Programming Why we decided to stop using Entity Framework and go back to ADO.NET by Michael Earls While our newest solution is far from architecturally cool, we think it will be easier for the lesser experienced (and new) developers to work with. We are in a market that doesn't have much IT talent.
Programming How to fix "Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2017 is already installed. Please uninstall and try again." by Michael Earls I recently uninstalled Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio to try and pinpoint the source of another issue I was having. However, the uninstall failed with the following log (apparently, there was still
Programming Is it Intelligent? The Braitenberg Vehicle by Michael Earls Back in 2010, I started reading a book titled Vehicles - Experiments in Synthetic Psychology written by Valentino Braitenberg in 1984. Braitenberg was a cyberneticist and wrote this book as a series of
Programming C# Building your own extension methods. by Jeff Tyler C# has had extension methods since 2007 and with it came LINQ (Language INtegrated Query) and a massive set of extension methods that changed C# development forever. It is a prime candidate for
Programming GitHub is not necessarily the best judge of developer skill by Michael Earls I recently read where someone said that GitHub was the place to go to determine a developer's skill level. I have to say that I totally disagree with this statement. It might be
Programming How to add Prism Syntax Highlighting to your Ghost blog by Michael Earls I have been using Ghost pro for a few years now as my blogging platform and I love it. However, its lack of code formatting (syntax highlighting) has made it difficult to use
Art Staring at a blank canvas by Michael Earls I recently bought painting supplies. The whole works; Brushes, Canvases, Paints. I even bought a new easel. I managed to paint one painting using the intuitive painting technique. However, I keep finding myself
Programming Getting your head around ASP.NET MVC(Model-View-Controller) CORE by Jeff Tyler When I made the switch from Web Forms to MVC a few years back. I thought my head was going to explode. It's loose coupling allows it to do a lot of magic
Entity Framework Entity Framework Composable Queries using LinqKit by Jeff Tyler One of the biggest drawbacks to SQL is the inability to reuse pieces of a query. Technically you can create views but then you wind up joining views to views consuming views and
Programming Driving the Max 7219 7-Segment Display Module from ASP.NET Core on the Raspberry Pi by Michael Earls In a previous blog post, I discussed how to create a dotnet core 2.0 WebApi application to run on the Raspberry Pi and trigger an LED. This post will build upon that
Programming Is the feedback loop the key to a learning computer? by Michael Earls When I was in my early 20's, I setup my Korg Poly-Six synthesizer so that the audio output fed into a Radio Shack (Realistic) Reverb Machine with the output of that going back
.NET Core Running a .NET Core 2.0 WebApi app on the Raspberry Pi (Raspbian) by Michael Earls I wanted to create a web api app that answered calls on my Raspberry Pi. The first step I learned was how to install and configure .NET core 2.0 on the Raspberry
Electronics The Hand-MIDI Interface Project - Adafruit Feather 32u4 with Magnetometer by Michael Earls A few months ago, I had an idea to create a new musical instrument that mounted on a glove. I used a cycling glove that I had from that time that I bought
Programming C# Introduction to Expression Trees by Jeff Tyler Recently I was in a situation where I needed to write my own expression trees to be consumed by Entity Framework. I thought that it would be a good opportunity to pass what
Programming Creating an Aurelia Bootstrap Calendar Of Events - Part 2 Create a custom element by Jeff Tyler This is part two of a multi-part tutorial on how to build a bootstrap calendar with Aurelia Aurelia Calendar Part 1 Aurelia has a built in custom element modeled after web components. This
Programming Creating an Aurelia Bootstrap Calendar Of Events - Part 1 Getting Started and Overriding Bootstrap by Jeff Tyler I needed a calendar as a centerpiece for an application that I am working on. After looking through the internet for something that I liked and not finding it. I decided to do
ASP.NET ASP.NET Core, JWT Tokens, and the User.Identity.Name property - A Discovery by Michael Earls I've been working on creating a token-based auth system and I wanted to write about a discovery that I made. I've been following the excellent ASP.NET Core Token Authentication Guide. I was
FPGA Pong on the Mojo Revisited by Michael Earls In my previous post, I briefly discussed the implementation of a pseudo-pong game on my Mojo FPGA developer board. I was able to implement the VHDL version that I linked to later in
FPGA Creating PONG on the Mojo FPGA by Michael Earls I recently found an old VGA monitor on the side of the road and it inspired me to see if I could get my Mojo FPGA board to output a VGA signal. I
Programming Moon Phase Calculator for the Pebble Watch (C Source) by Michael Earls A few years ago, I bought a Pebble smartwatch. Mostly I bought it because it was cheap, but I also wanted to write my own apps for it. I wrote a few apps.
Mathematics Solving the Stable Marriage problem on an FPGA (Part 2) by Michael Earls In part 1, I introduced the Stable Marriage problem and proposed implementing it on an FPGA. In this post, I will define the approach I am taking to define the preferences in binary
Mathematics Solving the Stable Marriage problem on an FPGA (Part 1) by Michael Earls At my last client, there was an issue that came up that required matching between two groups. It had to be a fair matching based on preferences of both sides. I first started
Electronics How I accidentally learned something unexpected from a simple binary counter by Michael Earls In my previous post, I talked about how I implemented a binary counter with my Mojo FPGA board. I am working on a follow-up post on implementing a reverse binary counter with a
Michael One input, two different results by Michael Earls As if to give life to itself, two separate careers started as a simple "choose your own adventure" game on early 1980's home computers. The setting In the early 80's, myself
Programming One day, work and school will no longer feel like "work" by Michael Earls When I was in my early twenties, I used to imagine a future where work and school were no longer considered "work". I envisioned a scenario where kids and young adults
