As some of my readers may know, I’m a big fan of the Mercurial distributed version control system, and I have it installed on all my dev machines and VMs.  I opened up http://mercurial.selenic.com tonight to pull down the Hg + TortoiseHg bits for a new VM and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Hg 1.5 and TortoiseHg 1.0 have been released (2010-03-06).  There are many important changes, so be certain to read the release and upgrade notes (and review the release planfor future release dates).

Hg 1.5 Release notes

Hg 1.5 Upgrade notes

THg 1.0 Release notes

Download TortoiseHg 1.0 + Mercurial 1.5 here  If you want just the Mercurial bits, go here.

Tonight at the Cincinnati .NET User Group (CINNUG) I will be giving a grok talk on distributed version control.  The featured speaker tonight is David Giard who will be talking about the Microsoft Extensibility Framework (MEF).   I hope to see you there!

Update:  You can find my presentation materials here.

I have been using Mercurial for a short while now, and wanted to share the contents of my .hgignore file for any other developers using Visual Studio with Hg (and Resharper).   You may download the file from here (rename from hgignore.txt to .hgignore), and here are the contents:

syntax: glob

*.suo
*.user
*.FileListAbsolute.txt
*\bin\*
*\obj\*
*.ncb
*.nlb
*.aps
*.clw
*.pdb
*.obj
*.exe
*.pch
*.vspscc
*_i.c
*_p.c
*.tlb
*.tlh
*.bak
*.cache
*.Cache
*.ilk
*.log
*.lib
*.sbr
*.scc
*.sig
_ReSharper*\*

I will be speaking at devLink 2009!  If you are not familiar with devLink, take a look at what great technical content you get over three days for only $75.  Here is my speaker bio, and my sessions will be:

Windows Mobile Development*
Do you want to learn how to develop applications for Windows Mobile that are useful in your personal life, or in the enterprise? Had enough drag-and-drop demos where you build boring-looking applications? This session will include an introduction to the Windows Mobile platform, .NET Compact Framework, Windows Mobile SDKs, SQL Server Compact Edition, and frameworks from Microsoft and third-parties. The latter half of the session will discuss and demonstrate creating advanced user interfaces with .NET CF as well as tools and techniques for testing, debugging, and tuning your applications. This session expects no Windows Mobile or .NET CF experience, but will presume some Visual Studio and .NET experience.

Compact and Capable!**
SQL Server Compact Edition is an in-process database for use in applications that extend data storage capabilities to the desktop and to mobile devices. It is ideal for distributed and embedded applications and delivers essential relational database functionality in a small footprint while providing the familiar programming and management interfaces of SQL Server.  This session will explore how you can leverage SQL Compact as a local data store for Smart Client and Smart Device applications.  Also covered will be Visual Studio support, deployment options, ADO.NET interfaces, and synchronization options. Leave this session empowered with knowledge how to make your applications work anywhere the users are.

My sincere thanks and appreciation to the devLink speaker selection committee for selecting my abstracts.  Register today and come join me in Nashville, TN from August 13 – 15, 2009.

* The WM Dev session is an in-depth session which will be a multi-hour session.
** Yes, I stole the tagline of the SQL CE team for my talk title (and think it quite apropos for the product).

Interesting in knowing more?  Come to panel discussion the CINNUG meeting tomorrow (2008-05-20) at MAX Technical Training in Mason and discuss what it means to have a career in software development.

Hey you!  Going to CodeMash?!?   What's that, you don't know what it is?  Let's find out:

CodeMash is a unique event that will serve to educate developers on current practices, methodologies and technology trends across a variety of platforms and development languages.  Java, .NET, Ruby, and PHP anyone?

Even better is that CodeMash is held at the Kalahari Resort  (596 beautifully appointed African-themed guest rooms and suites) in Sandusky, Ohio. What a great way to escape winter weather in the Great Lakes region!

Ok, enough cheesy sales pitch.. you want the goods, eh?

How about more than forty-five sessions across areas like:

• Architecture (SOA, WS*, Interoperability and more)
• Desktop Dev (Smart Clients, client/server, and any standalone apps on your favorite platform)
• Web Dev (Web services, AJAX, frameworks, and all sorts of browser magic)
• Methodologies (Help you do it faster, better, cheaper, and with less pain)
• Mobility (devices, content distribution, social networking, and more)
• Languages (see what's new and nifty with C#, Python, Ruby, Java, PHP and more)

Check out the session list (and those are just the confirmed ones, more sessions still being added, so check back often!).

Speakers?  How about Bruce Eckel, Neal Ford, and yes, Scott Guthrie.

Register now!   Register by December 18, 2006 and registration is only $99 and get a guaranteed room. Time and rooms are running out!  Conference registration, meals, hotel room for only $349! 

CodeMash - Making it all work together!

A colleague of mine, Jeff Donahoe, has recently started a blog (ok, in late March), and has started a themed set of posts entitled The Back of the Napkin.  Jeff was in the SD family, but switched to DM (delivery management) – he brings an interesting perspective to this.  Take a read:  #1  and #2   ..and don’t forget to read his initial post (which generated a number of great comments).

Subscribed.

Jeff: Glad to see you out here!  We need to head out west and get a few pints of Fat Tire…

-Nino

The June 1, 2005 issue of SDTimes (yeah, I get the dead-tree edition) has a piece on Improving Software Quality http://www.sdtimes.com/article/special-20050601-01.html.

While I found it a good read and agree with much of what is in there (definitely the ‘get the testers involved at the beginning’ , I wantd to note the “Eight reasons why it’s better to be a tester than a developer” piece. Prime for getting tacked up on a cube wall.  It made me think of a former co-worker who is a killer tester.

-Nino

Why can I not diff (compare) a solution or project file in Visual Studio by right-clicking on the file in the Solution Explorer and selecting ‘Compare’? The only way, AFAIK, to perform a diff in the IDE is (after selecting the file in the Solution Explorer) to do File > Source Control > Compare.  

I wonder why that is…    (and feel free to call me lazy for wanting to leverage the context menu)

-Nino

Earlier this month (December 2005), some Avanade folks got together and started The Software Lifecycle Blog.  Check it out.  You can bet that I am subscribed.

Lucky me, I’ve gotten to work with some of these guys - pretty smart fellows whom I have a lot of respect for.  Oh, and as the disclaimer says, they speak not for Avanade, but for themselves.

-Nino