For exploring data and doing open-ended statistical analysis on it, nothing beats the R language. Over the years, this open-source tool has come to dominate the way we do analysis and visualization; It has attracted a rich and varied collection of third-party libraries that has given it remarkable versatility: But how do you get started? Casimir explains how to get started, and get familiar with the way it works. … Read more
Automatic memory management isn't new, but it's a wonderful thing for programmers. We bring you some tips and techniques to .help you understand a bit more about how .NET's memory management works, can help you to ensure that you write high-performance .NET code. … Read more
The Model-View-Controller pattern of the ASP.NET MVC allows the separation of the business logic from the input and presentation logic. Although it permits the independent development, testing and maintenance of each component, it doesn't guarantee clean code. Dino Esposito offers a modified approach in which an Orchestrator component helps to keep your controllers small, clean and manageable.… Read more
Even if you know PowerShell inside and out, there will be those times where you won't be the end user for your script, even within your organisation. You need a straightforward GUI. Thankfully, Jonathan Medd has provided workthoughs for three tools - PowerGUI, PrimalForms, and SQL Scripts Manager - to help apply some GUI goodness to your scripts.… Read more
Because ASP.NET MVC has been designed with extensibility as its design principle; almost every logical step of the processing pipeline can be replaced with your own implementation. In fact, the best way to develop applications with ASP.NET MVC is to extend the system, Simone starts a series that explains how to implement extensions to ASP.NET MVC, starting with the ones at the beginning of the pipeline (routing extensions) and finishing with the view extensions points.… Read more
Although the technical approach to stock market analysis has been around since the 1800s, some improvements have obviously been made over time. With the introduction of computers, and specifically .NET libraries geared towards statistical analysis, huge, complex operations have been made easy.… Read more
Writing maintainable code is hard. It must be understandable, testable and readable. Any one of these can be tricky, and together they seem pretty daunting. Thankfully, Michael Williamson makes it look easy to become a code craftsman.… Read more
Modules allow you to use standard libraries that extend PowerShell's functionality. They are easier to use than to create, but if you get the hang of creating them, your code will be more easily-maintained and re-usable. Let Michael Sorens once more be your guide through PowerShell's 'Alice in Wonderland' world.… Read more
The best way to understand how interfaces improve software design is to see a familiar problem solved using interfaces. First, take a tightly-coupled system design without interfaces, spot its deficiencies and then walk-through a solution of the problem with a design using interfaces.… Read more
.NET Memory management is an impressive and comprehensive system, but it's not flawless, and it's occasionally a little anti-intuitive. As a result, there are a few common misconceptions which need to be dispelled before you can really get the most out of the .NET framework.… Read more
 We were recently taken to task by a reader who felt that the one place he'd expect to find a nice simple introduction to memory profiling with ANTS Memory Profilerâ„¢ 5 would be on Simple Talk. Memory profiling has an intimidating reputation, but fortunately Laila Lotfi came up with a simple introduction that even ordinary mortals could appreciate. … Read more
The ADO.Net Data Services framework enables you to provide data services to Web applications that are simple to integrate with them. The data services use URIs to point to pieces of data, and use standards such as JSON and XML to transfer that data. ADO.NET Data Services uses the Entity Framework, which allows an easy translation from a Database layer based on Stored procedures, to an object-orientated Application layer. It all seems surprisingly sensible. Prasanna explains all, as usual.… Read more