Channel 9 - Discussions by Xiaoth http://mschnlnine.vo.llnwd.net/d1/Dev/App_Themes/C9/images/feedimage.png Channel 9 - Discussions by Xiaoth http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Xiaoth/Discussions Channel 9 keeps you up to date with the latest news and behind the scenes info from Microsoft that developers love to keep up with. From LINQ to SilverLight – Watch videos and hear about all the cool technologies coming and the people behind them. http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Xiaoth/Discussions en Tue, 21 May 2013 03:50:32 GMT Tue, 21 May 2013 03:50:32 GMT Rev9 0 0 0 Coffeehouse - msdn Reader I suspect that Microsoft changed out the MSDN Mag base URL without adding a URL handler/redirector for the XML and images.

What a waste of time and programming.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/260430-msdn-Reader/25f96714c13549c084b89e31009dbeda#25f96714c13549c084b89e31009dbeda Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:20:19 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/260430-msdn-Reader/25f96714c13549c084b89e31009dbeda#25f96714c13549c084b89e31009dbeda Xiaoth 22 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Xiaoth/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - msdn Reader I noticed a log.txt file in there next to the cache directory. It looks like this:

@Header SceReaderLog
@Version 1.0
2008-04-30T11:48:31-07:00,Information,Count: 1
2008-04-30T11:48:31-07:00,Information,Arg: C:\Users\jdavis\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\X7NV95L0.T5E\RLV22R41.MKX\msdn..tion_c3bce3770c238a49_0000.0005_6dc707e38b72a451\MsdnReader.exe
2008-04-30T11:48:37-07:00,Information,DataManager: Load from local cache started
2008-04-30T11:48:37-07:00,Information,ViewManager: Navigated to path: cat.xml/Web
2008-04-30T11:48:37-07:00,Information,DataManager: Load from local cache completed
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/09/ScriptManager/fig04.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/08/01/ExtremeASPNET/fig08.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/08/CuttingEdge/fig02.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/08/01/CuttingEdge/fig02.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/12/CuttingEdge/fig05.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/05/Groove/fig01.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/07/CuttingEdge/fig02.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/04/ASPNET20/fig05.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/04/ASPNET20/fig05.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/12/ServiceStation/fig01.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/08/01/WickedCode/fig01.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/08/ExtremeASPNET/fig01.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:38-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/09/CuttingEdge/fig07.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:39-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/03/IIS7/fig02.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:39-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/06/Silverlight/fig08.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:48:39-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create ImageSource from data stream. URI: http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/05/JavaScript/fig03.gif, Error: No imaging component suitable to complete this operation was found.
2008-04-30T11:49:04-07:00,Information,ViewManager: Navigated to path: cat.xml/Web/http%3A%2F%2Fmsdn.microsoft.com%2Fmsdnmag%2Fissues%2F07%2F04%2FASPNET20
2008-04-30T11:49:04-07:00,Error,DataFeedSource: Unable to create XML document from data stream. URI: /msdnmag/issues/07/04/ASPNET20/Article.xml, Error: Unexpected XML declaration. The XML declaration must be the first node in the document, and no white space characters are allowed to appear before it. Line 3, position 3.

.. all the way down a few hundred lines.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/260430-msdn-Reader/773243d0fc7d4c66ae949e31009dbe85#773243d0fc7d4c66ae949e31009dbe85 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:18:17 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/260430-msdn-Reader/773243d0fc7d4c66ae949e31009dbe85#773243d0fc7d4c66ae949e31009dbe85 Xiaoth 22 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Xiaoth/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - msdn Reader Has anyone found any revised solution to this? I deleted the cache folder and watched it rebuild but the pages are still coming up blank. I'm also not getting any artwork, either. I wonder if it's just 404'ing everywhere or something.

Using Windows Server 2008 as a workstation.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/260430-msdn-Reader/82b00648dde840c0aad29e31009dbe24#82b00648dde840c0aad29e31009dbe24 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:16:41 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/260430-msdn-Reader/82b00648dde840c0aad29e31009dbe24#82b00648dde840c0aad29e31009dbe24 Xiaoth 22 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Xiaoth/Discussions/RSS Tech Off - Discuss the Beginning Game Development series on Coding 4 Fun Nevermind (post stripped; I'm not an a-hole but I don't like being called one).

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/TechOff/70211-Discuss-the-Beginning-Game-Development-series-on-Coding-4-Fun/7f691779a93343f28e759dea0120b3af#7f691779a93343f28e759dea0120b3af Mon, 07 Aug 2006 08:07:32 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/TechOff/70211-Discuss-the-Beginning-Game-Development-series-on-Coding-4-Fun/7f691779a93343f28e759dea0120b3af#7f691779a93343f28e759dea0120b3af Xiaoth 119 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Xiaoth/Discussions/RSS Tech Off - Discuss the Beginning Game Development series on Coding 4 Fun Incidentally, this article series is invalid as it references DXMUTMisc.cs. The DX Utility Toolkit in the Samples directory is broken as it is out-of-date due to breaking changes in the SDK.

Correct me if I'm wrong. DXMUTMisc.cs simply does not compile, regardless of what Microsoft.DirectX.* assemblies are referenced.

Jon

________________

UPDATE:

OK, I've realized that I need to include *all* of the sample Utility Toolkit framework files, or Samples\Managed\Common\dxmut*.cs. However, it only worked if I used the .NET v1.1 DX assemblies. Using the single .NET v2 assembly, I still get compiler errors. Apparently the v2 version is either half-baked (beta) or is intended for specialized usage.
]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/TechOff/70211-Discuss-the-Beginning-Game-Development-series-on-Coding-4-Fun/d739fba06ef6447cb1039dea0120b337#d739fba06ef6447cb1039dea0120b337 Sun, 26 Feb 2006 19:48:07 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/TechOff/70211-Discuss-the-Beginning-Game-Development-series-on-Coding-4-Fun/d739fba06ef6447cb1039dea0120b337#d739fba06ef6447cb1039dea0120b337 Xiaoth 119 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Xiaoth/Discussions/RSS Tech Off - Discuss the Beginning Game Development series on Coding 4 Fun I just started reading this series. I saw the following comment in the "Beginning Game Development" article (first article), and I want to comment about this statement...

As we add more functionally to the game we will continuously do small design sessions to formulate our ideas. This iterative approach to developing software is the best way to create good software, and is more fun at the same time.

I've been a software developer for a long time, albeit not for games. At one point in my career I quit my job and spent three years writing and re-writing a desktop blogging application that I had intended to sell. I "knew" what I wanted to build, but approached the project with the same philosophy as quoted above.

In the end, I had a buggy, kludged-up application that I kept having to release patches for every week, and my app that was supposed to take one month to build and sell to the world for $20 a pop turned out taking me three years, having half of the intended features, and for a price of $10 before I ended up making it freeware.

Windows 95 followed the exact same philosophy, too, and we all know how that went. The Windows 95/98/ME series was a hodgepodge of bubblegum, rubber bands, and duct tape, wrapped in a colorful marketing package. It took Microsoft years of carefully planning out a proper system at the drawing board to reengineer Windows for the new (at the time) NT platform. NT was only successful, though, because of proper advanced planning.

Certainly, evolving a program as you build it is "fun" as such. But it is NOT "the best way to create good software," it is actually the absolute worst way when it is not the only way. Sometimes it's necessary as a discovery process. But it will rarely output "good software". Without a disciplined, thorough, even boring Phase One (functional requirements gathering phase) and Phase Two (software design and engineering requirements phase), you will see your ever-elusive release date constantly fading into the unforeseeable future, and your end product will be a mushy mess of compromises, bugs, and half-baked ideas.

No, do the dirty work of thorough early engineering before writing too much code. It isn't fun during that phase, but it's worth it. Believe me, my current job is with a business software company that makes me spend weeks doing "software development" in Microsoft Word by documenting a design specification. During these phases I experience such depression that I go home wondering if I should abandon my career altogether. But when the phase is over and I see how easily the design spec can be carried out by simply following the business rules I wrote in software speak, and everything works like a charm with no fundamental flaws, holes, or foundational bugs, I realize how important the whole process really is.

When it comes to games, certainly creativity is important, as well as evolution of the game. I think it's inevitable that a great game will require some evolution along the way, particularly as new major technologies come out for PC software every couple months. However, the statement "This iterative approach to developing software is the best way to create good software"could not bother me so much if it wasn't so untrue, from a technical point of view. It is an ideal statement, but it is simply not reality.

Sincerely,
Jon Davis

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/TechOff/70211-Discuss-the-Beginning-Game-Development-series-on-Coding-4-Fun/89f5803e30794dca935b9dea0120b308#89f5803e30794dca935b9dea0120b308 Sun, 26 Feb 2006 19:45:44 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/TechOff/70211-Discuss-the-Beginning-Game-Development-series-on-Coding-4-Fun/89f5803e30794dca935b9dea0120b308#89f5803e30794dca935b9dea0120b308 Xiaoth 119 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Xiaoth/Discussions/RSS Coffeehouse - How about spending the weekend with Express? I agree with Kaelan. MySQL is an isolated DB. SQL Server 2000 was sort of an isolated DB, too. But v2005 is not. With integration of C#/VB.NET objects directly in the database, this RDBMS is the largest step ever toward a high-end, commercial quality OOP-oriented database while still maintaining its relational database roots.

]]> http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/13218-How-about-spending-the-weekend-with-Express/cb8773b8dff64abb9f099dea012277b6#cb8773b8dff64abb9f099dea012277b6 Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:46:11 GMT http://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/13218-How-about-spending-the-weekend-with-Express/cb8773b8dff64abb9f099dea012277b6#cb8773b8dff64abb9f099dea012277b6 Xiaoth 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Xiaoth/Discussions/RSS