jeffaBlog

Today I’m installing the developer version of SQL Server 2008 on my development station at home and thought I’d share a couple of points about it:

1) Before it will work on Windows 7 you have to install the SP 1 for SQL Server 2008 (obviously you still install SQL Server first, then the SP).

2) Before you install SQL Server, make sure you have installed SP 1 for Visual Studio.

If I had known these two facts before I started installing, I would have saved a bunch of time. The other bone-headed trick I pulled (besides not actually reading anything before beginning, because, hey, I’ve installed SQL Server lots of times…), was that when I downloaded the SP for SQL Server from MSDN I didn’t look as carefully as I thought at the name… I grabbed the ia64 instead of x64. Doh!

Remember, forewarned is four-armed or something. You don’t want to be caught with only two arms in the 64 bit Win 7 world of tomorrowlandville.

Whew!

Turns out you just need to add an IIS 7 specific section to your web.config file to get Blogengine back in the land of the living.

Gory details here: http://www.codeplex.com/blogengine/Thread/View.aspx?ThreadId=21124

Glad it was an easy fix because I don't know how long it will take to get my software to the self-hosting point, and it would suck to lose the links to this blog.

Good news! I figured out how to get MVC working on Godaddy hosting! You just have to tell IIS 7 to run in integrated mode.

Bad news! When you tell IIS 7 to run in integrated mode, BlogEngine.net gets bent!

Once I get farther along with my own MVC comic/blog software, I plan to switch this blog over to it. Until then it will look ugly and only sorta work.

I don't think anyone actually reads it, so I'm not going to interrupt the MVC work to try to get this one back up and pretty...

Trying to get back in the groove of thinking about this project.

There are lots of options for hosting a webcomic or blog. Only an idiot would try to write something from scratch.

Luckily, I AM an idiot.

To cut myself a BIT of slack for pulling a Don Quixote, I DO want to learn MVC. That is as close to a valid reason for doing this as you are going to get.

To compete with the existing software (which in some cases has a head start of several YEARS and multiple developers) I will have to replicate lots of features and add new ones.

I doubt anyone but me will ever use the software, but I still want to make it as full featured and competitive as possible.

The first requirement is that it absolutely, positively has to be designed from the ground up to handle an unlimited number of comics or blogs.

The next requirement is that it has to be as close to fully self-service as possible. I want my hypothetical customers to be able to fully manage their own comic or blog from look and feel to backups.

Next it has to hit all the expected standards and de-facto standards such as RSS/Atom syndication and working with various blogging tools such as Microsoft's Live Writer. Part of my plan is to write an extension for Live Writer to better handle comics.

Towards these goals I've started thinking about architecture. I've spent a ton of time working with big deal databases such as Oracle and SQL Server over the years and really love the power they bring to the techno-party, but they do come at a cost for a project that plans to live on the web in a hosted environment.

My current line of thinking is that it would make more sense in this project to persist the data in XML files. The ratio of reads to writes and quantity of data should be such that this is a workable solution. Basically each comic or blog gets its own XML file. That makes it a non-issue to have the creators do their own backups. They hit backup, and I hand them back a copy of their XML files(s) plus their media files.

I've worked a good bit with Linq To SQL, but this is my first foray into Linq to XML. One of the really beautiful things about Linq is that it standardizes the query language so that you can work with many different collection types with one SQL like language. This includes SQL Server, XML and plain old objects. Very cool.

I'm planning to do some experimentation with Linq To SQL as soon as I get Visual Studio re-installed. I've been using the beta version of Windows 7 for a few months and the day of reckoning has come. The beta times out at the end of the month, so I decided this weekend to install the release candidate. That means re-installing every app.

My thinking is that the data access layer will consist of objects that read/write XML via Linq. I'll have to learn more about MVC to see whether or not I'll need to implement my own caching, but it isn't that big of a deal either way. Since the model is tons 'o readers and one updater per comic or blog, it should be easy to keep one object in memory that is shared among all readers. I'll share more of my thinking on this subject as I learn more.

It's been a couple of months since I announced I was starting work on an MVC version of the webcomic hosting software and now it is time for an update!

Um. About that.

A number of things have de-railed that project until now.

First, I've been learning a ton of new technologies at work. Sharepoint, SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, Performance Point, MDX, various-other-alphabet-soup-of-acronyms. We are pushing boldly forth into the world of Business Intelligence. Very cool stuff, but it limits the old free time at home.

Second, my family took advantage of the really good deals Walt Disney World has been offering. We did the "stay four days, get three days free" package. Long story short: best... vacation... EVER! I really hate to admit how much I like Disney World. I would love to tell you that I am a jaded world traveler who finds Disney World trite and blah blah blah, but I am not. Expedition Everest is my new favorite roller coaster. Not the fastest or biggest, but the most fun one I've ridden. The attention to detail is staggering. The imagineers spent serious time in Nepal and it shows. Artist Point is also my new favorite restaurant. Sci Fi Dine In is my second favorite restaurant.

Third, I've been dabbling in XNA game programming. I am a total sucker for games. I've been gaming since the Atari 2600.

Time to focus and get back to the MVC project.

I'm going to post a second update with thoughts on that project following this update (trying to keep them short).

I’m officially starting a project to write software for hosting webcomics using Microsoft’s MVC (Model View Controller) framework for Asp.Net.

Of course there are two main reasons for doing this:

1. Learn MVC and use it on a real project
2. Profit (well, hopefully generate revenue by hosting other people’s webcomics)

Don’t know if numero dos up there will ever pan out, but I can’t go wrong with number one unless I actually knock something else out of my head by learning MVC.

I’m only just starting to dig in to MVC but so far I like it. It is Microsoft’s answer to things like Ruby On Rails.

Kind of begs the question why I don’t just use Ruby On Rails, doesn’t it? Well my reasoning is that I can use C# and .Net for MVC (or Web Forms) and also use it for Silverlight (I want to make casual games too…). I also plan to dig-in to XNA for XBox 360 and Windows games as well. Hmm. Guess I’d better work on the time dilation device first…

This is the text of a presentation I am making for GGMUG.com (Gwinnett, Georgia, Microsoft User Group).

Rather than post the PowerPoint ppt file, I’m going to extract the text here so you can read it without downloading a file.

This isn’t a long presentation (shooting for about 20 minutes), and I’m not an MVC expert. I’m just now getting started. As I get farther along, I plan to do a feature length presentation.

I’m not posting the demo here because it is just a walk through of the basic code you get when you File:New up a project.

What is MVC?

• Pattern (Model/View/Controller)
  • Hello! 1979 calling. They want their pattern back! Smalltalk! W00t!
• Microsoft Web Framework
  • OPEN SOURCE
  • Really
  • NOT an April Fool’s Joke

Design Pattern

• Model
  • Data
• View
  • UI
• Controller
  • Biz logic and plumbing

How is it different?

• No "heavy" controls
• No code behind
• Not event driven
  
• Closer to the metal (well, more direct control of HTML rendered)
• More URL control

Why use it?

• Separation of concerns
• Test Driven Development
• Code gen
• Them Rails guys is cool (apologies to David Letterman)

Where does it fit?

• Asp.Net
  • Web Forms
  • MVC

Quick demo

• Every time the demo breaks, take a drink
• BSOD means you have to chug your drink

Good examples

• StackOverflow.com
• NerdDinner.com
• Cruvee.com

Requirements

• ASP.NET 3.5 SP1
• Windows Server that will run ASP.NET 3.5…
• Visual Studio 2008
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Internet connection
• Electricity
• Food
• Oxygen

Links

• http://www.asp.net/mvc/
• http://aspnetmvcbook.s3.amazonaws.com/aspnetmvc-nerdinner_v1.pdf
• http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/default.aspx
• http://www.hanselminutes.com/default.aspx?showID=152
• http://www.hanselminutes.com/default.aspx?showID=129
• http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=433
• http://haacked.com/

Working on a new website: funzietown.com.

"What is it?" you say.

Well, for now it is a lame website whose goal is to be an educational game site. So far I've created one math practice game called Save The Animals! Word of warning, I'm neither an artist nor a musician. My hope is that I can earn enough via the Google adsense ads to contract out some art and music. So if you visit the site and you want to see better graphics and hear better sounds, don't forget to click the crap out of the ads. Think of each click as a few cents dropped into my hat.

I began playing around with Silverlight for games after Keith Rome gave a talk about it to our user group, GGMUG.com.

I've wanted to create a math game that appeals to girls for a while. I worked closely with my focus group (my daughter) and arrived at a game themed around saving animals. After a few tries, this is what I came up with.

I plan to do a more in depth blog post about the internals later, but in the cool part is that I'm using Linq to objects as an embedded database.

When I'm finished the student's results will feed back to the server and be stored in a database where parents/teachers/tutors can review their progress. For now you get a text box with a list of the ones you missed that you can copy and past into notepad, etc.

If you get a chance to try it out, let me know what you think. Except for the graphics and sound. I KNOW about those already... :-)

Since I live and work in the Atlanta area, I like to keep tabs on what's what in the job market here.

Starting back in the fall of '07 I began updating a spreadsheet more or less quarterly that compares various technologies to see how many listings show up on various job boards. These are not 100% guaranteed to be actual jobs. Some are bogus I'm sure. The point is the number of listings for each technology.

I stopped using .Net as a query since it returns anyone whose top level domain is .net.

I am making no value judgements about any technologies, simply trying to get a bead on how many jobs are being listed in an attempt to see trends.

It is not an exhaustive, scientific endeavor. It is more of a thumbnail overview.

Here is the latest update:

AJC Jobs	Fall 07	Summer 08	Late Summer 08
Java	166	73	74
C#	53	34	33
asp.net		26	20
wpf		1	0
windows mobile		0	7
silverlight		0	1
Php	18	24	22
Ruby	3	7	3
Oracle	218	108	141
Sql Server	123	86	81
My SQL	16	19	1
Monster
Java	314	291	285
C#	149	124	121
asp.net		100	108
wpf		8	6
windows mobile		12	21
silverlight		3	3
Php	50	44	34
Ruby	9	11	10
Oracle	540	461	495
Sql Server	328	304	285
My SQL	39	41	3
Dice
Java	540	546	479
C#	215	187	218
asp.net		129	174
wpf		10	25
windows mobile		8	15
silverlight		3	8
Php	57	54	40
Ruby	16	25	8
Oracle	733	734	739
Sql Server	476	487	472
My SQL	44	64	12
Computer Jobs
Java		442	452
C#		173	237
asp.net		117	163
wpf		7	15
windows mobile		0	21
silverlight		3	5
Php		50	34
Ruby		16	7
Oracle		454	529
Sql Server		368	403
My SQL		68	746/56*

 

* Searching Computer jobs for My Sql winds up querying on SQL yielding too many results. MySQL yields the lower number.

Silverlight?

Silverlight is Microsoft's answer to Adobe's Flash, which has become wildly popular for casual game creation (Flash, not yet Silverlight).

If you are a .Net programmer who would like to try your hand at making a casual game, then you are in luck! Silverlight is your ticket to ride.

Casual games?

OK, what is a "casual game"? Are there "formal games" where you have to wear a tux? Maybe on Linux, but not on Windows! You see, Linux has this mascot... and he's called... oh never mind.

Casual games are a category of games that are geared towards an audience other than "hardcore" gamers. In other words, games made for the mainstream player who has a few minutes to kill rather than hours/days/weeks/months (or in the case of something like World Of Warcraft, years).

Games like Halo, World Of Warcraft, etc. are considered Triple A games. These are games that push the boundaries of technology and are made by huge teams of programmers, artists, designers, caterers, marketers, haberdashers, etc., etc. Literally hundreds of people are involved and the budgets are enormous. If you are reading this blog, I'm guessing you aren't going to be making those games...

One hand clapping

To jumpstart your learning process, I have written what has to be one of the simplest games ever. My goal was to make code you could get your head around in just a few minutes and then grow from there.

Introducing: PracticePong.

PracticePong is Pong... SIMPLIFIED. But, wait! Isn't Pong already pretty darned simple? Yes, for an actual game. What I'm making is a Practice Game, that doesn't try to be fun, but rather show you the parts needed to make a game without ANY extra stuff to confuse you.

So in PracticePong you only get one paddle. The Evil Computer gets none.

If the ball hits the left wall, you get a point. If it hits the right wall, the Evil Computer gets a point.

When you move the mouse up and down, the paddle follows.

When you click the mouse button, the ball launches. Even if it is already in play. Remember, this isn't really a game... just a tutorial.

There are horrible, horrible sound effects and graphics. But, the point is, there aren't many of them.

Use The Source

Here is a link to a ZIP file that contains the Visual Studio 2008 project. You will have to install the Silverlight tools before you can load it, however.

There are basically 3 xaml files (page, ball, and paddle) that represent very simple objects that will be on screen.

All the code is in page.xaml.cs and is pretty much a tutorial in and of itself.

There is also a website to host the page where the Silverlight lives.

Thanks

Thanks to several people who helped get me rolling on the right path.

First is Keith Rome. He spoke at our GGMUG meeting back in June and did a very good tutorial on getting started with Silverlight game programming.

Next is Bill Reiss over at Silverlight Games 101 for his tutorial series.

Then there is Andy Beaulieu who made the outstanding Destroy All Invaders game. I learned a lot from his source.

Hope you enjoy PracticePong and go out there and make some fun games!