Reading Notes #34

 

Cloud

• Which is less expensive - Good post. Well explain. How to compare or understand the price different between a cloud solution and on premise.
• Grouping and Sorting in the New Azure Transform Designer (jmoons) - Really great post. Azure IEA can do what BizTalk 2010 cannot by grouping and sorting easily without XSLT.
• Evangelism for Microsoft ISVs, BizSpark Startups & Network Partners (SanjayJain369) - Nice the training kit January edition now contain labs on federations and use the new look.
• Amazon S3 Price Reduction - A reaction to a post that was comparing price between cloud and on premise solution. The cloud could be even more attractive by taking those advices.
• Connection Pool Fragmentation: Use Federations and you won’t need to learn about these nasty problems that come with sharding! (Cihan Biyikoglu) - Good post that explain what Azure SQL Federations manage for us.
• Review your SQL Azure security issues and Attack surface, Check out “SQL Azure security services” - Description of a great tools. An Azure labs that must by try.
• Windows Azure ISV Blog Series: sociobridge, by ReedRex (DavidMakogonMS) - Nice post to learn more about a good architecture when planning multi tenants structure.
• Announcing Reduced Pricing on SQL Azure and New 100MB Database Option (StevenMartinMS) - Great news a price drop for the SQL Azure.
• "Building Hybrid Applications in the Cloud on Windows Azure" free ebook and code (RC) - The third eBook from a series about Azure, this one about building a hybrid application. That exactly what most application will be today. And it's free.
• The Cost of Living in the Cloud - The author make a list of all the service that are need for is ideal setup being in the cloud.
• Keys to understand relationship between MapReduce and HDFS (Avkash Chauhan) - Well explain improve the relation between mapreduce and hdfs.
• Using Data Transaction Commitment Models for Design (BuckWoody) - In this nice post the author present different ways to store data in Azure. Depending on the situation one type of architecture could be preferred.
• Moving apps to the cloud - This great post help you to build a check list before, during and after moving to the cloud. Ask the good questions, found your spot in the cloud

Programming

• Selecting files that don’t contain specified content (tobint) - Quick script that could easily find a place in anyone's toolbox.
• Thinking LESS of this blog - This post present the open source project LESS that generate some css base on pre-compile instruction. It could run server or client side.
• So You Want To Be a Developer (Part 1) - Most of the developer I know love games. I'm sure part of it already at one point thing of joining this to "passion".

Miscellaneous

• Why we love our MVP’s (Paul Laberge) - Good post to learn more about our Canadian MVP and about the MVP programme.
• Know Your Limitations; You'll Lead Better (John Baldoni) - Nice quick post that remember us that the perseverance is the key of success

~Frank

Reading Notes #33

Cloud

• Using Windows Azure Access Control Service (ACS) from a node express app - A well done tutorial that explain all the steps to setup your Azure Access Control Service (ASC) in a Node.js environment.

  If you want to know how it works and how it was implemented read Implementing Windows Azure ACS with everyauth

• Amazon Web Services Blog - Amazon announce new edge location.
• Cloud Data Services - This is definitely a series to follow. A thru story with all learning steps put in evidence.
• Amazon Web Services Blog - Another price reduction for Amazon Web Service AWS, does it mean that Azure is doing some damage.
• Mastering the Cloud.. with Windows Azure Curricula Resources (Lee Stott) - What needed to by prepare to be a cloud designer.
• 4 ways Microsoft can make Azure better for startups (Marcelo Calbucci) - Things that Microsoft is doing and should do to help startups to jump in Azure.
• Cloud Architecture Series – CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation)– Part 01 (Bruno Terkaly) - First of a series, this post explain the evolution of the architecture...
• NEW! Wiki launched for Apache Hadoop on Windows Azure (Michele Hart) - This is a great news documentation is always welcome.
• How many copies of your blob is stored in Windows Azure Blob Storage? (Avkash Chauhan - MSFT) - Well explain when multiple copy don't rime with backup.
• Outbound ports that have to be opened for Azure development (Bruno Terkaly) - The page MUST be bookmarked. The list of port by Azure application.
• Introducing Microsoft Research’s Excel Cloud Data Analytics (Roger Jennings) - Great idea that use the calculation power of Azure through excel to analyze your data. This project is still in CTP.
• Windows #Azure Caching – Performance considerations - Great post to demystify the different caching options with Azure. then everything you need to get started and learn even more.
• Windows Azure Demos with Steve Marx (Wade Wegner) - Last cover cloud show of Steve Mark, so they pass through all is demos.

Programming

• A Few of My Favorite Things... in the Entity Framework 4.2 DbContext - Present three features: Find, Local and AsNoTracking include in the EF Code first DbContext.
• Alexander Beletsky's Development Blog - Present three really good tools to add to test toolkit

  FluentAssertions

  NSubstitute

  NCrunch

• Windows Phone developer leaves for Amazon's Kindle team - Amazon is working hard to keep is part of the cake.
• MVP is not an excuse to make shitty software - Minimum viable product is more about the V then the M
• Why You Should Build Your Website Using Static .html Files - Using only static HTML page solve some regular issues: speed, portability,connections. Hera a project on Github try to push this idea as far as possible.
  
  
  

~Franky

Reading Notes #32

Cloud

Let The Clouds Make Your Life Easier - Geek and poke

• Is VMware the new Microsoft in the PaaS World? - Nice post that talk about the story of .Net framework and Java. What they where, what they are and what there fighting for.
• 8 Essential Best Practices in Windows Azure Blob Storage - Great post explaining clearly 8 best practices when using Azure Blob Storage.
• Managing environments in a distributed, Azure, or other cloud based Visual Studio solution (Igor Papirov) - Nice Visual Studio solution structure, that once it's done could save a lot of time.
• an opportunity to get application security right - Nice post discussing about in the beginning of the Internet where enterprises didn't taken seriously the security menace. Today with a lot of people going to the cloud we shouldn't make the same mistake.
• Tips and Important Steps for Migrating Apps to Windows Azure - Great check list to move an application in the cloud. I would add to check if you need https at some point and take a look of your database collation.
• Taking specific Windows Azure Instance offline (Avkash Chauhan) - Those cmdlets are amazing. do what you cannot do with the management portal in only few line
• Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games Version 1.2.2 Released - Announce of the new release of the Toolkit with some explication about how-to get started with Github
• Before jumping into cloud, learn from the SOA experience - This post explain how having a service object architecture (SOA) could help to be more ready when moving to the cloud.
• Visual Studio Achievements - Remember Kids They're Just For Fun (View blog authority) - Achievements in Visual Studio... pros and cons.
• Handling two known issues with Windows Azure node.js SDK 0.5.2 (Avkash Chauhan) - Nice workaround to be able to debug with the Azure emulator when using node.js and to be able to deploy with a MongoDB enabled
• NougakuDoCompanion: A “Ruby on Rails” companion for Windows Azure (Avkash Chauhan) - Introduce a ruby companion package available on codeplex, it look nice.
• Amazon Web Services Blog - Amazon announce a new free product/feature the cloudWatch Metrics that will help to visualize how your part of the cloud is use.
• Utiliser SSIS pour pousser des données vers SQL Azure (Benjamin GUINEBERTIERE) - Good work explaining step by step how to use SSIS for a data migration.

  SSIS package needs an outbound access to port 1433

• The “NoSQL” Gene in SQL Azure Federations (Cihan Biyikoglu) - Great post. A bit old, but it explain a lot of key concept about the NoSql of the new Azure Federation.
• Windows Azure Storage Emulator Account Name and Key - Nice catch. how to manage the different credential of a "legacy" Azure application.

  Microsoft has provided the storage credentials for the local Storage Emulator on MSDN. Here’s a quick place to copy the default name and key: AccountName AccountKey

• Get Started with Node.js + Windows Azure: Resources - Everything you need to get started doing Node.js in Azure. A lot of reference: tools, IDE, database,etc..
• Cloud computing looks to be future of disaster management - A professor is building a system to be help the people to communicate in case of a disaster in the cloud.
• Using Windows Azure Access Control Service (ACS) from a node express app - A well done tutorial that explain all the steps to setup your Azure Access Control Service (ASC) in a Node.js environment.

  If you want to know how it works and how it was implemented read Implementing Windows Azure ACS with everyauth

• Cloud Cover Show - Episode 69 - SQL Azure Federations with George Huey – Recap of the news and discuss how to scale-out with SQL Azure Federations.

Programming

• Using oData with jQuery Hierarchical Grid - Good presentation of the grid control of NetAdvantage using jquery and oData.
• Even Better Git (and Mercurial) with PowerShell (Scott Hanselman) - Nice post, presentation great project using Powershell to leverage git and mercurial source control.
• 24 Extremely Useful Ruby Gems for Web Development - Great list of Ruby's Gems. I will definitely include Bundler in my list on tools to have.

  Bundler is a tool that manages gem dependencies for your ruby application.

• Explaining Include and Extend - Really good post. Go deeper then the usual.

  If you want a more details about what the interpreter is doing I recommend watching Patrick Farley’s talk on Ruby Internals.

Miscellaneous

• How the Kindle replaced my iPad...for book reading (Scott Stein) - I agree completely. When I try the eBook reader... I fall in love.
• Agile Results with Evernote (JD Meier) - Explain how to use EverNote as a simple folder/list structure to manage goals in the Agile Result method
• comment obtenir plus de clics avec vos tweets (Benoit Descary) - Some simple strategies to be more efficient when twitting(fr).
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs of Software Development (Scott Hanselman) - Nice Maslow's pyramid apply to development , event more because it do fit.
• Don't Get Me Started – Ring Around My Neck (David Platt) - A reflection about if thing have gone too far.

~Franky