Brendan Tompkins [MVP]

Earlier today I was inspired by Jeff Atwood’s blog post on Software Rot:

Coding Horror: The Broken Window Theory

Don't leave "broken windows" (bad designs, wrong decisions, or poor code) unrepaired. Fix each one as soon as it is discovered. If there is insufficient time to fix it properly, then board it up. Perhaps you can comment out the offending code, or display a "Not Implemented" message, or substitute dummy data instead. Take some action to prevent further damage and to show that you're on top of the situation.

The article on “Urban Decay” he mentions is a must read, a fascinating topic, and very closely linked with something that should be called “Software Decay” but is also known as Software Rot.  I’m going to blog about something I’ve been thinking about “Root-Bound Software” and the associated process of “Software Weeding” soon, but Jeff’s post got me thinking about some potential broken windows in my my PDC Contest Entry Service.

So as not to let this service (since I expect it to be wildly popular) rot, I’ve done a bit of refactoring. You can download the new version here. Here’s what I’ve done:

• Refactored the code that does the work into a reusable service, now the service itself is very lean and mean.
• Added a REST endpoint, via an ASHX handler. The service can now be access via GET parameters:

http://www.wsmq.com/PDCService/PDCContestEntryRestEndpoint.ashx

Parameters: firstName, lastName, interests, blogUrl

• Fixed spelling errors, Fixed a queuing bug, and improved formatting.

So, here’s my new entry.  BTW, two people managed to bang the service, before the REST interface was added.. Bil Simser and Leon Langleyben.. Way to go guys! 

-Brendan

I’m Blog’n my way to the PDC!

If you haven’t heard, Channel9 has started a contest where you can win a ticket to the PDC, including an airline ticket and hotel!  This is one amazing contest, and all you have to do to enter is have a blog, and post why you should win the prize.  So here’s my official entry:

Here's some information to help you get to know me better:

Why me?

Why do I want to go to the PDC? Because I love to blog! And I'm prolific! Here's some of my more popular blog posts links according to Google :

What are my interests?

 Well, here’s a list of books that I'll probably be reading on the plane to LAX :

Did I type up all this ugly HTML for this Blog post myself?

Heck no!  I’m lazy!  But that’s exactly why I need to go to PDC!  The PDC is all about the future, and in the future, we’ll all be using cool technology to do things like typing tedious, boring contest entries.  I’m getting a head start on the salad days, so I figured out how to use ASMX web service that Brendan wrote! To prove it, you can see that I'm on this list of other, lazy coders who would rather sit back and use a distributed Web Service to do their work!  

• ME!!!
• Bil Simser
• Leon Langleyben