Herding Code 78: Ruby on Rails, View Engines, Web Security, Section 3.3.1 and Visual Studio 2010 with Rob Conery

This week on Herding Code, Jon, Kevin, Scott K and Rob Conery discuss Ruby on Rails, using dynamic languages to write views, web security, advanced javascript techniques, recent Twitter news, Section 3.3.1 and the official release of Visual Studio 2010.

  • The show begins with talk of Kevin’s recent dabbling into Ruby on Rails. The guys talk about Ruby 2 vs Ruby 3, how MS developers love their IDEs and finally Rack.
  • Jon mentions Jimmy Shimenti’s demo of Visual Studio 2010 File > New > Ruby on Rails with IronRuby.
  • The conversation segues into the benefits of trying out other platforms and how trying out other platforms doesn’t necessarily mean one is jumping ship.
  • Kevin shares why he has a hard time getting excited about IronRuby.
  • Scott K introduces a recent Alt.NET Seattle Fishbowl Topic – Is C# is the best language for writing views or should dynamic languages be used instead?
  • Rob Conery shares why he loves the Haml view engine and Kevin speaks to why he really likes Spark?
  • The guys talk about html encoding and XSS vulnerabilities.
  • The guys consider advanced techniques one can implement with jQuery and how really learning javascript can affect the way one writes C# code.
  • Scott K briefs us on his recent Alt.Net open space presentation on Node.js.
  • The guys passionately discuss the business of Twitter, hovercards, Twitter’s @Anywhere API, the Library of Congress, and the importance of security and password management.
  • The guys talks about why Apple Changed Section 3.3.1.
  • The guys talk about the Visual Studio 2010 installation and developer experience.
  • Rob pimps TekPub with background music .

Show Links:

Show notes compiled by Ben Griswold. Thanks!

Download / Listen:

Herding Code 78: Ruby on Rails, View Engines, Web Security, Section 3.3.1 and Visual Studio 2010 with Rob Conery

[audio://herdingcode.com/wp-content/uploads/HerdingCode-0078-Ruby-on-Rails-View-Engines-Web-Security-etc-with-Rob-Conery.mp3]

Herding Code 77: Eric Hexter on MvcConf, C4MVC, and MvcContrib

This week on Herding Code, Jon, Kevin and Scott K discuss MvcConf, C4MVC and MvcContrib with, open source and community extraordinaire, Eric Hexter. 

  • Eric talks about his role as consultant and Director of Open Source at Headspring.
  • The guys walk through Hexter’s impressive resume.   Eric is the co-founder of MVCContrib, he established the Community for MVC (C4MVC) virtual user group and is currently coordinating MvcConf, the Virtual ASP.NET MVC Conference scheduled for July.  No wonder the most popular listener question for this week was “How is Hexter so awesome?”
  • Eric takes us through the general theme of MvcConf  – “interactive” presentations around extensibility, testability and building maintainable, high-volume, enterprise applications with a focus on best practices like database migrations. 
  • Eric issues a call for speakers. Who’s interested?
  • Jon asks about Portable Areas in MvcContrib and Eric digs into the embedded view engine and synchronous message bus.
  • Kevin asks a question.
  • The guys talk about Input Builders, Dynamic Scaffolding and Fluent Html Helpers.  Jon also asks about MvcContrib Grid’s popularity.
  • Scott K asks about extending ASP.NET MVC, “Are you fighting with the framework or at least fighting with the C# language?”  Have you gotten the feeling that Scott likes a good fight?  Scott considers how and why various frameworks are developed and Eric praises ASP.NET MVC for having all of the the right extension points in place. These leads to a group discussion about the ASP.NET MVC team releasing source drops and not working in a bubble.
  • Eric and Jon talk about the MVCContrib TestHelpers and the importance of testing routes.  Hexter tells us about the UI Test Helpers built around WatiN and the benefit of strongly type views. Jon oohs and ahhs.
  • Kevin asks another question.
  • Scott K comments on SubControllers.  Eric tell us if SubControllers smell and shares the general argument against RenderAction.
  • Jon talks about model validation via data annotations and how one might test.  Eric shares some of the patterns they have established (strongly-typed views, 1:1 mapping between view and viewmodel) and how he uses data annotations for data type validation and how complex validation is handled via a command processor’s rules engine.
  • The show wraps with Eric singing about a few of his favorite things – continuous integration and testing. He pimps the early access edition of ASP.NET MVC2 in Action and Tarantino Database Migrations and announces that the Virtual ALT.Net folks and he will be open sourcing their video recording management scripts.
  • Final question, “How does Eric get so much done?”  “Automate, automate, automate!”  Of course!

Show Links:

Show notes compiled by Ben Griswold. Thanks!

Download / Listen:

Herding Code 77: Eric Hexter on MvcConf, C4MVC, and MvcContrib

[audio://herdingcode.com/wp-content/uploads/HerdingCode-0077-Eric-Hexter-on-MvcConf-C4MVC-and-MvcContrib.mp3]

Herding Code 76: John Sheehan on RestSharp

This week on Herding Code, John Sheehan joins the cast for a conversation about his open source project, RestSharp. The gang dives into REST and .NET open source. Makes sense, right? And the show wraps with talk of OData and a MIX10-inspired Lightning Round.

  • John talks about his exciting new evangelist job at Twilio. Twillo provides a web-service API for businesses to build scalable, reliable communication apps. Wait! The evangelist is going to tell you all about it.
  • The guys quiz John about RestSharp. John talks about what RestSharp has to offer and the direction of the project. 
  • The gangs talk about the oddities of .NET open source project development – forking, closing source, project naming, boredom and a plea for project takeover.
  • Jon leads the group into dangerous territory and forces an OData discussion. Is OData good? Is it REST?  Hear what the guys have to say. 
  • K Scott dazzles us with a power-packed Lightning Round.  Don’t step away for a second or you’ll miss it!  Just like lightning.
  • John kicks off our first Official Pimp Your Stuff segment talking about ManagedAssembly – a community for .NET developers which is poised to be taken over.  Just ask.  Please.

Show Links:

Show notes compiled by Ben Griswold. Thanks!

Download / Listen:

Herding Code 76: John Sheehan on RestSharp

[audio://herdingcode.com/wp-content/uploads/HerdingCode-0076-John-Sheehan-on-RestSharp.mp3]