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By Paweł Smejda, February 24, 2011 9:02 pm

Over year ago I decided to take certification path to reach Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) for Enterprise Application Developer 3.5. Couple weeks ago I took last summary exam: Pro: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications Using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. To be honest it was most reasonable exam of all. Questions were covering more experience knowledge then technical issues.

When I started this path exams for .NET 3.5 were just arriving, when I ended it we have already certifications for version 4. At all I took 6 exams:

• 70-565 (Feb 11, 2011) PRO: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications using Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
• 70-503 (Jan 17, 2011) TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Communication Foundation Application Development
• 70-561 (Aug 02, 2010) TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ADO.NET Application Development
• 70-505 (Feb 25, 2010) TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Application Development
• 70-562 (Nov 05, 2009) TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development
• 70-536 (Feb 10, 2009) TS: Microsoft .NET Framework – Application Development Foundation

I did it for learning purposes, wanted to have basics in technologies that working with. I was suffering when it came to WCF exam but successfully passed it. Lots of people saying that there is better way to learn, I can agree with that but this was something I wanted to try. It is not easy way of education because require lots of time, the hardest part is that you need to make code samples in technologies you don’t feel comfortable.

For now I don’t plan to take another exams, I set the target, reach and it; now it is time for another challenges. I think that more reasonable way is to learn and pass certifications in technologies you like; such a huge certification path leads sometimes to not interesting knowledge.

Good news is that now I need to take only upgrades certification to reach .NET 4 but as I wrote I don’t plan it. For now my interest are focused on Windows Phone 7 development, this time learning is a lot’s of code, books, blogs and podcasts.

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By Paweł Smejda, January 23, 2011 2:15 pm

To extend my Tools List I would like to add iPad applications I’m using.

System Manager – Basic system extension for monitoring. memory usage, running processes, disk info, battery charge support, system information. It cost me (0,79 €) but disappointed me, I expected to have more possibilities for processes maintain.

Twitter - Twitter client, very simple and useful.

Dropbox - Dropbox client, one of the most frequently used application. I’m downloading lots of files (e.g. books, newspapers) on my main PC and then put it on Dropbox, when need just downloading them on iPad.

Evernote - Evernote client, stores my private notes, generally have there lots of interesting bookmarks to read later.

Skype - Big lack of this application is missing iPad version so I’m using iPhone one.

GoodReader - One of application I bought (0,79 €) and very happy about that fact. It is PDF reader which can automatically fit page to width in horizontal mode. One of the best features is possibility to crop PDF’s, so you can throw away white margins in books and achieve bigger page – awesome utility.

TeamViewer - One of my favorite, when I need to connect to my main PC outside home there is no better tool for that. Comfortable usage and easy gestures to learn.

Free Translator – Huge amount of languages support and it is totally free.

CloudReaders - Using it for reading .cbr files – comic books usually.

Bloomberg - Stock market live news and stock quotes.

AirVideoFree - Supports AirStream which is very useful when you want to watch videos on iPad without converting if through WIFI. Requires server instalation on iOS or Windows.

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By Paweł Smejda, January 19, 2011 12:40 am

I passed 70-503 Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – Windows Communication Foundation. To prepare for exam I read two books. The first one was custom exam toolkit delivered by Microsoft Press MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-503) written by Bruce Johnson, Peter Madziak, Sara Morgan. My experience told me that this book will not cover exam and I was right – can’t imagine that this is the same for all those Training Kits. Usually I treat those books as reminders but this time I had to deal with it because I didn’t found anything for WCF basics.

Second position in my learning was Programming WCF Services written by Juval Lowy. It was my another O’Reilly book and I must say that I don’t like that publisher. At the beginning I planned to read it as first but after couple chapters I couldn’t get point so I left it to first read Training Kit. Sad part is that this was best book I found for WCF. It is highly recommended for persons that already have experience, not for learning beginners.

It was hard to learn WCF and in fact I still don’t feel that I know it. There is not much books and when you realize that this technology is quite boring (lots of configurations) you can imagine that it is not funniest part. I’m happy that it is after me.

There is only one certification left in path I chose, I want to achieve it soon because, it is summarizing examination.

I also suggest those links for learning:

- Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) Samples for .NET Framework 4

- Mike Taulty’s Blog: Windows Communication Foundation Tutorial Videos

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By Paweł Smejda, January 13, 2011 4:57 pm

Lots of people wondering if it is worth to spend their money to buy an iPad. I had same doubts when it was firsts released in United States. For sure I did not treated is as replacement for notebook because it is totally different device and in my opinion will never take i’s place. I have simplest version since Poland premiere and still quite impressed about it.

For me the most important usage of iPad is reading books, in fact this was my only purpose to have that device. At first glance it looks like a solid piece of hardware, nice looking design without additional fancy stuff. One button in front is really sufficient. You can complain for lack of camera or weak speakers but first one will be solved in version 2 and second is in fact quite good as for that type of device.

Usage is very intuitive and even persons without experience can easily handle it. I did not noticed annoying delay, screen have ideal contrast and sharpness. Light weight (0.68 kg) and long battery live (10 h) makes it perfect for traveling. More technical detail you can find on official Apple page.

Because you probably find dozens of articles about iPad I would like to present something that I was looking  before buying without success. I prepared small PDF document in A4 format to show you how it is displayed. My main reader is GoodReader which is best software for reading books I found. As you can see 10 pt. font is still readable in vertical mode, for horizontal you can even read 8 pt. Most of books are smaller than A4 which means that you can easily read them in full page view.

MSDN Magazine example shows that it is still readable but for larger formats it is better to use horizontal view. I thought that it is less comfortable but it is not true. NUI interface is so smooth that you’re not distracted from reading.

I also like idea of App Store which is the only place which contains software for iPad. After creating account you need to pass your credit card credentials. Huge amount of applications, nice interface, categories, rating makes it comfortable place. There is a lot of free application so I just bought only couple that are most wanted for me. Some people don’t like idea that App Store is the only place for iPad applications, I’m not in that group and the main reason is that it is easy to download software, everything is in one place. Because Apple audit all applications you can be sure that they better quality.

I supposed that iPad will be only useful for me while reading books/magazines. I was wrong, it is ideal also for sitting on couch and browsing web pages, twitter, watching videos, pictures, even playing simple games. I like it very much and will never treat it as replacement for notebook, those two are totally different devices.

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By Paweł Smejda, December 17, 2010 11:41 pm

I decided to create my own Tools list to have constant view on it. The idea came from one of my favorite developers sites which is Scot Hanselman‘s blog . I will try to keep it actual with adding new things. You will always be able to see this list updated on my blog under Tools List.

Manage tools:

• Chrome - My default browser – fast, lot’s of plugins, GUI is bare minimum.
• DropBox – 2 GB of free space for storing/sharing files. Multiple system support: Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android. Using it to synchronize files between work-home-iPad. What you need to do is only put files to DropBox defined folder it will update it automatically. Deleted files are stored through one month so even if you make mistake it is not problematic.
• Evernote - Support for making and organizing notes. Possibility to update links, texts, files. Usually using it  for shared bookmarks, small todo lists.
• Fences - Upgrading my desktop icons form chaos to managed chaos. Very nice looking and practical tool for cleaning and organizing icons.
• 7-zip – File archiver, supporting most popular compression formats.
• TweetDeck - Tweeter account desktop client. You can create multi columns views, automate shoring URLs.
• Foobar2000 – My music player, clear GUI without fancy necessity.
• µTorrent - Torrent download client. Multiple user download support makes it very fast.
• Skype - My voice comminucator.
• TrueCrypt - Disc encryption software. You can encrypt whole partitions or only small part of it. Protects my data well.

Developer tools:

• ReSharper – I don’t know how I could develop in Visual Studio without it. Great tool for code inspections, code completion, navigation, templates, refactoring.
• .NET Reflector – Explorer and analyzer for compiled .NET assemblies, viewing them in C#, Visual Basic and IL.
• WinMerge -Differencing and merging tool. Comparing files and folders with nicely presented differences makes life easier.
• Notepad++ – If standard Notepad is not enough, this is what you looking. Source code editor with nice syntax highlight.
• Total Commander – Alternative for Windows Explorer. If you fan of shortcuts you will organize your files/folders structure very fast.

Useful pages:

• C# to VB converter – If you want to fast convert piece of code form C# <-> Visual Basic this is what you looking for.
• Rapidshare seracher – Nice page for rapidshare searches. No adds, no malware.
• Regex Tester NRegex – My favorite regular expression online tester.
• WordPress – This blog engine. Enormous amount of free plug-ins, constant updates, themes support.

I want to ship this page on my blog for constant updates. Looking forward for your software suggestions :)