Installing Windows 7 beta on Virtual PC 2007

  • January 16, 2009
  • James Skemp
I couldn't find the other articles, so just in case I lose another one, here's an overview of installing Windows 7 beta on a virtual machine. Oddly, I didn't have Virtual PC 2007 SP1, which seems to be a common issue. Installing the Windows 7 Beta with Virtual PC 2007 SP1

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I own an Xbox 360

  • December 3, 2008
  • James Skemp
So I did it. Back on November 17 2007 I purchased a Playstation 3. I had debated, back and forth, the purchase of that versus the Xbox 360. At the time the Xbox was having quite a few issues, including overheating, power block malfunctions, and the wonderful RROD. However, as time has gone by, the number of complaints has gone down. Some say that the issues are basically resolved, and you just need to find newer systems.

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Brief Notes on Essential C# 3.0: For .NET Framework 3.5 (2nd Edition)

  • August 16, 2008
  • James Skemp
I'll be updating this as I read, but the date/time of the post will remain the same. This will by no means make up for a reading of the book - Essential C# 3.0: For .NET Framework 3.5 (2nd Edition). (Link to my review will be posted once I finish the book.) I work primarily on the Web, so that will be my main focus from reading this book. Some chapters may not be present here, depending upon what I think is note-worthy at the time.

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Comment re: Go MIT!

  • August 12, 2008
  • James Skemp
I couldn't post this without creating an account, so ... This is in regards to this comment. Full post. I agree with montysimmons - the attack on George Washington was uncalled for. However, he makes an interesting point that they've been able to make the technology easy enough for someone from the 18th Century to understand and use. This is in fact better than saying "easy enough for a child to use," which may have been better, since even children use computers these days.

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Review: Professional ASP.NET 3.5 In C# and VB

  • July 11, 2008
  • James Skemp
The following is a book review of Professional ASP.NET 3.5 In C# and VB, written by Bill Evjen, Scott Hanselman, and Devin Rader. Having read Imar Spaanjaar's Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 In C# and VB (review), I was expecting a number of good things from this book. Imar's book is really great in that he shows you how to build a Web application with ASP.NET 3.5. However, with Professional ASP.NET 3.5 In C# and VB, you instead get 1500+ page reference book.

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Playstation 3 Firmware 2.41 and running fine

  • July 10, 2008
  • James Skemp
While not yet announced on the official blog, Firmware 2.41 is out this morning for the Playstation 3. No word yet on what happened with 2.40, but, that's to be expected I suppose (and unfortunately). (I didn't get 2.40 when it was out - they seem to release these in the morning, and most days I'm at work in the morning.) Now if only you got something that really mattered when you got a trophy/achievement/what-have-you .

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Review: Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 In C# and VB

  • June 8, 2008
  • James Skemp
The following book review is for Imar Spaanjaars' Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 In C# and VB. Update July 11 2008: Review of Professional ASP.NET 3.5 In C# and VB. Update March 28 2010: Review of Beginning ASP.NET 4 in C# and VB.  I've picked up copies of Beginning ASP.NET 2.0; Build Your Own ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site Using C# & VB; Beginning ASP.NET 2.0 E-Commerce in C# 2005 From Novice to Professional; and Microsoft ASP.

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Review: Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5 Step by Step

  • June 8, 2008
  • James Skemp
The following book review is for George Shepherd's Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5 Step by Step. Based upon the title, 'Step by Step,' you might think that Shepherd's book will actually cover ASP.NET 3.5 in detail, piece by piece. While it's true that he does this, he does it to very little detail. He also makes numerous assumptions throughout the text, which may have you scratching your head more than you usually would, picking up a new language.

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Dynamic user-controlled layout in a CMS

  • May 25, 2008
  • James Skemp
This article is meant to hold some of the thoughts that I've been having about allowing a user to control the layout of a page, in particular for use within a content management system (CMS). The system would need to be able to support a user creating templates easily, but hopefully without the use of tables. In the CSS Advanced Layout Module, there is a draft specification for Template-based positioning.

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Jeff Atwood's post on MVC brings up a great philosophical question ...

  • May 14, 2008
  • James Skemp
I forgot to comment on this the other day, when I first read the post. Jeff Atwood, of Coding Horror, wrote a piece titled "Understanding Model-View-Controller" which brought forth this response from Shmork (I wish he would have posted a site): I have to admit, as someone with more philosophical inclinations, I wonder whether the stated goal of totally separating content from representation is even a good idea. Certainly no graphic designer would sign on to that theory of the world, much less a philosophically inclined graphic designer.

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