Friday Links #55
13 Jun 2009Programming Computers
Unit Testing is Not a “Figure It Out Later” - If someone tells you to wait and do it later on the “next project”, it’s really not their decision. Unit testing is for programmers and is done while you code. It’s a decision done by the programmer because he/she cares about better code and less bugs for the good of the team, the business, and its users.
Guy Burstein : Getting Started with jQuery in Visual Studio 2008 – How to add add jQuery IntellSense in Visual Studio 2008, and how to add jQuery to a simple Web Application inside Visual Studio 2008.
Fabulous Adventures In Coding : What does the optimize switch do? - What optimizations the C# compiler performs when you specify the optimize switch. Answer, not much. The jitter does all the heavy lifting.
ASP.NET MVC and SOLID Programming Principles June 2009 : Steve Smith’s Blog – Steve gave this talk for us at the Ann Arbor .NET users group. Confirms what I’ve experienced over the last year of unit testing and inversion of control.
Science and the Environment
| [Slashdot Hardware Story | “Colossal Magnetic Effect” Could Lead To Another Breakthrough In Storage Tech](http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/06/05/1922242/Colossal-Magnetic-Effect-Could-Lead-To-Another-Breakthrough-In-Storage-Tech?from=rss) - Scientists with the Carnegie Institution for Science have discovered what could bring yet another massive advance in memory and storage. |
| [Solar-Powered Infinium Race Car | Popular Science](http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-06/detroits-latest-solar-powered-infinium-unfortunately-cant-be-bought) - More spacecraft than automobile, Infinium is plastered in black photovoltaic strips capable of drinking sunlight at rates rivaling the solar cells found on spacecraft. A specially-designed electric motor encased in one of the car’s three wheels peaks at 98 percent efficiency. The 50 lb lithium battery is 1/3 the size of the Chevy Volt’s and supplies the car for up to 200 miles without a drop of sunny fuel. |
Using your Personal Computer
Rico Mariani’s Performance Tidbits : Visual Studio 2010 Performance Part 2: Text Editor - Many people have reported that editing with the new editor is slower. I’ve experienced the same thing myself so I certainly do not want to accuse people of hallucinating but I thought it might be interesting to understand why that might happen, especially since this new editor is supposed to be better than the old.
Virtual Disk - Desk Topmost - Floats the desktop on top instead of minimizing all the windows. Interesting concept.
McAfee and Symantec fined over automatic subscription renewal – I’ve always thought of these programs more as viruses because of their aggressive renewal tactics. Apparently, the New York State agrees.
Lifehacker - Lifehacker Speed Tests: Safari 4, Chrome 2, and More – Confirms what I’ve experienced. Chrome fast, Internet Explorer slow.
Lifehacker - ViGlance Converts the Vanilla Taskbar into a Windows 7-like Superbar – Works surprisingly well. Nice feel and effects. Portable app. Just download and run.
Stuff I just Dig
Toolmonger » Blog Archive » It’s Just Cool (Or Hot): H2Glow - It makes your water glow as it flows out of the tap, blue if it’s safe to touch and red if it gets too hot.
Lifehacker - DIY Magnetic Fridge Pen - MacGyver Tip -If you’ve got a grocery list that lives on your refrigerator but never seem to have a pen nearby, reader Jay details how he made his own magnetic Bics on the cheap and easy.
What Really Prompts The Dog’s ‘Guilty Look’ – Surprise, the dog doesn’t feel guilty at all. It’s just us projecting. Wonder how much grant money that cost?
Search Me - The New York Times > Magazine – Really cool pictures of data centers. Sort of like center folds for geeks.
Pick of the Week
Foxit Reader - For straight up reading and printing of PDF’s, Foxit is the way to go. It’s fast, light and does not assimilate your system compared to the Borg like Adobe Reader. Sumatra Reader is another one to keep an eye on.