This book is a bit dated and gears to Vista.
The examples in the CD will not install on XP nor Windows 2008. This book is not a good fit for IIS 7 on anything other than Vista.
On ASP:
Microsoft is a horrid platform to do Web programming. ASP is pure pain.
Windows 2008 is a horrible server platform. Nothing is installed by default. You'd have to dig dig and dig to get http://localhost to work. After you get the web server to work, the management tools are missing! Outrageously difficult to set up a working IIS that serve something.
Hell, Windows 95 was a snap to get the PWS (personal web server) to work. Not newer Windows. Hands are tied.
The best web development platform ever is PHP on Linux.
On Book:
This book has a nice history chapter. ASP 3.5 of today is not the ASP in the 90's with defunct tools like Visual Interdev. ASP today tries to pretend that web programming is like regular old desktop app programming. In my opinion ASP fails miserably. Sure, ASP is capable and probably useful for SQL Server based apps. But there is no joy in programing ASP.
The books reads well, however if you try the examples, you will find absolutely nothing is worth doing and nothing works.
ASP is just the tip of the iceberg. There is Web Parts and ASP.NET AJAX and a myraid of Microsoft things that are kind of it and in high demand.
Want to learn ASP.NET? this book is not it.
I need a book that works in a relevant Windows version like Windows 7 and Windows 2008, not Vista.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Politics - Need Term Limits
There is only one answer to politics and that's term limits.
From TV ads we see well dressed guys walk around talking and reading papers. Are these our representatives? I think not. At first they are these well meaning guys, but given a few years they become career politicians and they don't do a good job anymore. All the corrupt and incompetent and push-over congressmen that we have now were in these walking, hand shaking ads. What happened to them? They are there too long and have lost all desire to work for the people and neighbors they represent.
I say vote all incumbents out, and bring in new candidates every election season.
My rules:
Why is transportation so important? A steward can handle small things can handle big things. If a small thing such as transportation is shown to be used in poor judgment, the guy must be removed from office.
Every candidate say they have good momentum near the primary. I'm like, how do they measure that. If you go shake hands with some guy in the train station or a diner, will that guy vote for you?
Go vote tomorrow!
From TV ads we see well dressed guys walk around talking and reading papers. Are these our representatives? I think not. At first they are these well meaning guys, but given a few years they become career politicians and they don't do a good job anymore. All the corrupt and incompetent and push-over congressmen that we have now were in these walking, hand shaking ads. What happened to them? They are there too long and have lost all desire to work for the people and neighbors they represent.
I say vote all incumbents out, and bring in new candidates every election season.
My rules:
- Term Limits - 2 terms max for every public post.
- Representatives who are caught texting, playing solatire or sleeping during hearings are automatically fired.
- Abuse transportation (private planes, multiple cars, etc) folks are automatically fired.
Why is transportation so important? A steward can handle small things can handle big things. If a small thing such as transportation is shown to be used in poor judgment, the guy must be removed from office.
Every candidate say they have good momentum near the primary. I'm like, how do they measure that. If you go shake hands with some guy in the train station or a diner, will that guy vote for you?
Go vote tomorrow!
24 - Out of Steam
I am VERY disappointed this season of 24. Dudes mumble, snap at each other and shoot at each other in silencer guns. Mr. Jack Bauer is not shining at all this season. Renee Walker shows up now as all washed up and she has one and only one constipated and resentful expression. Choloe does nothing now. I adore Katee Sackoff from Battlestar, she now plays a CTU agent. She has lost all charm and she is now a push-over. I don't care about President Taylor and the other President.
Sigh.
I will give 24 a few more hours if things don't improve I will just leave the show.
Sigh.
I will give 24 a few more hours if things don't improve I will just leave the show.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Life Boat in the Ocean Liner
There is profound wisdom in the following quote I heard from a friend this week:
Employers generally have no interest in building your career or care a bit about your health. There are phony pamphlets that says they want you to stop smoking or stop being fat. What they really want is that you not to cost so much to insure, they could care less if you are sick or not personally. The salary is a carefully calculated number for you to just barely sustain your expenses. You cannot accumulate wealth with a salary. There is one and only sensible way to have a bunch of money working in a cubicle and that's the magic of 401k done right. But by 65, you're near death, what good is the money? Therefore you must workout vigorously and regularly and live beyond the expect death line of 65. You could certainly make a fortune in the stock market, but that's a loser's game. Why would the government surrender your own money and social security at 65? Because they figure you will be dead by then. Don't let them have that joy. Keep in shape, live near 85 in defiance!
No sense of worth and accomplishment can ever come out of a cubicle job. I should have listened to my dad. What kind of folk end up in a cubicle? People who wouldn't take the risk to work for themselves at their youth in exchange of the perception of stability.
No one looks out for you at the cubicle. There will be at most modest 3% inflation raise. For most years it's less than that. There is no just promotion for the cubicle dude. If there were any promotions, they were for the wrong people and wrong reasons. If a manager leave, what do they do, they hire someone from outside, would they promote a lowly cubicle dweller? never. You will hear that some Cinderella CEO started at the mail room and worked his way to the board room by hard work. Well, I bet Cindy here didn't stop at a cubicle. A cubicle is a dead end and there is no ball to go.
There can be no creative energy in the cubicle farm. Just mediocrity. The defeated cubicle worker is driven by the desire to be invisible and not responsible for anything worth doing - i.e. don't rock the boat. Not all cubicles are bad, if and only if the work place is a (or works like a) start up with brilliant fresh minds. (e.g. Pixar, Google, etc)
You, my probably cubicle friend, are responsible for your own success. If you are not too deep in financial burdens, you must work (or plan to work) for yourself. All schools are trade schools, they give you an already obsolete skill and will not teach you money and career management skills. These things are told by good dads. Listen to your dad!
Offices and businesses close left and right. Are you ready? Do you have your skills up to date? Is your employer ready to collapse like so many businesses?
You must be ready - you must have a life boat ready before the ocean liner crash in the iceberg.
The economy is in serious bad shape. Office buildings are empty! A lowly cubicle is now a treasure to hold.
You must have a lifeboat before the ship hit the iceberg.
Employers generally have no interest in building your career or care a bit about your health. There are phony pamphlets that says they want you to stop smoking or stop being fat. What they really want is that you not to cost so much to insure, they could care less if you are sick or not personally. The salary is a carefully calculated number for you to just barely sustain your expenses. You cannot accumulate wealth with a salary. There is one and only sensible way to have a bunch of money working in a cubicle and that's the magic of 401k done right. But by 65, you're near death, what good is the money? Therefore you must workout vigorously and regularly and live beyond the expect death line of 65. You could certainly make a fortune in the stock market, but that's a loser's game. Why would the government surrender your own money and social security at 65? Because they figure you will be dead by then. Don't let them have that joy. Keep in shape, live near 85 in defiance!
A cubicle job - it is what it is. 工字打不出頭 - there is no success working for someone else
No sense of worth and accomplishment can ever come out of a cubicle job. I should have listened to my dad. What kind of folk end up in a cubicle? People who wouldn't take the risk to work for themselves at their youth in exchange of the perception of stability.
No one looks out for you at the cubicle. There will be at most modest 3% inflation raise. For most years it's less than that. There is no just promotion for the cubicle dude. If there were any promotions, they were for the wrong people and wrong reasons. If a manager leave, what do they do, they hire someone from outside, would they promote a lowly cubicle dweller? never. You will hear that some Cinderella CEO started at the mail room and worked his way to the board room by hard work. Well, I bet Cindy here didn't stop at a cubicle. A cubicle is a dead end and there is no ball to go.
There can be no creative energy in the cubicle farm. Just mediocrity. The defeated cubicle worker is driven by the desire to be invisible and not responsible for anything worth doing - i.e. don't rock the boat. Not all cubicles are bad, if and only if the work place is a (or works like a) start up with brilliant fresh minds. (e.g. Pixar, Google, etc)
You, my probably cubicle friend, are responsible for your own success. If you are not too deep in financial burdens, you must work (or plan to work) for yourself. All schools are trade schools, they give you an already obsolete skill and will not teach you money and career management skills. These things are told by good dads. Listen to your dad!
Offices and businesses close left and right. Are you ready? Do you have your skills up to date? Is your employer ready to collapse like so many businesses?
You must be ready - you must have a life boat ready before the ocean liner crash in the iceberg.
The economy is in serious bad shape. Office buildings are empty! A lowly cubicle is now a treasure to hold.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
ipad - another winner
Leave it to Apple to lead.
Sure, we already have Kindle and Kindle wannabe's. But the Kindle is boring black and white device designed for folks who like to read Fabio covered romance novels in discrete. I have no use for a Kindle. I demand color and apps.
But the Apple iPad is full color and it's a well thought out tablet computer that IS another winner. People love to complain, complain it has no camera, sealed battery, no 3G and so on. This is the debut first version! Cooler features will come later. And by now do you expect Apple will have a door behind its devices so you can change a battery?
With tablets, you can read the newspaper on the breakfast table! (I predicted that 30 years ago!) Sure, there had been many failed efforts for tablet computing. This iPad will be torn apart by copy cat manufacturers in Asia and we will have another category of computers. This iPad is a winner.
Will I rush out to the Apple store and get one?
If I am rich, yes, but I am not. Sigh.
Sure, we already have Kindle and Kindle wannabe's. But the Kindle is boring black and white device designed for folks who like to read Fabio covered romance novels in discrete. I have no use for a Kindle. I demand color and apps.
But the Apple iPad is full color and it's a well thought out tablet computer that IS another winner. People love to complain, complain it has no camera, sealed battery, no 3G and so on. This is the debut first version! Cooler features will come later. And by now do you expect Apple will have a door behind its devices so you can change a battery?
With tablets, you can read the newspaper on the breakfast table! (I predicted that 30 years ago!) Sure, there had been many failed efforts for tablet computing. This iPad will be torn apart by copy cat manufacturers in Asia and we will have another category of computers. This iPad is a winner.
Will I rush out to the Apple store and get one?
If I am rich, yes, but I am not. Sigh.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Goodbye Conan
I taped and watched the entire last show of Conan. Conan gave a nice heartfelt speech at the end of it all. Good luck, I'm sure to see Conan again.
I thought Jay had a under performing show, that's why the NBC execs try to shuffle the same shows around, and so affected Conan. It turns out Conan's show didn't do well either. The NBC tried to push the Tonight show to tomorrow(!) at 12:05. Foolish execs react on data again.
Conan is like Rodimus Prime here. Rodimus only lead the Autobots for 1 TV season (3rd and final season of Generation 1), and the writers and producers had to bring Optimus Prime back from the dead for the same reason, low ratings. Even Optimus can't save the Transformers. Transformers disappeared from TV for the next 20 years. I predict Jay will not do as well after this.
I personally didn't like Conan's show so much, but the show was shutdown too early. I am not worried about Conan though; He's tens of millions richer. Come on NBC execs, is this worth it?
I thought Jay had a under performing show, that's why the NBC execs try to shuffle the same shows around, and so affected Conan. It turns out Conan's show didn't do well either. The NBC tried to push the Tonight show to tomorrow(!) at 12:05. Foolish execs react on data again.
Conan is like Rodimus Prime here. Rodimus only lead the Autobots for 1 TV season (3rd and final season of Generation 1), and the writers and producers had to bring Optimus Prime back from the dead for the same reason, low ratings. Even Optimus can't save the Transformers. Transformers disappeared from TV for the next 20 years. I predict Jay will not do as well after this.
I personally didn't like Conan's show so much, but the show was shutdown too early. I am not worried about Conan though; He's tens of millions richer. Come on NBC execs, is this worth it?
Friday, January 22, 2010
Underwhelmed by Windows 7 (again)
Windows 7 is suppose to rejuvenate the PC after epic failure that is Vista with touch based computing. (My Vista box lock up every now and then, and I'm quite sick of it)
I was at the grand computer store today and looked forward to see some cool displays of what Microsoft and hardware vendors had to offer. HP All in One is clearly the leader. But nope, not on display.
What's available are lame-o touch screen offerings are from Sony and Gateway. I will never buy from these guys. I just don't like their brands and mostly thoughtless hardware designs (that's an impression). The Windows touch apps on display are hit or miss. You can play a game of old Solitaire with your fingers, and do some math on the calculator, but can't move the apps around. The Microsoft Globe app is downright underwhelming. It ain't Google Earth, I can tell you that.
Touch based computer could be close to Minority Report style computing. The mouse is not intuitive at all. Move a thing on the table to make the arrow move? Most computer users have learned to be counter intuitive and accepted the mouse, and feel awkward touching the screen.
I wish Windows 7 touch would be a compelling reason to buy Microsoft. From what I've seen, it is just not buy-able yet. I have yet to see the HP. From the demo videos, I like it. I am NOT buying that on line without test driving it. Come on stores, bring them out! HP need to learn how to market. Plenty of stores (Staples, Walmart, etc) have HP on display, but only their boring models, not the sexy All in One with TV Tuner. Just dumb net books and boring old desktops.
Apple is the KING of marketing, Apple stores are hip, and the products are super nice and slick.
Will Apple announce some awesome product? They just might.
People sneer at Apple and say the are overpriced, but they are really jealous of their success.
The HP All in One is a winner, with blue ray, too but where can I see it? If Apple ever come up with something cool. I KNOW I can go see it at the Apple store.
I was at the grand computer store today and looked forward to see some cool displays of what Microsoft and hardware vendors had to offer. HP All in One is clearly the leader. But nope, not on display.
What's available are lame-o touch screen offerings are from Sony and Gateway. I will never buy from these guys. I just don't like their brands and mostly thoughtless hardware designs (that's an impression). The Windows touch apps on display are hit or miss. You can play a game of old Solitaire with your fingers, and do some math on the calculator, but can't move the apps around. The Microsoft Globe app is downright underwhelming. It ain't Google Earth, I can tell you that.
Touch based computer could be close to Minority Report style computing. The mouse is not intuitive at all. Move a thing on the table to make the arrow move? Most computer users have learned to be counter intuitive and accepted the mouse, and feel awkward touching the screen.
I wish Windows 7 touch would be a compelling reason to buy Microsoft. From what I've seen, it is just not buy-able yet. I have yet to see the HP. From the demo videos, I like it. I am NOT buying that on line without test driving it. Come on stores, bring them out! HP need to learn how to market. Plenty of stores (Staples, Walmart, etc) have HP on display, but only their boring models, not the sexy All in One with TV Tuner. Just dumb net books and boring old desktops.
Apple is the KING of marketing, Apple stores are hip, and the products are super nice and slick.
Will Apple announce some awesome product? They just might.
People sneer at Apple and say the are overpriced, but they are really jealous of their success.
The HP All in One is a winner, with blue ray, too but where can I see it? If Apple ever come up with something cool. I KNOW I can go see it at the Apple store.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
