1. Main program extracts update files to temp directory.
2. Main program starts update program and closes.
3. Update program deletes main program directory.
4. Update program extracts updated main program directory.
5. Update program starts updated main program and closes.

My problem was that when trying to delete the main program directory the folder was locked. Using Unlocker, it showed my update program having the lock. If I started the update program manually the lock wasn’t there. So I figured the lock was some side effect of me starting the update program from the main program.

Here is how I was starting the update program:

Dim p As New ProcessStartInfo
p.FileName = Other.UserTempPath & "\IBSi Updater\IBSi Updater.exe"
p.Arguments = """" & Application.StartupPath & """"
Process.Start(p)

And here is the simple solution on how to fix it:

Dim p As New ProcessStartInfo
p.FileName = Other.UserTempPath & "\IBSi Updater\IBSi Updater.exe"
p.Arguments = """" & Application.StartupPath & """"
p.WorkingDirectory = Other.UserTempPath & "\IBSi Updater"
Process.Start(p)

By making sure to set the WorkingDirectory, we tell the thread where it is and it locks it automatically so you don’t delete the executable that is running the thread. By not setting it, it takes the location of the thread that called it which in this case was not what I wanted.

Introduction

“Project Euler is a series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems that will require more than just mathematical insights to solve. Although mathematics will help you arrive at elegant and efficient methods, the use of a computer and programming skills will be required to solve most problems.” – Project Euler website

I’m attempting to go through these one at a time and offer my reasoning behind my answers as well as my code. I haven’t gone through all of them so this is a continuing process.

Problem

“If we list all the natural numbers below 10 that are multiples of 3 or 5, we get 3, 5, 6 and 9. The sum of these multiples is 23.

Find the sum of all the multiples of 3 or 5 below 1000.” – Project Euler website

Solution

This sounds remarkably like the FizzBuzz problem. And accordingly the solution is fairly easy.

Basically, we are going to use the modulus operator to determine if the number is divisable by 3 or 5. If it is we add it to a list of numbers. Once we’re done we add up all the numbers in our list. This gives the answer of 233,168. It takes my machine about 15 milliseconds to run the program.

Code (VB 2008)

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

        Dim stopwatch As New Stopwatch

        stopwatch.Start()

        Dim numbers As New List(Of Int64)

        For counter As Int64 = 1 To 999

            If counter Mod 3 = 0 Or counter Mod 5 = 0 Then

                numbers.Add(counter)

            End If

        Next

        Dim sum As Int64

        For Each number As Int64 In numbers

            sum += number

        Next

        Debug.WriteLine(sum)

        stopwatch.Stop()

        Debug.WriteLine("Took " & stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds & " milliseconds.")

        stopwatch.Reset()

    End Sub

End Class

Download

You can download the “Project Euler – Problem 1″ code here. You can use VB 2008 Express to open it.

The main problem I have with Silverlight is the watered-down .NET that it uses. There is no way to easily connect to a database and if you do ever get your data through a web service there is no datatable because they took it away as well.

Also, what’s up with this XAML crap? I like the concept but the execution sucks. You have to use this other pay software, Expression Blend, and it is horrible. I had to reference the DLL to get the Silverlight datagrid control to even show up otherwise it would give me an error.

It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. Microsoft has the resources to get this right, but they screw it up. I’m better off doing a simple windows executable and using ClickOnce to deploy it (which I do like ClickOnce). So thanks Microsoft for having an opportunity to change the web and getting me excited then crushing my hopes.

First, add the files you want to include the directory your visual studio project is in. Then, in your project, add the file as an existing item. Finally, click on the file you added and set it’s build action property to “Content” and the copy to output property to “Copy always.”

Then when you publish your application, that file will be included. Rinse and repeat for any other files you want to include.

Details: I was using the following system to determining the steps. You’re steps may differ. Windows XP SP3, Visual Studio 2008 SP1, .NET 3.5. If you need any help or want to ask a question, just leave a comment. I’ve included some screenshots for reference.

Right-click at the arrow to get to the existing item option.

These are the properties you need to set.

The reason I’m writing this post is because people in general are horrible presenters. I’m going through it right now in both of my classes. People are presenting and they just suck at it. But hope is near, it doesn’t have to be this way. If you are a horrible presenter here are some tips for you.

• Memorize what you are going to say. Nothing is more boring for me than someone reading something to me. Just give me the paper and I can read it myself, probably faster.
• Don’t memorize exactly what you are going to say. This is not a contradiction to the point before. You want some room to maneuver in your speaking. If you memorize exactly what you want to say and you stumble you tend to stop backup and start again. This is not natural. If you were speaking, you would stop and correct your self.
• Get out from behind the podium. Engage your audience. It looks better from my view and keeps my attention longer.
• If your slide is text, it should have a maximum of 4 lines of text no smaller than 26 point font. The first line should be the title of the slide. The rest should be your main points. Do not put everything on your slide. You should have main points on your slide and your speaking should include the detail.
• Your speaking should be different than your writing. You don’t speak like you write normally so why do it in a speech?
• Do not use fillers. No uhh’s, umm’s, hmm’s, etc. A silent pause may seem to you like an eternity and foolish but it is much better than using filler material.
• Feed off your audience. If it looks like they are confused, take some time to explain further what you are saying. If they don’t understand what you are saying after your speech, they are no better off than they were before. So take the time to explain your message.

Hopefully those tips will help you be a better speaker. I didn’t say they were easy, but next time I won’t fall asleep during your presentation.

“But wait Clint!” I hear you say. “You missed a step. You forgot to open the browser!”

I didn’t miss a step and that’s my point. That would be like a couple years ago listing the step of booting up my computer. It’s assumed it is already done, just like I assume the browser is already open. I know that the first thing I open up on my laptop is the browser. I use it for most everything. I mean just check what I can do from my homepage.

My sweet homepage!

As you can see, I’ve got my favorite bookmarks listed, I can check the weather in my area, check my Folding@Home stats. I’ve also got my ToDo list and I can even check my Twitter and post to Twitter. All from my homepage! I’ve got a delicious plugin integrated to Firefox so I can check and post to my delicious account from the browser. With the flash plugin I can play video and music inside the browser. LogMeIn provides a plugin that allows me to login to remote desktops inside the browser.

Jeff Atwood on Coding Horror had a post on a similar topic a little while ago titled “The Web Browser is the New Laptop.” He even has a list of the top 10 most used apps, 6 of which are browsers or browser based. What I’m saying is that the browser is more entrinched than that. You can put your browser on a thumb drive and take it with you. Plug it in to any machine (what machine doesn’t have USB, not any I want to work with) and you’re good to go. In the future, I can imagine your computer pretty much being a thin client. Just a small box with ports for the monitor, keyboard, mouse, network, and a couple more USB ports. The bluetooth in the thin client will download your browser and configuration from your cell phone in your pocket (the new thumb drive) and you’ll be ready to go. No more reformatting your machine and redownloading all your programs.

Some will say that there will always be a need for an operating system. I would agree. There will always be the logical need for a set of files that can abstract away the low level actions such as writing to disk. But I imagine the OS of the future to be like the Linux kernel, small and lightweight. The browser rides on top taking you where you want to go.

“But the browser can’t play Crysis at full resolution. And it can’t run anything close to Photoshop.”

Not yet but it’s coming. VMware is working on their “thinstall” technology, which is basically running an app inside of a virtual machine on your machine. It doesn’t look like a full desktop, it looks like an app would look, acts like an app would act, except it’s virtual. Click a link and it downloads and runs on your machine. It’s not too far to think that instead of running the app on your machine, it opens up a remote desktop connection. Except instead of the desktop, it just shows the app. A remote app connection if you will. The real program is running on a bank of powerful servers and you are streaming a live video of you working with the program. With bandwidth speeds increasing and compression techinques improving, lag and stuttering video will no longer be an issue.

I know it’s alot to handle. Heck I may even be wrong But all these things are plausible. Most are reality now. It will be interesting to come back in the future and check to see if my predictions are correct.

Notice the past tense.

Turns out that our site license for Windows is an upgrade license. A virtual machine is technically a blank box, it doesn’t come with Windows pre-loaded like a physical machine would say from Dell. So we are breaking our license agreement with Microsoft.

Microsoft...always complicated. (New Tag Line)

Crap.

So I MacGyver a solution to work and shut down the machines. Did I mention we are going through budget cuts at work? I don’t want to explain to the boss that we have to pay a five figure fine!

The simple solution would be to buy a couple retail copies of Windows and be done with it. Then we could put those copies on the shelves and continue on our way, being in compliance with the licensing agreement. But the boss isn’t authorizing any purchases, period. Luckily, another guy in our office found an old copy of Windows Server 2003 Enterprise we had left over. So I’m using that right now.

So now I have to migrate all those machines down to one machine and get that working.

Bummer.