Algarve

nice place to be right now (winter)

algarve
Originally uploaded by coulportste.

Some truth about software consulting

Somehow this poster [from Despair, Inc.] always makes a lot of sense.

Accidents de voiture : Tunnels Russe

It must be the vodka!

The Bus Lane

Always respect the bus lane .. or else ... well, see for yourselves

How to get a random date in C#

I looked everywhere for a sample on generating random dates in C# but could find any so I wrote mine.

private static DateTime getRandomDate(Random rand, 
    DateTime minDate, DateTime maxDate)
{
    int totalDays = (int)DateTimeUtil.DateDiff(
        DateInterval.Day , minDate, maxDate);
    int randomDays = rand.Next(0,totalDays);
    return minDate.AddDays(randomDays);

}

This function uses the DateTime utility class below which I found somewhere on the web.

    public enum DateInterval
    {
        Day,
        DayOfYear,
        Hour,
        Minute,
        Month,
        Quarter,
        Second,
        Weekday,
        WeekOfYear,
        Year
    }

///

    public sealed class DateTimeUtil
    {

        #region DateDiff Methods

        public static long DateDiff(DateInterval interval, 
            DateTime dt1, DateTime dt2)
        {

            return DateDiff(interval, dt1, dt2, System.Globalization
                .DateTimeFormatInfo.CurrentInfo.FirstDayOfWeek);

        }

        private static int GetQuarter(int nMonth)
        {
            if (nMonth <= 3)
                return 1;
            if (nMonth <= 6)
                return 2;
            if (nMonth <= 9)
                return 3;
            return 4;
        }

        public static long DateDiff(DateInterval interval, 
            DateTime dt1, DateTime dt2, DayOfWeek eFirstDayOfWeek)
        {

            if (interval == DateInterval.Year)

                return dt2.Year - dt1.Year;

            if (interval == DateInterval.Month)

                return (dt2.Month - dt1.Month) + 
                    (12 * (dt2.Year - dt1.Year));

            TimeSpan ts = dt2 - dt1;

            if (interval == DateInterval.Day || 
                interval == DateInterval.DayOfYear)
                return Round(ts.TotalDays);

            if (interval == DateInterval.Hour)
                return Round(ts.TotalHours);

            if (interval == DateInterval.Minute)
                return Round(ts.TotalMinutes);

            if (interval == DateInterval.Second)

                return Round(ts.TotalSeconds);

            if (interval == DateInterval.Weekday)
            {
                return Round(ts.TotalDays / 7.0);
            }

            if (interval == DateInterval.WeekOfYear)
            {
                while (dt2.DayOfWeek != eFirstDayOfWeek)
                    dt2 = dt2.AddDays(-1);
                while (dt1.DayOfWeek != eFirstDayOfWeek)
                    dt1 = dt1.AddDays(-1);
                ts = dt2 - dt1;
                return Round(ts.TotalDays / 7.0);
            }

            if (interval == DateInterval.Quarter)
            {
                double d1Quarter = GetQuarter(dt1.Month);
                double d2Quarter = GetQuarter(dt2.Month);
                double d1 = d2Quarter - d1Quarter;
                double d2 = (4 * (dt2.Year - dt1.Year));
                return Round(d1 + d2);
            }
            return 0;
        }

        private static long Round(double dVal)
        {
            if (dVal >= 0)
                return (long)Math.Floor(dVal);
            return (long)Math.Ceiling(dVal);
        }
        #endregion
    }

Visual Studio is a memory hog - uses 1/2 a gig of memory

Visual Studio (2005) and ASP.NET server are using more than 1/3 (765,304k) of all my memory. Has Microsoft lost its mind?

C# - How to check if a property type is an Enum

class EnumTests
{
  public static void Run()
  {
      // convert a string into a color Enum
      Colour c = (Colour)Enum.Parse(typeof(Colour), "Red", true);
      Console.WriteLine("Colour Value: {0}", c.ToString());

      // Picking an invalid colour throws an ArgumentException. To
      // avoid this, call Enum.IsDefined() first, as follows:
      string nonColour = "OrangeGreen";

      if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(Colour), nonColour))
          c = (Colour)Enum.Parse(typeof(Colour), nonColour, true);
      else
          Console.WriteLine("'{0}' is an undefined Color", nonColour);

      //Check if c is an Enum
      Console.WriteLine("c is an Enum = {0} ", c.GetType().IsEnum);
  }
}

#region Helper Classes

enum Colour
{
  Red,
  Green,
  Blue
}

#endregion

Yande, almost 10 weeks later.

It's been almost 10 weeks since Yande was born, and he has almost double in size - about 16 lbs now. Anyway he wore shoes today and I thought I should take him some pictures.

Apollo Extensions for Flexbuilder 2.0.1 won't Install/Run

After painstakingly downloading the new Apollo runtime and Apollo extensions for Flex Builder from Adobe Labs, I now have to deal with errors nobody at the Apollo forums seems to have any clue about. (Except another few 10s of developers who have the same problems).

I am running WinXP Pro SP2. During the Flex extensions install, I get to select the location of the Flex Builder folder and then I get an Eclipse Folder Error as shown below:

 

And I do not have Eclipse installed on this computer. I know Flex is built on Eclipse, but common, Adobe should be able to do better - I've been waiting for Apollo for too long.

The when I start Flex Builder, Apollo is present but still won't run.



I'm still watching the forums hoping somebody will answer this one.

Adobe.com is just Unacceptably TOO SLOW

As a matter of fact, this site doesn't even load.



Today I received an email from adobe to download the alpha release for the highly anticipated Apollo SDK for building desktop apps that will run on Windows & Mac. But unfortunaly for the last 10 minutes, the site still hasn't loaded.
Adobe.com is notoriously slow especially when compared to other tech company sites such as Yahoo.com and Microsoft.com.

Adobe, I have 2 questions.
1. Why should I even bother about your software when your site would load?
2. Is your site running on ColdFusion?
Bonus
3. Add I hear you want to put Photoshop on the web, good luck.

Yande's Home Coming

Yande and mother (Philo) finally came home on Thursday (3/15/2007). I will be putting up hist first home pictures later.
Apart from the Wheel Chair incident I still give Prince George's Hospital Center a solid “A” for their service. PG Hospital Center currently is run by Dimensions Healthcare System and I salute them for the excellent experience we had with their services. KUTGW.

Yande Franklin Anyangwe - First Pictures

...more...

Since blogger does not provide a way to upload or manage a simple photo gallery, I have uploaded the pictures to my personal website at http://www.cityjams.com/yande

Yande Franklin Anyangwe 03/12/07

Philo and I hereby welcome Yande F. Anyangwe into our family who arrived yesterday March 12th 2007 at 8lbs. 10oz.

Best Comparism: Ruby vs Java et al

This is probably the best analogy I've seen comparing dynamic languages (like Ruby & JavaScript) to static object oriented languages (like C# & Java) by Joel on Software.

Also a good start to understand how to map (ConvertAll) and reduce (Fold) your code - MapReduce
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/08/01.html