Monthly Archives: October 2007

ASP.NET MVC Framework Coming Soon

Programming

Scott Guthrie recently posted about the upcoming release of a Model View Controller based framework or addon to ASP.NET.

I don’t normally post about ASP.NET, as on the whole I don’t find it quite frustrating. It isn’t a problem with the the .NET language, it works just fine; however I find the implementation of ASP.NET pretty lacking on many fronts:

  • Requires JavaScript, I realise that most people have it enabled but come on
  • Rendering, well it needs a lot of work – by default it produces rather nasty HTML
  • Request routing or dispatching, meh
  • Crufty URL’s, why can’t they just be squeaky clean
  • Tight coupling by default

The majority of those you can work around if you feel inclined to put in the effort, however out of the box it is lacking in my opinion.

Enter the MVC ASP.NET framework and you’ve suddenly got:

  • True Model View Controller pattern, so you have a clear separation of concerns in the application. You can do that with the default ASP.NET, so it isn’t something new but I expect that the MVC framework is going to make that a whole bunch easier. If nothing else, the separation and testability that it might afford the development community has to be a good thing.
  • Clean URL’s and they don’t require the nasty ASP.NET extension anymore.
  • Customisable URL dispatch, you can now map any URL into anything you want. I expect this to be a little like the URL dispatcher that Django implements.
  • Related to the customisable URL’s, the existing postback model is gone – you now just route requests into the appropriate controller.
  • Pluggable, don’t like how the MVC framework implements something – unplug it and plug in another one

I’m sure there is going to be quite a lot of buzz surrounding the imminent release of the ASP.NET MVC framework and I know that I’ll be keeping a close eye on how it develops in the coming months.

Jonny Wilkinson & The Frustrations

Sport

I love rugby union, in fact I like nothing more than seeing a fast running game with plenty of big hits. When the referee refrains from blowing the whistle too often and plays the advantage, it can produce some very exciting rugby union as the continuity of the game is maintained and the ball keeps on moving. In stark contrast to the running game, rugby union is also synonymous with the kicking game; where at times it can become nothing more than aerial ping pong.

Anyone that follows rugby union will be familiar with the name Jonny Wilkinson, he was the man that pretty much won England their first Rugby World Cup in 2003. Jonny Wilkinson has built himself a name as being one of, if not the greatest kicker of all time in the rugby union scene world wide.

The frustration associated to his famous left boot has come in the 2007 Rugby World Cup as at every given opportunity, the ball is kicked. Throughout the Rugby World Cup, we’ve seen the English team take penalty kicks from 40m, 45m, 50m and even 55m. Of course, that luxury if afforded to the English rugby union team by Jonny Wilkinson, as it is generally accepted that few other kickers in the world rugby scene are capable of such feats.

When the England rugby team have their kicking game turned on, I find the match horribly boring to watch. If I were a paying customer at the match itself, I would be quite angry as the constant kicking disrupts the flow of the game. In support for England, they would also be foolhardy not to capitalise on having such an outstanding kicker on their team – but it really does detract from the viewing of the game. I suppose it could be largely avoided if the opponents of the English rugby team didn’t give away so many penalties, however throughout the Rugby World Cup in 2007 it has been quite difficult for certain teams not to.

Credit has to be given where it is due though, Jonny Wilkinson is masterful when putting boot and ball together. In the Rugby World Cup semi-final between France and England, Wilkinson hit a field goal in the closing minutes of the match which was amazing. The ball was fired out to him from the back of the ruck, the French defensive line was coming down on him at a rate of knots. I’d estimate that the ball wasn’t in his hands for more than 1 second and in that time he managed to catch the ball, set himself and kick yet another great goal.

The incredible skill of Jonny Wilkinson does make me wonder how much the English rugby union team rely on it. I’ve heard the commentators at the 2007 world cup talk repeatedly about how calm the English team is and their willingness to grind out a win. I would argue that their calm is in part facilitated by Wilkinson; knowing you have someone on your team with his kicking skill allows his team to do certain things that their opponents are not able to replicate. While the no one could argue at the skill of the forward pack for England, I do wonder how their game style would change if Jonny Wilkinson wasn’t part of their team.

Measure Once, Cut Twice

Humour, Life

Have you ever heard the saying that you should measure twice and cut once, well this afternoon I measured once and cut twice.

The windscreen wiper blades on the car needed replacing, as they had started to become brittle and crack. After picking up a new pair from Super Cheap Auto, I set about removing the old ones and fitting the new pair.

Ordinarily when I replace wiper blades, I remove both windscreen wipers, cut both and then refit them. For some reason today, I removed one and replaced it; unfortunately for me – I happened to remove the shorter of the two blades first. You can surely see where this is going, when I removed the first wiper blade I stupidly cut both at the same time and of course one of the blades was about seven centimetres too short.

Moral of the story:

Always measure twice and cut once. It’s easy to measure a second time and very difficult to uncut something.

Streamed Directly From The U.S

Advertising, TV

Channel Ten are pushing new advertising bandwagon at the moment:

Streamed directly from the U.S

The television network are promoting this little catch cry for all of the new TV series they are airing at the moment, such as:

Apparently, streaming the content directly from the United States some how makes the content better. I haven’t quite got my head around how that works just yet but if and when I do, I’ll be sure to make a note of it.

I realise that it is nit picking and that the average Joe wouldn’t notice or give a damn, but for some reason I find it a little frustrating. It’s as if Channel 10 have cottoned onto this new fangdangled ‘internet’ thing and thought that combining a new cool word or phrase with their advertising would some how make it hip and happening.

The reality of it is and they say so in their own advertisement, that we’re still seeing it with a few days delay. That begs the next question, since we’re not seeing it the same day that it is airing in the United States and that it isn’t being steamed directly from the US and aired in Australia – why couldn’t they simply ship a copy of the new series the traditional way?

That’s right, I forgot – the shows are better because they are streamed directly from the U.S!

I love advertising.

Social Networking Done Right?

Internet, Websites

Since joining Facebook, I have been amazed at how well it facilitates social networking.

I’m not sure why I’m so impressed with Facebook, it is a social networking tool after all. I suppose it has to do with my constant comparison against the other monster social networking sites on the internet such as MySpace.

In the case of MySpace, I signed up to that to claim my account – I had no real intention of using it as a long term service. Even after claiming my account, I didn’t see a lot of activity on it and its cluttered and often disorganised interface annoyed me.

I signed up to Facebook for similar reasons, to claim my account but primarily to check out what all the fuss was about. Soon after signing up, I was astonished at how many people I knew in another life are popping back up – it is fantastic!

I’m not a big social networking user but if what Facebook are doing is doing social networking right; then I am beginning to appreciate just how tremendous it can be.