I have read somethings about the LINQ-project at Microsoft. I haven’t fully understood it yet but from this video i see that it’s really cool. Also - as i understand it - this could be a way to build Hibernate-like functionality with Microsoft products… for anyone who like that ;)

Have been reading up on SCRUM and found some nice articles and presentations. This is an overview from a company that apparently has developed a Add-in for Visual Studio Team System to use on SCRUM-projects, but don’t mind that but focus on the important stuff about SCRUM instead. Here’s another good introduction site: http://www.scrum-master.com/, especially check out Ken Schwabers top ten tips Coming from the RUP-methodology i like the presentation but i also realise that this a bit against the whole “agile”-concept. In short - i like it.

I am always interested in finding stuff that simplifies my day-to-day use of computer software. I love shortcuts and macros or rather i hate doing repetitive stuff that just is boring and tedious… Here is an great article about shortcuts in Visual Studio 2005

On my way to work today i noticed that the Easter was initiated in the windows of the shops i passed. This is a discussion you don’t hear so often; the shops starting Easter earlier and earlier each year. I mean the same is said for Christmas … wonder why. Anyhow - these times are always hectic and this year is no exception; 40 years jubilee for the Vasa Corps Concert with brass band A lot of different meetings and committees etc But - as always - most of these are fun things to do so i am not that worried. Besides - spring is in the air. There is something about the light and air this time of the year that fills you with hope, like “you know what? We just might make it to summer. Again” Have a good one - peace out.

Found the site InfoQ (do NOT mix this with AvenueQ) that contains some very good articles, presentations and even books about agile development and related stuff. Have up to now just seen and read some parts but it all looks very promising. Here are my shortlist so far: Book on Domain Driven Design Great OOP presentation Visual Studio tips and tricks This will be often visited by me in the future. I promise…

During the last months i have snowed in on Agile development. I don’t really know why i first started to look at it but i think it has to do with that all the problems that agile methods claims to solve they always state in the outset of the description of the method. For example: Does the requirements often change in your project? Would you like a system that improved in quality over time? Is your system hard to test? Is it hard to predict how long time or how big a change in your system is? … and more of the same kind… It’s all very “selly” and provocative but i have actually ran into most of these points in projects, recent and distant. Altogether this force me into looking into it more which probably (and hopefully) will reflect on the blog. Here is a quite annoying but also...

If you ever are in Russia… in St Petersburg… please take the bus. This is one of the crossings in the town. No lights. No stop-signs. No speed limit. Looks pretty dangerous. Or like Borat says: to drive like that “.. is like giving gun to monkey. Very Dangerous! “

The last posts has been a bit boring… Sorry, i mean technical. So here is something maybe a little more refreshing. Mr Kenny Rogers is the great country star of USA (or the world maybe). And apparently The Gambler is his great hits. This version is with Muppets and is quite sweet…

Found this article on Agile Software Development and it made me realize two thing that humbled me: I haven’t done to much of Agile development. And reading this article makes me sad… This thoughts that agile development base the whole development process on is solution to many of the problems that i have encountered in different projects. I have even said and been the guys that mr Folwer talks about as “the old, bureaucratic engineering” developers. Brrr - sends shivers down my spine when i think about it :) The .NET community is a bit behind… or in any case can only harvest the good ideas invented by the Java-community. This article is written 2000! And! in it he talks about these methodologies as they have been around for some year. But then again - isn’t this what it is all about. Get some new idea, try it out, adapt...

Found this site http://www.istadensspar.se/. Apparently this is a guy that used to drive a subway train in Stockholm underground who got tired of getting the same question all of the time; “what does it look like in the tunnels?”. So he brought his camera and took some pretty amazing pictures. The pictures on the site is just a small selection of the pictures in the book but very very nice. The book will probably be bought and placed on a future coffetable…