To some readers, the title of this post may induce nightmarish recollections of late-night debugging sessions. To others it may be simply the epitome of jargon. Just to break the jargon down a bit: Type initializer: the code executed to initialize the static variables of a class, and the static constructor Circular dependency: two bits of code which depend on each other - in this case, two classes whose type initializers each require that the other class is initialized A quick example of the kin[...]

Earlier, I came across this Stack Overflow question. I solved it, tweeted it, but then thought it would serve as a useful case study into the mental processes I go through when trying to solve a problem - whether that's on Stack Overflow, at work, or at home. It's definitely worth reading the original question, but the executive summary is: When I compute the checksum/hash of c:\Windows\System32\Calc.exe using various tools and algorithms, those tools all give the same answer for each algorithm. When [...]

A while I ago I blogged about what had changed under the hood of async between the CTP and the VS11 Preview. Well, now that the VS11 Beta is out, it's time to do it all again... Note that the code in this post is in the Eduasync codebase, under a different solution (Eduasync VS11.sln). Many of the old existing projects won't compile with VS11 beta, but I'd rather leave them as they are for posterity, showing the evolution of the feature. Stephen Toub has an excellent blog post covering some of this, so w[...]

Noda Time is nearing v1.0, which means I'm spending more time writing documentation than code. It also means reviewing the APIs we've got with a critical eye - whether that's removing extraneous members, adding useful ones, or moving things around. (In particular, writing documentation often suggests where a change would make calling code read more naturally.) This post is about one particular section of the API, and the choices available. Although I do go into some detail around the specific calls involv[...]

This is a slightly odd post, and before you read it you should probably put yourself into one of three buckets: Someone who doesn't care too much about functional programming, and finds higher order functions tricky: feel free to skip this post entirely. Someone who knows all about functional programming, and already knows the difference between currying and partial function application: please read this post carefully and post comments about any inaccuracies you find. (Yes, the CAPTCHA is broken o[...]