Upon ready the survey I must say that I was not surprised to see the results. I’m not saying that I condone the use rather that I see such poor manners each and every day.

Let me ask you this. Have you ever walked into your local grocery store, favorite restaurant, or stopped to get gas only to have someone standing in front of you with a cell phone glued to their ear? I’m sure you have and you most likely you was in a hurry only to realize the idiot on the phone has no care in the world except for the conversation happening in their own little world. Here is an idea, the next technology breakthrough should come in the form a killing cell phone signals as soon as you enter a business establishment

Do you fall into the 91% of folks that bring other to the edge of rage? What annoying mobile habits of people do you see that bother you? If you have a story that just drive you nuts, leave a comment and share the horror with others.

I can speak to my own experience that the life is a mixed bag of tricks and definitely has its ups and downs, but I would not trade it for anything in the world. Well except for maybe a promotion!

Sadness

Removing Barriers

Fun

Real Intelligence

Working With Others

Skilled Communications

Life And Death Decisions

As you have saw, a software developer’s life is unique to say the very least. Do you have what it takes?

FreeTechBooks

This site lists free online computer science, engineering and programming books, textbooks and lecture notes, all of which are legally and freely available over the Internet.

Zillr.org

This site lists free online computer science, engineering and programming books.

FreeComputerBooks

Consists of a huge collection of Free online Computer, Programming, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technical Books, Lecture Notes and Tutorials. It is very well categorized by topics, with 12 top level categories, and over 150 sub-categories. It has both pattern and keywords search engines for you to find the titles quickly.

OnlineFreeEBooks

The most imitated free ebook site.

Free Programming Books

Here is a categorized list of online programming books available for free download. The books cover all major programming languages: Ada, Assembly, Basic, C, C#, C++, CGI, JavaScript, Perl, Delphi, Pascal, Haskell, Java, Lisp, PHP, Prolog, Python, Ruby, as well as some other languages, game programming, and software engineering.

Do you have a favorite resource? If so what is it?

Products may include but are not limited to shareware, freeware, commercial, and open source. I will not be targeting any on aspect of software engineering rather I will suggest tools and products that can also make you much more productive in your day to day activities.

Redgate .NET Reflector

Cost: Free

This is a gem and I have been using it for many years going back to the days when Lutz Roeder owned this product before turning it over to Redgate. Kudos for Redgate on maintaining this product and keeping it free!

Description: NET Reflector enables you to easily view, navigate, and search through the class hierarchies of .NET assemblies, even if you don’t have the code for them. With it, you can decompile and analyze .NET assemblies in C#, Visual Basic, and IL.

Feature List:

1. Full support for .NET 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5
2. Windows Shell Integration – Run Reflector.exe /register to register file extension
3. Assembly lists for .NET 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, Compact Framework 2.0, Compact Framework 3.5, XNA framework, Silverlight, Mono, and Direct X for Managed Code
4. Click navigation of source code
5. Find where types are exposed or instantiated
6. Expand methods
7. Linq query expression support
8. Lambda expression support
9. Anonymous methods and nullable type support
10. Extension method support
11. Context-sensitive documentation view
12. Find virtual method overrides
13. Code URL support – Navigate to code://mscorlib/System.Object in IE
14. Explore resources in assemblies

Summary:

If you ever find yourself needing to peek inside an assembly then I believe you will be hard pressed to find a comparable product for the same cost (which is FREE). Also another benefit is the ability to to incorporate a number of useful add-ins found at the CodePlex community. If you have never used Reflector then I highly suggest taking the time to evaluate this product.

Ghostdoc

Cost: Free

Description: GhostDoc is a free Visual Studio extension that automatically generates XML documentation comments for methods and properties based on their type, parameters, name, and other contextual information. When generating documentation for class derived from a base class or for interface implementation (e.g. .NET Framework or your custom framework), GhostDoc will use the documentation that Microsoft or the framework vendor has already written for the base class or interface. Originally owned by Roland Weigelt, he turned this product over to SubMain who has pledged to maintain and distributed the product free of charge.

Feature List:

1. Generates XML comments based on code element type, parameters, name, and other contextual information
2. For a derived class uses the base class documentation
3. Assignable shortcut (default Ctrl-Shift-D)
4. Configurable rules, acronyms and macros
5. Import/Export of the configuration and the rules
6. Option to re-build documentation

Summary:

If you are documenting your work and you know that you should be then this product can greatly assist in completing this task. It is simple to install and better yet it is very simple to use. Do not miss this one!

JetBrains Resharper

Cost: Free – $349

Description: ReSharper provides solution-wide error highlighting on the fly, instant solutions for found errors, over 30 advanced code refactorings, superior unit testing tools, handy navigation and search features, single-click code formatting and cleanup, automatic code generation and templates, and a lot more productivity features for C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, XML, and XAML.

Feature List:

Check out the detailed Feature Map for yourself.

Summary:

Bottom line is you write code within the Visual Studio .NET IDE then you really should give this product a look and determine if it is a fit. While there are similar products in the market, I find myself turning back to Resharper time and time again.

Balsamiq UI Mockup

Cost: Free – $79

Description: This product I ran across while reading the January 2010 edition of MSDN Magazine in Scott Mitchell’s Toolbox editor. I have not tried this product myself but I intend to do so in the near future. Using Balsamiq Mockups feels like you are drawing, but it’s digital, so you can tweak and rearrange controls easily, and the end result is much cleaner. Teams can come up with a design and iterate over it in real-time in the course of a meeting. Product managers, designers, developers and even clients can now work together in the same tool to quickly iterate over software mockups, before writing code.

Feature List:

1. Fast, intuitive user interface
2. Seventy-Five Ready-to-Use Controls
3. Shortcuts Everywhere
4. Property Inspectors: Always Nearby, Never in Your Way
5. Unlimited Undo and Redo

Summary:

As Scott stated, you can use other such as Microsoft Visio or Visual Studio Designer, but showing non-technical stakeholders a polished mockup may lead them to believe the work is nearly done.

This product looks to be very promising. The fact that these mockups look as though they were hand drawn is impressive. Balsamiq offers an engaged user community, robust help and tutorials, as well as frequently asked questions.

Have you personally used any of these products? If so, how have they helped you? Do you have a tool that you just cannot live without, then leave a comment and share it with others.

The one thing that drives me nuts is those sites that do not provide printer friendly versions of content or if they do it contains logos and other unnecessary images.

Everyone has their own idea when it comes to this topic and while I tend to lean to 100% text when it comes to printer friendly pages there are exceptions to this rule. Just use common sense in this area and you will do fine. Take the following as good example of 100% text:

How To Implement Printer Friendly Pages

There are a number of ways you can do this and I will touch on two.

1. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
2. Third Party Sources

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

A print style sheet works basically in the same manner as the screen type with a slight difference which is to exclude the content that you do not want to be printed and setting the appropriate media type. Once you have your stylesheet in place all the remains is to reference this stylesheet in your web pages, for example:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="print.css" type="text/css" media="print" />

In this case the print.css may be represented by:

/* Remove unwanted elements */
#header, #nav, #sidebar
{
display: none;
}

/* Ensure the content spans the full width */
#container, #body, #content
{
width: 100%; margin: 0; float: none;
}

/* Improve color of links */
a:link, a:visited
{
color: #781351
}

As you see by employing CSS it is not difficult to give your readers a medium to print content without them have to spend their hard earned case on ink.

Third Party Sources

If you are like I am and do not want to reinvent the wheel there are a number of third party resources you can use to accomplish the same goal as CSS all without the additional overhead of doing the actual work. One of my absolute favorites is Instapaper which handles a number of mediums that include computer, paper, mobile devices, and the Kindle. While I am a heavy user of Instapaper there are others you may also find useful.

• PrintWhatYouLike.com
• PrinterFriendly.com

Conclusion

Printer friendly web pages in many cases is a must and if you have not implemented such a solution to enhance your readers experience then what are you waiting for? It is not a difficult nor a time consuming process and the payoff is worth its weight in gold.

What have you found works best for you? Do you employ CSS or is there a service that does the job for you? Please take a moment a share any resource that you are aware of so others may evaluate it to determine its merit.

It is always best to research background data and you may find Sexy Web Design – Free 71 Page Preview! interesting. You’ll be guided through the entire process of creating a gorgeous, usable web site by applying the timeless principles of user-centered design. Even if you’re short on design skills, with this book you’ll be creating your own stunning web sites in no time at all.

Now that you have your website’s graphical user interface looking stunning it is time to turn your concentration to optimization. Of course there are a number of options you may pursue which may include do it yourself (DIY) for those that are knowledgeable when it comes to XHTML or you could even contract out to a third party vendor to do the work for you. Only you can determine which situation works best and in either case the result will be worth it’s weight in gold. For the purpose of this article I will take the DIY individual.

While optimization my cover an extensive points of view I will provide a number of key thoughts your should keep in mind as well as a handful of websites and products that can provide valuable feedback when it comes to potential suggestions you may take to improve optimization.

Tips

1. Understand the differences between the various image formats. The typical images types used today are JPG, PNG, and GIF. Keep in mind that by reducing the quality will reduce the overall file size however you do not want to reduce the quality so much that the image becomes grainy. Also keep in mind the various issues that extend across browsers. For example, Internet Explorer 6.0 has problems with PNG image types.
2. Never assume your visitors are using the browser that you prefer. While it would be a perfect world if we did not have to test across a number of browsers and versions of those browsers this will never occur. Of course if you have a requirement that states the users will employ a specific browser vendor and version then you job just became that much easier. The truth is this is rarely the case.
3. Use CSS to control your layout. Stay away from tables at all cost!
4. Compress your CSS files. The following websites can help greatly in this endeavor:
   • CSS Optimizer
   • CSS Drive
   • CSS Compressor
5. Compress and merge you JavaScript files into as few as possible. If you are using JQuery then consider using the cloud to retrieve JQuery or at the very least be sure to use the minified version. While Google and other host JQuery in the cloud I tend to use Microsoft. Here are those URLs:
   • http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.validate/1.5.5/jquery.validate.js
   • http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.validate/1.5.5/jquery.validate.min.js
   • http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery.validate/1.5.5/jquery.validate-vsdoc.js
6. Consider the use of HTTP compression. While this may or may not be an option in all cases it is none the less something you should consider.

Resources

There are a number of resources that you can use all of which can be free or expensive depending upon your taste. In either case these resources can provide a wealth of information to better assist you in determining what steps to take next.

1. WebSiteOptimization.com
2. Pingdom Tools
3. InternetSupervision
4. Uptrends.com
5. Page Speed – my favorite
6. Fiddler
7. HttpWatch

Conclusion

There you have it! While there are many more tools that can assist you in addressing this issue I hope that you have found this to be both informative and inspiring. In fact I recently ran page speed on my own site and I have some finding that I noticed required my attention. We are all guilty of neglecting optimization however by taking advance of these tools and tips maybe you also can increase you websites performance.

If you have a tip or a favorite tool that you find beneficial, feel free to leave a comment and share that knowledge with others. By collaborating and sharing information together we can make surfing the web a better experience.

All one must do to clearly see one area of technology that the population has clearly embraced is the area of cell phones. If I was to guess you probably have one of these mobile devices… Come on, you know that you do. There is nothing wrong with doing so and in fact I have had a BlackBerry for years and this year I finally broke down and purchased my daughter her first phone. I am absolutely amazed at how cell phones have become a major cornerstone of the current day teen’s life.

According to the Harris Interactive study which was released just over a year ago this month, second to clothing, teens say a cell phone tells the most about a person’s social status or popularity, outranking jewelry, watches and shoes. The study also found that cell phones are fast becoming a social necessity among teens. A majority (57 percent) view their cell phone as the key to their social life.

To be honest I have a love/hate relationship with my BlackBerry . I love the fact that I can use it to make free calls on nights and weekends, send and receive short quick text message, and stay connected to the internet in the event I need directions or to locate a Starbucks to get my coffee fix. I hate the fact that the devices are expensive, data plans are expensive, and the long contracts. It just drives me crazy that I am paying 50% of the cost of my home internet connection cost for my mobile device which we all know is not as robust as that laptop sitting on your home desk. I have a radical idea, why doesn’t someone offer an internet package that I can use both at home and when I am mobile?

I wanted to touch on education in the field of technology. As rapidly as technology changes, which seems to be every few years this means current students in today’s four year educational system means a portion of what they are taught will be outdated by the time they graduate and there is no signs of technology slowing. I come from the school of hard knocks which means I received my education after I had gained years of experience in this industry and I can tell you that after 15 years now the vast change is overwhelming at times. However, if we are to be successful then we must look beyond to tools we have today to solve the problem of tomorrow. I submit to you the following. Jobs that will be available in 2010 did not exist in 2000 or at best the technology then was considered futuristic. If that does not make you stop and think then look at it this way. Modern day our children that we are educating are be prepped for a job that no one has thought of. How mind boggling is that?

Finally, have you ever wondered what your virtual counterpart in cyberspace is searching for? Google trends will give you an idea of the topics people are looking for greater details about. In fact at the time of this post the #5 search tend out of 100 was “stink bug control”. Wow, now where ever said technology was not beneficial. I suppose those individuals could he jumped into their car and drove to the local library for the information but it seems to much more efficient to bang out a few words on the keyword and I say this is a good thing. Hmmm, makes you wonder what everyone did B.G. (before Google ).

InformationWeek is a weekly magazine that combines the goals of business with technology to help you make the strategic decisions that affect your company’s bottom line. InformationWeek is the only newsweekly you’ll need to stay on top of the latest developments in information technology. In-depth editorial focuses on the strategic side of technology to help you make decisions that affect your company’s bottom line.

From product reviews to real-world case studies, InformationWeek has the technology field covered.That’s why more than 440,000 savvy IT and business professionals count on InformationWeek for reporting and analysis.

I am sure that there a great number of you out there that one time or another found yourself having to make due with the tools and equipment you have knowing all to well that you could perform you just much better if management would just invest money to make money. Now I admit that I am not an artist so do not laugh at my stickman drawing. Does this sound familiar to you at all?

What are your thoughts on this subject? Have you ever found yourself neck deep in a project and fighting the clock when your tools you have are inadequate? If so I would love to hear your opinion on this matter. Here are just a few of my thoughts:

1. Customers not understanding what they want.
2. Poor specifications.
3. Changing specifications.
4. Why must a developer have the same spec for his or her development box as the manager who fires up Excel and Outlook.
5. Inheriting a software application that was poorly developed and contains no documentation.
6. Lack of software tools to efficiently perform the job.

What are the things that make you daily life unbearable?

It appears that Apple is waging war in the mobile industry… and there’s some questions as to whether or not they’re playing fair. Apple first lashed out at the popular open source hack for the iPhone, called Jailbreak, stating that the Jailbreak application violated Apple’s copyright.

Huh? iPhone owners might be stunned to find out that Apple thinks that, even though you bought your phone, they should maintain control over what you do to it.

Read the entire post at Geeks Are Sexy …

Application List

The T-Mobile “My Account” app for the myTouch is a billing and account management application that shows you information about your current bill, data usage amounts, memory remaining, as well as battery status. It’s a great app to get installed on your myTouch as soon as possible so that you can relax and manage your billing and other hassles right from within your T-Mobile myTouch.

Sherpa is an advanced location-aware recommendation engine with a powerful “passive personalization” feature that silently learns your preferences as you use your T-Mobile myTouch 3G. This myTouch app works in the background and starts learning about your favorite theater, bank, and other locations that you frequent. You can also use it to find businesses and restaurants close to your current location and filter by categories or distance. If you like a specific cafe or restaurant, you can tap a little thumbs-up icon on the app and it’ll offer other recommendations similar to the one you just liked.

The Twidroid myTouch app is an excellent Twitter application that is both feature-packed and easy-to-use. You can customize most aspects of the app, including how many new tweets you want to see when the app launches. The app is quite responsive and quick even with the settings maxed out (show maximum tweets, and refresh rate set at max). You can insert pictures and your current location when you create a new tweet. Photos can be uploaded to Twitpic and other services seamlessly.

Visual Voicemail is free to all Android users regardless of the handset. The application gives users complete control of their voicemail without making a single call which believe it or not is a godsend. All you have to do is call in and request a (Free) visual voicemail addition to your data plan. The steps needed to get all setup are as follows:

For those unfamiliar with visual voicemail it basically gives you what you would imagine, a visual representation of voicemail with better control. You can view date and time information as well as information about the caller and length of the voicemail. A very simple interface makes this application very user-friendly and after using it for a few days you’ll wonder why every phone does not currently have this option.

What is your favorite myTouch application?