SteveX Compiled

This actually applies to all the C-derived languages.
 
If I have code like this:

File f = File.OpenText(“MyFile.txt”);
f.ReadLine();
And I want to handle the case where the file is not found:

try
{
  File f = File.OpenText(“MyFile.txt”);
} catch (FileNotFoundException ex)
{
  Console.WriteLine(“File not found.”);
  return false;
}
 
f.ReadLine();
The problem with this is that the scope of f ends at the end of the [...]

A very common thing in coding is to want to see if you’ve been given a string or not.
 
In C#, a string is a reference to an object, and this reference can be null, or it can be a reference to a string, which can contain 0 or more characters.
 
When you want to see if [...]

Here is a letter published in Infoworld where a reader is unhappy with Microsoft’s not fulfilling a request for a free upgrade when he submitted it too late.  It would have been nice if Microsoft had accommodated, but someone somewhere decided to stick to the written rules instead of trying to help the guy.
 
Microsoft should have [...]

I hadn’t heard this before, but The Register is saying that SP2 includes the .NET framework (last paragraph).  That’d be awesome for .NET developers.
 

The debate between Atom and RSS is missing the point.  Neither is a good way to do syndication.
 
This seems obvious to me, but apparently either I’m missing the point or the rest of the world is – now that the W3C is taking an interest in Atom I  think it’s worth saying this stuff again.
 
Here’s [...]

What are some good reasons for shutting down cleanly?
By a clean exit I mean you’ve freed everything you’ve allocated, closed everything you’ve opened, shut down all your threads, etc.
I’ve been doing some work on some code trying to get it to shut down in a graceful manner and, as usual, it’s not easy.. usually during [...]

There’s an article on Slashdot about difficulty in video games that I wanted to comment on.
There is immense variety among video game players.  This has changed a lot over the years, mainly thanks to the maturity of gaming and the fact that kids who grew up playing video games are now adults playing video games.  [...]

One of the big reasons it’s cool to have the source code for something you’re working with is so you can see what it’s doing.  (How often do most people actually modify the source code to an open source program or library?  Very rarely compared to how often you use it).  But what if you [...]

Sony just announced a new music downloading service, SonyConnect.  To use the service, you have to download their SonicStage software.
From the SonicStage download page:

Do not use SonicStage while logged on to a domain user account under Windows 2000Professional, Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home Edition.
SonicStage should be installed while logged on to an account with [...]

Dave Winer noted that Google seems to be looking for atom.xml and not looking for RSS.  I can offer a data point that seems to support that.
A few days ago, Zim opened a new website with a mobile weblog application so I’ve had an opportunity to watch the referers and links to the site slowly spreading.
Our very first [...]