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DCS-Media provides reviews, techniques, technologies, programming and design tips to help you conduct not just business, but smart business.
Two Famous Developer Essays
Thursday, March 27, 2008 11:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
After doing some "Spring Cleaning" on my computer, I found two programming essays that are still a great read.
After going through my ebooks that I've purchased and collected over the years, I came across two of my favorite essays from Scott Ambler.
For those who don't know Mr. Ambler, he is another individual who I admire in the software industry. I've been reading his material since 1998. He created Ambysoft, wrote some great books, and has a lot of free essays which assisted me throughout my career.
Essential Visual Studio Tools
Thursday, January 24, 2008 6:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 1
A great list of helpful add-ons for Visual Studio to increase your productivity.
Looking for that quick way to enhance your productivity when coding?
LostTechies.com has a nice list of products that are essential Visual Studio tools when coding your applications and/or writing your test cases.
Book Review: Information Dashboard Design
Tuesday, January 08, 2008 6:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
A book review on the "Effective Visual Communication of Data"
Written by Stephen FewCopyright January 2006 - First Edition
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
212 Pages
Buy Now From Amazon
When developers write a program, they always envision a product that a user could just walk up to and immediately start using it. For most developers, a dashboard is exactly that.
Developers always find sanctuary in code
Monday, January 07, 2008 10:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
Did you move from a coding position to a manager position? Big question...are you still coding?
I've talked to a couple of developers that have moved from actually coding to the managing of coders. Most of those developers...errr...sorry, managers don't code any more.
There are a couple of issues that I've seen from time to time:
Server2Go: Is that a web server in your pocket?
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 6:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
A portable Web Server is definitely the greatest thing for Web Designers/Developers.
Portability has always been a big factor for my virtual office so when I first heard of Server2Go, I realized developers and designers are moving more towards having everything within arms reach for their development/designer needs.
The one characteristic a developer needs for a successful career!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 11:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
How can you weed out the good developers from the fair developers? Look at these signs to find out and find out which one trumps them all.
After reading a recent post about How To Rate A Software Developer, I realize that each and every company has their own way of finding out how good a programmer is.
But one thing that stands out that will always be evident in all quality developers is Miguel Carrasco's bonus tip he mentioned at the end of the post: Passion!
Can developers dress up a pig?
Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:30 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
I know you're a great developer, but can you design?
When building your applications as a developer, you don't think about how pretty your application is supposed to look. Most developers focus on functionality. Does the application work? Yes. Ok...Good, I'm done!
But when you're done coding and everything is working, you have the other end of the spectrum you need to focus on: The graphics! My mother always said that presentation is everything (oh, and first impressions as well). This is also the case in software.
Primary Keys: IDs versus GUIDs
Wednesday, March 21, 2007 5:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
Every wonder if you should create primary keys in a database as IDs or GUIDs?
Developers share a lot of building duties when building applications for users including create database structures.
If you've been building databases for a while, you may run across developers who create primary keys as IDs or GUIDs, but which is better?
What books are in your library?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
Do you have a favorite next to your monitor while you program?
Every developer has at least one reference book handy standing up next to their monitor or within hands reach.
As you can see, the books above I have are as follows:
Developer.com's Products of the Year 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007 11:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
Developer.com had their annual Product of the Year and the winners are...
Everyone loves to buy a product that starts a trend where they can boast that they were the first one to start using it.
And yes, I'm guilty as well.
How to build your own AJAX RSS Reader
Thursday, January 18, 2007 5:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
RSS feeds are the thing and here's how to start building your very own in PHP and ASP.NET
Google Reader is, by far, my favorite online RSS Reader, but a couple people wrote to me asking me about how to build your own RSS Reader.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, someone had to make a tutorial on this somewhere.
Programming Shift with Web 2.0
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 9:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
Mr. O'Reilly shares an email he received about the programming shift with Web 2.0.
As programmers move faster towards AJAX, rounded corners, and JavaScript frameworks, we sometimes don't stop to look back at how we got to this point with scripting languages.
Scripting Languages?!?! Forget the Java and .NET compilers. We are currently focusing on the presentation side of the Internet. Things are simplified using text and scripts instead of compiled languages.
How to avoid the "Hey! That was my idea" trap
Monday, January 08, 2007 5:30 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
You have a great idea for a product/web site, right? So does someone else.
If you're a programmer, you've probably experienced this before.
You come up with a great idea, research the market, and notice that no one else is doing what you're doing. You start coding and about one week/month later, everyone announces that they have the latest and greatest software product in the world that is doing exactly what you were building from the start.
Nintendo Wii supports Flash 7!
Thursday, December 28, 2006 8:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
All Web Developers! Take notice!
For those who haven't heard yet, Flash 7 is supported in the Nintendo Wii.
This means that if you develop Adobe (previously Macromedia) Flash applications, you don't have to change anything for your Flash applications to work on the Wii.
Becoming a better developer
Thursday, November 30, 2006 7:28 PM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
Trying to figure out how to become a better developer? Rob Walling has some suggestions.
We all strive to become better programmers, but one of the more notable things we should strive for is to learn from everyone.
Well, I found someone who has the same beliefs as I do. Rob Walling, over at Software By Rob, has a great series of articles about becoming a better developer (Part 1 starts here). The series is broken into the following articles:
Which tier do you start developing first? Part 2
Thursday, November 30, 2006 8:09 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
Part 2, in this mini-series, focuses on which tier to start developing first with a legacy application.
In Part 1, I discussed which tier to start developing first when developing an application from scratch. I'm continuing that post with the next question, which tier do you start developing first when you have a legacy application?
Every application written in this world is comprised of one of the following sets of defined tiers:
Programmers: Which tier do you start developing first?
Monday, November 27, 2006 4:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 1
Torn between which tier to start with? I pose this question to most of my interviewees and you'll never guess what a couple programmers have answered.
If you've been programming for a while, you know the different tiers for building an application from scratch. Everyone I've interviewed in the past were asked this question and it's more of a philosophical question, depending on how long you've been in the programming work force:
Based on the given tiers of development, which are defined as the Presentation (GUI), Business Objects (Business Layer), Data Access Layer and/or Database (Data Layer) itself, which tier would you start developing first if you were creating an application from scratch and why? How about converting a legacy application?
For those a little fuzzy on tiered development:
Top 10 Signs You Have an Insecure Web App
Tuesday, November 07, 2006 2:00 PM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
How do you know if you web application is secure or not?
New web applications are built every day, but how many go through rigorous security tests? I'm going to say not too many (Am I right?).
I've always developed with security built into the application from the ground up, whether it be a web application or a fat client. Security has always been, and will always be, a major concern in developing applications either for the web or for client applications that require it.
9 Things Developers Want More Than Money
Friday, November 03, 2006 9:00 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
and why do *you* program?
Software By Rob has a great article about the 9 things developers want more than money.
This article is similar to the post I made earlier this year about why money doesn't bring happiness. Software By Rob covers it in more detail, but explains why why programmers do what they do without any compensation.
The Hacker's Diet
Monday, October 30, 2006 6:03 AM
Posted by Jonathan Danylko | Tag: Developers | Comments: 0
If you are overweight and write computer applications, here is the diet for you.
Everyone has been trying to lose weight and use this and that diet program, but what about us developers who are always under the gun. Nutrition is definitely not one of our top priorities in the game of life.
Someone recommended this to me a while ago (3 years) and I think I may be revisiting this again.
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