While you will hear people state that hash codes generate a unique value for a given input, the fact is that, while difficult to accomplish, it is technically feasible to find two different data inputs that hash to the same value. However, the true determining factors regarding the effectiveness of a...

From time to time, I get queries like “Why is Microsoft forcing managed code on us?” or “Why is Microsoft abandoning native code?” and so on. As MSDN is a key Microsoft public interface to developers, I thought I’d answer that from my own perspective. Being a Program Manager at MSDN offers me a...

Sorry for the late notice, but I've just been informed that there's a free Visual C++ 2005 certification exam available (#71-526). While this is a "beta" exam and is only good until January 31, it does count towards certification in the same way as the final version of the exam. Note that the exam can...

This past Friday, we announced that our Training/Learning division is offering *free* training on several courses related to the November 7 launch of Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006. From what I'm being told this training is only free until November 17, 2005 so you need to...

Raymond Chen has a great one page piece in this month's TechNet magazine about why you should use the Shell API to retrieve special folder location information (such as the Fonts folder), why the Shell Folder registry key should not be used and how that key came to be in the first place: The Sad Story...

In the latest installment of "Microsoft After Dark", the product teams speak of the new innovations related to SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and BizTalk Server 2006: http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0510/25540/welcome.htm

While the official launch is still November 7, you can get Visual Studio 2005 today with an MSDN Subscription[1]. If you have an MSDN Subscription - if not, this is a great reason to get one! - you can obtain the final versions of the following products today: Visual Studio 2005 Standard Visual...