5 best practices for building ASP.NET MVC web sites

Since ASP.NET MVC 2.0 is included with Visual Studio 2010, here is a list of "lessons learned" from building three systems from scratch using ASP.NET MVC.

April 29th, 2010 at 5:00am — Comments: (0) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

Since developing with ASP.NET MVC pre-1.0, I've been building a hefty library of ASP.NET MVC 1 & 2 routines that includes everything from blogging to forum modules to CRM libraries.

Visual Studio 2010 shipped with ASP.NET MVC 2.0. If you are a new developer to ASP.NET MVC, it may be daunting at first, but definitely dig in and give it a try. I would recommend it over WebForms development any day (ViewState? Buh-Bye).

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Mail Bag: What programming languages should I learn?

After answering a fellow reader, I thought an appropriate post would be great for other readers as well.

March 17th, 2010 at 6:00am — Comments: (0) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

Q: I started C a few days ago, and I think I'm doing well with it as a first programming language. Is it recommended to learn many programming languages? And what should I know in order to learn programming better?

A: When I first started programming, there wasn't an abundant amount of programming languages for me to pick from. I didn't know any better and wasn't exposed to anything but BASIC, QBASIC, and Apple Basic.

Quite a selection, huh?

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Version Control Commandments

Version Control is a staple in a developers day-to-day routine. Follow these guidelines for proper versioning.

March 2nd, 2010 at 7:00am — Comments: (0) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

Using version control is vital to a development shop. Even though I am one developer, I have a subversion code server in my basement that I constantly use. If I write a bad piece of code, it feels so good to rollback to a previous version of code instead of trying to wrack my brain figuring out what code to back out.

In a team or corporate environment, though, you may have some developers who are new to the team and are unfamiliar with version control software like CVS or Subversion. I know those coming from Microsoft SourceSafe to CVS had some troubles adjusting.

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Revisit: What Books Are Within Your Reach?

What titles are close to you for reference purposes? Here's my list.

February 23rd, 2010 at 6:00am — Comments: (0) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

How many of your books have changed since my last post? I'm sure that since 2007 your library of reference books should've changed a little.

A while back, I wrote a post about what books are in your library that are within reach while you develop. I figured now would be a good time to update my post.

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How to automatically update your social network status through .NET APIs

If you wrote your own CMS and want to update social networks automatically, here are some suggestions.

February 2nd, 2010 at 6:00am — Comments: (1) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

For developers who are creating plug-ins to content management systems (or their own, wink wink), there is no reason why you can't automate your social status updates to let your audience know what's happening with you on your social network of choice.

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are my "home base" of social networks where I hang out at.

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How deep do you take your coding into a company?

Every developer has personal code they use everyday, but what happens when you are hired?

January 27th, 2010 at 6:00am — Comments: (0) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

How much of your "brains" do you take into a company? This post explains how to determine what code you can and cannot take into a company if you already wrote it prior to being hired.

But first, let's get this out of the way.

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The Band-Aid Mentality of Fixing Bugs

When debugging applications, do you code it properly or do you procrastinate or rush through it just to get it done?

January 21st, 2010 at 10:00am — Comments: (1) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

Developers know when they see a bad piece of code and that comes from experience. As you progress through your career, you'll see some...uhhh...ummm...interesting code. Most developers have egos and need to check them at the door if you want a quality software product.

What's a piece of "band-aid" code?

Band-aids are described when a coder decides to fix a defect quickly as opposed to fixing the defect correctly. The mentality is that they want it off their plate by fixing the problem as fast a possible, which leaves the defect as a quick fix and not a long term solution.

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What development tools are important to you?

Every professional has the proper tools to get the job done. What tools couldn't you live without?

December 3rd, 2009 at 9:00am — Comments: (0) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

DCS (Danylko Consulting Services) Media (as in 'news') was originally meant for my clients to keep them up to date with what's going on in the technology industry and explain a few technologies that may elude them. Using a blog to show them what's happening with technology would provide a way for them to integrate that new technology into their business and (hopefully) allow them to become more profitable.

Rewind back to 2005! What better way to show new technology than to create a blogging engine that includes some of that technology.

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Maintaining Software: I'm Not Crazy

How do you know if your code is maintainable?

August 12th, 2009 at 5:30am — Comments: (2) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

Following up with last week's post about Complexity vs. Simplicity, I focus this week on an aspect of coding that is kind of touchy to developers: Maintainability.

Now, I'm not pointing to any one developer, but I'm sure there are other developers out there who know what I'm talking about in terms of "coding spaghetti." That's just one term. Some of these may be familiar to you:

• "You're code is hard to follow."
• "If I touch one thing, it breaks the system."
• "I don't know where to begin."
• "Where is the documentation?"

If you haven't been in a corporate environment and you just code like a madman, how do you know if you writing good code? You have nothing to compare it to.

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Complexity vs. Simplicity

Why can't some developers code something to be plain and simple?

August 5th, 2009 at 7:00am — Comments: (1) — By: Jonathan Danylko — Tags: Developers

When you are given a project by a client, do you think of a web site or application that does just about everything or do you break it down to what's functional and feasible for a web site that does the job?

Let me try a different approach.

Can a developer code something simple or does it have to be extremely complex with a three-tier architecture with web services and a fat browser full of JavaScript and ActiveX components while overflowing with every jQuery bell and whistle known to man?

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