Today’s post is the second in a series explaining how to integrate TweetSharp into your .NET application using OAuth.  In our first post we covered the basics of registering a new application with Twitter.  This post will cover how you ask, then grant access from someone’s Twitter account to your new application using OAuth.

This is the first post on a new series I will be posting on integrating TweetSharp into your .NET applications.  It will also show you how to use OAuth, as all the examples will be connecting to Twitter via OAuth.

Someone asked me an interesting question earlier this week that got me thinking quite a bit.  Someone had a son that was interested in building web based applications and wanted to know what they should learn first.  The answer to this question could have many answers depending on who it was asked to.  Should they start with a scripting language (PHP, ColdFusion) or should they start with a more object oriented language (Java, .NET)?

I feel that one should start by learning the core basics of programming.  Get your mind thinking in a logical way that allows you to solve problems.  After all, that is essentially what programming is: You are solving a problem.  I am not sure that learning a script based language would fully accomplish this.  I ended up recommending .NET (C#) to start learning the fundamentals, then moving on from there. 

If someone asked you this question, what would your answer be?  I am very curious to hear the opinions of others on this topic, as I get asked this question more and more.

While building a recent application I had the need to prevent spam form submissions in quite a few different pages.  I started to integrate the CFIMAGE tag, then had a change of mind and decided to try something new.  I have not been a huge fan of the output of the captcha features of the CFIMAGE tag.  So I decided to give reCAPTCHA a try.  This offering is much more visually appealing, has customizable colors, can speak the words, and best of all it’s a free service. 

I have been hearing lots of good things about some of the CRUD options available for use in ColdFusion applications.  With a new side project coming up I decided to give DataMgr by Steve Bryant a try.  I can say right from the top that I was very impressed with this tool.  According to the documentation DataMgr helps you in three ways:

If you are a MSDN subscriber I just wanted to pass along a quick note that Beta 2 of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0 are available for download.  I played around with Beta 1 a little bit and ran across some issues with Visual Studio.  Hopefully these have been addressed in Beta 2.

As some of you know, I accepted a new management position at work a few weeks ago.  Since then we have been receiving resumes and interviewing folks to take over my old position as a senior engineer.  Going through this process, many pet peeves I have are appearing.  This is just a quick list of things I have seen that chap my rear:

• If you claim to have been proficient in ColdFusion for 10+ years, then you should know the correct spelling of the product name.  It’s ColdFusion and NOT Cold Fusion.  You would think one would have noticed that after using it for 10 years!
• It’s the year 2009.  Do you really think it’s necessary to list on you resume you are proficient in Windows 3.1?  Seriously?
• So you know Pascal?  That will come in handy into today’s world wide web programming!  Pascal is most widely using a language to teach you the basics, not for programming web applications.
• I’m also glad to see that you know Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes.  You will be a better programmer just by knowing those two software applications.
• When I ask you if you have experience in programming custom e-commerce sites, you cannot reply by saying you use Magento and Miva as plug in play applications.  I am amazed by how many folks in this field have never created their own shopping cart, even in the jest of learning.
• I know the economy is not great at the moment, and lots of folks need jobs.  But please, do not send in your resume to every open job you see when you are  not qualified, or not even in that field of expertise.  I have spent hours reading through resumes of people in totally unrelated fields to what the job was requiring.
• So I see your resume shows you have knowledge of .NET right?  No, not really?  You have only read a book or blog post on it?  If you list out a language on your resume, you need to have real world experience in using it.  
• It’s really not cool to list EVERY current industry buzzword in your resume, some of which you do not know the meaning of!
• If you email or upload you resume, do not name it resume.pdf or resume.doc.  Name the file with your name, so it does not get overwritten by the next person who sends in resume.pdf.

Update: After receiving some emails on this topic,  I just wanted to add that a lot of these are tips.  I am not saying that if I saw this on a resume I would immediately deem you unfit for the job.  Some are more of a courtesy, like naming your resume first_last.pdf instead of resume.pdf for example.  If candidate A and candidate B are equal skill wise, maybe the fact that one candidate was a little more truthful in their resume would lead them to land a job.  Last of all, these are strictly my opinion!  They are not right or wrong for everyone.

A few weeks ago I was offered, and accepted, a new position of Production Manager at work.  I officially started the new role last week and should be fully transitioned over this week.  The lack of posts here has suffered, as I’ve spent a lot of time getting things in order for the new position.  My previous job as a senior engineer involved day to day coding , database work and some architect work of solutions.  My new role is a management role, and I will be in charge of the day to day responsibilities and scheduling of our staff.  I will still be able to write some code every now and then to keep my skills polished.  I am very excited about my new role and look forward to new challenges.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be able to spend a little more time again on the blog.  My next post will cover some pet peeves of interviews.  We have been interviewing folks to take over my old position, and this has brought to light some of the types of things you see and hear during interviews.

I have talked before about some of the Major League Baseball apps on this blog before.  They have added another application to their arsenal this week: MLB.com OnBase.  This application is built on Adobe AIR and is one slick little app.

When you first start the app you can choose your favorite team or teams or you can flag your favorite players.  It then uses these settings to notify you of any news or updates involving your selections.  So for example, you will get an alert when the lineups are set for your teams games.  There are also alerts for in game notifications.  When a team scores in a game that involves one of your flagged teams, an alert pops up informing you that a run or runs scored and how they scored.  It also displays the scoreboard of your team’s games.

Twitter is also an integral part of the application.  Part of the news feeds involving your favorite teams or players , are tweets that are found matching your selections.  This updates every few minutes.  You can also hook up your Twitter account and send tweets directly from the application.

I have always believed that Major League Baseball is at the forefront of internet related technology in the pro sports.  Their MLB.tv offering is the best streaming technology in sports, bar none.  With the release of this application they continue to be the front runners in cool technology.

If you have experience in programming in ASP.NET over the last few years, I am sure you have noticed how bloated the web.config file has become.  Most of it is very confusing looking lines of various calls to load modules and handlers.  It appears that is changing in .NET 4.0.  Microsoft guru Scott Guthrie is starting a series on his blog about the new features that are new to .NET 4.0.  The first topic is how clean the web.config files will be.  Check out Scott’s post and make sure you visit his site often to check out the rest of the topics in this new series.

Clean Web.Config Files by Scott Guthrie