Wrong Planet

Wrong Planet is an online resource and community for those with Asperger's Syndrome.

Yukon and XML

Yukon and XML together... it must be YukonXML.

Software Factories

The idea of a "development environment configured to support the rapid development of a specific type of application" doesn't sound so bad, but when you find out it is called a Software Factory I think it sounds a lot worse. Programming this way might be a lot less fun.

"Other industries added capacity by moving from craftsmanship, where whole products are created from scratch by individuals or small teams, to manufacturing, where a wide range of product variants is rapidly assembled from reusable components created by multiple suppliers, and where machines automate rote or menial tasks."

I have always enjoyed hand-crafted code. Z80 machine code was so much nicer when you compiled it by hand. Assembled code just doesn't compare. ;)

The gatherers of metrics are already trying to turn software development from a craft to a manufacturing activity. Can we measure the development process, and calculate a cpk figure to tell us whether the process is in control? Maybe, but you could just try actually talking to the developer instead.

It may be time to start doing something creative, possibly without the aid of a computer. I'm not sure how many "product variants" I could maintain an interest in.

XAML

xamlon is a XAML engine for current windows platforms. As I don't have a PC available to run Longhorn on this could be useful. How else am I going to run my Hello World in XAML?

Autism Research

Bristol University will search for possible environmental causes.
US National Alliance forAutism Research will search for genetic causes.

Google rank

It's nice that Google ranks my homepage so highly.  I'm wondering if they have changed their algorithm to give a high rank to very modest pages.  If so this can only make the web a nicer place.  :)

Agile links

Agile software from Agileware and exoftware

C Omega

Download the COmega compiler from the Microsoft Research website

Just testing Picasa and Hello 

Useful things

Microsoft Product Feedback site

Visio Stencil for UML from Pavel Hruby

Ten Must-Have tools for .NET

And, not forgetting the Wayback Machine.

New things

New Express versions of Visual Studio tools.

W3C Link checker

Microsoft Sql server dev site

US Changing Climate

This is really good news, US scientists who have called on Bush to act on climate change.

Were they waiting for the film to come out first?

Venus Transit

The safest way to observe the venus transit is online.

If Tycho Brahe was around today, I'm sure he'd be observing it that way.

You can also project the image with a pair of binoculars, which is safer than using scratched filters of dubious origin.

Looking for a good domain name

This site will help you to find a good domain name.

.Net Security

A .NET Developer's Guide to Windows Security, by Keith Brown

The world is about to become a safer place

I like MI5's ten tips for tackling terrorism especially number 4:

4. Keep gardens free from dense shrubbery

Well, it looks like we've solved the problem of global terrorism, but look what it's done to biodiversity!

XML based wiki

This is work in progress. Eventually it should be an XML based wiki.

Does gmail really work?

It can't be right. I haven't had any spam from my old friend Abnegator H. Aerator.

GMail

I'm very impressed by gmail. I like not having to delete things, and I'm getting used to the conversations feature. Searching is very good. But the best thing by far, is my new email address, it's my name, no numbers or underscore characters, just MyFirstName.MySurname@gmail.com.
I don't have a problem with the ads. I hope they keep the interface as simple as it is now, even with broadband it's nice to have pages that load quickly.

SQL Injection attacks

An article on SQL Injection Attacks and how to protect against them.