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I am not sad to say that Microsoft needs to just quit making software! I have been a big supporter of Microsoft for years but lately all they produce is garbage. I understand the basic Ideology of MVVM for applications but WPF is terrible at delivering this. It used to be a simple task to wire up a simple combo box to display a list of options but with WPF its not so simple. In fact when I started to ask questions about how to do it the only response I get was "ummm.... I have to look at your code" no one seems to have a simple response. Even researching online I never see a clear example not even from Microsoft's own site. So if the company that wrote this can't provide a simple example why are so many people dedicated to make this sh*t work. The entire platform is not obvious and the learning curve is too steep. Additionally, it seems that performance of these applications is terrible and buggy. Yet you see the demand for everyone to have this skill set from employers. A framework should deliver the following features to developers: stability of execution, obviousness of design, simplicity, and hopefully a reduction of effort. If you can't ensure these traits don't deliver a product, you will just weaken the end user. I don't feel that WPF delivers any of these traits. In fact a much broader statement could be made here Microsoft as a company no longer supplies this, or maybe it never did. I started looking back at everything Microsoft has produced and I realized its just a lousy provider of software in general. I kind of wish more people would abandon these products for the sake of pressuring these industry giants to start providing better solutions. If we as a community continue to accept inferior tools to do our jobs it will only become more difficult to progress forward. I know that some people will say "well if you don't like Microsoft what would you use in place of it?" The answer is I don't have a good answer to that one. There are so many lousy software companies out there that provide bottom of the barrel products that there is no safe haven for anyone. I see too many times that people generate so many patches or hack code to work around platform bugs that I wonder what would the software look like if you didn't always have to fix the code before you work on your own problem. If you eve wonder why you have so many service calls start looking at the underlying problems with the framework you have chosen you may find your answer there.
nothing
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I find the same with all the .NET framework, each object and method is documented... with the obvious. But there is no MSDN page saying things like "File Operations: the classes aaaa, bbbb... zzz are the main interfaces with the File System. If you need to do this other thing that looks related plese look classes abc and bcd.". Then you look at class aaaa and see it is a file indexing so maybe you don't need it, bbb is a parser, and so on.
The plain old API is perfectly documented and there is little anyone can't do with a couple of days at most of documentation delving. The whole overgrown .NET framework is a collection of obscure objects.
Geek code v 3.12 {
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- r++>+++ y+++*
Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
}
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
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That sounds more like a documentation problem than a framework one.
If Microsoft only gave you a limited BCL, with simple classes to do simple things, then everyone would be complaining that there was no way to do some obscure complicated thing.
Instead, they give you a large set of classes which let you do almost anything, and they get berated because it's not simple enough! 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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If you're going to post a long rant, first locate the "Enter" or "Return" key on your keyboard! Putting everything in one long paragraph makes it much less likely that anyone will read it.
icestatue wrote: I understand the basic Ideology of MVVM for applications but WPF is terrible at delivering this.
WPF is excellent at MVVM[^]. To the point that MVVM didn't exist before WPF, because it depends on features that are only available in WPF.
icestatue wrote: It used to be a simple task to wire up a simple combo box to display a list of options but with WPF its not so simple.
It's incredibly simple - if you've embraced MVVM.
<ComboBox
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SomeListOfItems, Mode=OneWay}"
SelectedValue="{Binding Path=TheSelectedItem, ValidatesOnDataErrors=True, ValidatesOnExceptions=True}"
/>
icestatue wrote: Even researching online I never see a clear example ...
Step by Step WPF Data Binding with Comboboxes[^]
(OK, it's not a Microsoft article, but documentation has never been Microsoft's strong point!)
icestatue wrote: The entire platform is not obvious and the learning curve is too steep.
Every platform is "not obvious" when you're just starting out. Giving up an announcing that the whole platform is sh*t just because you haven't mastered it yet isn't the best way to learn!
icestatue wrote: Additionally, it seems that performance of these applications is terrible and buggy.
That was the case 10 years ago, when WPF was introduced. Microsoft have made significant improvements since then.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Well stated, sir, and I concur. The rant sounds like my first week with it many moons ago, whereas it's a different approach, notably to forms based developers.
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What do you mean by "lately?"
Microsoft has never released a working product, and has consistently lowered quality standards for the entire industry. They were the first to sell software that doesn't work, then have the gall to charge for updates. They were the first to eliminate manuals. They were the first to charge for telephone support for their defective "products." They set the standard for non-performance that all modern software companies now profit from following. If you think WPF sucks, you should read the documentation (very expensive) for MFC someday.
Will Rogers never met me.
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I wrote a couple of articles on the Healthcare.gov software
development disaster, and I'm looking for advice on the best way to
submit them to CodeProject.
I did three months of research, interviewing developers and
whistleblowers, and reviewing numerous media reports. I'm not a
mainstream journalist, but I was a tech journalist for years, as well
as being a senior software engineer. As far as I know, I'm the only
journalist who has done such a thorough technical review of what
happened.
The first article is a journalistic treatment:
** Healthcare.gov -- The greatest software development disaster in history
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ww2010.i.hcgov150823.htm
The second article contains "lessons learned" for managing software
development projects, and dealing with project stakeholders who either
are incompetent or who actually try to sabotage the project. This
article is targeted to managers, researchers, and academics, and
contains a lot of technical information that would be useful to both
programmers and managers:
** For academics: Dysfunction, subversion, sabotage and fraud in software development projects
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/ww2010.i.academic150823.htm
The following is my daily World View column, which summarizes the
above two articles:
** 23-Aug-15 World View -- Fraud and subversion in Healthcare.gov - the greatest IT disaster in history
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/xct.gd.e150823.htm#e150823
I would appreciate any advice on the best way to submit these
articles to CodeProject.
Thanks.
John J. Xenakis
john@jxenakis.com
john@generationaldynamics.com
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You might want to post this question in the Article-Writing[^] forum.
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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I'm neither journalist nor lawyer, but I spent 10 seconds looking at the first article to see it contained numerous incidents of libel that you could be sued for. Journalism is best keep to reporting of facts rather than accusations you might find yourself having to prove.
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I've already discussed all that with my lawyer, and besides that, many readers of my web site are lawyers, and would have written to me about it.
The reality today is that the corruption and criminality in Washington and on Wall Street are at enormous levels, at levels so high that they were unthinkable prior to the rise of Generation-X in the 2000s.
So the other side of that is nobody gets sued because almost everyone is a criminal, and criminality is the norm, so no one goes to jail.
It's possible that someone will try to sue me, but for what purpose? I have almost no money, I'm old enough that I don't give a sh*t, and suing me would just cause me to write about the people suing me, which would give more publicity to their crimes. They know that, so they'll just ignore me.
By the way, the whistleblowers that I wrote about have also given evidence to the FBI, which is investigating the same crimes. These are people who took hundreds of millions of dollars, knowing that their programming staff were too incompetent to even implement a network connection, and the results speak for themselves -- Healthcare.gov: The Greatest IT Disaster in World History.
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For 10 years I used VB5-6/VBA/SQL2000-2005 to write applications for small business clients that integrated various features of MSOffice modules, DTS and Crystal Reports programmatically via office automation. Then I went on a 5 year sabbatical.
I now want to get back to work in the industry as some kind of software developer - VB, Java, C-something, ASP.net, Crystal, etc. However, in the described past I had accumulated a great amount of knowledge concerning MSServer, Windows and all the development tools that I used and was just beginning web development. I am assuming that everything has changed in 5 years and that getting back to my past level will require a strategy similar to that employed when eating an elephant, that is, a bite by bite approach. So, I am not lazy, but I am trying to draw responses that can help me to identify the smallest, most manageable set of tools currently in demand that can be learned in the initial 3 months and that will be the most likely to lead to employment.
Also, in 2009-10 I intended to aggressively update my skill set, so I purchased a workstation and server, an MSDN VS2008 subscription and 15 month access to New Horizons so that I could take 242 2-hr Microsoft related courses related to web & forms development, VB&ASP.net, SQL2005-2008, SSIS, BI, Server2008. I completed the courses with screen recording so that I could go back to review, but a family illness disrupted my concentration as I went thru my 1st pass and made a planned 2nd pass impossible. I just bring this up because these resources are available to me if any of this software is still in demand. I hope that I have defined my request clearly enough and I thank all contributors kindly in advance.
Randy Swofford
St. Louis, Mo.
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That's impossible to learn in three months.
If you're having a bad day, stare at your feet and smile.
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You might want to invest some time in learning the MEAN stack. This is incredibly popular right now, and isn't too hard to get started on. MEAN stands for
MongoDB - a NoSQL database
Express - effectively, this is the infrastructure needed to create a JavaScript web server (wait for it...)
AngularJS - the fastest growing of the many JavaScript frameworks available - worth looking into
Node.JS - this is the JavaScript code execution engine that runs at the server side. Express runs no top of this
All of these tools are free to download, and simple enough to get your head around. I would recommend taking out a Pluralsight[^] subscription and working your way through the many courses they have that cover the MEAN stack.
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You could just follow those links and read the information that is provided. If you really do not understand the difference between them then perhaps you need to study some more introductory books, something like those listed at https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+8+books[^].
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I have just taken a job as the IT Director for a small private school. Amongst all my duties I have been asked to teach a small class of 6 students. They're all seniors and supposedly very computer savvy.
Does anybody have a starting point where I can find some lesson plans. I have some great ideas but unsure of how to put everything together.
I love Ian Sommervilles book, Software Engineering and I'll probably pull from it. Also I got the school to buy several Raspberry Pi's so I want to work them up to that kind of project.
Thanks for your help!
Brandon
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I would reccomend figuring out how tech savvy your students really are giving them a couple of programming exercises.
Also going with raspberry Pi can be great fun if done right 
#region(start signature)
Life's like a nose, you've got to get out of it whats in it!
#endregion
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Hello guys. Recently a guy left. A week after I am told that I will be taking over his project. I myself am new and still getting my head around. I wanted to ask: How much time should I spend with him on this taking over discussion and what sort of questions should I ask him so that I may understand what is going on, in this project. Thanks for any input.
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Spend as long as it takes for you to understand every part of it. Prepare and write down things you wonder and also what's left to do and if he had thought about how to it and if you don't understand reformulate the question. Also ask about any known bugs or any issues he think would be hard to solve or something like that. Would be nice to have it recorded but atleast write everything down and if he talks to fast ask him to wait, if it seems appropriate. Atleast that's what I would have liked to know.
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Hello guys. I am sure some gurus are out there, to help me understand the situation. I am thrown into this big surveillance software application. Its not that I don't like this field. It is just that I sometime want to run away. Some of my problems are
+ I dont know the work ethics (how things are done)
+ I dont know when to communicate (how much time should I take for a problem and then report if im stuck)
+ My seniors try to imply that I am behind schedule. Each time I ask something, first sentence that comes is: "If you can not do this then tell the management and I will take over the project".
+ Some politics at work which I am disastrous at.
+ And biggest of all, nobody is telling me how to approach a problem. What should I look for, in the code and nobody is telling me the application life cycle.
Are all of these things normal?? Thanks for any input.
This world is going to explode due to international politics, SOON.
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AmbiguousName wrote: Are all of these things normal?
Not in my experience. If your seniors expect good work from you, then they should be helping you in the areas that you have problems with. You could try talking to your manager about these issues and see what help they are prepared to offer. If they are not prepared to help you at all, then it's time to look for another job.
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There are several distinct problems which must be addressed differently.
Most of what you are referring to is not technical. Thus it is a management problem. Which might or might not be fixable.
You didn't state what 'level' you are. But if you have less then 2 years of actual profession programming experience then your "seniors" and perhaps your company is just wrong in a number of ways.
If you have more and specifically sold yourself as being a self starter then some of this comes back more on you. Certainly if you have say 10 years of experience then not being able to get your head around the tasks is all on you.
The application life cycle shouldn't really matter unless you are being told something is late when you didn't know there was a schedule to start with.
Did you estimate the tasks or did someone else? If it was someone else, regardless of your experience level, and then someone/anyone expects you to take the same amount of time then take comfort in knowing that those people are idiots. Which doesn't ease the situation but might make it easier to approach emotionally.
AmbiguousName wrote: Are all of these things normal??
Unfortunately at some places yes. But not most.
Some few places will proactively help the new person. Most places are bit more lazy in terms of this but they still want the new person to succeed because someone must do the work. And if the new person doesn't/can't then one of the existing people will then have to do all of their work and the additional work as well.
Best you can do at this point is to approach your actual manager, not your teammates and discuss the general frustration with the onboarding (yours) process. Make sure that you do not attempt to make it their problem but rather phrase it as your inability. Doing that way, hopefully, makes it less confrontational for a manager that probably doesn't know how to manage that well.
Or just keep your head down and try, try, try until they accept you.
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