It's amazing how end-users lack the ability to look ahead. Is it that complicated a skill? I know mostly every software developer out there has to know what I am talking about. End-users are all about the here and now, and could care less about the proper way of accomplishing things. Unfortunately, many times some of these end-users are also the ones who have final say on product development. As a developer, it pains me to see, or worse be forced myself, to improperly code a product because of an individuals inability to foresee or understand that doing so is wrong. Then of course, who ends up getting the short end of the stick when it comes to the"foreseeable" problems that the end-users didn't think about? The developers of course, that's when all the patches come into play.

Fun Stuff
Free Software App: SlickRun

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Well I have to say, I cant stand the fact that VB.Net does not allow the inheriting of Intrinsic Data Types. The fact that Microsoft decided to remove the ability to use "Fixed Length" string is extremely annoying, and it would not be so bad if one was able to inherit from the String class and just add in the functionality needed. But in Microsofts infinite wisdom they disallow the inheritance of any Intrinsic Data Types, which throws that option right out the window. So here I am stuck creating a class that needs to use a "Property" in order to achive the same functionality as a fixed length string. Such an ugly way to perform a relatively simple task. Currently I am working on tweaking a TCP Communication class I developed for Client/Server communications. Coming from a VB6 type environment, I have to say, multi-threading is amazing and also a curse...LOL

New Technology
While surfing the web, I came across an interesting article about Google. Apparently they have purchased a smalled company that developed a Web-Based Word Processor. The full article can be found here.

Fun Stuff
Today, a coworker and friend of mine showed me a little cool screensaver which I thought I would share. For any of you out there that are Matrix fans, you'll love this: Matrix Screen Saver.

posted at 2:17 PM by Tekk Guy | Permalink | 0 Comments

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Introduction

Hello and welcome to those who read this Blog. My name is Ben Santiago and I am a Computer Programmer now for roughly 9 years. I started working as one of the first Computer Programmers for Texaco at Corporate Headquarters straight out of High School, programming in Visual Basic 4.0 at the time. Since then I've worked in several different companies and have learned a great deal of languages, so many I can't even remember all of them. For a time I even ran my own company, called Dynamic Computing Concepts, which dealt primarily in computer hardware sales. My true passion has always been programming and as such, when technology began to evolve to a point where I could not financial keep up, I decided to close up shop and turn back to my programming. Currently I work for the local Government of Suffolk County as primarily a VB.Net Programmer, although I do take advantage of other languages. My main responsibility is an application that is responsible for scoring and reporting to the State Education Department the results of mandated state exams taken by students within the entire county. Roughly four months ago, I began to undertake the massive project of completely rewriting the existing system of six years (which is now antiquated) and updating it using newer technology, programming methodologies and ultimately make the application more responsive to constant changes by State requirements.

So enough about my history, this Blog will become a collection of posts that talk about programming, mainly in VB.Net. Mostly I will be posting about problems I encounter and solutions I find, as well as some rants on things that I might find lacking in the language. You might on occasion find comments about articles or information on new technologies that I have found, encountered or read up on. Enjoy...

posted at 9:54 AM by Tekk Guy | Permalink | 0 Comments

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