You are not an ecosystem your are only a part of it

It looks like Microsoft has finally understood that they are only a part of the .NET ecosystem. They used to think that every single .NET piece must come from them which is not obtainable and doesn't bring any value. But recently I've seen a few blog posts (for example Scott Guthrie) and a few podcasts (for example Daniel Simmons) where Microsoft employees freely mentioned OpenSource projects and how they fit into what Microsoft is trying to achieve. At last.

As a performance geek you can't miss this WCF performance comparison

Have a look at this article on MSDN web site. I really like the fact that WCF scales so well.

We won another programming competition - it's getting boring ;)

The Warsaw University Team has won the 31st ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals.

Automatic properties? No, thanks

Scott described a few new features of C# 3.0 a few new features of C# 3.0 on his blog. I'm happy that Microsoft tries
to improve C# all the time. But C# architects needs to be careful as much as possible in order not to overload the language and keep it as clear as possible. The syntax of Automatic properties is very similar to that we use nowadays to declare abstract properties. And this is confusing. I don't see any reason that justifies that move. Since VS.NET 2005 we don't have to create properties on our own. Instead we can just right click and choose Refactor->Encapsulate field. Needles to say that ReSharper supports that as well. Then what's the problem? Please don't change C# towards VB.NET and be as explicit as possible.

Performance Architect Rico Mariani on channel9

The interview is great because it shows how to approach performance problems and how to talk about them to other people.

Below my favorite snippet from the interview.

"If you aren't measuring you aren't engineering"

Blog Tag - 5 Things You Don't Know About Me

I've been tagged by Michal Osmenda and here you go:

1. I have no iPod because if I have let’s say 2 devices/toys then I immediately loose one of them. I suppose iPhone can solve my problem.
2. I used to professionally practice swimming. When I was a child I qualified to the final of Polish National Swimming Championships.
3. I started programming when I was 15 because swimming took over my whole free time before. Some people say that it was late but I disagree. Not quantity but quality matters :)
4. I think that the best way of travelling is to stay in a target place for at least 1 year.
5. I love Guinness and I hate Whisky.

The best possible .NET documentation

Of course I'm talking about Reflector 5.0 that I use on daily basis and to be honest I don't really need the official MSDN documentation any more :)