Tech Tips, Tricks & Trivia

Using real-world analogies, Martin Dreyer does a great job of explaining the introductory concepts of C# & OOP to absolute beginners in the free E-Book C# for Sharp Kids. The 2.9 MB MSI file , containing the E-Book in MS Word format & code samples, can be downloaded from the Kid's Corner of MSDN's Beginner Developer Learning Center . The code samples are expected to run with Visual C# 2005 Express Edition but you can get it to work on a newer version of the Express Edition as well. Although this text is targeted at young developers (aged between 12-16), it is equally good for folks of any age wanting to learn about programming with C#. Spread across 5 parts & about 165 pages, it is light-hearted & filled with meaningful cartoons. Here are a couple of samples - Once readers finish the book, they will be able to build simple Console & Windows applications. It will also whet their appetite to know more about C#. I highly recommend this book to those...

Did you know the alternative names that were initially thought out for Windows were "Interface Manager" & "Microsoft Desktop"? What's in a name? A lot, in retrospect. If you are interested in oddities and little known answers to mysterious questions about Microsoft products, check out the Channel 9 "But Why?" Series from the folks who brought you "The History of Microsoft" 45

Back in 2002, I wrote a small JavaScript program that searches multiple sites at once . A friend of mine keeps searching on the Web for reusable images & photos for personal use. I adapted my old script for him so that he can search multiple sites at once. The script takes advantage of the fact that the term to search on can be appended as a querystring value to the search pages supplied by websites providing freely reusable images. Also see: Free Photos & Images 180