Shafqat Ahmed's .NET Blog

Interesting attributes in CompilerServices namespace

The namespace System.CompilerServices has a few useful classes that can be used by a developer even though he is not working on compilers.

SuppressIldasm Attribute

One interesting element could be to stop disassembling your code by using this attribute. This does not obfuscate your code code rather tells the ILDASM to not show your code when IL is being decompiled. This can be applied on an Assembly.

Example

Just add this line to your code.

 [assembly: System.Runtime.CompilerServices.SuppressIldasm()]

StringFreezing Attribute

If you apply this attribute to the assembly then all the strings used within the assembly is frozen when native generation is used. This is useful of a performance hungry application that uses a lot of strings. Warning, be sure to apply this to the assemblies that do not require unloading as the assembly with this attribute cannot be unloaded.

Example

Just add this line to your code.

 [assembly: System.Runtime.CompilerServices.StringFreezing()]

Just add this line to your code.

 

Technorati Tags: C# , Compiler Services

Independent Thought

The web development increases the door towards internet global world. This internet world enhances the field of MBA and affiliate marketing line for companies. Different companies enhance their promotion and marketing by website design holding their product promotion. Different famous companies enhance small firms by introducing affiliate program for them. These companies have started their separate computer department specially working for web hosting services. Different services are provided other than web hosting and this include internet marketing solutions for the firms. Due to all these services through internet the field of web design development becomes very famous.

This week's musings: Time saver freeware

 

Drop your SnagIt or any other screen Capture software and start using the software Jing Project, which by the way is a project of Techsmith the creators of SnagIt screen Capture. This is so far the best screen capture software on the Internet because its user friendly and has the bare minimum features that you need.

Sumatra PDF is 750KB pdf reader that loads very fast and has a light footprint. I have just switched to it from the Adobe Viewer. If you want search feature then stick to Adove Acrobat Reader.

 

Skylight is a shortcut launcher program like Launchy but it is written in .NET 3.0. You can see an image below.

 

Loading ISO files with Virtual Drive for XP from Microsoft

Microsoft now releases beta version of Visual Studio 2008 and other beta products as iso images. Unfortunately some of these iso files are in non standard format and cannot be loaded by some iso reader software. However Microsoft has an unsupported virtual CD loader. It loads iso files as a virtual CD Rom drive. This software can be found here

http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/b/6/7b6abd84-7841-4978-96f5-bd58df02efa2/winxpvirtualcdcontrolpanel_21.exe

New Opera 9.5 beta release on 25th

Opera 9.5 Alpha has been released and it had quite a lot of issues but it has faster JavaScript engine and a whole lot better history search. I have been using opera since version 3.00 and absolutely love this product. I still consider it to be the best browser in the world. Well ... I am a Opera Maniac.

Opera 9.5, codename Krestel will go beta on 25th October, with a large boom in San Francisco. More details can be found here. You can also follow the development progress in the Opera Desktop Blog.

One of the cool things that Opera supports now, is a tag called Canvas which is a part of HTML5 specification. Unfortunately all the idiots who still use Internet Explorer won't have this. Canvas is basically like a Java canvas element where one can draw shapes using JavaScript. How you can use Canvas in Opera can be found at this article in the Opera developer site. All the Major browers (Firefox, Safari, Opera) except Internet Explorer supports canvas. A tutorial for <canvas> tag usage can be found at Mozilla tutorial. I still can't believe Microsoft is doing such a sloppy work with the IE browser, its a bad strategy. FF has kicked IE's butt big time, still the giant is sleeping.

One cool implementation with Canvas and Javascript can be found at this site but it requires the use of Opera 9.5 beta or Firefox or Flock since Opera 9.xx version before 9.5 cannot render it properly. But its nice to see a painting application using pure html.

Working women of Bangladesh write blogs

The organization called Narijibon has put up a blog at which is featuring the working women from Bangladesh and the  story of their life. Most of the entries involve life story of the women who have had aid from the organization and how they have grown up, life changing struggles, life, marriage and death etc. Some entries are quite touching. Unfortunately there is no English translation available yet. If you can read Bangla please visit the blog, it may be an eye opening experience for the good life we live in and have taken for granted.

10 Software that I can't live without

1. Total Commander (Best file manager ever): I cant believe anyone can live without Total Commander ( previously known as Windows Commander) which I have been using for over 10 years. I have forgotten how to use windows explorer which is 10 times slower in any kind of operation. This one file manager software lets me do everything. And by everything I mean "Everything". For example it lets me do the following

    1. File Management Tasks: File and Folder create copy, delete and all other regular stuff
    2. Compress to any form of archive, be it zip, rar, ace, 7z ... name anything.
    3. Compare files and folders and edit them
    4. Burn my CDs
    5. Install uninstall any softares
    6. ftp client ( has email, rss, nntp clients but I dont use them)
    7. Start, stop, install uninstall windows services
    8. Encrypt, split files
    9. Manage processes, Edit registry
    .... there are more but I don't have the time to write it down.   

2. Opera (Best web browser): Using opera from version 3 and still hooked. Nothing comes close to it. I have recently started to use Flock instead of Firefox for the sites that run better in FF.

3. Thunderbird (Mail): Used to be a total fan of Opera mailing client M2, but recently moved to thunderbird for all the plugins. Outlook sucks big time!

4. Skype (IM): Most of  my official contacts are in skype

5. Facebook (www.facebook.com): Found all my friends from grad school in Facebook. Visit daily. I am in love with this site

6. STablauncher : A windows based tabbed launcher, most of the programs that I use daily are located in this software

7. Google : No need to say why.

8. .NET Reflector: .NET Code reflection and decompilation tool.

9. Code Project : Its the best programming site.

10. LifeHacker.com: Started to hack my life.

Trash your Tv

Recently one of my favorite tv shows, Smallville has kicked off to a whooping season 7 in the US. But fortunately to the wonders of the internet I can watch them a few hours just after the show has aired in the US. One of the issues with Television is that it airs a certain program at a certain specific time. And nowdays its quite impossible to watch them at that time because I am busy. Also its kinda hard to wait for the whole week to see an episode. Stargate SG-1 had just ended after its 10th seasons running and Stargate Atlantis has started season 4.

Now you everyday TV does not serve these programs at your region at your chosen time. Trash your tv, its worthless. The only thing it will do is to eat up your time when you dont want it to. If you want to watch something watch it over internet, so that you are not slave to the timing. You can watch it over the weekend when you are free.

Talking about this reminds me to write about Joost, a peer to peer based high definition internet TV program. It has over 100 channels with various interests and programs. Try it, you'd really want to throw away the time limiting Television in your living room,