I’m a huge Live Mesh fan.  If you haven’t tried it yet, it is a service from Microsoft that allows you to create folders “in the cloud” (what they call your “live desktop”).  There are a lot of services that let you store files online, but what sets Live Mesh apart is that it allows you to synchronize the folders with devices. 

For example, I create a folder called “Class Notes” in my Live Desktop

Then I can synchronize that folder to any computer(s) that I have installed the Live Mesh client software.

This makes files in that folder available off line on that machine and pushes any changes back up to the Live Desktop as well as pulls changes from the Live Desktop.

So far, I haven’t had any issues with the synchronization and this has proven a valuable resource for keeping track of documents and things that I am working on with multiple computers.

It Gets Better

Ok… so that’s the standard use case and that alone is pretty awesome.  Here’s another one.  I created a live mesh folder called “Programs” that I put stand alone (no installer required) programs in.  Now I have access to Sysinternals, notepad++, FF 3.1Beta, etc from all computers that  I use.  I update a program on one computer and it is updated on all my computers!  This feels like the time that I got my first flash drive (a pre-release 64mb Crucial Gizmo!) :)

The XPS 1530 is a powerful laptop, but has some slight issues.  Overall I think that it is a great value (esp if bought refurbished or on sale).

Specs as tested

• Intel T9300 2.6ghz with 6MB cache
• 4 GB DDR2 RAM
• 250GB 5400RPM HD
• 256MB NIVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
• 15.4in WUXGA screen
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Cost Refurbished: $1179

Overall Performance

I have been extremely pleased with the performance of this laptop.  Even when running multiple instances of Visual Studio (with Resharper), Outlook, Firefox, SQL Server, Reflector, and iTunes it is quick and there are few "slow" spots.  I have optimized the installation of vista as much as possible (no Aero, few startup programs) and am using a fast SDHC MMC card as a ReadyBoost drive - I am sure these help.

Screen

The brightness and resolution (1920×1200) are wonderful and combine with WinSplit Revolution make for a very productive experience.  The screen is glossy, which I don’t prefer - it seems to be quite susceptible to glare.

SIze, Weight, and Feel

The size and weight are great especially considering the size and resolution of the screen.  A lighter than my work provided Gateway 465 and it feels more solid too.  However… this is where my complaints start… the keyboard is just mediocre, it doesn’t feel as good as dell’s that I have had in the past and isn’t as good as my most recent gateway, either.  The touchpad is of poor quality, and I have had intermittent issues with it locking up. 

Other

Heat is an issue with this laptop - its main cooling vent is particularly prone to becoming blocked when the laptop is put on anything that isn’t perfectly flat and hard.  Even when the vent is not obstructed the laptop seems to run hotter than it should.  Noise level is great - the laptop is almost silent all the time.  The fingerprint reader is nice and I like the slot loading DVD drive.

Conclusion

I would buy it again, the heat isn’t a real problem, just something that I have to be aware of.  I don’t use the touchpad that much (I’m all about the trackball) so that isn’t a deal-breaker either.

Pros: performance, screen resolution and brightness, weight, price

Cons: heat, keyboard, touchpad, glossy screen

I’ve been working on a new project lately - it is going to be a real life, public web startup-like thingy.   Stay tuned… :)

Some areas of computer science are well researched.  Think of computer graphics (SIGGRAPH), AI, or even programming languages - these areas are all well researched in the academic community.  Not only are they well researched but the reasearch being done in these areas provides great benefit to the industry.

Software Development (or Engineering), however, is not.  The ACM has a special interest group dedicated to the study of Software Engineering but from what I have seen most the research that is conducted under this group is, to put it bluntly, irreveleant.  The problem is that software engineering can’t be isolated like a ray tracing algorithm can.  Software engineering is about people and processes and what works and what doesn’t work - none of which are easy to measure or test.

I am currently attempting to write a paper on Test-Driven Development and Behaviour-Driven development.  It is for my undergraduate senior seminar (a capstone class - kind of) and is supposed to be based on peer-reviewed research.  The problem is that the peer-reviewed research is lagging behind practice by several years.  There has been some scholarly research done on test-first software development (TDD) but not too much.  There has been some research done on specific aspects of software testing but again, not too much.

As easy as it would be to say “the academic institution has failed”, I can’t. I understand why little research has been done on TDD and why none has been done on BDD. It is hard.

Imagine that you are a researcher who wants to see if BDD is “better than” TDD.  First define “better than” as reducing the number of defects in a released software system and reducing the amount of time to design and implement a software system.  To get a point of reference we will need to be able to measure how large a “software system” is.  While hard, this is doable software engineers have come up with all sorts of metrics - pick one (or an aggregate of a couple) and stick with it.  Next we need to find huge group of software development teams - some need to be using TDD and some need to be using BDD.  Before they all start projects we have to have them (or us) measure the size of the projects that they are about to start.  We need to judge their compitency using either TDD or BDD.  Then we have to follow all the teams throughout the development process observing how things go.  After the software is released we can measure how much time each project took.  We also need to start tracking software defects as the life of each software system goes on.

Once we gather all this data we can do some math and statistics and figure out which practice is better. Right?  Well… maybe.  The first issue is that in order for there to be any confidence in this study we would need to study hundereds if not thousands of software development teams in order to balance out the different sizes of projects, the different environments that they systems are being developed in, and the skill levels of the different teams. Then you have to take other things into consideration: Is there a bias against BDD since it is a newer methodology and the teams using it have less experience with it?  Is there a bias against TDD because more advanced and experienced teams will move to BDD quicker? Like I said, it is hard.  Measuring something as simple seeming as “is TDD or BDD more effective?” turns out to be an amazingly large undertaking.

There doesn’t seem to be an easy answer to this - hopefully academic research in the area of software engineering will progress but only time will tell.

 Nick blogged about why ASP.Net Repeaters Suck the other week and talked about using foreach loops in your .aspx.  I love this and have been doing it for a while - the strong typing and consice syntax is great.  However, sometimes I need format data based on odd and even rows…

 <table>

   <tr class='Row'><td></td></tr>

   <tr class='AltRow'>...</tr>

</table>

To accomplish this I created a helper function in the page code behind:

protected void Foreach<T>(IEnumerable<T> enumerable, Proc<T, int> action){

 int i = 0;

 foreach(T t in enumerable){

    action(t, i);

  i++

}

}

Then in the .aspx

<%Foreach(People, (person, i) => { %>

  <tr class='<%=i%2==0 ?  "Row" : "AltRow"%>'><td><%=person.FullName%></td></tr>

<%});%>

Just what I needed!

I often use the /console option in Remote Desktop to connect to an existing session.  Generally I leave my desktop logged in and locked at work - if I need to access any files on it remotely I can VPN into my works network and use Remote Desktop to connect to “computername.work.edu /console” and it will connect to my existing session. It’s great, because it means I can leave VS or SQL Server Management Studio open and acces my work right from where I left off.

However, after installing the latest RC of SP3 on my laptop, I can no longer connect from my  laptop to my desktop.  I can’t find a work around and have downgraded back to SP2 and am happily Remoting again :)

 Microsoft’s managed operating system Singularity was released into codeplex yesterday:Singularity RDK - Home.  This is quite exciting and will surely make for some great code reading.  Another .NET managed OS: Cosmos.

From: IEBlog : Microsoft’s Interoperability Principles and IE8

We’ve decided that IE8 will, by default, interpret web content in the most standards compliant way it can. This decision is a change from what we’ve posted previously.

I have been really encouraged by Msft lately. Sure, they are evil, I know; but the great job they seem to be doing with ASP.NET MCV and this reversal both show that they aren’t pure evil.

Sycamore Canyon is one of our favorite hiking spots:

View Larger Map

Last weekend we took a nice hike up the "Scenic Trail" and the "fire road overlook trail".

It was a good hike with some nice views of the ocean and surrounding area.  However while hiking we saw:

A BEAUTIFUL GREEN VALLEY.  And so, our quest began.  On the return leg of the hike we noticed a trail that cut from the main fire road: "Serrano Valley   2.7mi".  My instinct told me that was our valley…

So, this Saturday we return, excited to find this thing of beauty… is it true that a green valley exists in socal?

So, take the 101 to Kannan to the 1 drive north for 8 miles (or so) and pull a u-turn at Sycamore Cove.  Park on the side of the road and hike to the trailhead (no way we are paying $10 to park).  Up the fire road for a little over a mile and turn right on the trail marked leading to Seranno Valley.  It was one of the nicest hikes we have taken anywhere near here.  Tons of green, lots of shade, great views…

The trail follows a stream most of the way, repeatedly (like a dozen times?) crossing over it…

Wonderful. 

And, to top it off, the trail did lead us to our green valley:

AWESOME:

that one is worth checking out in full size :D

 More pictures if you care…