Category Archives: Tools

Endpoint Discovery using Microsoft LogParser

A few years ago, I was working on a project for a UK client who needed to replace or rewrite a legacy inventory management  web application written in classic ASP. The problem: no documentation, and complicated, spaghetti source code with many apparently duplicate or redundant ASP files and ASMX web service endpoints.

Finger pointing by bhollar (Flickr)

Which ASP pages were actually in use? We had to find a way to limit our application migration efforts to  only those pages which were used by the application. A colleague at the time introduced me to what must be one of the best-kept secrets in the Windows developer world: Microsoft Log Parser.

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Agile Tools and the Importance of Physical Interaction

There is in interesting discussion on Daniel Markham’s blog about the Tyranny of the Tools in relation to Agile software development. In a nutshell, “throwing so-called ‘Agile’ tools at development team does not make it Agile”; it’s the ways for thinking and learning which are truly important.

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Quick Tab extension makes Google Chrome more usable

The excellent non-nonsense Quick Tab extension (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/quicktab?hl=en-GB) makes Google Chrome much more usable, especially if you tend to have (like I do) many tabs open:

Quick Tab for Google Chrome

Why this isn’t standard in Chrome is baffling, but good work from Tom Lerendu (http://tomlerendu.com/chrome/)

UK Scale Camp 2010 – Braindump

I’ve just returned from UK Scale Camp 2010 (@scalecampuk), organised by The Guardian (and the indefatigable Michael Brunton-Spall, ). Here are some notes:

Overview

I liked the “unconference” format (no formal programme; attendees vote for their favourite sessions in advance), and ended up in four of the many sessions:

  • DevOps on Windows
  • Log Analysis for Search Results
  • DB Changes without Downtime
  • Handling Errors at Scale