Wednesday, September 30, 2009

RSS - Drinking from the Fire-Hose

RSS - Drinking from the Fire Hose

Hey Now-

RSS can greatly improve your performance by allowing you to efficiently obtain information. RSS is a technology most people such as my Mom does not know about or use & at the same time many obsessive computer users (geeks) such as myself enjoy using it daily. Microsoft always refers to ‘Drinking from the Fire Hose’ Since the info we need to follow is so intense similar to a fire hose, RSS helps us drink from that fire hose. Google Reader hands down my favorite URL on the internet.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) can be used by a reader such as Google Reader. We can subscribe to a RSS Feed then use Google reader to view the information.

I’ve posted my list of feeds I’ve subscribe to all labeled. To use this file you can download the XML file (OPML) then go to Google Reader & click the Manage Subscriptions link (bottom right), click import & browse to the file. This list is ~500 blogs mostly technical.

A user will view many sites daily, we can click a link to a favorite website such as CNN then view the new news, then click another favorite such as ESPN & read the new news. This works however we are constantly going out to see if there is information. What we can do is automatically have all our the information we care about brought to us no us going to it.
This benefits us by having information from many sites all in one place & we see the info the instant the news is published.
We can get started using RSS by the following:
1. Login to Google
2. Go To Google Reader
3. Go to webpage with RSS feeds (get feed URL)
4. Subscribe to the feed
5. Read the feed in Google Reader

My favorite hotkeys for Google Reader is ………

J – Jump this will jump to the next post
M – Mark as unread this will mark the post un read

Here is an official Google YouTube Vid that offers a great description.








As Always all comments welcome,

Catto

Memory Management – My PC can run better!

Memory Management

Hey Now -


Often time our pc's will freeze or not respond, then we wait unproductively. One action we can take is to view the process that is using the most memory & end it. Since usually the process consuming the most memory is the one causing the system to not respond.
If we are using a large amount of memory our systems will react slower & when there is not much memory used our systems will respond quickly. Memory is critical piece of hardware to our pc's & our productivity daily. Memory is one of the most important pieces of hardware & often called RAM (random access memory).
Memory Management - Monitoring & adjusting processes are two critical actions we can take to manage our memory.
Monitoring Memory in 7 & Vista has improved greatly from XP.

101 - View Processes by mem descending.
Task Manager Process Tab (Ctrl + Shift + Esc Hotkey to open Task Manager)
Resource Monitor - 7 & Vista have a much improved app compared to the traditional task manager. (click start pearl then type in Res & resource Monitor should be on the start menu to open)
Sort by Memory Descending - We can accomplish this by first ensuring the memory column is displayed (we can add columns such as peak mem on from the View menu --> select columns or right clicking on the column headers)
In 7 & Vista it's great since one the order is sorted every time we open the app after that memory will be sorted by desc. In XP we have to click 'mem' column header two times every time task manager is opened.

201 - Ending Processes
We can end a process by highlighting the process such as iexplore.exe then right clicking & selecting end tasks. Then confirm the end process.

301 - Minimizing Windows - By minimizing windows in some programs it will free memory. If a pc stops responding we can minimize all our windows (Win + M). For example Office apps such as Word & Outlook , Firefox 3.5 if it's minimized there will be memory free'd up so the system will respond quicker.


RAM Memory Hardware - We can see how much RAM is on a workstation by pressing the windows button & pause break. Win+PauseBreak. This will display the basic info regarding your system such as your processor/chip & RAM. Currently in my notebook my RAM shows 4G (2.62 usable)
We can buy memory for ~ $10 / gig now. Word to the motherboard! Currently a large percent of mother boards have a maximum of 4g. It's not too tuff or time consuming to buy more memory & install it on a notebook or desktop (my Mom can do it). By maxing out the memory installed we are also improving performance.
We should also keep in mind we now have ReadyBoost - Vista & beyond. We can easily use USB keys as memory (a really fast cache) doubling the amount of memory we have installed.


Memory & Managing our memory is critical to our productivity daily.

We can monitor & alter process to improve pc's performance at the same time our hardware is another factor we should be aware of.


As always all comments welcome!
Catto

Keyboarding - Catto Home Keys in the 2000’s

Hey Now,

I introduce to you the

Catto Home Keys

Keyboarding 101

Catto Home Keys are a new efficient use of home keys. Keyboarding / typing is critical to being productive, efficient every day. In the 2000’s it’s time for a change & not use the same old home row keys. In 1870’s the keyboard layout which many use “QWERTY” (letters below 12345) was designed. When typing words the traditional home keys work well, there is a good amount of time we can use another set of home keys while navigating & completing many tasks daily. So, the home row has been around for ~140 years & I think it’s time to change it due to the fact we use pc’s now not just a type writer.

Left hand
     Thumb – Left Alt
     Pinky   - Tab
     Pointer – F
     Middle  - E
     Ring     - 2

Right Hand –

     a.   Mouse
     b.   201 Touchpad (keyboard w/ touchpad) 
                 Thumb – Left Click 
                 Pointer - Touchpad
     c.   301 Touchpad (keyboard w/ touchpad) 
               Thumb – Touchpad
               Left Thumb – Left click (for drag click & hold)
               Ring – J
               Pinky – Enter ready (not on enter but ready)

What this does it keep our left able to use the #1 Hotkey Alt + Tab to switch tasks since we do this so often. Catto Home Keys can be used thought our work day to improve productivity.

As always all comments welcome,

Catto

Sunday, September 20, 2009

70-536 MCTS .NET Foundations Questions #37

Hey Now,

Please feel free to check out my MCTS 70-536 reference page on Chris Catto.com. It’s a page with a summary of all of my posts.
As I study for this test I thought this would be good to post on to learn the content & others would be able to view & comment on it.
I'm try to split a previous post Here is the second half.

Question: 198

You create a class library that contains the class hierarchy defined in the following code segment.

(Line numbers are included for reference only.)
01
Public Class Group
02 Public Employees As Employee()
03 End Class
0405 Public Class Employee
06 Public Name As String
07 End Class
0809 Public Class Manager
10 Inherits Employee
11 Public Level As Integer
12 End Class
You create an instance of the Group class. You populate the fields of the instance. When you attempt to serialize the instance by using the Serialize method of the XmlSerializer class, you receive InvalidOperationException. You also receive the following error message: "There was an error generating the XML document." You need to modify the code segment so that you can successfully serialize instances of the Group class by using the XmlSerializer class. You also need to ensure that the XML output contains an element for all public fields in the class hierarchy. What should you do?

A. Insert the following code between lines 1 and 2 of the code segment:

<XmlArrayItem(Type:=GetType(Employee))> _
<XmlArrayItem(Type:=GetType(Manager))> _

B. Insert the following code between lines 1 and 2 of the code segment:

<XmlElement(Type:=GetType(Employee))> _

C. Insert the following code between lines 1 and 2 of the code segment:

<XmlArray(ElementName:="Employees")> _

D. Insert the following code between lines 5 and 6 of the code segment:

<XmlElement(Type:=GetType(Employee))>

andInsert the following code between lines 10 and 11 of the code segment:

<XmlElement(Type:=GetType(Manager))>

Answer: A

K8 – XML Array Item

Question: 199

You are testing a method that examines a running process. This method returns an ArrayList containing the name and full path of all modules that are loaded by the process. You need to list the modules loaded by a process named C:\TestApps\Process1.exe. Which code segment should you use?

A. ArrayList ar = new ArrayList();
Process[] procs;
ProcessModuleCollection modules;
procs = Process.GetProcesses(@”Process1”);
if (procs.Length > 0) {modules = porcs[0].Modules;
foreach (ProcessModule mod in modules) {
ar.Add(mod.ModuleName);
}}

B. ArrayList ar = new ArrayList();
Process[] procs;
ProcessModuleCollection modules;
procs = Process.GetProcesses(@”C:\TestApps\Process1.exe”);
if (procs.Length > 0) {modules = porcs[0].Modules;
foreach (ProcessModule mod in modules) {

ar.Add(mod.ModuleName);

}}

C. ArrayList ar = new ArrayList();
Process[] procs;
ProcessModuleCollection modules;
procs = Process.GetProcessesByName(@”Process1”);
if (procs.Length > 0) {modules = porcs[0].Modules;
foreach (ProcessModule mod in modules) {
ar.Add(mod.FileName);
}}

D. ArrayList ar = new ArrayList();
Process[] procs;
ProcessModuleCollection modules;
procs =Process.GetProcessesByName(@”C:\TestApps\Process1.exe”);
if
(procs.Length > 0) {
modules = porcs[0].Modules;
foreach (ProcessModule mod in modules) {
ar.Add(mod.FileName);
}}

Answer: C

K8 – Q:List modules loaded by process A: GetProcessesByName

Question: 200

You write the following code to implement the CompanyClass.MyMethod function.

public class CompanyClass {
public int MyMethod(int arg) {
return arg;
}}

You need to call the CompanyClass.MyMethod function dynamically from an unrelated class in your assembly. Which code segment should you use?

A. CompanyClass myClass = new CompanyClass();
Type t = typeof(CompanyClass);
MethodInfo m = t.GetMethod(“MyMethod”);
int i = (int)m.Invoke(this, new object[] { 1 });

B. CompanyClass myClass = new CompanyClass();
Type t = typeof(CompanyClass); |
MethodInfo m = t.GetMethod(“MyMethod”);
int i = (int) m.Invoke(myClass, new object[] { 1 });

C. CompanyClass myClass = new CompanyClass();
Type t = typeof(CompanyClass);
MethodInfo m = t.GetMethod(“CompanyClass.MyMethod”);
int i = (int)m.Invoke(myClass, new object[] { 1 });

D. Type t = Type.GetType(“CompanyClass”);
MethodInfo m = t.GetMethod(“MyMethod”);
int i = (int)m.Invoke(this, new object[] { 1 });

Answer: B

K8 – MyClass

Question: 201

You need to create a dynamic assembly named MyAssembly. You also need to save the assembly to disk. Which code segment should you use?

A. Dim objAssembly As New AssemblyName()objAssembly.Name = "MyAssembly"
Dim objBuilder As AssemblyBuilder =
_AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly( _objAssembly,
AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run)objBuilder.Save("MyAssembly.dll")

B. Dim objAssembly As New AssemblyName()objAssembly.Name = "MyAssembly"
Dim objBuilder As AssemblyBuilder =

_AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly( _objAssembly,
AssemblyBuilderAccess.Save)objBuilder.Save("MyAssembly.dll")

C. Dim objAssembly As New AssemblyName()objAssembly.Name = "MyAssembly"
Dim objBuilder As AssemblyBuilder =
_AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly( _objAssembly,
AssemblyBuilderAccess.RunAndSave)objBuilder.Save("MyAssembly.dll")

D. Dim objAssembly As New AssemblyName()objAssembly.Name = "MyAssembly"
Dim objBuilder As AssemblyBuilder =
_AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly( _objAssembly,
AssemblyBuilderAccess.Save)objBuilder.Save("c:\MyAssembly.dll")

Answer: B

K8 – Q: Create & Save A: AssemblyBuilderAccess.Save “MyAssebly”

Question: 202

You write the following code.

Public Delegate Sub FaxDocs(ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal args as FaxArgs)
You need to create an event that will invoke FaxDocs. Which code segment should you use?

A. Public Shared Event Fax As FaxDocs

B. Public Shared Event FaxDocs As FaxArgs

C. Public Class FaxArgs
Inherits EventArgs
Private coverPageInfo As String
Public Sub New(ByVal coverInfo As String)
Me.coverPageInfo = coverInfo
End Sub
Public ReadOnly Property CoverPageInformation As String
Get
Return Me.coverPageInfo
End Get
End PropertyEnd Class

D. Public Class FaxArgs
Inherits EventArgs
Private coverPageInfo As String
Public ReadOnly Property CoverPageInformation As String Get
Return Me.coverPageInfo
End Get
End PropertyEnd Class

Answer: A

K8 – Create an event to invoke FaxDocs A: Public Shared Event Fax As FaxDocs

Question: 203

You are developing a method to encrypt sensitive data with the Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm. Your method accepts the following parameters:

The byte array to be encrypted, which is named messageAn encryption key, which is named keyAn initialization vector, which is named iv You need to encrypt the data. You also need to write the encrypted data to a MemoryStream object. Which code segment should you use?

A. DES^ des = gcnew DESCryptoServiceProvider();
des->BlockSize = message->Length;
ICryptoTransform^ crypto = des->CreateEncryptor(key, iv);
MemoryStream ^cipherStream = gcnew MemoryStream();
CryptoStream ^cryptoStream = gcnew CryptoStream(cipherStream,crypto, CryptoStreamMode::Write);
cryptoStream->Write(message, 0, message->Length);

B. DES^ des = gcnew DESCryptoServiceProvider();
ICryptoTransform^ crypto = des->CreateDecryptor(key, iv);
MemoryStream ^cipherStream = gcnew MemoryStream();
CryptoStream ^cryptoStream = gcnew
CryptoStream(cipherStream, crypto,
CryptoStreamMode::Write);
cryptoStream->Write(message, 0, message->Length);

C. DES^ des = gcnew DESCryptoServiceProvider();
ICryptoTransform^ crypto = des->CreateDecryptor();
MemoryStream ^cipherStream = gcnew MemoryStream();CryptoStream ^cryptoStream
= gcnew CryptoStream(cipherStream,crypto,
CryptoStreamMode::Write);
cryptoStream->Write(message, 0, message->Length);

D. DES^ des = gcnew DESCryptoServiceProvider();
ICryptoTransform^ crypto = des->CreateEncryptor(key, iv);
MemoryStream ^cipherStream = gcnew MemoryStream();
CryptoStream ^cryptoStream = gcnew CryptoStream(cipherStream, crypto, CryptoStreamMode::Write);
cryptoStream->Write(message, 0, message->Length);

Answer: D

K8 – Q: Encrypt A: CreateEncryptor ICryptoTransform

Question: 204

You are testing a newly developed method named PersistToDB. This method accepts a parameter of type EventLogEntry. This method does not return a value. You need to create a code segment that helps you to test the method. The code segment must read entries from the application log of local computers and then pass the entries on to the PersistToDB method. The code block must pass only events of type Error or Warning from the source MySource to the PersistToDB method. Which code segment should you use?

A. Dim myLog As New EventLog("Application", ".")
For Each entry As EventLogEntry In myLog.Entries
If entry.Source = "MySource" Then
PersistToDB(entry)
End If
Next

B. Dim myLog as New EventLog("Application", ".")
myLog.Source = "MySource"
For Each entry As EventLogEntry In myLog.Entries
If entry.EntryType = (EventLogEntryType.Error And _
EventLogEntryType.Warning) Then
PersistToDB(entry)
End If
Next

C. Dim myLog as New EventLog("Application", ".")
For Each entry As EventLogEntry In myLog.Entries
If entry.Source = "MySource" Then
If (entry.EntryType = EventLogEntryType.Error) Or _
(entry.EntryType = EventLogEntryType.Warning) Then
PersistToDB(entry)
End If
End If
Next

D. Dim myLog as New EventLog("Application", ".")
myLog.Source = "MySource"
For Each entry As EventLogEntry In myLog.Entries
If (entry.EntryType = EventLogEntryType.Error) Or _
(entry.EntryType = EventLogEntryType.Warning) Then
PersistToDB(entry)
End If
Next

Answer: C

A: Loop threw all w/ some ifs to check if

Question: 205

You are creating an undo buffer that stores data modifications. You need to ensure that the undo functionality undoes the most recent data modifications first. You also need to ensure that the undo buffer permits the storage of strings only. Which code segment should you use?

A. Stack<String^> undoBuffer = gcnew Stack<String^>();

B. Stack undoBuffer = gcnew Stack();

C. Queue<String^> undoBuffer = gcnew Queue<String^>();

D. Queue undoBuffer = gcnew Queue();

Answer: A

K8 – Most rescent Stack LIFO A: Stack String

Question: 206

You need to write a multicast delegate that accepts a DateTime argument. Which code segment should you use?

A. public delegate int PowerDeviceOn(bool result,
DateTime autoPowerOff);

B. public delegate bool PowerDeviceOn(object sender,
EventsArgs autoPowerOff);

C. public delegate void PowerDeviceOn(DataTime autoPowerOff);

D. public delegate bool PowerDeviceOn(DataTime autoPowerOff);

Answer: C

K8 – void PowerDeviceOn DataTemautoPowerOff

Question: 207

You are writing a method to compress an array of bytes. The array is passed to the method in a parameter named document. You need to compress the incoming array of bytes and return the result as an array of bytes. Which code segment should you use?

A. Dim objStream As New MemoryStream(document)
Dim objDeflate As New DeflateStream(objStream, CompressionMode.Compress)
Dim result(document.Length) As Byteobj
Deflate.Write(result, 0, result.Length)
Return result

B. Dim objStream As New MemoryStream(document)
Dim objDeflate As New DeflateStream(objStream, CompressionMode.Compress)obj
Deflate.Write(document, 0, document.Length)obj
Deflate.Close()
Return objStream.ToArray

C. Dim objStream As New MemoryStream()
Dim objDeflate As New DeflateStream(objStream, CompressionMode.Compress)obj
Deflate.Write(document, 0, document.Length)obj
Deflate.Close()
Return objStream.ToArray

D. Dim objStream As New MemoryStream()
Dim objDeflate As New DeflateStream(objStream, CompressionMode.Compress)
Dim outStream As New MemoryStreamDim b As IntegerWhile (b = objDeflate.ReadByte)
outStream.WriteByte(CByte(b))
End
WhileReturn outStream.ToArray

Answer: C

K8 – MemoryStream()

Question: 208

You create the definition for a Vehicle class by using the following code segment.

public ref class Vehicle {

public : [XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "category")]
String^ vehicleType;
String^ model;
[XmlIgnore]
int year;
[XmlElement(ElementName = "mileage")]
int miles;
Condition Type condition;
Vehicle() {}
enum ConditionType {
[XmlEnum("Poor")] BelowAverage,
[XmlEnum("Good")] Average,
[XmlEnum("Excellent")] AboveAverage
}};

You create an instance of the Vehicle class. You populate the public fields of the Vehicle class instance as shown in the following table:

Exhibit:

You need to identify the XML block that is produced when this Vehicle class instance is serialized. Which block of XML represents the output of serializing the Vehicle instance?

A. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Vehicle
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema""
vehicleType="car">
<model>racer</model>
<miles>15000</miles>
<condition>AboveAverage</condition>
</Vehicle>

B. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Vehicle
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
category="car">
<model>racer</model>
<mileage>15000</mileage>
<condition>Excellent</condition>
</Vehicle>

C. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Vehicle
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
category="car">
<model>racer</model>
<mileage>15000</mileage>
<conditionType>Excellent</conditionType>
</Vehicle>

D. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Vehicle
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<category>car</category>
<model>racer</model>
<mileage>15000</mileage>
<condition>Excellent</condition>
</Vehicle>

Answer: B

K8 – Serilize XML

Question: 209

You are writing a method to compress an array of bytes. The bytes to be compressed are passed to the method in a parameter named document. You need to compress the contents of the incoming parameter. Which code segment should you use?

A. Dim inStream As New MemoryStream(document)
Dim zipStream As New GZipStream( _inStream, CompressionMode.Compress)
Dim result(document.Length) As
BytezipStream.Write(result, 0, result.Length)
Return result

B. Dim objStream As New MemoryStream(document)
Dim zipStream As New GZipStream( _ objStream, CompressionMode.Compress)zipStream.Write(document, 0,
document.Length)zipStream.Close()
Return objStream.ToArray

C. Dim outStream As New MemoryStream
Dim zipStream As New GZipStream( _outStream, CompressionMode.Compress)zipStream.Write(document, 0,
document.Length)zipStream.Close()
Return outStream.ToArray

D. Dim objStream As New MemoryStream(document)
Dim zipStream As New
GZipStream( _objStream, CompressionMode.Compress)
Dim outStream As New
MemoryStreamDim b As IntegerWhile (b =
zipStream.ReadByte)outStream.WriteByte(CByte(b))
End While
Return outStream.ToArray

Answer: C

K8 – Compress array of bytes

Question: 210

You are developing a method to decrypt data that was encrypted with the Triple DES Algorithm. The method accepts the following parameters: The byte array to be decrypted, which is named cipherMessageThe key, which is named key An initialization vector, which is named iv You need to decrypt the message by using the TripleDES class and place the result in a string. Which code segment should you use?

A. TripleDES des = new TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider();
des.BlockSize = cipherMessage.Length;
ICryptoTransform crypto = des.CreateDecryptor(key, iv);
MemoryStream cipherStream = new MemoryStream(cipherMessage);
CryptoStream cryptoStream = new CryptoStream( cipherStream, crypto, CryptoStreamMode.Read);
string message;
message = new StreamReader(cryptoStream).ReadToEnd();

B. TripleDES des = new TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider();
des.FeedbackSize = cipherMessage.Length;
ICryptoTransform crypto = des.CreateDecryptor(key, iv);
MemoryStream cipherStream = new MemoryStream(cipherMessage);
CryptoStream cryptoStream = new CryptoStream(
cipherStream, crypto, CryptoStreamMode.Read);
string message;
message = new StreamReader(cryptoStream).ReadToEnd();

C. TripleDES des = new TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider();
ICryptoTrans form crypto = des.CreateDecryptor();
MemoryStream cipherStream = new MemoryStream(cipherMessage);
CryptoStream cryptoStream = new CryptoStream(
cipherStream, crypto, CryptoStreamMode.Read);
string message;
message = new StreamReader(cryptoStream).ReadToEnd();

D. TripleDES des = new TripleDESCryptoServiceProvider();
ICryptoTrans form crypto = des.CreateDecryptor(key, iv);
MemoryStream cipherStream = new MemoryStream(cipherMessage);
CryptoStream cryptoStream = new CryptoStream( cipherStream, crypto, CryptoStreamMode.Read);
string message;
message = new StreamReader(cryptoStream).ReadToEnd();

Answer: D

K8 - Des.CreateDecryptor(key, iv)

Question: 211

You are developing a utility screen for a new client application. The utility screen displays a thermometer that conveys the current status of processes being carried out by the application. You need to draw a rectangle on the screen to serve as the background of the thermometer as shown in the exhibit. The rectangle must be filled with gradient shading. Which code segment should you choose?

A - Rectangle^ rectangle = gcnew Rectangle(10, 10, 450, 25); LinearGradientBrush^ rectangleBrush = gcnew LinearGradientBrush(rectangle, Color::AliceBlue,
Color::CornflowerBlue,LinearGradientMode::ForwardDiagonal);
Pen^ rectanglePen = gcnew Pen(rectangleBrush);
Graphics^ g = this->CreateGraphics();
g->DrawRectangle(rectanglePen, rectangle);

B - Rectangle^ rectangle = gcnew Rectangle(10, 10, 450, 25); LinearGradientBrush^ rectangleBrush = gcnew LinearGradientBrush(rectangle, Color::AliceBlue, Color::CornflowerBlue, LinearGradientMode::ForwardDiagonal);
Pen^ rectanglePen = gcnew Pen(rectangleBrush);
Graphics^ g = this->Createsraphics();
g->FillRectangle(rectangleBrush, rectangle);

C - RectangleF^ rectangle = gcnew RectangleF(10f, 10f, 450f, 25f);
array<Point^>^ points = gcnew array<Point^>^ {gcnew Point(0, 0), gcnew Point(110, 145)};
LinearGradientBrush^ rectangleBrush = gcnew LinearGradientBrush(rectangle, Color::AliceBlue, Color::CornflowerBlue, LinearGradientMode::ForwardDiagonal);
Pen^ rectanglePen = gcnew Pen(rectangleBrush);
Graphics^ g = this->CreateGraphics();
g->DrawPolygon(rectanglePen, points);

D - RectangleF^ rectangle = gcnew RectangleF(l0f, l0f, 450f, 25f);
SolidBrush^ rectangleBrush = gcnew SolidBrush(Color::AliceBlue);
Pen^ rectanglePen = gcnew Pen(rectangleBrush);
Graphics^ g = this->CreateGraphics();
g->DrawRectangle(rectangleBrush, rectangle);

Answer: B

K8 – rectangleBrush numbers w/out F

Opera 10 'The Worlds Fastest Browser' has Good Qualities

 

Hey Now,

Browsers are the most important program that we use. There are many browsers out there such as Firefox, IE, Safari & Chrome. Let us take a look at Opera 10, who call themselves 'The Worlds Fastest Browser'

image

Opera's best qualities are:

1. Early adopters new browser features – This is the reason why I really enjoy using Opera over the years. I’ve learned about new features in Opera then in year or two they become mainstream.

2. Speed, Quick, lightweight browser

3. Widgets ( ex Chuck Norris Widget )

Opera has been available for a while & has not been widely used maybe ~ 2% of the market share. Personally use Opera occasionally & like to have it installed. Opera has always been an early adopter of technology such as tabbed browsing, mouse gestures & speed dial. Now in Opera 10 there is are new features for example the ability to share your bookmarks between browsers on different computes & resizing the tab toolbar to display thumbnails of the pages.

I always felt like one reason Opera didn't have as many downloads as say IE or Firefox is a few years ago there wasn't an easy big download button on Opera's homepage such as the easy big download Java button. Instead the user had to click a link then get to the next page to find the download.

One new feature for Opera 10 is a resizable tab toolbar. It can be resized vertically to be able to view page previews. Check out the screen shot below.

image

So it's good to know about Opera to stay in tune with new browser features, use it if you want a quick, lightweight browser, is it going to be your default browser? Probably not.

As Always All Comments Welcome!

Catto

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Microsoft Visual Studio Hotkey Shortcuts 2009 Top (N)

Hey Now,

Keyboarding is very important to efficiency & hotkeys / shortcut keys are can be used many times each day to increase productivity. The way I’ve displayed my hotkeys are in a shorter list that are rated so it’s a top ten style where #1 is most used & #10 is tenth most used.

     When in Visual Studio the common tasks I try to accomplish are running / debugging code, finding files in the solution explorer, using controls & their properties, using breakpoints, comments & formatting code. This list accomplishes these tasks & can be used in VS05, VS08 & VS10.

image

0.5  Ctrl+S, Alt+Tab, F5      Save file switch to browser & refresh combo
1  F5                                   Run with debug
1b       Ctrl F5                      Run w/out Debug
2 Ctrl+Alt + L                       Unhides Solutions Explorer
3. Ctrl + Alt + X                    Unhides Toolbox
4. F4                                   Unhides Properties
5  a. F9                               Sets Breakpoints
5  b. Ctrl + Shift + F9, Alt+Y   Removes All Breakpoints
5  c. F10, F11                       Step into, Step Over
6  a. Ctrl + K, Ctrl + C           Comments line(s)
6  b. Ctrl + k, Ctrl + U           Uncomment line(s)
7. Ctrl + Pageup / Ctrl+pagedown / F7   Split View
8  a. Shift+Alt+Enter              Full Screen
8  b. Alt + U                          Resize (not full screen boo)
9  a. Ctrl + F                         Find
9  b. Ctrl + H                        Replace
10    Ctrl K, Ctrl D                 Format Code All Pretty
11.   Ctrl M, Ctrl O                Collapse Code
12.  Alt + S                           Stop internal IIS
13  a. Ctrl + Shift                  Switch Tab
13  b. Ctrl + Shift                  Switch Tab reverse 
                      

This hotkey list is compact and ordered to display hotkeys that we can use daily. Of course there are large lists of every hotkey in studio out which is just not what I wanted to concentrate on right now. From one productive efficient keyboarding fan another.

As always all comments welcome!

Bye for now,

 Catto