Developer – Page 4 – robhorton.net

Terminology (Bug, Fixes and Enhancements)

March 15, 2017January 15, 2013 by Rob Horton

We in the IT field have many buzz words with which to keep up. I find quite often that, people I talk to (when I’m not talking to myself) are confused as to the differences between a bug, a fix or an enhancement. So I thought I’d help clear up those terms today. The … Read more Terminology (Bug, Fixes and Enhancements)

Popdown Notification with Jquery/ASP Webforms

March 15, 2017December 11, 2012 by Rob Horton

(Updated this post after some refactoring discussions with my good friend Frank from over at DuhJones.com) If you’re a twitterer, you’ve seen the notification drop-downs they use. Basically it’s a bar, full-screen width, which contains a notification message. It slides down from the top of the screen, stays put for a few seconds, then disappears. … Read more Popdown Notification with Jquery/ASP Webforms

Get your free HTML5 exam voucher

March 15, 2017November 30, 2012 by Rob Horton

I’m looking at this free course right now and so far, I’m digging what I’m seeing. Check out the details below in case you’re interested in picking up some HTML5. Get ahead of your competition: Earn your MCSD certifications and start developing Windows 8 web and Windows store apps. We’ll get you started with … Read more Get your free HTML5 exam voucher

To log or not to log …

March 15, 2017August 14, 2012 by Rob Horton

To Log or Not to Log Honestly, really? Let’s hope we’re not still asking ourselves that question in 2012 kids. Say in ain’t so! So let’s say its safe to assume we’re all logging things somewhere. The question is not “to log or not to log” but rather where should yon logs go? (yon logs … Read more To log or not to log …

Get a clue! or .. write a requirement

March 15, 2017March 21, 2012 by Rob Horton

Guys and gals, we’ve all done it. Written code without requirements. Me too. Guilty. However what is your preference? Are you the developer that needs a mountain of documentation that details your every line of code? Are you the developer that thrives on having some creativity by just having a loose outline of what is … Read more Get a clue! or .. write a requirement

The Simpleton Pattern

March 15, 2017December 5, 2011 by Rob Horton

No, you read that correctly. Simpleton, not Singleton is the subject of choice today. Recently a fellow developer was looking over some code that I had written.

He commented on it by saying, “Rob I just love looking at your code. It’s simple, easy to read, well-commented, and just makes sense”.

I replied, “Well that’s likely because I’m a simpleton”.

So jokes ensued with my friend asking, “Is that the design pattern you follow?”. I thought, well yeah actually I guess it is and thus was born the idea for this blog post.

The Pessimistic Programmer

March 15, 2017November 28, 2011 by Rob Horton

If you’re a programmer of any kind and have done it for any length of time at all; particularly as your profession, not just a hobby, you know this one rule:

Good programmers expect things to go bad.

One of our prime directives as lord or lady of the bits and bytes is to predict what can go wrong and prevent it. Or at the worst case, handle it gracefully.

Being a developer isn’t exactly all baby giggles and sunbeams so a healthy amount of pessimism is certainly warranted.

Cursors are evil, Cursors are good

March 15, 2017November 7, 2011 by Rob Horton

Sure, sure if you’re even slightly older than me “the cursor” was the unruly kid at school with a slightly skewed moral compass. However, if you’re like me, and reside on the Great Timeline of Technology, being privy to both the old world and the new information-age world you realize that the cursor can mean a few other things.

Today we’re talking about t-sql.

Ok let me out myself here. I hate cursors. A lot.

They are bloated, complex, and use entirely too much code. I get it though. Sometimes you just have to use them. And I get it that they have their place. Cool. However here is handy way to NOT have to use one though.

Check it and check it again

March 15, 2017November 4, 2011 by Rob Horton

The other day at work an interesting thing happened. I was working with someone else in order to troubleshoot an issue with pushing some software out to our live site. I had tested my changes on my local machine as well as the test site. So we rolled things out to an external test site so our client could preview the changes before we flipped the final switch. Drum roll please …

Ask .. “What Changed?

March 15, 2017November 4, 2011 by Rob Horton

Ok this may sound simple. It may seem like a “duh” moment. However, we’ve all been there, right? The pressure is freakin’ ON .. and .. either your an employee or heaven-forbid, an even more expendable consultant, but the world is on fire, mountains are crumbling and folks ranting. The guy or gal who last worked on this project is either dead and buried or “called in sick” and you’re lost. Everyone is looking at you saying, “Well it worked when I went home last night! How soon can we get this {insert name of the unbelievably important application here} back up and running??!?!”