Windward Wrocks

Named Pipes in .NET

Like apparently 1 million other developers (according to Google) I needed to set up a named pipe in .Net. The problem is that what I found was either overkill or buggy. So I started with the code at Paranoid Ferret, fixed the bugs I found (you need to open the streams before returning from the connect method), and added a Dispose() to both sides.

This code (NamedPipes.zip) is designed to be a very simple system where a server and multiple clients can send text messages to each other asynchronously. And note that the messages come in on the pipe's threads so you need to Invoke to the UI thread if you are going to touch any of the UI.

This code could use improvement.

1. I tried running it in message mode but the call on the client side to put it in message mode failed. If anyone can tell me why or can fix it, please let me know.
2. The blocking reads on both sides should use events so that the thread can be killed by triggering the event. And the OVERLAPPED struct should be created with an event on the server side for this same purpose. I did not do this because I don't know the SDK events real well and I saw conflicting recommendations about how to use them here. Again, if you know the correct way to do this, please let me know.

This code has been thoroughly tested here and is 100% solid, at least in how we are using it.

Debugging .NET 2.0 DLLs in Visual Studio 2010

This can be a nasty little surprise. If you are running a program (Microsoft Office in our case) where that program is not a .NET 2.0/3.0/3.5 app, and it calls your DLL which is a .NET 2.0/3.0/3.5 app, then the Visual Studio debugger thinks your DLL is .NET 4.0 and it will display the following error.

There are several ways to address this. The easiest one is to add an app.exe.config file with the following information. This explicitly sets the .NET version and the Visual Studio debugger will then use the .NET 2.0 CLR (which is the CLR for .NET 3.0 and 3.5 too).

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v2.0.50727"/>
</startup>
</configuration>

You normally do not need to do this for normal usage, just for debugging.

Microsoft office config files: Download Excel.exe, Download Powerpnt.exe, Download Winword.exe

Keywords: Unable to break execution. This process is not currently executing the type of code that you selected to debug.

Stupid Design Tricks

What is the above picture? It's the garage door openers in our house (they were that way when we moved in). Think about it, someone didn't think things through enough to place them left to right. And to rectify it, they put the compass direction which standing inside you are not generally aware of. At least they added the arrows. This to me is the epitome of poor design.

(We now have them side by side).

What should I do with a free copy of Office 2010?

We received a free copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2010 for our feedback in the technical beta. We don't need it, we get more copies than we need from our ISV Partnership with Microsoft. So we're now trying to figure out what to do with it. We could have a contest of some kind. We could hold a raffle on the last day of JavaOne at our booth. We could hold a drawing of all customers.

But none of these ideas have struck a chord for us. So, any suggestions about what we should do? If so, please post it in a comment.

Thank you.

Bug Resolution Time

We just ran our average bug resolution time numbers for the last two months. The Sev 1 bug time I would like to bring down to under 2 days. But the rest of these numbers I am very happy with.

Severity	Days
1	5.49
2	7.46
3	11.38
4	11.83
5	21.19

 

And what do the sev levels mean at Windward?

1. Showstopper – drop everything and fix
2. Fix within the next 2 weeks (and before a beta goes out)
3. Fix within the next 6 weeks (and before a minor release goes out)
4. Fix within the next 6 months
5. Fix if you have nothing else to do

Programming Checklists

Airplane pilots are highly educated and trained individuals. Yet they have detailed checklists for most everything they do. Why? Because human beings are imperfect and mistakes can rapidly turn fatal in a plane. So they use the checklists and in doing so make flying much safer. Hospitals have recently started doing the same. Again medical personal are highly educated, yet they are fining instituting checklists reduce complications and save lives. A lot of lives.

What I found really interesting about the medical checklists was that they tended to be short and in many cases list the basics. Quite a few have as item 1 "wash your hands." It occurred to me that if a doctor does better to be reminded of something as fundamental as washing their hands, then we developers could benefit from some basic reminders. So here at Windward we have put together the following three checklists. In the first week a couple of us have already hit cases where the reminder was needed.

We're a small company with a minimum of procedures. And the developers we have here are among the best I have worked with anywhere. When I first proposed checklists I thought I would get some pushback that they were condescending and unnecessary. Instead everyone has supported the idea and most everyone has contributed to what is in the lists, and what we removed. I think it helps that everything on these lists is something we have all forgotten at times.

So here's our lists as of today. If you have suggestions, please add a comment.

Before going home

1. Enter all bugs discovered today.
2. Post update on all help tickets expecting a response today.
3. Make a note of what you are working on and didn't finish.

Fixing a bug

1. Write unit test (it fails).
2. Fix bug.
3. Run unit test (it passes).
4. Check in with test.

New feature

1. Include unit test.
2. No warnings on compile.
3. Fully commented.
4. Test Obfuscation (private parts obfuscated, public parts not).
5. Wiki updated.

Post on more detailed programming checklists by one of my co-workers.

Some graphs with meaningful info...

These are hilarious – from GraphJam.com

Never ask an Artist for Help

 

I got this in a forwarded email. I have no idea who created it but whoever they are, they're a genius!

   

 

Shannon (the secretary) has lost her cat and has asked David (the graphic designer) to help with a lost poster. This is their email correspondence...

   

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.15am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Poster

Hi
I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.

This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number. Thanks Shan.

   

From:David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.26am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,

That is shocking news. Although I have two clients expecting completed work this afternoon, I will, of course, drop everything and do whatever it takes to facilitate the speedy return of Missy. Regards, David.

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.37am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Poster

yeah ok thanks. I know you dont like cats but I am really worried about mine. I have to leave at 1pm today.

   

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.17am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,  I never said I don't like cats. Attached poster as requested. Regards, David.

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.24am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah thats not what I was looking for at all. it looks like a movie and how come the photo of Missy is so small?

   

   

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.28am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,  It's a design thing. The cat is lost in the negative space. Regards, David.

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.33am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Thats just stupid. Can you do it properly please? I am extremely emotional over this and was up all night in tears. you seem to think it is funny. Can you make the photo bigger please and fix the text and do it in colour please. Thanks.

   

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.46am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

Dear Shannon,
Having worked with designers for a few years now, I would have assumed you understood, despite our vague suggestions otherwise, we do not welcome constructive criticism. I don't come downstairs and tell you how to send text messages, log onto Facebook and look out of the window. I have amended and attached the poster as per your instructions.Regards, David.

   

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 10.59am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

This is worse than the other one. can you make it so it shows the whole photo of Missy and delete the stupid text that says missing missy off it? I just want it to say Lost.

   

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.14am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

   

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.21am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Poster

yeah can you do the poster or not? I just want a photo and the word lost and the telephone number and when and where she was lost and her name. Not like a movie poster or anything stupid. I have to leave early today. If it was your cat I would help you. Thanks.

   

   

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.32am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Awww

Dear Shannon,  I don't have a cat. I once agreed to look after a friend's cat for a week but after he dropped it off at my apartment and explained the concept of kitty litter. I have attached the amended version of your poster as per your detailed instructions. Regards, David.

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.47am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Awww

Thats not my cat. where did you get that picture from? That cat is orange. I gave you a photo of my cat.

   

   

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 11.58am
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Awww

I know, but that one is cute. As Missy has quite possibly met any one of several violent ends, it is possible you might get a better cat out of this. If anybody calls and says "I haven't seen your orange cat but I did find a black and white one with its hind legs run over by a car, do you want it?" you can politely decline and save yourself a costly veterinarian bill. Regards, David.

   

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.07pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Please just use the photo I gave you.

   

   

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.22pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

   

   

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.34pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

I didnt say there was a reward. I dont have $2,000 dollars. What did you even put that there for? Apart from that it is perfect can you please remove the reward bit. Thanks Shan.

   

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.42pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.51pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Can you just please take the reward bit off altogether? I have to leave in ten minutes and I still have to make photocopies of it.

   

   

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.56pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

   

   

From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 1.03pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Fine. That will have to do.

How to Eliminate Spam Email

Spam, even with the tools to filter it out, is a gigantic PITA. It eats up tons of bandwidth and as filtering systems are imperfect we are left still having to quickly parse questionable emails. The following is an email verification system that could eliminate most (sorry not all) spam. Not mark it, but eliminate it.

• The system proposed here does not require any human intervention – it is all automatic.
• The system proposed here does not require any kind of established relationship (as PKI does) between mail servers.
• The system proposed does not require any software or action on mail clients – just a program added to the mail server.
• The system proposed here does one thing – it insures that an e-mail message truly comes from the mail's from address. This would stop about 99% of existing spam.
• Stops mail that pretends to come from eBay, your bank, etc.

So how does this work? All identification and authentication (I&A) and in the computer industry is presently handled by one of three methods (or a combination thereof): username and password, physical token (such as a smart card), or PKI. This process adds a fourth method. The basic method is:

• When a system receives a message
• and the system does not trust the communication channel
• where the message could have been generated from a source other than the source specified
• or it could be from the source specified but was edited in transit
• and there is a way to independently contact the specified source.
• Then the originating system generates a hash (message digest) of the message and stores that hash with the sender's identification,
• with this information stored in a cache for a set period of time.
• When the receiving system wishes to verify the message it
• generates a hash of the message
• determines the specified sending system from the message
• contacts the sending system using its own method of looking up the sending system – it does not use information in the message to connect to the sending system – only to get the claimed name of the sending system.
• queries the sending system, passing it the first half of the message hash and the specified sender
• the sending system replies listing messages with that first half of the hash – returning the all complete hash codes that match, and were sent by this user from this system,
• or replies that it was not sent by this user from this system, and the age of the cache of saved users/digests.

The keys to this system are the following:

1. Each sent message has a record of the hash code and sender of the message stored for a short period of time. This requires both a very small amount of data storage and a small message for each verification.
2. The receiving system can contact the sending system using the identification of the sender in the message but contacting the sender independent of the message contents. In other words, while the message may lie about where the message came from, the message is not used to determine how to contact the sending system to verify the message.

The beauty of the above is it provides the means to verify the source of an e-mail. This is a very valuable feature for spam (as most spam is sent from a bogus address). And it does so with a light-weight method of verifying the source of an e-mail without the overhead of PKI or any kind of established relationship. And the entire implementation is done in the server software so it would be a small effort to add this.

Anyone see a reason why this wouldn't significantly reduce spam?

How to save Newsweek (and newspapers)

Newsweek is up for sale, and not because it's raking in the bucks. Quality news-media has not learned how to make a profit in a world where people come on articles via links and expect content to be free. Yet there clearly is a demand for quality reporting and a way to monetize it will be found. The question is how.

Here's an approach that, I think, will make Newsweek financially successful on the web.

At present Newsweek takes its content and pushes it up on the web. Yes there is an organization to the website and some articles are placed above others, but at root it's a webpage with the layout determined by the latest content created. Now compare that to the print issue which has a format that has been refined over decades. That format is partially due to the limitations of a print format. But it is also due in large measure to determining how readers want to be presented with the articles. Yet the decades of experience that led to the print format has been discarded. Why?

Suggestion 1: Deliver the magazine in a layout similar to the print magazine, with the short articles, then the cover article, then the columnists, etc. And here's the key part, when I have read an article, or mark it as not interesting, it is discarded from "my" copy of the magazine. So my copy is laid out in the format that works so well, but is composed of the articles I have not yet read.

Instead of sitting down weekly to read the latest issue, I pull it up at my convenience. And when I do, I have it custom built for what is not yet read, but I retain the benefit of getting it in a format that works best for a newsweekly. (And this same approach can be used by newspapers, other magazines, etc.) What's key here is the content is based on what I have read, not on what is newest when I go to the Newsweek site.

Suggestion 2: Track what each person finds interesting and what articles they mark not interesting. For example, I will never read an article on sports – so why are those articles in "my" copy of Newsweek? Include rating the quality of the articles (goodbye Anna Quindlen), the subject interest of articles (goodbye sports), and the topicality of articles (if I don't read a review of a movie within a week, drop it).

By customizing the magazine for me, by subject, by author, by topicality, you are now delivering a product vastly superior product to what I will get from randomly picking articles due to links on various sites. I get the advantages of the editorial decisions at Newsweek without the disadvantages of a one size fits all product.

Suggestion 3: Leave the existing website free but charge for the above two features. All of us that subscribe can post links to specific articles, bringing in more potential customers. But to get the better layout and content customized to the specific person – that costs. You also should offer it at two prices, ad-free and with ads.

Additional Advantage: For the ad version, you can give advertisers focused delivery. Reading habits and preferences can be tied to what products and what message they will find interesting. Advertisers will pay major bucks to present their ads to people who are interested in their products. For example, an ad for an upcoming Meryl Streep movie can be shown to people who read the movie reviews regularly and highly rate columns that discuss relationship issues.

I think this approach would be easy to sell. Just ask existing readers if they would like their weekly magazine, delivered just the same online, but constantly updated and without the parts they find uninteresting. You're offering a product that is a direct improvement to people presently paying for the product. And include it for free for anyone buying the print edition.

Oh, and if this is your (any news-media, not just Newsweek) salvation, you owe me a nice article reviewing Windward Reports.