.0 Released, No Sign of Source Maps - Good news for Node.js user.
• Welcome to Windows 8! (Paul Laberge) - Know your options as developer.

Miscellaneous

• Bounce Rates High? Why? (Darren Rowse) - Nice post that explain how to understand your blog bounce rate.
• 3 Characteristics of Amazing Presentations (Margaret Heffernan) - Quick tips to improve easily your presentation.
• The Undercover Interview Technique (Jeff Haden) - Interesting point of view but I prefer the coffee meeting, where you meet few co-worker in a relax context.
• 5 Goals Every Blogger Should Set Up in Google Analytics - Nice post that explain clearly how to setup goals and their utility.
• Book review: Think Like a Programmer - <sigh> So let ready only the chapter one than...

~Frank

Reading Notes #67

Cloud

• Cloudy Thoughts by SyntaxC4 - Nice post that demonstrate where are the environment variables base on different languages.
• Windows 8 and the Cloud: Better Together (David Pallmann) - Good post that told how and why it a good thing to use Windows Azure to leverage your Windows 8 applications.
• .NET Framework 4.5 Support in Windows Azure Web Sites (Channel 9) - Nice video podcast about new feature in Windows Azure and what you should do with your web/worker roles.
• Windows Azure Mobile Services: New support for iOS apps, Facebook/Twitter/Google identity, Emails, SMS, Blobs, Service Bus and more - Great news! This new features will gives a lot more of flexibility. And all these are already available for iOS!! That major. Good job.

[…]Read this getting started tutorial to walkthrough how you can build (in less than 5 minutes) a simple Windows 8 “To-do List” app that is cloud enabled using Windows Azure Mobile Services. Or watch this video of me showing how to do it step by step.[…]

• Windows Azure Training Kit – October 2012 - This post present what’s new in this update and gives the new GitHub link of the Windows Azure Training Kit.
• Blob Storage and Shared Access Signatures (Stephen Kaufman Stephen Kaufman Microsoft MSFT 6,797 Points 1 2 1 Recent Achievements Blogger III Blog Conversation Starter Blogger II View Profile) - Useful tutorial that explain how to setup a shared access signatures in c#.
• Modifying the contents of cscfg file while deploying a cloud service with PowerShell (18 2012 Ercenk October) - Great script! Must keep this in our tool box...
• Implementing Entity Services using NoSQL – Part 1: Outline - Nice post, first of a series that explains a Java project to build a Data Services using NoSql.
• Cloud Cover Show Episode 91 - Windows Azure Mobile Services Updates – Very nice good demo about some mobile new capabilities and a big tease for the next episode 92…

Integration

• What’s new in BizTalk360 version 5.0? Available for immediate download (Saravana Kumar) - Nice post that explain the 5 major new features in the last version of the great BizTalk360. Looking very promising.

Programming

• Why Mocking Matters - Nice explanation of what the differences are between fakes, stubs and mocks.

[…]This is easy to do with Telerik JustMock. I wrote about using JustMock to get you started in From Legacy to Dependency Injection. […]

• Expressing Ruby Code in Natural Language - Wow, that look like a lot of fun. That what I call a good "pet project".

[…]This is called rubber duck debugging, because you could have solved the problem by explaining it to a rubber duck on your desk. […]

• First try with TypeScript - A developer share is first thoughts of TypeScript and explains it with code sample.
• SSDT & DACFx (October 2012) Compatibility Notes - Details about a update that will fix some compatibility issue.
• 10 Tips to avoid the typical Windows 8 design traps - Essential for any developer. If you want to distinguish yourself from the other in the apps store, this is where it's start.
• Stored procedures DO NOT increase performance (Shivprasad koirala) - Interesting post that hi-light the difference between inline code and store procedure. I agree with the conclusion. Sprocs are better to facilitate the maintainability.
• Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 CTP - Wow an update already with new features that great. Reference to download pages.
• Supporting agile teams
• Continuously enabling quality
• SharePoint development
• Windows development
• How do you estimate with Story Points and determine Velocity when you’ve not done it before? (johnv petersen) - Nice post that with help you to start doing estimation.
• Get In on the Action: Learn Windows 8 with Hands-on Labs « Jonathan Rozenblit - Get started to the Windows8 development with these 17 labs references.

Miscellaneous

• If You’re Too Busy to Meditate, Read This (Peter) - This post explain how a little meditation is possible and how it can help.
• 7 Tips For Building a 'Power Network' on LinkedIn - Quick tips to improve your LinkedIn network.
• Instapaper delivered to your Kindle changes how you consume web content - Plus IFTTT, blogs and more (Scott Hanselman) - Of course you can do this... I prefer Readability but the idea is the same...

Three New Advanced Windows Azure Virtual Workshops

You did the boot camp and the regular workshops but you still looking for more?
Be ready, starting October 15, a new advanced Windows Azure virtual workshop serie is starting. I will be there to answer all you questions in the chat with the Windows Azure Canadian Community Experts!

October 15 – Cloud Variation

Explore Windows Azure’s infrastructure options – Cloud Services, Virtual Machines, and Websites. Through comparing and contrasting the options, you will walk away from the workshop better equipped to choose the right option for different solutions.

Register today: aka.ms/cloudvariations
 

October 22 - Building Connected Apps with Windows Azure

Discover how the various Windows Azure services can be integrated into apps to extend their functionality. You will learn how to address common needs such as computing capabilities, storage, authentication, and more. To demonstrate concepts, this workshop focuses on Windows 8 and Windows Phone, though concepts can be applied to any platform including Android and iOS.

Register today: aka.ms/connectedappswithazure
 

October 29 - Migrating Apps to Windows Azure

Explore approaches to migrating applications, walk through concerns and considerations to take into account while planning a migration, and learn how to implement a migration plan to move applications from on-premises (or traditional hosting) to Windows Azure.

Register today: aka.ms/migratingtoazure

 
Go deeper and learn more! For more Info you can go on the Windows Azure Virtual Workshops.

Reading Notes #66

Cloud

• Announcing: Improvements to the Windows Azure Portal - Great news! Nice features that will facilitate the resources management.
• Windows Azure REST API Sample and Tool – GET, POST, & DELETE with One Click - Great tool, even more since it is embedded in visual studio. For quick and easy stuff. For more advanced stuff SoapUI remains.
• What PartitionKey and RowKey are for in Windows Azure Table Storage (Maarten Balliauw) - Very well explain. The best post on partition a read.
• Windows Azure Disk Partition Preservation - Quick post that show what append with disk partitions from PaaS stateless VM when different events append in a nice table view.
• Online Data Storage: Is it okay to Move to the Cloud? - Nice post that should be share and re-post to reach the maximum of people. Backing up the cloud is easy and safe. But off course it's not THE solution, but part of the solution.
• Website Pricing, Shared or Reserved (Tyler Doerksen) - Short post that explain very clearly the difference between the Windows Azure Website options.
• BlogEngine.NET and Windows Azure Web Sites - Good news, BlogEngine.Net is finally available in the Windows Azure Website gallery and configured to not be using a SQL database.

Programming

• Help your users record and report bugs with the Problem Steps Recorder (Scott Hanselman) - How could I didn't know this application!?
• Booleans are Baaaaaaaaaad - Nice tips about how you should build your data, illustrated with a Ruby sample.
• Get In on the Action: Start with Your Windows Store Developer Account (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Everything you need to know to get ready and publish your apps thru the Windows store.
• Why Mocking Matters - Nice explanation of what the differences are between fakes, stubs and mocks.

Miscellaneous

• Why you can’t focus on a single great idea - Interesting thoughts.
• Top 10 Ways to Make Yourself Look (and Be) Smarter (Whitson Gordon) - Some of these tips makes you smarter, not only look like.
• Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 3G/Wi-Fi Review (Scott Hanselman) - I like sooo much my Kindle. With is keyboard so I can take my notes. When I read about the Paperwhite I thought it was perfect. But since my use of this device is very similar to Scott... I will pass.

Reading Notes #65

Cloud

• Cloning Windows Azure Virtual Machines - Nice post. Very well explain through the Azure portal.
• Microsoft Cloud Analysis Tool and Infrastructure Optimization Tool (JD Meier) – Nice presentation of the tool all in image.
• Use strategy pattern to support cloud storage (Henry He) - Interesting pattern to support both on-premise and cloud storage. A demo is available.
• Using Azure Web Sites to market your Windows App - Good sample of how Windows Azure Website can be used. Quick, easy and free!
• Why Hyper-V? (New Whitepaper) - Short introduction about hyper-v and reference on good link.
• AWS Free Usage Tier Now Includes Amazon RDS - Nice news, a relational database for free!
• 5 things healthcare organizations must know before moving to the cloud - Nice checklist before left-off
• Startups, BizSpark & Windows Azure – Better Together! (Marc Gagné) - Details about who can be in BizSpark and how.
• Windows Azure In-Role Caching - Great article that that dive dipper than usual post about Azure Cache.
• What’s the benefit of the cloud? - Quick opinion post about what the "real" benefit of the cloud and I agree.... but I still think that you can save money, gain speed and stability.

Programming

• You Can Tell a Lot About Developers From Their Scratchpads (Erik Dietrich) - Interesting post about what your dummy application can tell about you.
• Enabling code coverage on TFS 2012—it’s easy (David Scruggs) - Nice quick tip.

• Five Things to Know When Designing a Windows 8 App - Interesting post that review some of the change brought by windows 8 and is wind of change for developer mainly for UI.
• Difference Between IEnumerable and IQueryable (Nischal Bhatt) - A very nice tutorial that explain simplify the difference between those two important interfaces.
• A Few New OData Things of Interest (Glenn Gailey) - New features of oData and reference link to get started.
• The Art of Unit Testing Reviewed - This book is in to read stack and just get bring back to the top. Good review.
• Amazon Simple Email Service Announces Mailbox Simulator - Could be very useful.
• New SSDT Power Tools! Now for both Visual Studio 2010 and Visual Studio 2012 - Wow a must for all developers. This update is really nice and it will save a lot of trouble.
• Web Page Redirects on Amazon S3 Hosted Websites - Good idea.

Integration

• Opinions about BizTalk360 from the experts (Saravana Kumar) - Great way to learn more about how nice is Biztalk360.

Miscellaneous

• Rise to the Modern App Challenge - So much event across all the Canada in English AND French!
• Good Blogs Take Time (Darren Rowse) - Oooh I known. But it's also fun!
• The new Microsoft (Eric Brec) - A very enthusiastic opinion from the inside about the new Microsoft.
• 3 Signs That You Are Stressed Out (And How To Fix It) (Tom Searcy) - I lithe quote.

[…]"When my sock drawer is perfectly folded, sorted and lined up, I know that I am out of control in my life." […]

• Picture This (Simon) - Great application available on all mobile device and desktop.
• Brain Droppings - A lot of funny thoughts that make my morning...
• 9 Things You Wish Job Candidates Knew (Jeff Haden) - Great tips to be prepare at you’re next interview. This post gives useful information to be reading winning a job, a contract, a fun project, etc.
• Dropbox Now Helps Team Admins Get Everyone To Turn On Two-Step Verification (Drew Olanoff) - Great news from Dropbox. And a new Rss feed to add to my list.
• The Story of the New Microsoft.com - Good ready it's nice to follow how those great projects become what they are.

~Frank

Reading Notes #64

Cloud

• Drunk on Cloud Kool-Aid? Time To Sober Up (Justin Moore) - It's never all white or all black. This post put some gray in the picture of what will be the cloud in five years.
• Book Review: Cloudonomics–The Business Value of Cloud Computing - If after reading this review you don't download the sample or read at least the table of content, it mean you are the author.
• Windows Azure Interactive Feature Map - An amazing interactive picture or the ultimate Windows Azure features Map!
• BizTalk Virtual Machine in Windows Azure using Quick Create (Steef-Jan Wiggers) - Simple and efficient tutorial that show all steps to create a VM in Windows Azure with BizTalk.
• Comparison: SkyDrive vs Apple vs Google vs Dropbox - Nice one shot overview.
• How to Remove an Orphaned Windows Azure Virtual Machine Disk and Remove a Lease Conflict on a VHD Blob (Stephen W. Thomas) - Again PowerShell is showing us who’s the king. I'm looking forward to see this tool. Since Azure is supposed to be really user friendly (not like scripts) then this tool should be great.
• Announcing Updates to Windows Azure SQL Database (Gregory Leake) - Great new. It's a long time since we saw a Sql Azure database update.
• Cloudy Thoughts by SyntaxC4 - Nice recap of many (if it is not all) possible database that you can use when using Windows Azure.
• #CloudFail: Six pitfalls to avoid with enterprise cloud deployment (Bart Copeland) - Excellent post! Even if the cloud is not for everyone, it have good chance that it could for you...
• Hybrid cloud model: update on Microsoft IT application migration (Tony Scott) - Overview of the Microsoft IT application migration, and Show case.

[…]Microsoft IT Showcase recently published an article with details of our experience [download Using Windows Azure to Create a Multi-Platform Application][…]

• Keeping your options open in a cloud solution (Buck Woody) - One thing that is great about Windows Azure is that you can use anything with it. Not only Microsoft language or application, not event only Azure services.
• Moving a website to Azure while adding Continuous Deployment from Git (Scott Hanselman) - Nice walkthrough of moving a website to Azure using new features.
• Guest Post: What’s the Big Deal with AppDynamics Windows Azure Monitoring? (Himanshu Singh) – Nice post that introduced AppDynamics and explained what it can do for our Azure application.
• Why Can't I Always Change the Region when Creating a Windows Azure Virtual Machine? (Stephen W. Thomas) - Nice catch! Be aware of this little difference between the different create VM methods.
• Azure Store XRay - Amazing tool to monitor easily your Windows Azure storage.
• Cloning Windows Azure Virtual Machines - Nice post. Very well explain through the Azure portal.
• Cloud Cover Show Episode 90 - Windows Azure Web Sites Update - Great show about the new feature in Windows Azure SQL Database: Link db.[video]

Programming

• Agile path ways into the Azure Universe – Access Control Service [ACS] - Great tutorial that explain step by step how to test ACS in a Behaviour Driven Development (bdd) way using QStory and Selinum.
• Avoid shooting yourself in the foot with Tasks and Async - Nice post that explain some "particularities" of some new feature in the .Net framework 4.5 related to asynchronous tasks.
• Migrating a Database to SQL Azure using SSDT - Great tutorial of an amazing tool. The SSDT is a must!
• 5 mistakes that make you look like a Rails n00b - Nice tips that will make your code better, and not only in Ruby, for all language.
• A First Look at SQL Server Data Tools - Include in the new visual studio 2012, and downloadable for 2008 and 2010, this amazing tool is a must for all developer. And it's free! .[video]
• Visual Studio 2012 Takes “Ease” Up a Notch (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Oh what a great a time saver.

Miscellaneous

• Windows 8 Shortcut Keys (John Evdemon) - Since I'm just starting to use Windows 8 this post is clearly useful.
• 3 Easy Exercises to Boost Your Creativity (2012| Comment Nadia Goodman| September 26) - I will not go that far, but the main goal is there. If you want be create the next Instagram, you must train your creativity.
• This Is The Biggest Reason Talented Young Employees Quit Their Jobs (The Brilliant Blog Annie Murphy Paul) - I wish my old bosses had the chance to read this nice post.