Execute SQL Query with PowerShell

Scripting is very powerful. And for me, one of the best scripting languages is PowerShell (PoSH). Yes, PoSH takes a bit of getting used to, but once you pass the initial learning curve, you end up with a powerful tool in your hands. One thing that I love about PoSH is a little secret that not many people know: PowerShell allows you to import .NET namespaces and libraries and, in effect, you can write C# code to solve any problem you may have. The PowerShell's libraries, cmd-lets are very comprehensive but you can always come against something not "natively& …[read more]

Using HttpHandlers to return XML in ASP.NET

Have you ever had the need to server static XML from your website? Sure you did! If the XML is totally static, then it's pretty simple. You just supply the link to the file and you set your web server to serve and cache your XML data. However, things are a bit trickier if your XML is a serialized object that needs to be served at runtime. In ASP.NET there is a way to do this in an efficient way using an HTTPHandler. In this post, I will show you how to create such a handler and how to …[read more]

Visual Studio 2015 tips and tricks - Visug talk, Belgium

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at Visug, the .NET User Group in Belgium. Attendance was good (about 35-40 people) though it could have been better should the road access hadn't been impacted by massive traffic delays. Nonetheless, the show must go on and we did the talk as planned. For those that missed the talk, I've recorded the whole (I think I did since the camera battery died at some point) session and I will be posting a link to it shortly. A lot of people asked me whether they could get access to the …[read more]

TDD - The larger issues

Test Driven Development (TDD) is a programming methodology that has seen a great deal of success but has also caused an equally great deal of friction in the development community. In [a previous article](GHOST_URL/common-mistakes-in-tdd/" target="_blank), I described the common mistakes that developers tend to do when practising TDD. Today, I will be talking about the set of wider problems surrounding TDD. This post is written at the back of the infamous ["Is TDD dead"](http://martinfowler.com/articles/is-tdd-dead/" target="_blank) discussion series between David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH), Martin Fawler …[read more]

Common mistakes in TDD

The post below is an excerpt from the talk I recently delivered at [SwanseaCon](http://swancon.co.uk/" target="_blank) (Wales). This is part 1 of a series of TDD posts I'm planning on writing. The main focus of the series is to highlight common issues in Test Driven Development (TDD) and analyse the bigger problems surrounding the use of TDD. First I'll give a brief definition of TDD and then mention some of the biggest benefits of using TDD in your development process. Finally, I'll try to highlight some of the usual pitfalls developers tend make. A …[read more]

SwanseaCon - Talking about common problems with TDD

Next week (7-9th September 2015) I will be delivering a talk on "Common problems with TDD" at the [SwanseaCon conference](http://swancon.co.uk/" target="_blank) in beautiful Wales, UK. It's my first time in Wales at this first-time conference, so I'm really excited to be part of this event. In my session, I'll be talking about Test Driven Development (TDD) and the common pitfalls that companies and developers tend to fall in while using this approach to development. You will get a quick introduction to TDD, what made it so successful and then we'll look …[read more]

Setting up a Gulp task with Visual Studio Code

As a web developer, certain tools have become indispensable. I can't even imagine having to do any front-end work without [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/" target="_blank), [Grunt](http://gruntjs.com/" target="_blank) or [Gulp](http://gulpjs.com/" target="_blank). In fact, these tools are so great that the upcoming release of ASP.NET has thrown away proprietory package and task managers in favour of the widely adopted and established tools used by the community. And these tools are now first class citizens both in Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code. Classic .NET developers …[read more]

Working with TypeScript in Visual Studio Code - a pair made for each other

[TypeScript](http://www.typescriptlang.org/" target="_blank) is a new(ish), open source language that is a superset of JavaScript. TypeScript was designed to bring object-oriented features along with ES6 support. Any valid JavaScript is TypeScript and all TypeScript code compiles to nice, clean JavaScript. With ES6 (EcmaScript2015) officially ratified, TypeScript continues to offer great forward-compatibility with newly added features all the time and therefore, it remains a great language for developing JavaScript. This fantastic language now has a great companion: [Visual Studio(VS) Code](https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/code-vs.aspx" target="_blank). VS …[read more]