The Weekly Links 5

This is the 5th post in an ongoing series of weekly roundups of links useful to developers.

Tools

• Style Cop – Version 4.4 of the code style checker (and it is now open source!) is available for download.
• Solution Converter – a much needed tool to convert between the various Visual Studio solution formats (2005, 2008, and 2010).
• PowerShell Community Extensions – V2.0 of this useful extensions library is released.

Information

• Build Tools Roundup For .NET Systems – Derick Bailey of the LostTechies.com blog site gives an overview of the various build automation tools available for .NET developers.  Just to note, PSake does it for me every time.
• JavaScript Coding Standards – Simon Ince announces the release of Microsoft’s first public coding standards for JavaScript.  The standards are aimed at developers using the Ajax Control Toolkit.
• The Power of Enum – Jason Sonmez looks at the use of the humble enumeration in .NET to produce elegant code.
• Easy creation of code generators in Visual Studio 2008 - Sebastian Negomireanu begins a series of posts that look at code generation in VS2008.  A welcome relief from the tsunami of posts on VS2010 following the recent launch.
• Use Extension method to write cleaner code – Fredrik Normen looks at using extension methods to write cleaner, more maintainable code.  In his article, he gives an excellent breakdown of the various steps in refactoring as well.  It ties in well with the number of links in last week’s roundup on extension methods.
• Make your XML strongly-typed – I’m including this link  as much for the excellent design of Doug Rathbone’s blog, Diary of a Ninja… , as for the article content!  It puts my blog to shame!
• Updated C# all-in-one file - Kirill Osenkov offers an updated file demonstrating the entire C# syntax.
• Starting and using Git successfully – Jimmy Boggart has posted an article on how to make the best use of the popular distributed version control system.
• All About Assemblies – A Code Project article on how to manage assemblies.
• Growl for Windows Target for NLog – A fantastic article  for developers on how to log output to a custom notifications using Growl and NLog.
• And finally, a spoof post on the history of Programming Languages.

SharePoint Information

• New advance SharePoint 2010 training material released – an overview of the training available from Microsoft on SharePoint 2010.   Much of the same material (i.e. virtually identical) can be downloaded here.
• Create your own SharePoint Server 2010 RTM Virtual Machine – Andrew Connell’s announces that a free guide to create a SharePoint 2010 VM is available form his company, Critical Path Training (Andrew, if you reading this, no promo link for the firm until the cheque arrives).

Events

• No new events, just a reminder about Barcamp Belfast – the postponed Barcamp is now rescheduled for 22nd May.

Careers

• Seagate (via NIJobFinder.co.uk) – Software Engineer with both Java and .NET experience, based in their Derry plant.
• Relay - .NET developers and Junior Developers required for their Belfast office.
• Gem – Technical Support Agents and Web Application Developer (via NIJobFinder.co.uk)  are required for the Belfast company.
• Fujitsu – A number of software developer roles are currently being advertised for my previous employer.  Roles are in both the Belfast and Derry offices.
• Randox Laboratories (via NIJobFinder.co.uk) – Software Engineer required for the Crumlin plant.
• Openwave – Software and Quality Engineers in the Belfast office.
• Parity – My current company is continuing to recruit for their Centre of Excellence in Belfast.