/tags/development/Recent content in development on Neolisk's Tech BlogHugo -- gohugo.ioenneolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)©2020-2024 Victor Zakharov. All Rights ReservedSat, 23 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000/posts/2024-03-23-keys-to-success/Sat, 23 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 23 Mar 2024 12:05:09 -0400/posts/2024-03-23-keys-to-success/Success is a multifaceted concept, often visualized as the culmination of hard work, talent, and opportunity. Yet, beneath the surface of this broad achievement lies a core set of traits that can independently steer one toward their goals. This article explores these intrinsic keys to success, each capable of unlocking potential and fostering achievement in its own right. 1. Passion 2. Measurement 3. Compounding Growth Mindset 4. Inherent Curiosity Conclusion 1.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentsuccesscareercoach/posts/2024-03-02-value-of-learning/Sat, 02 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 02 Mar 2024 11:11:00 -0500/posts/2024-03-02-value-of-learning/In an era dominated by artificial intelligence (AI) and technological advancements, the imperative for continuous learning transcends generational boundaries. The rapid evolution of the workplace landscape has made it increasingly clear that the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn swiftly is crucial for everyone, irrespective of age. This necessity arises not from a lack of intelligence or willingness but from the accelerating pace of change itself, challenging professionals across the spectrum to embrace continuous learning as both an asset and a fundamental requirement.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentlearningeducationai/posts/2024-02-24-dont-reinvent-the-wheel/Sat, 24 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Feb 2024 10:48:14 -0500/posts/2024-02-24-dont-reinvent-the-wheel/In the dynamic world of software development, the inclination to “reinvent the wheel” represents a common challenge. Developers, driven by a desire for customization and control, often venture into creating bespoke solutions for problems that have already been addressed. This approach, while showcasing technical prowess, can lead to inefficiencies, consuming precious time and resources that could be better allocated to enhancing the core value of the project. Recognizing this, the strategic use of third-party component libraries emerges as a compelling alternative.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentarchitectureworkflowcomponentslibrary/posts/2024-02-18-value-of-100-percent-coverage/Sun, 18 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sun, 18 Feb 2024 16:23:03 -0500/posts/2024-02-18-value-of-100-percent-coverage/In the realm of software development, striving for 100% test coverage often generates heated debates, with critics labeling it as overly ambitious and of little practical value due to the considerable effort required. However, I contend that aiming for full test coverage transcends mere code quality, playing a crucial role in promoting fairness and discipline within a team. This approach not only challenges the conventional wisdom by highlighting the significant, often overlooked benefits for teams of varying skill levels, but also underscores the importance of setting high standards in collaborative environments.Victor Zakharovunit testscode coveragedevelopmentworkflow/posts/2023-04-18-running-wsl2-gui-apps-windows-10/Tue, 18 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Tue, 18 Apr 2023 19:08:48 -0400/posts/2023-04-18-running-wsl2-gui-apps-windows-10/All of the answers I found online suggest using a complex workflow of installing X server, configuring RDP and connecting to your Linux box in order to run its GUI app. While this works, the approach is at least a few years old. It is no longer the most efficient way of doing it in 2023. Instead, you can use WSLg. Introduction Using Linux GUI Apps with WSLg - TL;DR version Using Linux GUI Apps with WSLg - Full Version Getting To This Answer Introduction WSLg is a convenient and efficient solution for running Linux GUI apps on Windows, providing better performance and compatibility than using an X server, but most importantly giving your Linux app a feel of a native Windows application, which can even be launched from the Start Menu.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentwindowssoftwarelinuxwsl2/posts/2022-09-06-angular-enterprise-lib-workflow/Tue, 06 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sun, 11 Sep 2022 17:02:40 -0400/posts/2022-09-06-angular-enterprise-lib-workflow/In this workshop, we will create an Angular library, publishable to NPM, with multiple entry points, unit tests and CI/CD in GitHub. Source code for each step will be provided, as well as complete solution in a GitHub repo. Licensed under MIT, use it however you wish. You can skip the intro and see the steps here. Why this article? Getting Started Conclusion Out of Scope Why this article? A little introduction into why I think an article like this is necessary and why existing internet resources are not enough.Victor Zakharovangulardevelopmentlibrarynpm/posts/2022-01-15-converting-to-dotnet-6-core/Sat, 15 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 15 Jan 2022 16:35:22 -0500/posts/2022-01-15-converting-to-dotnet-6-core/Suppose we need to convert a legacy .NET 4.5 MVC or API project to .NET Core 6.0. It might sound like daunting task at first, and if you never did this, might cause you headache for a few days/weeks, or even months depending on the size of the project. In this article I will do my best to reduce that headache by giving you starter info and some follow-up articles to learn more about the topic.Victor Zakharovdotnetdevelopmentcsharp/posts/2021-06-05-dotnet-arch-eshop-on-cont/Sat, 05 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 15:28:50 -0400/posts/2021-06-05-dotnet-arch-eshop-on-cont/Below video is from 2018, so almost 3 years old now, but somehow I only found it now. It’s a handy overview into microservices, has a few gotchas such as avoiding internal communication when fulfilling client requests, to reduce latency, as well as async workflows like adding items to cart. Check it out - if you are starting your journey into microservices with .NET, it’s well worth 30min of your time.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentdotnetmicrosoftdocker/posts/2021-05-11-jetbrains-dotnet-days-2021/Tue, 11 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Wed, 12 May 2021 16:35:28 -0400/posts/2021-05-11-jetbrains-dotnet-days-2021/Here are some of the notes I took while attending Jetbrains .NET Days 2021 online event - for select sessions from Days 1 and 2. Specifically, I skipped 1 session from Day 1 (React/CosmosDB), and only watched 1 session from Day 2 (AWS/Kubernetes). This is similar to my earlier MS Build notes articles for Day 1 and Day 2. Main purpose is providing a quick overview of the topics covered, if you do not have those hours to watch whole videos.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentjetbrainseventdotnet/posts/2021-03-29-speed-of-coding/Mon, 29 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 29 Mar 2021 20:02:21 -0400/posts/2021-03-29-speed-of-coding/Introduction Define speed Low quality software is useless Quality threshold Workflow beats talent Discipline is the new talent Introduction When hiring software developers, it seems that recently the focus has been on the speed of coding. Many companies give automated 1-1.5 hour coding tests where your code can be of any (=low) quality, as long as it passes all unit tests. Including all hidden tests, and including performance criteria in some cases.Victor Zakharovdevelopment/posts/2021-01-02-outsourcing-trap/Sat, 02 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 02 Jan 2021 12:46:57 -0500/posts/2021-01-02-outsourcing-trap/There are plenty of outsource shops who test their luck by selling cheap labor. The strategy is nothing new in a capitalist society, but the outcome can be devastating when it comes to software industry. It’s one thing when you hire a cashier, worst thing that can happen is they incorrectly scan some items, and your shop loses $100 in revenue. It’s a totally different situation when your software doesn’t work, and your client who paid 100s of millions of dollars wants their money back.Victor Zakharovdevelopment/posts/2020-11-21-enterprise-development-workflow/Sat, 21 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sun, 22 Nov 2020 18:39:39 -0500/posts/2020-11-21-enterprise-development-workflow/If you prefer to read individual sections, here is a table of contents. Introduction Documentation Communication System Integration Training Coding Conclusion Introduction If you are sitting in the shade today, it’s because someone planted a tree a long time ago. The goal of enterprise workflow is to make software development as easy and consistent as possible, less dependent of quality of talent, their mood and set of skills. It should also be possible to replace any given developer with another one of the same caliber and continue development as normal.Victor Zakharovdevelopment/posts/2020-09-26-things-every-developer-should-know/Sat, 26 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sun, 27 Sep 2020 15:12:38 +0000/posts/2020-09-26-things-every-developer-should-know/This article’s idea came up as I was working as a full time professional remote consultant with both Senior and Junior Developers of all levels, contractors and full time folks. It turns out that about 95% of developers regardless of their seniority could use below guide. It is surprising how much friction is caused by missing knowledge of these simple things, so I decided to write up a condensed version to minimize reading time, and quickly fill the gap for those in need.Victor Zakharovdevelopment/posts/2020-08-10-work-from-home-soft-eng-culture/Mon, 10 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 10 Aug 2020 20:25:37 -0400/posts/2020-08-10-work-from-home-soft-eng-culture/Working from home as a software developer/engineer, what will it be in a few years time? Which things became fundamentally different already, and which will change history? What if we never come back to norm? Let’s embrace the new situation rather than planning a come back. For this to happen certain habits need to be dropped, and other habits need be developed instead. Asynchronous communication Workflows built around code Output vs hours worked Hiring A players Buy Equipment Complex Tasks First Encourage Opinion Meaning of Leadership Asynchronous communication Asynchronous communication is a secret to productivity when working from home.Victor Zakharovdevelopment/posts/2020-06-18-azure-qa-with-elkhan-yusubov/Thu, 18 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Thu, 18 Jun 2020 07:13:55 -0400/posts/2020-06-18-azure-qa-with-elkhan-yusubov/There is plenty of information about Azure on the internet. However, a lot of it is written as marketing material or simply outdated. When it comes to real tasks, it turns out that much of those scripts and tutorials no longer work. This Q/A session with Elkhan Yusubov is covering key terms behind Azure, to set a good start for learning on your own. It is by no means an all-inclusive tutorial.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentazurecloud/posts/2020-06-14-react-vs-blazor/Sun, 14 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sun, 14 Jun 2020 18:58:29 -0400/posts/2020-06-14-react-vs-blazor/Found an interesting article comparing simple common tasks done with React and then Blazor. From Telerik blog, but good stuff, not written as ad, code samples provided. Blazor vs React @ Telerik Blog. Topics covered: Getting started Building the UI Passing data between components Handling Forms Routing Fetching data from an API Pros and cons of each Overall a very good starter article if you are considering Blazor and have some React experience, or any JS based front end (Angular, Vue etc.Victor Zakharovblazorreactdevelopment/posts/2020-05-18-blazor-style-encapsulation/Mon, 18 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 12 Oct 2020 08:58:13 -0400/posts/2020-05-18-blazor-style-encapsulation/This article was updated on October 12th, 2020, see the update below. To explain what style encapsulation means, we will look at how Angular does it. Here is a lengthy article, which links to this demo. Or, if you prefer screenshots. On this screenshot an h1 style is converted to _ngcontent-lvy-c0 class during compilation, and then it does not leak out styles to other components and the app. You can declare another h1 style in another component and that will not have any effect on this component, guaranteed by Angular.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentblazor/posts/2020-05-17-blazor-qa-with-tim-corey/Sun, 17 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sun, 17 May 2020 10:53:42 -0400/posts/2020-05-17-blazor-qa-with-tim-corey/There is little information about Blazor on the internet. Even less as far as enterprise / professional Blazor development is concerned. Blazor is not exactly new, but still, it feels more as an undercover platform, even today in May of 2020. This Q/A session with Tim Corey is meant to fill the gap. Tim is a software developer, consultant, trainer, and Microsoft MVP, passionate about Blazor. He runs a YouTube channel dedicated to making the process of learning software development easier.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentblazorcsharp/posts/2020-04-12-typical-freelancers-workday/Sun, 12 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Fri, 07 Aug 2020 16:39:27 -0400/posts/2020-04-12-typical-freelancers-workday/First and foremost, this is not an article to brag about how cool it is to be a freelancer. This is just the cold truth about the issues no-one is talking about. What it can be like, what you need to prepare for, if you consider becoming one. The views expressed here are exactly my own, you are free to disagree and post your ideas in your own blog or another public resource.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentprocess/posts/2020-03-14-angular-senior-dev-interview/Sat, 14 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sun, 15 Mar 2020 15:00:05 -0400/posts/2020-03-14-angular-senior-dev-interview/How do you recognize a good developer at interview stage? Are they excited by learning new things or are they tired from it? Do they wake up and realize they still have not yet learnt everything they could? Or do they always know enough to just get by? When technology becomes obsolete every 2 years, 20 years of experience helps little. You are great at writing loops? Sorry folks, now we do functional programming.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentangular/posts/2020-02-23-define-maintainable-code/Sun, 23 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sun, 23 Feb 2020 18:07:56 -0500/posts/2020-02-23-define-maintainable-code/There are several stages of maintainable code, each suitable for a particular situation. Let us call each stage a maintainability level. The higher the level, the more maintainable code is, and the more time it takes to write in this way. Do you always need the best possible maintainability? For example, you are the only contributor for the code in question. You probably do not care much if someone else cannot maintain it.Victor Zakharovdevelopment/posts/2020-02-06-enteprise-priorities-talk/Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2020-02-06-enteprise-priorities-talk/In enterprise software development with lots of money involved, it often ends up being poured into the following 3 categories: Business (business need, correctness of software in regard to business workflows) Quality (ease of maintainability, lack of bugs, need fewer developers) Speed (hire offshore, copy paste code, cut corners). Success of the project is determined based on the share of each component. So what should be the right share? Let’s ask this question differently - if you could choose only one, which one would you choose?Victor Zakharovdevelopment/posts/2015-08-25-lock-file-tool/Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Thu, 30 Jan 2020 20:47:42 -0500/posts/2015-08-25-lock-file-tool/This command line tool did not work for me (access denied): http://www.jensscheffler.de/filelocker. This Windows UI tool worked perfectly: https://code.google.com/p/lockfile/downloads/detail?name=LockFile.exe&can=2&q=. It has less options, but it does a read lock, which is what I was looking for.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentwindows/posts/2014-04-22-vs-2013-static-activation/Tue, 22 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2014-04-22-vs-2013-static-activation/I have read people’s complaints about the need to sign in to Visual Studio 2013 for it to run, without a possibility of running a disconnected/offline setup. Introducing a static activation key licensing option (which I just discovered) - you can obtain it from your MSDN subscription page. Just browse to where you would normally download the ISO, and then click on “Product Keys”. You will see a popup similar to the following:Victor Zakharovdevelopment/posts/2013-09-16-svn-error-access-to-guid-forbidden/Mon, 16 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2013-09-16-svn-error-access-to-guid-forbidden/Client: Tortoise SVN 1.7.13 x64 on Windows 7. Server: VisualSVN 2.1.3 Standard Edition. Issue After a brand new checkout, developer is getting this error on commit: Commit Failed (details below): Error Access to ‘/svn/…/!svn/act/{guid}’ forbidden Problem Letter case of the repository path specified for checkout must match actual repository path on the SVN server. Workaround Grant “Admin” permissions to the user, then commit works. This was not an option in our case.Victor Zakharovdevelopment/posts/2010-07-18-vbnet-different-output-designer-vs-runtime/Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 10 Oct 2020 16:43:45 -0400/posts/2010-07-18-vbnet-different-output-designer-vs-runtime/Let’s say you want your custom control display empty string in a certain field, if it has a default value. For example, if your Text field on a custom Label control is identical to its name, show Text field as blank. Would be nice if it worked both ways, i.e. leaving Text field blank would make it identical to the name (or following a certain pattern). I went through different websites and forums looking for solution, with different opinions ranging from ’not possible’ to ’need some special property attributes’.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentvbnet/posts/2010-03-12-vs-2010-rc-switch-to-mouse-cursor-after-drawing/Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 12 Oct 2020 11:17:44 -0400/posts/2010-03-12-vs-2010-rc-switch-to-mouse-cursor-after-drawing/Speaking about WinForms, there is usually a mouse pointer (cursor) on top of each logical control group in the toolbox. You use it to cancel control drawing mode and go back to control selection mode (default). There is a bug in VS 2010 RC, when you do not have this pseudo-control visible at the first launch. And it looks like you are doomed to drawing controls forever. The solution is simple: close and reopen VS.Victor Zakharovdevelopmentwinforms/posts/2010-02-19-vbnet-extract-image-embedded-resource/Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 12 Oct 2020 11:48:05 -0400/posts/2010-02-19-vbnet-extract-image-embedded-resource/Here’s one of the ways to embed an image into EXE file: Left click the file in the project tree Set Build Action -> Embedded Resource. And how you can access this file in code: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Imports System.Reflection.Assembly 'returns an embedded resource image by name Public Function EmbeddedImage(ByVal Name As String) As Bitmap Return New Bitmap(GetExecutingAssembly.GetManifestResourceStream(Name)) End Function It’s the shortest piece of code I found on the net.Victor Zakharovvbnetdevelopment/posts/2010-02-19-nullable-datetime-picker/Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 12 Oct 2020 14:09:40 -0400/posts/2010-02-19-nullable-datetime-picker/One of the popular ways to do this - change format to " " (space) whenever null value is being set and roll it back to the old format on anything else. I have been looking for clean implementation of this approach. In the end I decided to write my own, using source code available on the net. Here is what I came up with: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 Public Class MyDateTimePicker : Inherits DateTimePicker Private oldFormat As DateTimePickerFormat Private oldCustomFormat As String Private _value As Object Public Sub New() _value = MyBase.Victor Zakharovvbnetdevelopment/posts/2010-02-03-powershell-control-code-execution/Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 12 Oct 2020 14:30:41 -0400/posts/2010-02-03-powershell-control-code-execution/In this article we are going to discuss basics of how to control code execution in a PowerShell script. There are several keywords, which have slightly different behavior: break, return and exit. To help you better understand what is going on, I will post all code blocks tagged with Powershell, immediately followed by its text output. Break Just as in C++, you can use break to exit loops early: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 #Sample 1.Victor Zakharovpowershelldevelopment/posts/2010-01-27-vbnet-format-datetime-with-ms/Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 12 Oct 2020 15:00:46 -0400/posts/2010-01-27-vbnet-format-datetime-with-ms/Despite what people are saying on the net, you do not need to write your own method to include milliseconds when formatting a DateTime object. To achieve this, you can use the f modifier. For example, if you want to include thousands of a second (i.e. milliseconds), you can write something like this: 1 Now.ToString(“HH:mm:ss.fff”) You can set the fractional part to include up to 7 digits: 1 Now.ToString(“HH:mm:ss.fffffff”) If you try more, it will raise an exception.Victor Zakharovvbnetdevelopment/posts/2010-01-27-vbnet-immediate-window-system-error/Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 12 Oct 2020 14:58:44 -0400/posts/2010-01-27-vbnet-immediate-window-system-error/This appears to be a known bug in Visual Studio. I encountered it when my VS 2008 SP1 was idle for a considerable amount of time, hanging minimized in the task bar. Standard close/reopen VS did not help. There were no strange processes in Task Manager either. After some failed commands (same error), I found a workaround for this issue. Here is what I did: Put the breakpoint somewhere in code.Victor Zakharovvbnetdevelopment