2026
Can You Build Your .NET Application on a Clean Machine?
A clean-machine test can expose the tools, package sources, services, configuration, and developer knowledge your .NET repository depends on but does not declare.
Writing
Ideas, systems, and lessons in code.
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98published articles
Showing all 98 articles.
2026
Before You Upgrade .NET, Do You Know What Is Building It?
Before .NET upgrades can become routine, you need to know which SDK is actually building your application, whether that choice is intentional, and whether the environment can be reproduced.
2026
.NET 11 RC1 Is Here. Is Your Upgrade Process Ready?
With .NET 8 and .NET 9 nearing end of support, .NET 11 RC1 is a good time to rethink framework upgrades as a continuous evaluation process instead of an EOS-driven project.
2026
Labor Day, Software Development, and the Work We Should Be Automating
A Labor Day reflection on automation, AI, software engineering, and why progress should remove unnecessary work instead of simply demanding more output.
2026
CopyGitHubRepo v0.4.0: Migrating GitHub Pages Without Guessing
CopyGitHubRepo v0.4.0 adds opt-in GitHub Pages restoration, safer custom-domain handoff, independent verification, and recovery evidence for repository migrations.
2026
From Specification to System: How the AI Flywheel Became Four Projects
How the AI Flywheel evolved from a specification into a framework, independent testing system, and deterministic CLI.
2026
Moving On After 28 Years at Concord
After 28 years at Concord, I’m closing an important chapter of my career and reflecting on the people, technology, lessons, and experiences that shaped it.
2026
CopyGitHubRepo v0.3.0: Keep the Releases, Leave the History Behind
CopyGitHubRepo v0.3.0 brings GitHub Release preservation to Snapshot migrations, letting you keep selected release milestones while still creating a clean, unrelated Git history.
2026
CopyGitHubRepo v0.2.0: Preserving GitHub Releases During Repository Migration
CopyGitHubRepo v0.2.0 adds opt-in GitHub Release and release asset preservation to FullHistory repository migrations while keeping planning and verification at the center of the workflow.
2026
Out With the Old, In With the New: Rebuilding Coding
After years on BlogEngine.NET, Coding has a new design and a new foundation built on Jekyll, GitHub Pages, Git, and Markdown.
2026
CopyGitHubRepo v0.1.0 Released to the PowerShell Gallery
CopyGitHubRepo v0.1.0 is now available from the PowerShell Gallery, marking the first stable release of the PowerShell tool for safely copying GitHub repositories.
2026
Understanding What We Ask AI to Do
As AI takes on more complex work, humans still need enough understanding of what it produces to make good decisions and remain responsible for the outcome.
2026
Copy GitHub Repo – Clean Snapshots Without Carrying History
Copy GitHub Repo is a PowerShell utility for creating clean repository snapshots or preserving full history with explicit planning, verification, and recovery safeguards.
2026
AI Flywheel CLI for Python – Operating the Flywheel Safely
The Python AI Flywheel CLI provides local commands for inspection, validation, lifecycle operations, installation, and upgrade with explicit safety boundaries.
2026
Testing the AI Flywheel Framework with Durable Evidence
The AI Flywheel testing project separates framework implementation from repeatable prompts, fixtures, runners, and durable evidence.
2026
AI Flywheel Framework – Turning the Spec into an Operating Model
The AI Flywheel Framework turns the specification into an installable .flywheel operating model with explicit startup, state, governance, and lifecycle artifacts.
2026
AI Flywheel Spec – From Agent Loop to Compounding System
The AI Flywheel specification defines an evidence-driven operating model where execution improves the system used by future execution.
2026
All Progress Depends on the Unreasonable
All Progress Depends on the Unreasonable
2025
Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP) – Depend on Abstractions, Not Details
The Dependency Inversion Principle keeps high-level policy from being tightly coupled to low-level implementation details.
2025
Interface Segregation Principle (ISP) – Keep Interfaces Focused
The Interface Segregation Principle keeps abstractions focused so clients depend only on the behavior they actually need.
2025
Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP) – Subtypes Should Keep Their Promises
The Liskov Substitution Principle is about making abstractions trustworthy: subtypes should preserve the behavioral expectations of their base types.
2025
Open/Closed Principle (OCP) – Building for Extension, Not Modification
The second principle in the SOLID family is the Open/Closed Principle (OCP) . It’s a simple but powerful idea:
2025
Single Responsibility Principle (SRP) - Only one reason to change
The Single Responsibility Principle is the first of the five SOLID principles of object-oriented design, introduced by Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob).
2025
Create better software by applying SOLID principles
SOLID is an acronym for five design principles that are considered fundamental to object-oriented programming.
2024
The CrowdStrike Outage Is a Reminder That Deployment Safety Matters
The CrowdStrike outage is a reminder that even trusted software can cause enormous damage when an update goes wrong, and that staged rollouts and recovery plans matter.
2023
.NET 8 Feels Like the New Normal
.NET 8 feels less like an alternative to the old .NET Framework and more like the default starting point for new .NET development.
2022
Countdown to New Year's with the Observer Pattern
One design pattern that you might find fun to relate to New Year's Eve is the Observer design pattern.
2022
Decorating the tree for Christmas
As a software developer, I've always been fascinated by design patterns and how they can help solve common problems in software design.
2022
ChatGPT Looks Interesting
OpenAI released ChatGPT today, and while I have not had a chance to spend much time with it yet, the idea of a conversational AI system is interesting.
2021
.NET 6 Feels Like the Version I've Been Waiting For
After watching .NET Core evolve over the last several years, .NET 6 feels like the point where the old and new .NET worlds are finally starting to come together.
2021
Twenty Years After September 11
Twenty years after September 11, remembering the people who were lost and the importance of passing that memory to a generation that was not there.
2020
Six Months Into COVID
Six months after sending everyone home, masks, social distancing, and remote work have become part of everyday life.
2020
eBay suspends my account
I had created an account with eBay back in the beginning and had not used it in a long time.
2020
Sending Everyone Home
I am in India while the coronavirus situation unfolds back home in Seattle, and today I made the call to send everyone home from the office.
2019
.NET Core 3.0 Might Finally Be Ready for My Existing Applications
.NET Core 3.0 adds Windows Forms and WPF support, making me take a more serious look at whether some existing .NET Framework applications could eventually move over.
2018
Microsoft Is Buying GitHub
Microsoft announced today that it plans to acquire GitHub, and I am still trying to decide how I feel about it.
2017
.NET Core 2.0 Is Starting to Feel Ready
.NET Core 2.0 is out, and this release feels like a much more practical option for real application development.
2016
.NET Core 1.0 Has Arrived
Microsoft released .NET Core 1.0 today along with ASP.NET Core 1.0 and Entity Framework Core 1.0, marking a very different direction for .NET.
2016
Validating your SSL certificate is properly installed for SMTP - POP3 - IMAP - HTTP
I recently installed a new SSL certificate on one of my Linux boxes and wanted to verify that my email server was using the new certificate.
2016
Installing Roundcube Webmail on BlueOnyx 5209
I recently had to migrate some older BlueOnyx and BlueQuartz servers to newer hardware and took the opportunity to install a newer webmail interface called Roundcube.
2015
Microsoft Introduces Visual Studio Code
Microsoft introduced a new development tool this week called Visual Studio Code, a lightweight cross-platform editor for Windows, Mac and Linux.
2014
Microsoft Just Announced Windows 10
Microsoft announced Windows 10 today, bringing back the Start menu and taking a different approach to combining desktop and touch experiences.
2014
I Really Like Windows Phone
I have been using Windows Phone since pretty early on, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8.1 announcement has me looking forward to what comes next.
2013
My favorite design patterns are Strategy and Factory Method
A number of years back I started my exploration into the world of design patterns and read an incredible book “ Design Patterns Explained ” that did a great job in getting me started on a path…
2013
Free collection of EBooks for various Microsoft Technologies
Found a page on the Technet site that provides a pretty good list of eBooks on various Microsoft Technologies
2013
Windows 8 Hyper-V errors with "could not be started because the hypervisor is not running"
Just recently setup a new machine with Windows 8 and decided to install Hyper-V so that I could run windows XP for some of my legacy applications that will not run under Windows 8 64 bit.
2012
Calling WCF Service using LINQPad
First, if you are a .NET developer and you are not using LINQPad yet go and check it out at www.linqpad.net .
2012
So I Guess Zune Is Becoming Xbox Music
Microsoft is introducing Xbox Music, and it looks like the Zune name is being replaced as music becomes part of the broader Xbox and Windows ecosystem.
2012
Running FSCK on an LVM (Logical Volume Manager) using Linux Rescue Disk
I am not a linux expert and so when I have problems from time to time I usually have to go searching for the answer.
2012
Getting LINQPad to read your applications App.Config settings
I have been using LINQPad for a while now and I love it. This utility allows me to write and execute immediately code that I am working out before I put it into my project.
2012
Creating custom EventLog source in windows azure
If you have tried to execute the following code on windows azure then no doubt you have run into a security violation.
2011
Installing OpenWebmail on BlueOnyx server
I have been in the process of evaluating the BlueOnyx distribution that replaces the older BlueQuartz web hosting control panel.
2011
Ten Years After September 11
Ten years after September 11, a reflection on what changed in America and why the day remains first and foremost about remembering the people who were lost.
2011
PlayOn Plugin - TECH.ED 2011
Well I really enjoyed creating the MIX 2011 PlayOn plugin that I decided to do the same for TECH.ED 2011 .
2011
PlayOn Plugin - MIX 2011
I have been using PlayOn software to view online content via my XBOX for about 6 months now and while it is really cool I dont find myself using it as much as I thought I would.
2011
Fix error: Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instance.
For anyone using Visual Studio and trying to add a SQL Database File and getting the error: "Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the…
2010
ASP.NET CustomValidator that validates multiple controls using both Server Side and Client Side scripting
ASP.NET has some nice validation controls built in that can help make validating forms much easier. Listed below are a few of the available controls.
2010
Silverlight PivotViewer control released
The silverlight PivotViewer control allows you to build very large collections and embed them on your website.
2010
ASP.NET MVC3 Preview 1 - Released Today
You can download the new ASP.NET MVC3 Preview 1 here
2010
Bind DNS – Configuring multiple views on primary and secondary DNS servers
If you have a firewall with DMZ and Internal zones and you have machines that sit behind the firewall that query DNS that resolves back to your machines inside one of those zones then it is…
2010
Reed Copsey, Jr presented Windows Forms to WPF with MVVM at last Seattle DOT Net User Group Meeting
I am mostly an ASP.NET developer but after watching Reed show the group the basics of WPF and how easy it was in my opinion compared to winforms I am convinced now that I am going to start…
2010
Seattle DOT Net User Group Meeting - March 2010 Meeting : An Introduction to Visual Studio 2010 Extensibility
For more information about the usergroup visit www.seattledotnet.org When From: March 10, 2010 05:45 PM To: March 10, 2010 08:00 PM Publication date: February 07, 2010 12:00 AM
2010
Visual Studio - CloudService app "Build fails" Unable to remove directory.
While working on a CloudService application for Windows Azure, I encountered an error saying "Unable to remove directory "C:\HelloAzure\HelloAzure_WebRole\bin\_PublishedWebsites".
2010
(MVP) Model View Presenter - Passive View
In my journey to write better software I have been looking at various patterns available. One of them is known as the Model View Presenter or MVP pattern.
2010
Seattle .NET User Group - January 2010 Meeting : SharePoint development in Visual Studio 2010
Upcoming event for Seattle .NET User Group. For more details about location and group visit http://seattledotnet.org/ When From: January 13, 2010 05:45 PM To: January 13, 2010 08:00 PM
2010
ASP.NET MVC Tutorials
Over the last week I have been playing around with the latest ASP.NET MVC 2 RC framework available here http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=157071
2009
HP MediaSmart Server is my favorite device for 2009
Automatically Backup all your PC’s and MAC’s. If backing up your machine is important to you but you have just not taken the step to implement a backup process, then I would highly recommend…
2009
Automatically attaching VHD files in Windows 7 and Windows 2008
If you have played with the new VHD feature in windows 7 or windows 2008 then you know just how cool of a feature this is.
2009
Seattle Dot Net User Group - Sept 9th 2009 Meeting - .NET Troubleshooting in a Production Environment
For more information visit user group website http://seattledotnet.org/
2009
Seattle .NET User Group - July 8th 2009 Meeting - ASP.NET MVC Framework by Brad Wilson
Abstract: ASP.NET MVC is a new web development framework from the ASP.NET team at Microsoft.
2009
The next Seattle.Net User Group meeting June 10th, 2009
for more information visit website: http://seattledotnet.org/
2009
Barcamp Seattle June 13th - June 14th 2009
BarCampSeattle is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees.
2009
Calling ASMX .net Web Service using jQuery
Just started to pick up jquery recently and was playing with calling a .net web service from my page.
2009
Code Camp coming to Portland May 30th, 2009 at Reed College
I have been to this even a few years back and it was very well organized, had good speakers, facilities were excellent, and even a free lunch.
2009
Compress and Decompress using .net framework and built in GZipStream
I recently had a project in which I wanted to compress log files I was transferring between servers.
2009
Replacing text in a stream after writing
Recently I responded to a question asked on StackOverflow. The question was "What is the BEST way to replace text in a File using C# / .NET?"
2009
Seattle .net dotnet user group
Great new user group that is getting started and it is in Seattle. Was hosted at Starbucks who provided a top notch facility for the meeting.
2009
How do I open a file that is in use in C#?
I had a situation recently in which I needed to display in my application the log file that was being generated by the application which was using log4net.
2009
Microsoft patterns & practices Application Architecture Guide 2.0
Was listening to a podcast the other day in which one of the authors of the Microsoft patterns & practices Application Architecture Guide was speaking about this latest version so I decide to…
2009
Understanding .NET Reference Types and Value Types
I have been developing in .NET now for about 4 years and while I have visited this topic many times I have not always fully understood things.
2009
From Cobalt to BlueQuartz and now BlueOnyx
It has been a bit of a journey since I first started offering web hosting services using the Cobalt Platform that was later sold to Sun Microsystems and then dropped from the product line.
2009
c# and vb.net preserving or persisting user settings user.config after upgrades
If you store settings in your application using Settings.Settings and have ever upgraded your application you may have found all the user settings have vanished.
2009
Microsoft released free Chart Controls for ASP.NET and Winforms
I might be behind the times but I just found out that MS released free charting controls for Winform and ASP.NET. Requires you be running VS2008.
2009
C# Traceroute using .net framework
If you have ever tried to create a traceroute program using one of the few available ICMP libraries freely available for C# you may have run into some issues mainly to do with the ICMP…
2009
CWE/SANS TOP 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors
Want to write software that is safe and secure. Check out this article that outlines the top 25 most dangerous programming errors and how to fix them.
2009
C# Ping
I was recently tasked with putting together a ping and traceroute feature in an application and like I always do I googled to see if someone had already worked out how to do this.
2009
An update for the .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 is available
Posting this for those that may not have seen the latest post update to 3.5 SP1. Might want to check out this Microsoft article if you are having problems after installing 3.5 SP1.
2008
Cobalt/Sun FTP Archive
Looks as if Sun put up an archive of the cobalt software. If you are looking for any of the cobalt RaQ original software then use this ftp site.
2008
BlueQuartz not generating usage information for sites
For those that might be having the same problem here is what I found.
2008
ASP.NET - Ajax - Expression - LINQ - SQL Server - Webcasts
Found some great sites that have links to all kinds of webcasts covering ASP.NET, Ajax, Expression, LINQ, SQL Server and more.
2008
.NET 2.0 SP2 Installation - Were to find it
I have seen many people referring to .NET 2.0 SP2 to fix some of the issues I have been dealing with.
2008
Design Patterns - Writing better software
Writing applications that simply work is for the most part pretty easy. However writing software that is well designed, scalable and also readable takes a bit more work.
2008
Object Oriented Design Patterns
While I have been programming now for about 3 years using the Object Oriented programming environment of C# I have not really spent any time looking at patterns.
2008
Spawning multiple .NET delegates really slow
I recently worked on a project that had a listener service running that took TCP requests and made external calls to a remote WebService. The listener service could have up to 300 concurrent requests.
2008
BlueQuartz installing Mono
Mono allows you to run applications written in .NET programming language on Linux machines.
2008
BlueQuartz add virus scanning to sendmail
This HowTo is designed to provide the simplest solution for virus scanning to a BlueQuartz box. However this will also work on any box running Redhat Enterprise Linux 4 or CentOS 4
2008
BlueQuartz how to resync quota of system with GUI
Not sure how many others have had this issue but on occasion I get a user that calls because they are getting email rejected because they are over quota.
2008
BlueQuartz enabling SSL/TLS FTP Support
This is my first attempt at putting online a step by step process in support of the BlueQuartz server appliance.