Reading Notes #152

Suggestion of the week

• Azure: New DocumentDB NoSQL Service, New Search Service, New SQL AlwaysOn VM Template, and more (Scott Guthrie) - Here is the detailed description of all the new features in the Azure August release.

Cloud

• Microsoft NoSQL database and full-text search service previews available on Azure (Mary Jo Foley) - Quick introduction of the two last Azure services.
  
• Azure DocumentDB (Ayende Rahien) - A pretty hard review of the new Azure DocumentDB. Compare to RavenDB to make us understand the issues.
  
• Use Distributed Cache in Microsoft Azure - Great post that describes all the options we have to store our session state, and explains how to do it.
  
• Microsoft Azure Media Services - This article explains how works Azure Media Services by following a real case step by step.

Programming

• Getting Started with Git and GitHub (Dhananjay Kumar) - Very clear and simple tutorial that explains the basic command of Git Prompt and Git in VisualStudio.

Databases

• Documents, Databases and Eventual Consistency - A very interesting article about different types of database and their utilities.

UX

• 5 Strategies for Building Mobile Apps with Telerik (Cody Lindley) - Interesting post that explains different ways to build mobile app using Kendo UI.

Miscellaneous

• The Plague of Methods and Frameworks (Jurgen Appelo) - Interesting point of view.
  
• 10 Vital WordPress Security Tips (Guest Blogger) - This post provides the perfect quick review of our security knowledge when blogging.

~Frank

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 #150

 

Suggestion of the week

• How I’ve started loving PowerShell (Fabien Dibot) - This nice post is a real pep-talk. It also gives references for more information about PowerShell.

Cloud

• Using Reserved IP Addresses with Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines - Nice PowerShell scripts and comments to help us with our Azure fixed IP.
  
• Getting Acquainted with #Azure Service Bus Event Hubs - This nice post describes the event bus of Azure, when more muscles are needed.
  
• Affinity Groups in Azure - Nice post that clarifies the purpose of the affinity group.
  
• Integrating Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services with Salesforce.com - Really nice tutorial that explains how to send a message to a SaaS in Microsoft Azure.
  
• Azure Databases - Restore Local Database To Azure - This post describes a quick and easy way to copy our database to the cloud when we have a simple database.
  
• AWS Wants to Attract Mobile Developers with New Services (Saroj Kar) - Nice new tools from Amazon.

Programming

• Why you need to use Bower - If you are hesitating about if you should or not try Bower, this post will pin down the nail.
  
• Image Sprites made easy with Web Essentials (Josh Eastburn) - If you thought that using sprite was too complicated for the benefit you could have, this post will show you how effortless it is today.
  
• New Compiler and Moving to GitHub - Interesting improvement about the compiler, looking forward to try those new features... And time to add GitHub followed projects to add Typescript.
  
• Git to TFS Migration Experiment: Part 1 - Get all the tools you need to move. Part 2, Part 3 - Last post of the series, focuses on the troubleshooting...
  
• Day 28: Doing More Interesting Things With Buttons (james.chambers) - Nice tricks to get an amazing dropdown control.
  
• Day 30: Loading Bootstrap Modal Content via AJAX (james.chambers) - "The season finally" of a great series about Asp.Net MVC bootstrap. If you didn't have read it already go for it.
  
• How to fake session object / HttpContext for integration tests - Useful tips to get better or more complete integration tests.
  
• Visual Studio Online updates include enabling Azure Active Directory support and self-service account deletion - Nice update.

Integration

• Troubleshooting the WCF-Custom adapter - Typed-Polling with dynamic SQL & empty result sets - Great post that gives a lot of little tips so next time we don't get stock.

Miscellaneous

• Don’t Let Your Head Attack Your Heart - Interesting thoughts about how leadership is closer to us and our feelings.
  
• Just Let Me Code! (Andrew Binstock) - Interesting share about the evolution of coding and the impact on the developers.