I see Miguel has some comments on exceptions that I must disagree with… The beauty of returning a pointer to an object, is that you can return NULL as your standard error return value, and if the value mattered, you will most likely take the necessary...

I just got forwarded this article which I bet was written in the early 1990s on the move from C to C++. Migrating From C to C++ . Just reading the introduction it is amazing the parallels to the migration we are now in to managed code. Does anyone...

One of the architects on the CLR team just reminded me of a detail about GetHashCode on object… Specifically you should NOT use it as a unique ID for an object. It is possible for two different objects to return the same value. By the contract...

You’ll notice a SyncRoot property on many of the Collections in System.Collections. In retrospeced, I think this property was a mistake. Krzysztof Cwalina, a Program Manger on my team, just sent me some thoughts on why that is – I agree with him:...

I just got an email asking me what makes a great PDC session. What should we tell speakers to remember in every session? A couple of ideas came to mind immediately: • Make it readable – use large enough fonts • Make sure you know the top...

Just updated my bio and I thought i'd post it here so maybe the search engines can help me find it next time i need it.... **Update: As of April 2010, Brad Abrams has left Microsoft. You can find the latest at http://bradabrams.com/ Brad Abrams was a...

I recently got a review of the CLR panels at the PDC – these are going to rock… Designing the CLR – Grill the folks that designed the CLR, understand our future direction and pitch your favorite feature! Panelist include: Patrick Dussud , Jim ...

I think you will recognize a few of these folks… http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/events/pdc/buzz.aspx

The big-dog on the CLR team, Jason Zander, started a blog … Today he is waxing on about NGen . I think he has sufficiently proved that even a manager type can talk tech. I guess he has to with folks such as Chris Brumme , Suzanne Cook , Ivan Medvedev...

I have spent the last few years making fun of the ugly, indecipherable names COM used as it aged and now I am starting to see it in our own platform. I am doing some API reviews for Whidbey and I ran across IDataReader2…. Not to far from IDataReaderEx3...

I had lunch Sunday with Damien Watkins who taught the first every class using the .NET Framework and is now working for MS Research in Cambridge . He and I were commiserating the fact that we had not been asked to do a 2 nd rev of our (and Mark Hammond...

Folks on my team shot another MSDN-TV spot yesterday. This time on the virtues of FxCop , a tool you can use to scan your code (really compiled assemblies) for design guideline violations and other good coding habits. Should be posted in a week or...

Another one of us that is focused on building a great new API managed set for LH starts a blog… Someone should ask him if the panels at the PDC are worth staying for – he will give you an ear full ;-) http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/jmazner/

I am digging out from having been OOF* for a week and I see this little gem… I do have a birthday coming up ;-) http://www.cafeshops.com/nextgen.5216815 . This is an early logo for Longhorn for those of you that haven’t seen it… OOF is Microsoft...

Thousands of man hours went into defining the huge number of sessions for the PDC. And now you get to take a first look. http://mymsevents.com/MyMSEvents/search.aspx What sessions are your favorites? Did we miss anything? Hear what...

I am sure many of you have seen the whole Red Vs. Blue thing… But have you seen the PDC video ? It rocks… I love the reference to Longhorn, Managed code and Indigo… And of course, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers...

I find my self in the middle of lots of sticky API design issues. Usually we have a couple of pretty clear options with well known pros and cons. Sometimes the battles get pretty heated between people arguing for one option or another and some well...

Before I posted about enums I talked to a number of folks, but I did not get the full story. Prompted by Jeroen Frijters comment I went back and checked again…. Here is the quote from the Devlead for the JIT\Ngen: We do in fact load enum types at...

I just found out that the devlead for the ManagedDx work published a book on the topic . I worked with Tom a bit on some of the managed API design issues he ran into. Tom certainly knows his stuff. I am sure this book will bring Managed code to new...

One of the things I love about Microsoft is how technically savvy the executive staff is. Every VP I have interacted with at MS has impressed me in one way or another at how much they “get it” technically. One consequence is that execs really want...

I just saw that we posted a list of CLR bloggers on the . NET Framework Dev Center site . Pretty cool. We are very open to suggestions of other blogs that should make it up there. Feel free to make your suggestions here.

One of my many jobs is to ensure the platform managed APIs grow in a seamless and consistent way. In many ways we are victims of our own success. We have TONS of folks new to managed code (and OO design) building new APIs for the platform (the .NET...

We have several successful bloggers out of the CLR team… Alan Shi Adam Nathan Brad Abrams Chris Brumme Greg Fee Ivan Medvedev Suzanne Cook We are now starting to think about the next level of the team blogging. Many folks on the CLR team have...

One of the highlights of my career here at Microsoft was working on version 1 of the CLS – Common Language Specification . It started as just one meeting between a few of the compiler and framework folks to list off the framework design features that...

Jeff notes that PDC Bloggers site is live! Very cool… I am excited to see the number of attendees that have already registered.