Dive into my thoughts on coding, tech trends, and developer life. Software development insights, industrial automation, and technology commentary.https://torqsoftware.com/en-ushttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-02-07-descent-rabbit-hole/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-02-07-descent-rabbit-hole/Frank Krueger (@praeclarum) posted a fun fact on X: "Fun fact: Descent didn't use 3D file formats per se. Instead, 3D models were compiled as x86 assembler doing draw commands." That sent me down a...Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentarydevpersonaltechnology-opinionprogrammingdevelopment-toolsgamingnostalgiaautomationindustry-trendsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-29-creating-tools-for-representative-test-data/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-29-creating-tools-for-representative-test-data/There's a conversation I've had with project managers many times over the decades. It usually starts when an ask for time in the plan to either source realistic test data or build a tool that...Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevbusinesstestingaicoding-agentsproject-managementdevelopment-toolsautomationsoftware-engineeringApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-28-stochastic-parrots-are-a-good-thing/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-28-stochastic-parrots-are-a-good-thing/If you've used ChatGPT or Claude, you've probably noticed something odd. Ask the same question twice, and you get different answers....Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentarydevindustry-trendstechnology-opinioninnovationautomationprogrammingtestingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-25-the-agentic-ai-opportunity-youre-missing-while-waiting/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-25-the-agentic-ai-opportunity-youre-missing-while-waiting/I recently watched an A16z podcast featuring the founders of Mintlify, a documentation platform. Though Mintlify targets engineering documentation specifically, what struck me was how clearly it...Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryagentic-aiautomationdocumentationbusiness-analysisindustry-trendsinnovationknowledge-managementApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-24-torq-styled-infographics/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-24-torq-styled-infographics/I wanted to communicate some concepts about getting agentic loops to work reliably in a Teams chat. I had recently come across Anthropic's blog post "Demystifying Evals for AI Agents", and their...Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-18-deep-research-living-documentation/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-18-deep-research-living-documentation/While building a simulated mailbox seeder utility for a Microsoft 365 development tenant, I ran into an interesting problem that highlights how deep research tools can complement coding agents....Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevcommentarydevelopment-toolsdocumentationautomationtechnology-opinionprogrammingdebuggingcloudApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-16-agent-skill-youtube-blog-description/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-16-agent-skill-youtube-blog-description/AI agents can be extended through skills. I recently built one that automates my YouTube content creation process, and the experience revealed something worth sharing....Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevcommentarydevelopment-toolsautomationproductivity-toolsyoutubebloggingtechnology-opinionprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-14-claude-ask-user-question/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-14-claude-ask-user-question/I've been looking for something that sits between heavy specification frameworks and just diving straight into code with coding agents....Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevcommentarydevelopment-toolsautomationsoftware-engineeringtechnology-opiniondocumentationindustry-trendsproduct-reviewsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-06-support-query-on-source-code/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-06-support-query-on-source-code/If you are already using coding agents, the following video may be pretty ho-hum, no big deal. However, I'm still blown away by how quickly we've come to the point where I can get a support query,...Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevcommentarydevelopment-toolscode-qualitydomain-modelingdocumentationtechnology-opinionindustry-trendsautomationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-02-3dgs-vs-mesh-vs-point-cloud/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2026/2026-01-02-3dgs-vs-mesh-vs-point-cloud/This post compares Gaussian splats to photogrammetry meshes and point clouds for complex geometries like industrial scenes with piping, hardware, and equipment....Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTindustrialcommentary3d-visualizationindustrial-automationdevelopment-toolsdata-acquisitiongamingproduct-reviewsinnovationmobileApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-12-27-power-tools-analogy-for-coding-agents/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-12-27-power-tools-analogy-for-coding-agents/A couple of months back, I started experimenting with Claude Code. When I get deeply into a task or technical concept, my brain starts pattern matching outside of that scope....Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTcommentarydevpersonaltechnology-opinionindustry-trendsdevelopment-toolsproductivity-toolsinnovationpodcastsyoutubeautomationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-11-30-anyone-can-code-now-podcast/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-11-30-anyone-can-code-now-podcast/I listen to a crap load of podcasts. Historically, these have been mostly tech podcasts, but recently I've been falling down that morass that is American politics....Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTcommentarycommentaryaisoftware-engineeringindustry-trendsdevelopment-toolsinnovationprofessional-developmentyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-11-12-savic-motorcycles/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-11-12-savic-motorcycles/I only started engaging with LinkedIn recently and encountered posts by or about Dennis Savic and Savic Motorcycles. I reposted a few of these posts on LinkedIn recently and thought it best to...Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTpersonalpersonalproductivity-toolshardwareinnovationprofessional-developmentclient-relationsproduct-reviewssocial-mediadesignyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-11-07-claude-code-for-web-experiment/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-11-07-claude-code-for-web-experiment/Anthropic sent an email offering $1,000 in credit for their Claude service. At first glance, the generous credit amount caught my attention....Fri, 07 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryaiautomationproductivity-toolsdocumentationbloggingdevelopment-toolsgithubyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-10-24-github-enforce-https-greyed-out/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-10-24-github-enforce-https-greyed-out/I just finished rebuilding the torqsoftware.com website from a Joomla-based site to one built on the Astro JavaScript framework....Fri, 24 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-09-19-ai-badge-syntax-help-and-future-ui-thoughts/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2025/2025-09-19-ai-badge-syntax-help-and-future-ui-thoughts/The Evolution of Remote Work Documentation Back in 2001, I encountered what has become a defining challenge of remote development: establishing trust and visibility with clients across significant...Fri, 19 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-08-concluding-visual-touchscreens-rd/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-08-concluding-visual-touchscreens-rd/After eighteen months of R&D work on Visual Touchscreens technology, we've decided to conclude active development. The realities of hardware innovation, patent economics, and market timing made...Sat, 15 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMTbusinessdevhardwarestartupspatentsr&dlessons-learnedinnovationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-06-project-soli-and-multimodal-futures/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-06-project-soli-and-multimodal-futures/June 2015 focused on analyzing Google's Project Soli announcement and exploring how radar-based gesture recognition could integrate with visual touch concepts to create more robust multimodal...Tue, 30 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMTdevproject-soliradar-gesturesmultimodal-interactionconcept-developmentgoogleApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-05-eye-gaze-and-visual-touch-convergence/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-05-eye-gaze-and-visual-touch-convergence/May 2015 brought significant progress in combining eye gaze tracking with visual touch interaction, exploring how these complementary input modalities could work together to create more natural and...Sun, 31 May 2015 00:00:00 GMTdeveye-trackingtobiimultimodal-interactionpatent-researchconcept-developmentApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-03-eye-tracking-integration-experiments/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-03-eye-tracking-integration-experiments/March 2015 focused on integrating eye tracking technology with visual touch systems, exploring whether gaze data could enhance touch interaction accuracy and user experience....Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMTdeveye-trackingusb3hardwareeyetribeprototypingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-02-high-resolution-cameras-and-patent-refinements/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-02-high-resolution-cameras-and-patent-refinements/February 2015 focused on evaluating high-resolution cameras for visual touch typing applications while finalizing patent drawings and completing Intel RealSense SDK migration work....Sat, 28 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMTdevcameras4kptgreyhovercampatentsintel-realsensevisual-touch-typingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-01-fisheye-lenses-and-alternative-camera-approaches/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2015/2015-01-fisheye-lenses-and-alternative-camera-approaches/January 2015 brought experimentation with ultra-wide-angle fisheye lenses and alternative camera approaches, exploring whether extreme fields of view could solve the proximity sensing challenges...Sat, 31 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMTdevhardwarecamerasfisheye-lensesps3-eyeprototypingsensorshover-touchApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-12-intel-realsense-platform-migration/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-12-intel-realsense-platform-migration/December 2014 centered on migrating the Visual Touchscreens codebase from Intel's Perceptual Computing SDK to the new RealSense 2014 platform—a technically necessary but time-consuming transition....Wed, 31 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMTdevintel-realsenseapi-migrationusb3depth-camerashover-touchhardware-compatibilityApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-11-manufacturing-partnerships-and-grant-programs/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-11-manufacturing-partnerships-and-grant-programs/November 2014 focused on exploring manufacturing partnerships and investigating commercialization grant programs while continuing hardware sourcing research....Sun, 30 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMTbusinessmanufacturinggrantspartnershipshud-systemsandroidcommercializationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-10-crowdfunding-and-3d-hand-modeling/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-10-crowdfunding-and-3d-hand-modeling/October 2014 brought exploration of alternative funding approaches through crowdfunding platforms while establishing social media presence and investigating 3D hand visualization technologies....Fri, 31 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMTbusinessdevcrowdfundingkickstarter3d-modelingsocial-mediafundingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-09-startup-accelerator-immersion/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-09-startup-accelerator-immersion/September 2014 was dominated by intensive participation in the Curtin Ignition startup accelerator program while continuing hardware experimentation with angled sensor configurations....Tue, 30 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMTbusinessdevstartupsacceleratorcurtin-ignitionsensorsprototypingar-glassesApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-08-sensor-evaluation-and-community-engagement/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-08-sensor-evaluation-and-community-engagement/August 2014 focused on evaluating new sensor options while engaging with the technical community through meetings and competition entries....Sun, 31 Aug 2014 00:00:00 GMTdevsensorshardwarestructure-iodepth-camerasdeveloper-communitypatentsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-07-expanding-the-vision/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-07-expanding-the-vision/July 2014 marked a strategic expansion of the Visual Touchscreens concept beyond tablets and displays. The month involved exploration of TV room applications, engagement with startup accelerator...Thu, 31 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMTbusinessdevproduct-strategytv-remotehdmihardwaresystem-architecturestartupsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-06-from-prototype-to-product-vision/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-06-from-prototype-to-product-vision/June 2014 marked a transformation from technical experimentation to product presentation. The month involved refining prototypes, creating professional demonstration videos, establishing the Visual...Mon, 30 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMTbusinessdevprototypingvideo-productionar-glassesbrandingdemonstrationcalibrationvisual-touchscreensyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-05-demonstration-ready-prototypes/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-05-demonstration-ready-prototypes/May 2014 focused on transforming working prototypes into demonstration-ready systems while exploring new platforms for showcasing the visual touch concept....Sat, 31 May 2014 00:00:00 GMTdevhardwareprototypingleap-motionar-glassescode-signingwindowsunity3dApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-03-prototyping-and-performance-breakthroughs/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-03-prototyping-and-performance-breakthroughs/March 2014 brought significant progress on both the software and hardware fronts of the Visual Touchscreens project. The month began with a critical performance challenge and ended with working...Mon, 31 Mar 2014 00:00:00 GMTdevhardwareprototypingwpfperformancer&dcalibration3d-visualizationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-02-exploring-depth-sensing-technology/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2014/2014-02-exploring-depth-sensing-technology/February 2014 marked an intensive exploration phase for the Visual Touchscreens project, focusing on identifying the right sensor technology to enable touch interaction through depth perception...Fri, 28 Feb 2014 00:00:00 GMTdevhardwareprototypingsensorsdepth-camerasr&dinnovationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2012/2012-07-10-surface-symbolics-concept-videos/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2012/2012-07-10-surface-symbolics-concept-videos/Headaches, neck pain, and back pain have been a constant backdrop to my professional life working at a desk. In 2010, the pain became so severe that I ended up getting a CT scan, which led to a...Tue, 10 Jul 2012 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryinnovationhardwarevideoyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2012/2012-01-25-sort-of-like-real-virtual-reality-thats-augmented-or-something/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2012/2012-01-25-sort-of-like-real-virtual-reality-thats-augmented-or-something/The following youtube video is an interesting discussion of motion processing and sensors in mobile devices. There was one bit that made me laugh....Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryinnovationhardwarevideoyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2012/2012-01-21-wall-street-journal-china-econtracker/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2012/2012-01-21-wall-street-journal-china-econtracker/The Wall Street Journal China Econtracker site is a handy visualization of KPIs for the Chinese Economy. The aspects that stand out include that the GDP, Fixed Asset Investment and Foreign Exchange...Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryanalyticsbusiness-analysisindustry-trendsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-12-10-a-players-and-b-players/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-12-10-a-players-and-b-players/I just listened to a great podcast: There’s lots of great aussie entrepreneurial stories at the hive web site. Sounds like they’re finishing up on the site which is a shame....Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMTbusinessteam-managementprofessional-developmentpodcastsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-11-10-is-microsoft-trying-to-tell-me-something/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-11-10-is-microsoft-trying-to-tell-me-something/I’m not doing too well on getting Microsoft to fix problems in Visual Studio 2010 that have been introduced in the changeover from older versions....Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMTcommentarymicrosoftweb-developmentinternet-explorerApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-19-massive-disruptive-change/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-19-massive-disruptive-change/I came across a number of web news reports that though unrelated indicate the massive technological changes that are occurring now and also going to sweep through our society over the coming years....Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMTcommentarydisruptionvirtualizationmobilehardwarevideoyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-14-the-power-of-relationships/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-14-the-power-of-relationships/The Gephi blog has a post on the Egyptian political changes in relation to Mubarak: The Gephi dynamic visualization of the twitter relationships reminded me of the work we are doing on the MVX Object...Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMTbusinessprofessional-developmentclient-relationsyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-14-wording-habits/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-14-wording-habits/It’s just the way of the world, but clients and potential clients of software development often use particular wording in order to imply that some work should be very inexpensive to complete....Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMTpersonalprofessional-developmentcommunityApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-09-nokia-changes-its-ceo-and-its-tune/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-09-nokia-changes-its-ceo-and-its-tune/The machinations at Nokia are fascinating: When the previous CEO was regularly coming out with put downs targeting the Android platform, I was thinking “What planet is this guy on?”....Wed, 09 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMTcommentarymobileindustry-trendsdisruptionApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-07-first-5-minutes-with-a-kindle-dx/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-02-07-first-5-minutes-with-a-kindle-dx/I purchased a Kindle DX and just got it today. The unboxing experience was interesting in that it had a few of the typical peel off tabs that are typical with gadgets and electronic equipment....Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMTpersonalhardwaretabletproductivity-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-01-22-roosevelts-century-old-speech-and-shipping-software/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2011/2011-01-22-roosevelts-century-old-speech-and-shipping-software/One of the blogs I read is written by Werner Vogels the CTO of Amazon. His latest blog post includes an excerpt from one of Roosevelt’s speeches which I found particularly inspiring: It is not the...Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMTbusinessprofessional-developmentsoftware-engineeringApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-10-27-mtexe-access-is-denied/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-10-27-mtexe-access-is-denied/This is just a quick note so that web searches for a similar problem find a solution. Seemingly out of the blue, I started getting random errors of the form below when compiling C++ applications in...Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMTdevcppdebuggingwindowsbuild-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-10-24-software-complexity-and-the-business-owner/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-10-24-software-complexity-and-the-business-owner/The following excerpt is from a Pragmatic Programmers podcast with Robert Martin. The discussion is about Agile development, but I believe it applies to any software development work....Sun, 24 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMTbusinessagileclient-relationssoftware-engineeringpodcastsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-10-18-inline-hockey/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-10-18-inline-hockey/This post is a break from the usual software development heavy content and is about inline hockey. My son Benjamin was in the 11 and under age group representing Western Australia and played in the...Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMTpersonalvideoyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-10-10-dan-bricklin-getting-it/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-10-10-dan-bricklin-getting-it/Listening to This Developer’s Life and enjoying it. The following quote from living legend Dan Bricklin (the co-creator of the first spreadsheet program Visicalc) is something I view as a truism....Sun, 10 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMTbusinessprofessional-developmentclient-relationspodcastsinnovationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-29-mvx-equipment-role-concepts/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-29-mvx-equipment-role-concepts/An important aspect of the MVX data model extensibility is the concept of equipment roles. The following screen casts provides an introduction to this concept and how it is applied in MVX....Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscadaequipment-modelingscreencastsyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-22-mvx-configured-3d-scenes/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-22-mvx-configured-3d-scenes/This should be the last of a burst of screen cast posts for this week. This last one discusses how MVX configuration can be used to make it easy to alter 3D scenes after an initial project delivery...Sun, 22 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscada3d-visualizationscreencastsyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-22-mvx-multiple-deployment-support/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-22-mvx-multiple-deployment-support/Following on from the MVX Object Pipeline Demo Configuration screen cast here's another one that covers how you can set up multiple deployment scenarios and use the same 3D scene for operations,...Sun, 22 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscada3d-visualizationscreencastsyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-21-mvx-object-pipeline-demo-configuration/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-21-mvx-object-pipeline-demo-configuration/The screen casts keep coming. Here's one following on from the Pipeline Class Diagram video running through the configuration of an object server....Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscadapipelineobject-server3d-visualizationscreencastsyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-20-object-pipeline-class-diagram/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-20-object-pipeline-class-diagram/Here's another screen cast related to MVX. This one covers the how objects can be modelled in MVX as opposed to using the traditional SCADA tag based approach....Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscadaobject-orientedclass-designscreencastsyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-19-managing-complexity-with-mvx-object-server/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-19-managing-complexity-with-mvx-object-server/The following screencast uses a demo program as a background to describing the benefits of the MVX Object Server product that we are working on....Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscadaobject-server3d-visualizationscreencastsyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-15-mvx-object-server-july-2010-presentation/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-15-mvx-object-server-july-2010-presentation/Torq Software and Sentient Computing held a short morning presentation covering the work we're doing in the 3D Scada arena....Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscadaobject-serverpresentationsvideoyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-12-testing-posterous-integration/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2010/2010-08-12-testing-posterous-integration/Man, I haven't blogged for a while and actually want to get back into it. Being a developer by nature as well as by profession, I often get into the rut of not letting people know what Torq has being...Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMTpersonalbloggingmacroviewsocial-mediaApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2009/2009-07-20-tom-demarco-compelled-to-control/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2009/2009-07-20-tom-demarco-compelled-to-control/[]( I came across the following article by Tom DeMarco via the Coding Horror blog: Software Engineering: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone?...Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMTbusinessproject-managementestimationleansoftware-engineeringApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-12-04-action-events-in-net/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-12-04-action-events-in-net/The Async Pattern used in .NET 1.x and 2.0 code always annoyed me because of the excessive coding noise it introduced. The new support in .NET 3.x in relation to lamdas (convenient delegate or...Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMTdevdotnetcsharpdelegatesprogrammingdesign-patternsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-12-04-torq-fxcop-setup/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-12-04-torq-fxcop-setup/FxCop is a static analysis tool from Microsoft that checks software source code for conformance to the Microsoft .NET framework’s design guidelines....Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMTdevcode-qualitydotnetvisual-studiodevelopment-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-09-28-modbus-driver-and-rewrite-decisions/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-09-28-modbus-driver-and-rewrite-decisions/There’s an informal definition for Legacy Software that comes up time to time that cuts to the core of the matter: Legacy software is software that actually works....Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmodbusmacroviewscadalegacy-coderefactoringtestingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-09-19-general-versus-special-case-tension/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-09-19-general-versus-special-case-tension/One of the blogs I subscribe to is by Reginald Braithwaite. He was recently interviewed on InfoQ and part of the conversation related to the development process of generalizing in programming: ……so...Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMTdevsoftware-engineeringprogrammingdesign-patternsprofessional-developmentApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-06-05-dynamiccast-and-accessible-base-classes/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-06-05-dynamiccast-and-accessible-base-classes/We recently upgraded to using Visual Studio 2008 for compiling our MacroView source code on Windows. Previously we had used Visual Studio 2003 so there was a jump over the 2005 compiler version....Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMTdevcppvisual-studioobject-orientedmacroviewApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-03-12-dsxp-opc-da-20/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-03-12-dsxp-opc-da-20/Man I hate OPC. It just feels like software plumbing gone overboard in the COM based architecture it uses. The term “software plumbing” is used to describe software thats forms the basis of software...Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMTindustrialopccppindustrial-automationtestingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-01-09-fedora-core-7-and-vmware/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2008/2008-01-09-fedora-core-7-and-vmware/Here’s a quick tip that I kicked myself when I eventually figured out – and then felt subsequently quite thick. After installing Fedora Core 7 within a VMWare host on Windows, the screen resolution...Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMThardwarelinuxvirtualizationproductivity-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-09-21-real-men-dont-sleep/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-09-21-real-men-dont-sleep/There’s a new MSDN show called Striking Pixels that is a “goofy” look at Microsoft’s designer offerings such as Silverlight. There was one excerpt that just cracked me up. Its shown below....Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMTbusinessproject-managementclient-relationsestimationvideoApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-09-12-inside-the-agility-cube-excerpt/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-09-12-inside-the-agility-cube-excerpt/I was listening to the Javapolis Inside the Agility Cube session and snorted at the following excerpt: I know of a project that went into a kind of death march chaos and all kinds of other things....Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMTbusinessagileproject-managementsoftware-engineeringpodcastsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-09-01-macroview-excel-addin-v130/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-09-01-macroview-excel-addin-v130/We’ve released V1.3.0 of the MacroView Excel Add-in software product just this week. Its a package that we’ve developed for Sentient Computing who are one of our business partners....Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscadaofficeexcelindustrial-automationdata-acquisitionApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-08-15-torqobject-database-decoupling/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-08-15-torqobject-database-decoupling/We use an in-house framework for building applications and the subject of how we decouple business domain classes from a particular data source recently came up....Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMTarchitecturesoftware-architecturedatabaseobject-orientedcsharpdata-accessdomain-modelingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-08-10-new-development-machine/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-08-10-new-development-machine/I upgraded to a quad-core Q6600 based system with two Raptor 10K rpm drives and 4GB RAM this last week. The problem with being my main Windows development machine is that there so many packages to...Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMThardwarehardwaredevelopment-environmentwindowsproductivity-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-05-31-blogger-ftp-frustrations/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-05-31-blogger-ftp-frustrations/I haven't been able to publish a blog post for a three or so weeks now because of a problem in the Blogger FTP publishing operation....Thu, 31 May 2007 00:00:00 GMTpersonalbloggingweb-developmentApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-05-18-objectdisposedexception-closing-form-in-click-handler/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-05-18-objectdisposedexception-closing-form-in-click-handler/Okay here's a weird .NET Windows Forms error scenario. One of the applications had a scenario where an ObjectDisposedException was occurring, but for only one of the users....Fri, 18 May 2007 00:00:00 GMTdevdebuggingwinformsexception-handlingdotnetApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-04-16-silverlight-based-on-the-microsoft-net-framework/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-04-16-silverlight-based-on-the-microsoft-net-framework/I came across a blog post from Brightcove which made my day. It indicated that Microsoft's new name for WPF/E was Silverlight and that Brightcove would be looking at using the technology....Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftsilverlightwpfdotnetclrcross-platformlinuxApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-04-03-the-fallacy-of-local-optimization/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-04-03-the-fallacy-of-local-optimization/Scoble has an interview with the founders of Fog Creek. I smiled at this quote from Joel Spolsky: That's the big joke inside of Microsoft....Tue, 03 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMTbusinessleansoftware-engineeringteam-managementpodcastsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-03-07-office-2007-ui-licensing-bull/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-03-07-office-2007-ui-licensing-bull/I just upgraded to the Infragistics 2007 Volume 1 release which includes support for a ribbon based user interface. It was annoying to come across this dialog during the installation: !Infragistics...Wed, 07 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMTcommentarylicensingmicrosoftofficepatentsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-02-17-centos-linux/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-02-17-centos-linux/We've been developing MacroView on Linux since Redhat Linux 7.2 and have deployments on RH 7.2, 7.3, Fedora Core 1 and Fedora Core 5....Sat, 17 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMTindustriallinuxmacroviewscadaopen-sourceApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-23-linux-mini-pc-macroview-demo/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-23-linux-mini-pc-macroview-demo/I was preparing for a demo scenario today where MacroView Windows Desktop needs to connect to a Linux or Unix system to show X windows connectivity and integration....Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMTindustriallinuxmacroviewscadahardwarevncxamlApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-23-ranorex-and-screenscrapingautomation/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-23-ranorex-and-screenscrapingautomation/After many web searches looking into screen scraping technologies for automating legacy Windows applications, I came across a testing automation product from Ranorex....Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMTdevtestingautomationlegacy-codevideoyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-17-xops3-command-line-arguments/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-17-xops3-command-line-arguments/I recently received a request from a customer for information on all the command line options for the MacroView xops3 executable....Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscadadocumentationlinuxApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-11-weird-imageliststreamer-invalidoperationexception/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-11-weird-imageliststreamer-invalidoperationexception/One of our MacroView Studio customers sent a strange stack trace from an application crash yesterday. It's strange in that the standard Windows Forms ImageListStreamer class is where the exception...Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMTdevdebuggingwinformsexception-handlingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-05-line-margin-selection-edit-control-request/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2007/2007-01-05-line-margin-selection-edit-control-request/This post is a request to Syncfusion for an additional feature in their Edit Control functionality. The blog was just a convenient place to put a screencast related to the feature request submitted...Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMTdevdevelopment-toolsvideoyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-12-14-adxnet-v27-and-v28-registry-comparison/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-12-14-adxnet-v27-and-v28-registry-comparison/We’re just going through some versioning relating development hassles with the MacroView Excel Addin functionality. This blog post is just a means of placing some images in a public location for...Thu, 14 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-12-06-wpfe-linkfest-and-thoughts/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-12-06-wpfe-linkfest-and-thoughts/Yesterday a whole bunch of beta and CTP versions of new Microsoft software was made available. Included was the first CTP (Community Tech Preview) of the WPF/E functionality that was mentioned in my...Wed, 06 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftwpfxamlsilverlightexpressionmacroviewcross-platformvideoApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-12-03-windows-bootstrapper-build-problem/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-12-03-windows-bootstrapper-build-problem/The following error message occurred in Visual Studio 2003 deployment build while working on the MacroView OPC Metaserver functionality today: ERROR: General failure building bootstrapper ERROR:...Sun, 03 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-12-01-macroview-user-group-screencasts/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-12-01-macroview-user-group-screencasts/The MacroView User Group was held on 16th November. It was hosted by a MacroView customer CSBP. Many thanks to Brian McCully and CSBP for hosting the event which was a great success....Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscadascreencastspresentationsconferencesvncclickonceyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-11-22-essential-diagram-improvements/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-11-22-essential-diagram-improvements/The following video is part of a submission to Syncfusion on some requested improvements to their Essential Diagram product....Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMTwebyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-11-22-syncfusion-tabs-and-itunes/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-11-22-syncfusion-tabs-and-itunes/I discovered a strange display problem when using a Syncfusion based application layered over the top of iTunes. Occasionally the whole application window gets repainted if an iTunes window is below...Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMTdevdebuggingdevelopment-toolsvideoyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-11-19-macroview-xaml-and-eid-new-player-approach/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-11-19-macroview-xaml-and-eid-new-player-approach/As mentioned in a previous post, there are some good free video hosting services around these days but there are pros and cons with using them....Sun, 19 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMTwebyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-24-advertising-quid-pro-quo/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-24-advertising-quid-pro-quo/The recent screencast work put together and posted today was satisfying in that I now have a means of showing some software related concept once and publishing it for repeated viewing. Yeah.....Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-24-kaxaml-macroview-plugin/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-24-kaxaml-macroview-plugin/Kaxaml is a XAML text editor with live previewer functionality (similar to the xamlpad application that comes with the latest Windows SDK)....Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTindustrialxamlwpfmacroviewdevelopment-toolsvideoyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-24-macroview-xaml-and-eid/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-24-macroview-xaml-and-eid/We are experimenting with XAML technology for use a MacroView graphics platform as mentioned as a possibility in previous years user group meetings....Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftyoutubeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-24-screencast-experiments/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-24-screencast-experiments/Today I posted a couple of screencasts on EID and Kaxaml in relation to MacroView and XAML. The idea is to be able to publish quick screencasts when its easier to show some concept rather explain it...Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-22-killer-tomato-memory-lane/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-22-killer-tomato-memory-lane/I was listening to a Plumbers at Work podcast and they talked about Google code search for a bit. As a lark I did a quick search to see if any of my source code has turned up on the public web....Sun, 22 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-19-google-reader-ie7-flatline/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-19-google-reader-ie7-flatline/The first web page I tried with a newly installed IE7 was Google Reader as it is the web app I use the most. It flatlined the processor straight away. Not a good start to my IE7 experience!...Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTwebinternet-explorerbrowserjavascriptrssApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-17-googlereaderfirefox2tabletpc/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-17-googlereaderfirefox2tabletpc/I recently changed my web feed reading tools from the Newsgator RSS aggregator and Firefox 1.x to the Google Reader and the Firefox 2.0 release candidate....Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-17-vsto-se-links-and-thoughts/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-10-17-vsto-se-links-and-thoughts/This post is mainly just the noting down of a collection of VSTO (Visual Studio Tools for Office) 2005 SE related links (which then turned into a rant down the track)....Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-09-27-core-2-duo-bang-for-your-buck/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-09-27-core-2-duo-bang-for-your-buck/I was looking at the purchase of a new Intel Core 2 Duo based system and was somewhat annoyed at the pricing structure. It looked like the premium paid for the higher speed models was out of wack...Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMThardwareApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-09-14-eid-and-standalone-xaml/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-09-14-eid-and-standalone-xaml/There is the potential for utilizing XAML functionality as an extension to the MacroView product line. As such I've been experimenting with various XAML tools including Microsoft Expression...Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-09-14-viewbox-scaling-in-elementhost/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-09-14-viewbox-scaling-in-elementhost/This post relates to the following forum post: I'm attempting to be able load XAML files into a Windows forms application at run time but for the WPF graphics to be automatically scaled to fit into...Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMTdevwpfxamlwinformsprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-09-08-clickonce-adventures/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-09-08-clickonce-adventures/I've been experimenting with the Microsoft ClickOnce technology that is part of .NET 2.0. Its intended use is as a deployment option for a new package called MacroView Windows Desktop that is being...Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:00:00 GMTdevclickoncedeploymentdotnetmacroviewlinuxweb-developmentApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-08-28-dnsgethostentry-no-such-host-is-known/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-08-28-dnsgethostentry-no-such-host-is-known/We had a really weird scenario debugging a MacroView ADO.NET based package today. The package was running on a Windows Server 2003 machine connecting to a local MacroView Linux server....Mon, 28 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-08-26-macroview-studio-vnc/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-08-26-macroview-studio-vnc/I'm currently working on a VNC extension to the MacroView Studio functionality and its nearing completion – at least for this version anyway....Sat, 26 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewvncscadacsharplinuxApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-08-14-mvs-reports-script-tips/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-08-14-mvs-reports-script-tips/MacroView Studio is one of the software products developed and maintained by Torq Software. It includes the ability to edit MacroView graphic, metascript and report template files....Mon, 14 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMTindustrialmacroviewscadareportingprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-08-05-delegators-mount-up/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-08-05-delegators-mount-up/Following on from a previous post on event subscription related memory leaks, I've implemented a set of classes that provide Weak Delegate support....Sat, 05 Aug 2006 00:00:00 GMTdevApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-27-amd-slashing-prices/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-27-amd-slashing-prices/Over the last three or so months, I've been eyeing an Athlon XP 3800+ X2 processor upgrade but just couldn't justify the expense given the delta in performance between a single processor XP3500+ and...Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMThardwareamdhardwarecompetitionApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-25-weak-event-target-references/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-25-weak-event-target-references/The exercise discussed in the .Net Memory Leaks post lead to the identification of a class of memory leak issues in the application being profiled....Tue, 25 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-18-net-memory-leaks/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-18-net-memory-leaks/Conceptually I knew that eventually there would be a need to diagnose a memory leak problem in a .NET application. Sure a garbage collected environment automatically sorts out whole sets of memory...Tue, 18 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMTdevmemory-managementdebuggingdotnetprofilingcppApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-14-shut-the-ding-up/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-14-shut-the-ding-up/By default in Windows Forms a single line text box will sound an annoying ding/bell when the user presses the Enter key. Presumably this is suppose to inform the user that they shouldn't need to...Fri, 14 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-13-xwin32-macroview-fonts/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-13-xwin32-macroview-fonts/If you are using V7+ of the Xwin32 package, then there is the potential to get weird characters on your MacroView X window displays. See the box characters in the xfontsel screen capture below....Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMTindustrialApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-07-adsl2/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-07-adsl2/ADSL2+ is finally available at my local exchange. I've been watching the other exchanges in the Perth area get switched over to ADSL2+ from ADSL over the last year....Fri, 07 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-06-task-bar-positioning/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-06-task-bar-positioning/Ayende Rahien has a post on multi tasking and real estate and asks the question: How does your taskbar look at the moment?...Thu, 06 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-01-sysinternals-to-the-rescue/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-07-01-sysinternals-to-the-rescue/What do you do when you see a Java windows application complain that there something wrong with its pdf reader? Well you look at its console output of course. Console output? ... Yes console output....Sat, 01 Jul 2006 00:00:00 GMTdevdebugging-toolsjavawindowsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-06-30-cryptic-ibm-filenames/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-06-30-cryptic-ibm-filenames/I've been a user of the Rational Purify product on Windows for a while and recently downloaded a Linux version to play with....Fri, 30 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-06-26-regex-fail-all/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-06-26-regex-fail-all/I'm currently writing a small utility which takes a snapshot of the state of a Windows system and reports back to base as to the system state....Mon, 26 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-06-24-triplet/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-06-24-triplet/Yesterday's post was just a quick test of the csharpformat web page kindly provided by Jean-Claude Manoli on his web site....Sat, 24 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMTdevApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-06-23-csharpformat-test/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-06-23-csharpformat-test/This is just a test post of source code using the functionality. I also changed the blogger template used since the last templated didn't show source code too well given the available pixel width....Fri, 23 Jun 2006 00:00:00 GMTpersonalcsharpbloggingcode-qualityApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-05-25-adonet-black-helicopters/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-05-25-adonet-black-helicopters/Oren Eini may have been right about the black helicopters! An ADO.NET V3.0 related video appears to have been pulled for unknown reasons. Check out this forum thread for more info....Thu, 25 May 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-05-25-vss-2005-add-files/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-05-25-vss-2005-add-files/The Add Files dialog in Visual Source Safe 2005 changed from a specific VSS version to the more common file selection dialog....Thu, 25 May 2006 00:00:00 GMTdevversion-controldevelopment-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-05-12-adonet-video-followup/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-05-12-adonet-video-followup/Yesterday's post contained an excerpt from the What's coming in ADO.NET video that I thought was great. In particular it was the thought that SOA is great technology but in the end is just plumbing....Fri, 12 May 2006 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryado-netsoaobject-orientedvideodatabaseApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-05-11-whats-coming-in-adonet-video/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-05-11-whats-coming-in-adonet-video/Here's a great excerpt from the What's coming in ADO.NET video on channel 9. Tim Mallalieu was speaking and it's around 41:50 into the video: Well actually that was exactly the point I was trying to...Thu, 11 May 2006 00:00:00 GMTarchitectureApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-28-pinvoke-convenience/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-28-pinvoke-convenience/I had to investigate a support query related to the lack of sound for a MacroView operations session running via remote desktop to a Windows Server 2003 server....Tue, 28 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-27-wpfe-and-il-code/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-27-wpfe-and-il-code/When I first heard about WPF/E (WPF/Everywhere) it sounded like a waste of time. My interpretation was that it was just a XAML display engine with no support for .NET code....Mon, 27 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMTcommentarywpfsilverlightdotnetclrxboxApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-23-a-real-choice/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-23-a-real-choice/I just upgrade to my Real player to a later version. Even with some bad (real pushy) experiences many moons ago, the player has some usability features that are quite handy....Thu, 23 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-19-xbox-360-clr-possibility/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-19-xbox-360-clr-possibility/It looks like there's a possibility of the .NET CLR being available for XBox 360 development. Check out these Microsoft blogger posts from Mike Zintel and David Weller....Sun, 19 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryxboxclrdotnetcross-platformgamingscadaApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-15-meandering-thoughts-on-thin-clients-objects-etc/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-03-15-meandering-thoughts-on-thin-clients-objects-etc/Check out the following video on Zdnet: The thin client concept is one of those technologies that keeps resurging every so often like waves on the technology landscape....Wed, 15 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMTarchitecturesoftware-architecturewpfsoaobject-orientedvideoApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-25-name-change/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-25-name-change/I decided to add my name to the title of the blog. This somewhat selve serving, but hey it makes it easier for people to "put a name to the face" where the blog is my "face" on the web....Wed, 25 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-25-sparkle-extensibility-api/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-25-sparkle-extensibility-api/My interpretation of Microsoft's vision for Sparkle is as a tool for designers while developers will use Visual Studio and they both will work on a Visual Studio project/solution....Wed, 25 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftwpfxamlvisual-studiodevelopment-toolsapi-designApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-25-sparkle-startup-time/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-25-sparkle-startup-time/I've just downloaded and ran the Sparkle January CTP. Congratulations to the Interactive Designer team for their first public release!...Wed, 25 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-23-lots-and-lots-of/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-23-lots-and-lots-of/Here's a line from Paul Allen's Official Provo Labs Announcement post that came through in my river of news last month : "In the coming months we'll be looking for part and full time developers,...Mon, 23 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-15-audible-not-authorized-wtf/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2006/2006-01-15-audible-not-authorized-wtf/I've been aware of the "Getting things done" approach to time management from mentions on various blogs and podcasts. Today I came across the reference again and decided to maybe buy a book on the...Sun, 15 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryaudiolicensingbusiness-analysisApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-12-07-soapserializer-and-generics-dont-mix/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-12-07-soapserializer-and-generics-dont-mix/After a bunch of monotonous code changes the previously V1.1 application now compiles successfully under V2.0 of .NET with generics in used for all domain model aggregation relationships....Wed, 07 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMTdevgenericsserializationdotnetprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-12-05-generic-list-covariance/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-12-05-generic-list-covariance/I'm currently moving an existing .NET Framework V1.1 application to V2.0 and changing the domain model to use generics for any collections and lists....Mon, 05 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMTdevgenericscsharpdotnetprogrammingcppApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-12-04-dell-2405fpw/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-12-04-dell-2405fpw/I recently splurged and purchased a Dell 2405FPW 23 inch monitor. The (possibly spurious) justification was that it would improve my development productivity by having more real estate....Sun, 04 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMThardwarehardwareproductivity-toolsvisual-studioApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-11-09-vs2005-release/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-11-09-vs2005-release/I've just started using Visual Studio 2005 on an existing C# solution in earnest today. There were too many dependancies on third party controls for the existing solution to entertain the possibility...Wed, 09 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftvisual-studiorefactoringgenericscsharpdevelopment-toolsdocumentationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-10-14-useful-sparklexaml-links/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-10-14-useful-sparklexaml-links/This post is just a bunch of links on XAML/Sparkle put together in one place for my convenience: North Face Demo at the PDC Manuel Clement and others – Introducing Sparkle PDC Dev Team -- Plasma...Fri, 14 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftxamlwpfvideodevelopment-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-10-04-dead-computer-talking/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-10-04-dead-computer-talking/Yesterday, I had a quick power glitch. Most computers in my office simply rebooted, but my new Asus A8V Athlon 64 system got stuck in a mode where the screen had a weird pattern on it and the PC...Tue, 04 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMThardwarehardwareamdmotherboardApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-10-04-feature-estimation/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-10-04-feature-estimation/There have been countless times when a customer has described some new software functionality they want and are dumbfounded when I can't give them a ball park estimate without a ton of if's and...Tue, 04 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMTbusinessestimationproject-managementclient-relationsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-09-05-ontime-setup-notes/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-09-05-ontime-setup-notes/This post is just some notes taken while setting up OnTime and importing data from existing spreadsheet files. It falls far short of a review as time is precious!...Mon, 05 Sep 2005 00:00:00 GMTdevproject-managementdevelopment-toolsdatabaseApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-09-05-ontime/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-09-05-ontime/In essence this is just a link to Axosoft to take advantage of a promotion to get a second free license of their Bug Tracking Software....Mon, 05 Sep 2005 00:00:00 GMTbusinessproject-managementdevelopment-toolsvisual-studioagileApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-08-11-computer-zen-guestmap/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-08-11-computer-zen-guestmap/Check out the guest map over at Scott Hanselman's blog. I definitely put my little marker over Perth (Australia) but ended up on a small tropical island in the Indian ocean near Bali....Thu, 11 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMTpersonalbloggingcommunityApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-08-11-delayed-rssfeeds/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-08-11-delayed-rssfeeds/One of the primary benefits of RSS and other syndication technologies is that I can get the content I'm interested in without visiting all the web sites that the content originates from....Thu, 11 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMTwebrsspodcastsweb-developmentApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-08-08-earthcore/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-08-08-earthcore/Just before starting lunch, I checked my RSS feeds and saw an Earthcore post. Cool, I thought. Perfect timing to listen to the last final Earthcore "episode" during lunch....Mon, 08 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMTpersonalpodcastsaudiorssApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-08-07-woo-hoo-stop-the-presses/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-08-07-woo-hoo-stop-the-presses/The Hobson and Holtz report has a great podcast that can act as an introduction for a lot of podcast concepts and how it applies to business....Sun, 07 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMTcommentarypodcastsbusiness-analysispresentationsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-07-13-security-fix-headlines/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-07-13-security-fix-headlines/Check out the difference in headlines for Mozilla fixing some security faults compared to a headline for Microsoft fixing security faults: Firefox update squashes security bugs PCs falling victim to...Wed, 13 Jul 2005 00:00:00 GMTcommentarysecurityfirefoxmicrosoftwindowsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-07-01-software-patent-insanity/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-07-01-software-patent-insanity/Clemens Vasters has a brilliant post on "Software Patent" Insanity. He suggests using a community collaboration model as a means of practically managing patent office overload when it comes to...Fri, 01 Jul 2005 00:00:00 GMTcommentarypatentsopen-sourcecommunityrssinnovationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-06-30-datatable-constraints/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-06-30-datatable-constraints/I'm currently developing an ADO.NET provider for a Scada system called MacroView that was first released back in 1988. Part of that development is a background service that runs on Windows, Linux,...Thu, 30 Jun 2005 00:00:00 GMTdevado-netdatabasescadamacroviewexception-handlingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-05-26-tibco-general-interface/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-05-26-tibco-general-interface/Check out the following Jon Udell screen cast of the General Interface product from TIBCO. This is really impressive stuff....Thu, 26 May 2005 00:00:00 GMTwebweb-developmentjavascriptscreencastsdotnetApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-05-25-virtual-earth/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-05-25-virtual-earth/I suppose this will join the list of "every man and his dog" blogging about MSN Virtual Earth, but this Channel 9 video really impressed me. How the @#&%!...Wed, 25 May 2005 00:00:00 GMTwebmicrosoftweb-developmentbrowservideoApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-04-01-vs2005-office-development-restrictions/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-04-01-vs2005-office-development-restrictions/While listening to various podcasts and reading blogs on VSTO 2005 I got the distinct impression that there are so many deployment restrictions to the VSTO functionality, it would be difficult to...Fri, 01 Apr 2005 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryvisual-studioofficemicrosoftdevelopment-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-26-toshiba-m200/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-26-toshiba-m200/I bit the bullet recently and bought a new Toshiba m200 tablet pc. Its an incredible piece of hardware, but I have found a few things that are annoying which will be posted over a period of time....Sat, 26 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMThardwaretablethardwarewindowsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-22-jim-gray-on-channel-9/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-22-jim-gray-on-channel-9/An absolutely fascinating interview with Jim Gray is over at Channel 9. He labels his views as "the lunatic fringe". Huh!? It all made wonderful sense to me....Tue, 22 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryvideosoftware-architectureweb-servicesindustry-trendsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-10-field-name-colors/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-10-field-name-colors/Eric Gunnerson wrote a post on field name conventions where the conclusion was that having an m_ prefix in front of field names makes it easier to identify fields versus variables....Thu, 10 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMTdevvisual-studiocode-qualityprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-08-disposableresource/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-08-disposableresource/This post contains some very minor variations of the Dispose pattern implemented in a class that implements IDisposable. A typical example of how to implement the Dispose idiom can be found over...Tue, 08 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMTdevcsharpmemory-managementdesign-patternsprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-08-media-center-update/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-08-media-center-update/Our big screen TV karked it a month back, so I haven't done much with the media center experiment up until recently. We had an extended warrantee on the TV so ended up getting a totally new unit....Tue, 08 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMThardwaremediahardwarewindowsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-04-class-designer-c-support-cut/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-03-04-class-designer-c-support-cut/Bummer. Given the complexity of C++ reverse engineering compared to the simpler/cleaner languages such as C#, VB.NET and J# this is understandable....Fri, 04 Mar 2005 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryvisual-studiocppclass-designmicrosoftApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-02-28-blog-marketing/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-02-28-blog-marketing/Today I did my usual reading through the blogs I've subscribed to within Newsgator on the web. Two posts (by Jeremy Allaire and Eric Mack) referred to commercial ventures that were new and...Mon, 28 Feb 2005 00:00:00 GMTcommentarybloggingrssbusiness-analysisApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-02-13-indigo/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-02-13-indigo/Mitch Denny asks whether anyone would like to see some Indigo content at Code Camp Oz. I reckon this would be great and am particularly interested in: SOA hype versus reality opinions Is Indigo/SOA...Sun, 13 Feb 2005 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftindigosoadotnetsoftware-architecturecommunicationsscadaApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-02-13-mpaa/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-02-13-mpaa/Got this link via neowin.net. To me it smacks of arrogance and heavy-handedness. I can just imagine the people who are really into content/video piracy getting a feeling of justification that they...Sun, 13 Feb 2005 00:00:00 GMTcommentarylicensingindustry-trendsdisruptionApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-01-31-net-array-expectations/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-01-31-net-array-expectations/While creating a mini C# code generator, I discovered that .NET Arrays don't behave the way I expected with respect to the Equals and GetHashCode implementations....Mon, 31 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMTdevdotnetcsharpprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-01-24-wrestling-gold-from-todays-software-projects/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-01-24-wrestling-gold-from-todays-software-projects/Here are a few excerpts from "Wrestling Gold from Today's Software Projects" at IT Conversations: Clip 1: Agile Return On Investment[]( Clip 2: Production Line Analogy[]( Clip 3: Empirical...Mon, 24 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMTbusinessagileproject-managementestimationpodcastsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-01-14-mce-2005/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2005/2005-01-14-mce-2005/I set up a Windows Media Center 2005 PC today with a standard PC and the following extras: Hauppage PVR 250 Microsoft Remote Control A number of blogs I've read on MCE gave the impression it was a...Fri, 14 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMThardwarewindowsmediahardwaremicrosoftApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-30-rss-audio-convenience/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-30-rss-audio-convenience/Some of the Internet Radio shows I listen to include Brainbrew and Tech Nation. Last week I was toying with sending an email to each of these web sites asking for an RSS feed....Thu, 30 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-29-doxygen/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-29-doxygen/I've used doxygen in the past to provide hyper linked API level documentation for C++ source code, but until now didn't realize how useful the diagrams it can produce are....Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMTdevdocumentationcppumlsoftware-architecturedevelopment-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-28-posix-serial-programming/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-28-posix-serial-programming/I've been working on a cross platform Modbus communications library and driver over the last month or so. It involved a number of communication transports – tcp/ip, direct serial port and modem...Tue, 28 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-10-it-conversations-competition/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-10-it-conversations-competition/Doug Kaye posted on Competition Down Under for IT Conversations. Being curious about another source of content I checked it out....Fri, 10 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-02-ward-cunningham-interview/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-12-02-ward-cunningham-interview/Check out the Ward Cunningham interview on The ServerSide.net. I identify somewhat with the following quote: I do know that a lot of times if the programmer gets good, while he is getting good, he...Thu, 02 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalcommunityprofessional-developmentagileprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-11-29-it-conversations-business-model/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-11-29-it-conversations-business-model/Doug Kaye of IT Conversations asked for some feedback on a business model for his site. Here's a copy of my suggestions: I personally find the variety of conferences available throughout the world...Mon, 29 Nov 2004 00:00:00 GMTcommentarybusiness-analysispodcastsconferencescommunityApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-11-25-tabbed-browsing/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-11-25-tabbed-browsing/Tabbed browsing in Firefox is way useful. Take this post from Sam Gentile: "First this one with this, and then him. Now only if we can have this one go too.!Blog tracking pixel" I didn't have a clue...Thu, 25 Nov 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebfirefoxbrowserinternet-explorerweb-developmentproductivity-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-11-10-whitepages-search/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-11-10-whitepages-search/I had another one of those "aren't web searches amazing" moments today. In the process of trying to find the phone number of a school, I eventually gave up on www.whitepages.com.au and used the...Wed, 10 Nov 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-11-05-vbnet-refactoring-cut/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-11-05-vbnet-refactoring-cut/Sam Gentile is not happy about the cutting of most of the refactoring functionality out of VS.NET 2005. I tend to stay on the C# side of the fence - just because that's the syntax I'm most familiar...Fri, 05 Nov 2004 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryvb-netvisual-studiorefactoringmicrosoftdevelopment-toolsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-27-jboss-ide-demo/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-27-jboss-ide-demo/I subscribe to the "Enter the JBoss Matrix" feed and got a link to this video from there. Now the JBoss IDE stuff was interesting and the Eclipse IDE looks pretty snazzy (some day I'll get around to...Wed, 27 Oct 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-22-objectdatasource/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-22-objectdatasource/Check out the MSDN TV episode "Drag Once Databinding for Client Apps". A couple of years ago, I spent some time attempting to get object properties to appear in the data binding selection lists of...Fri, 22 Oct 2004 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftvisual-studiodata-bindingado-netobject-orienteddotnetApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-19-what-they-really-mean/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-19-what-they-really-mean/I got to this article via Occam's Razor. For some reason this automatically brang to mind a section from one of Guy Kawasaki's books (can't remember which one)....Tue, 19 Oct 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-13-icon-experience/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-13-icon-experience/I purchased an icon set for use in software development from Icon Experience around six months ago. This is a great snappy looking Windows XP style icon collection that makes my winforms software...Wed, 13 Oct 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-07-potaytopotarto/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-07-potaytopotarto/Occassionaly I've heard the term "sodder" in a bunch of software oriented video/audio from the U.S. From the context, it was obvious they were talking about solder....Thu, 07 Oct 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-03-media-player-city/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-03-media-player-city/After a couple of years of swearing not to install Real Networks software because of it's intrusiveness in previous versions, its now back on my PC....Sun, 03 Oct 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-01-beep-caustictech/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-10-01-beep-caustictech/I decided to catch up with a few of the longer blog posts using the TTS audio approach mentioned in yesterday's post while doing some mind numbing paperwork....Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-30-real-techno/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-30-real-techno/Over the last year or so, I've been heavily into listening and viewing audio and video content from the Internet. Mostly it's technology oriented but there's also a mix of other subject areas....Thu, 30 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalpodcastsaudiovideoproductivity-toolscommunitydotnetApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-20-java-innovation/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-20-java-innovation/Just recently I've discovered the wealth of content at www.theserverside.com and it seems that innovation is flourishing with respect to middleware in Java land....Mon, 20 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-20-winforms-enabled-vs-readonly/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-20-winforms-enabled-vs-readonly/I've been modifying the GUI of a Windows Forms application to integrate in with an authorization subsystem. The approach taken is to hook into the databinding process and make the Winforms control...Mon, 20 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftwinformsdata-bindingsecurityprogrammingdotnetApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-16-rbac-patents/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-16-rbac-patents/Following on from my previous post, I was searching for how other developers handled the definition of what roles are allowed to perform which tasks in a declarative programming model....Thu, 16 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMTcommentarypatentssecuritylicensingprogrammingdesign-patternsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-15-the-crude-pattern/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-15-the-crude-pattern/I'm currently working on the Authorization infrastructure for a software package in the finance industry. The approach taken is to use .NET attributes to declaratively state which user roles are...Wed, 15 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMTarchitecturesecuritydesign-patternsdotnetprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-13-rotor-247/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-09-13-rotor-247/It's probably old news, but www.dotnet247.com now has the Rotor source code available as a handy link when your search selection relates to a class. Very handy indeed....Mon, 13 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMTdevApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-30-gilmor-gang-longhorn-pillars/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-30-gilmor-gang-longhorn-pillars/I was listening to IT Conversations again but this time it was the Gilmor Gang. One of the guests was Mary Jo Foley who discussed a story on Microsoft cutting back on what's going into the Longhorn...Mon, 30 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-25-dan-bricklin-interview/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-25-dan-bricklin-interview/Check out the IT Conversations Memory Lane interview with Dan Bricklin. I love the mention of Dan's mother saying to him: Dan, did you know that a spreadsheet can add and subtract?...Wed, 25 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-23-intrusive-software/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-23-intrusive-software/I hate software that's intrusive or attempts to make decisions for me or "guide" me to a decision favouring the software vendor....Mon, 23 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-18-longhorn-transparency/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-18-longhorn-transparency/The great benefit of Microsoft's new development direction transparency is that it reduces the probability of real lemons (i.e. products that no one wants) since there is very early feedback....Wed, 18 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMTcommentarymicrosoftlonghorndata-bindingindustry-trendsdotnetApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-04-anders-and-aop/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-08-04-anders-and-aop/There's a whiteboard session with Anders Hejlsberg on the MSDN site entitled "Whiteboard with Anders Hejlsberg". The very first question that Anders addresses relates to AOP and his reaction was...Wed, 04 Aug 2004 00:00:00 GMTarchitectureaopdotnetcsharpjavadesign-patternsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-30-java-annotations/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-30-java-annotations/Check out the new functionality in the Java "Tiger" release. Looks like the major .NET languages and Java language oriented functionality are going to be walking lockstep for the forseeable future....Fri, 30 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMTcommentaryjavadotnetcompetitionprogramminginnovationApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-20-overly-pedantic/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-20-overly-pedantic/Today my brain had a situation where it looped continuously making a decision whether to email a customer on their wording in an email....Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-18-debuggerisattached/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-18-debuggerisattached/The System.Diagnostics.Debugger class provides a handy means of interacting with an attached debugger and to determine whether a debugger is present....Sun, 18 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMTdevApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-17-unhandled-exception-reporting/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-17-unhandled-exception-reporting/I recently included unhandled exception processing in a Windows Forms application to help fault find some problems. Unhandled exceptions were processed by bringing up a user friendly message and...Sat, 17 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMTdevexception-handlingdebuggingwinformsprogrammingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-12-null-checksplumbing-code/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-12-null-checksplumbing-code/Brad Abrams posted on the NullReferenceException or ArgumentNullException question. For me, it's one of those "close call" questions....Mon, 12 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMTdevApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-12-paste-special/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-12-paste-special/Just a thought: I seem to use "Paste Special ..." and then select "Unformatted Text" so often it really should be as much of a standard keystroke as Ctrl-C for Copy and Ctrl-V for Paste....Mon, 12 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-11-firefox/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-11-firefox/Because of all the recommendations to stop using Internet Explorer, I decided to give Firefox a go. There were no problems getting it downloaded and working....Sun, 11 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebfirefoxbrowserinternet-exploreropen-sourceweb-developmentApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-06-vendor-pc-annoyance/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-06-vendor-pc-annoyance/In supporting customers recently, I've been getting the customer to request help using Remote Assistance. Once the customer gets the request process down (and UPNP routers are being used or a VPN is...Tue, 06 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMThardwareApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-05-vsnet-addin-weirdness/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-05-vsnet-addin-weirdness/Recently I experienced some weirdness in the Visual Studio.NET 2003 source code editor. The problem only occurred when editing C/C++ files and consisted of symptoms like being unable to select a...Mon, 05 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMTdevvisual-studiodebuggingdevelopment-toolscppcsharpApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-01-aop-and-net/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-07-01-aop-and-net/Eric Gunnerson asked for example code on what scenarios developers would use AOP for. Aspect Oriented Programming is another one of those software development areas that I'd love to know more about...Thu, 01 Jul 2004 00:00:00 GMTarchitectureaopdotnetcsharpdesign-patternsprogrammingpersistencesecurityApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-30-microsoft-developer-target-profiles/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-30-microsoft-developer-target-profiles/Microsoft just made available Beta-1 of the Visual Studio Express range of software developer tools. For some reason the C++ guy in particular made me think of the marketing/web people that created...Wed, 30 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTcommentarymicrosoftvisual-studiovb-netcsharpcppjavaweb-developmentApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-28-dotnettv/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-28-dotnettv/I followed this dotnet.tv link via Ingo Rammer's blog. Lot's of fun with analogies and an enjoyable view. One of the comments asked for sub-titled versions of the earlier videos that were done in...Mon, 28 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTwebApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-26-diffdebugging/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-26-diffdebugging/Martin Fowler is one of my favourite technical authors. Recently he wrote a bliki entry titled DiffDebugging. I got the same sense of deja vu with this piece as a I did when first reading the Design...Sat, 26 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-23-whidbey-class-designer/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-23-whidbey-class-designer/The May preview of Visual Studio 2005 (Whidbey) included some of the Whitehorse initiative functionality. As I'm particularly keen on UML diagrams as a means of communicating technical concepts...Wed, 23 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftvisual-studioumlclass-designdotnetcsharpApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-21-monadmsh/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-21-monadmsh/If you're doing .NET development and have a background in Unix, it's well worth checking out the second half of the new .NET Show episode on Longhorn Fundamentals....Mon, 21 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftdotnetlonghornwindowsautomationobject-orientedlinuxApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-20-the-api-war-and-microsoft/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-20-the-api-war-and-microsoft/Thought I may as well weigh in on Joel Spolsky's post on How Microsoft Lost the API War. It's a great read but I think that Joel is way off on his thoughts on .NET....Sun, 20 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTcommentarymicrosoftdotnetapi-designindustry-trendswinformsremotingsoagenericsApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-14-carpal-tunnel/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-14-carpal-tunnel/Though carpal tunnel syndrome isn't directly software development related, it's worth a mention in this blog as I'm sure many software developers will experience it or some form wrist/keyboarding...Mon, 14 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalproductivity-toolshardwareprofessional-developmentApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-07-agile-uml/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-07-agile-uml/Following on from the Disrespecting UML post, I've been thinking about what "UML" means to different people and what I want from UML tools....Mon, 07 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTarchitectureumlagiledesign-patternssoftware-architecturedomain-modelingApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-04-disrespecting-uml/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-04-disrespecting-uml/I was listening to .NET Rocks Live! today and enjoying it as usual. Rocky Lhotka was talking about the Visual Studio 2005 Whitehorse designer functionality....Fri, 04 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTarchitectureumldesign-patternsvisual-studiojavacpptemplatesdelegatesprofessional-developmentApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-02-the-microsoft-visual-c-clr-switch/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-06-02-the-microsoft-visual-c-clr-switch/Today I had a go at compiling a large body of existing legacy C/C++ code with the /clr switch. The bulk of it compiled without changing the existing source code....Wed, 02 Jun 2004 00:00:00 GMTmicrosoftcppdotnetclrvisual-studiocsharplegacy-codeApolon Ivankovichttps://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-05-31-just-started/https://torqsoftware.com/blog/2004/2004-05-31-just-started/A couple of days ago another video was posted on the Microsoft Channel 9 site with Ward Cunningham as the subject. In the video, he was answering a question on whether there is a revolution coming in...Mon, 31 May 2004 00:00:00 GMTpersonalbloggingprofessional-developmentcommunitypodcastsvideoApolon Ivankovic