Community developer blogs

Ed Courtenay

Recent Posts

• Gig Cancelled

  Posted: 18 Jun 2009 at 12:37 by Ed Courtenay

  The gig tonight at The Old Ship in Dorcester is not happening – cock up with booking confirmations!

• Parmageddon - The origin

  Posted: 30 Apr 2009 at 20:16

  The source of the aporkalypse has been identified.... swine.jpg

• Shirley Temple Pilots Not Dead Shocker

  Posted: 07 Apr 2009 at 22:12

  Yes, it's true; the Shirley Temple Pilots are going to be playing for the first time in ages at Finns in Weymouth on Sat 11th July. It'll be loud.... ;)

• ASP.NET MVC 1.0

  Posted: 03 Apr 2009 at 07:11

  Are Microsoft really starting to turn a page when it comes to Open Source? Let’s hope so; they’ve just released the source code to the (excellent) ASP.NET MVC framework under the OSI-approved MS-PL license. There's more information over at Scott Guthrie’s blog – I’d particularly recommend reading his ASP.NET MVC PDF tutorial as it gives an excellent overview of ASP.NET MVC itself.

• Fake Java enums using C# extension methods

  Posted: 25 Mar 2009 at 10:23

  One of the nice features introduced into Java 1.5 that is missing in C# is enum types. In C#, enums are nothing more than a defined set of values with labels, whereas in Java enums can contain methods. I've seen a few attempts to mimic Java enums in C#, but most solutions seem to rely on Attributes to decorate the enum which is fine except that in relative terms, reflection operations are expensive. C# 3.0 introduced the concept of extension methods which enable you to "add" methods to

• Missing

  Posted: 13 Mar 2009 at 12:20

  It’s funny how little things can really get under your skin and annoy you; at work, I use a combination of Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server for development and day to day work which is fine, but as I use Vista at home I find that I miss the UI enhancements more and more. Unlike a lot of people, I seem to have had a rosy experience with Vista; maybe because I didn’t have unrealistic expectations about the OS (I wouldn’t dream of running it on some of the older machines I’ve seen it sho

• Tree Power

  Posted: 22 Feb 2009 at 15:50

  > > Came across this video via B3ta – very clever.

• India, Zak & Chloë

  Posted: 20 Feb 2009 at 08:12

  I can’t quite believe that they’re all grown up and going to school...

• Eden's Arrival

  Posted: 14 Feb 2009 at 15:26

  Eden Grace Courtenay was born at 22:56 on the 7th February 2009, weighing in at 7lbs 14oz - Mum and daughter came home the next day. Although we'd blanked out the 'joys' of sleepless nights, she's a great addition to our family.

• Eye eye...

  Posted: 27 Jan 2009 at 21:11

  Had to take Chloe in to Dorchester this morning so she could have an operation to correct a severe squint. Back home the same day after having the procedure at 9:00AM. Chloe sleeping on the Children's Ward at Dorchester after an operation to correct her squint

• These Boots Are Made For Walking...

  Posted: 23 Apr 2008 at 15:44

  Well, it had to happen sooner or later: after 8 years with IS Solutions, it's time to move on to pastures new - I'll be starting a new job with Clarks in the next few weeks as a Microsoft Architect. It's been an eventful time at IS and I'm going to miss everyone there, but the lure of a job on

• Vista SP1 + Flash

  Posted: 19 Feb 2008 at 09:35

  I installed Vista SP1 last night and all appeared to be well, but when I tried to access YouTube this morning, the Flash video player wasn't working; instead, I got a dialog pop up complaining that it couldn't load a DLL. The solution however was very simple; download the Flash uninstaller from the

• Repton.NET Reloaded

  Posted: 21 Jan 2008 at 16:49

  I was contacted the other day by someone who couldn't get my (now ancient) port of Repton 3 running under Vista; mostly because Microsoft seem to have hidden the .NET 1.1 runtime download (or made it more confusing than necessary for mere mortals to locate and install). Seeing as Vista comes with .

• Opening .NET

  Posted: 04 Oct 2007 at 14:12

  Scott Guthrie's blog entry "Releasing the Source Code for the .NET Framework Libraries" details how Microsoft are finally going to allow access to the .NET framework source code without having to resort to using Lutz Roeder's fantastic Reflector utility - under the terms and conditions of the Micro

• Untouchable Virgin

  Posted: 28 Sep 2007 at 11:26

  The BBC News website has an excellent Q&A article up at the moment dealing with the implications of DRM infested music files in the wake of the closure of Virgin Digital. In case you've not heard about this yet, Virgin Digital is closing its doors which means that any Club subscribers will now

• Cracked Pepper

  Posted: 30 Jul 2007 at 13:39

  I've just stumbled upon one of the best mash-up albums I've ever heard; it's called "Cracked Pepper" by ccc / Ill Chemist which takes each track from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in turn and mashes them with tracks by other artists making completely new songs while leaving the originals re

• Shambo-lic High Court Ruling

  Posted: 16 Jul 2007 at 16:04

  Here we go again; why is it that the moment a group of people invoke their own version of the ‘magical sky-fairy’ myth, they're imbued with some form of special privilege? Today’s case in point is the frankly idiotic ruling by the High Court to quash a destruction order on Shambo the bullock - beca

• Celebrity Lookalikes

  Posted: 11 Jul 2007 at 14:11

  Just stumbled on this face recognition system on MyHeritage.com (via Phil South's blog) and just had to have a go. And the results are, well, slightly dubious! David Lloyd George? Naah.

• Wendy Houses Of The Soul

  Posted: 26 Apr 2007 at 13:44

  I just stumbled across this video by Pat Condell while I was looking around www.earthsgreatestlawsuit.org (I hope they're serious; if there's one thing I despise as much as religion it's slimeballs fleecing those guillible enough to believe in the first place. Step forward Benny Hinn, Peter Po

• Happy 25th Birthday!

  Posted: 24 Apr 2007 at 14:06

  As various sources have reported, yesterday was the 25th birthday of the ZX Spectrum - the launchpad of many a software developer (myself included). The speccy was my first home machine, originally in the 16k flavour before quickly getting it returned and upgraded to a whopping 48k. In honour