Do you like surprises?

Tony Robbins asked his audience in a TED talk if they like surprises. He received a resounding "YEAH", but he continued with the comment: "BULL****, people like only the surprises they expect". Let me tell you about two developer's surprises from yesterday (I guess, I didn't like those much):

Javascript Surprise: In a ASP.NET project I had to implement a client-side filtering of table rows. I registered a javascript array with values to be compared. Since it was very slow I decided to sort the array server-side and use binary search client-side. The script ran much faster, but in some cases it didn't work as expected. The surprise factor turned out to be that .NET and javascript did string comparison in different way, so the array was not sorted correctly ("A" < "b" in .NET but"A" > "b" in Javascript).

Oracle Surprise: I use tnsnames.ora to connect to Oracle and tnsping.exe tells me to what service I am currently connected to. It turned out that this is not always reliable if you have multiple tnsnames.ora. So, I have been working for quite a long time on a database that was not the one I expected. More info on the topic here and here.

The developer's job is not short of surprises, so better approach them with eagerness or join a club like this one.

Becoming VS.NET Keyboard Jedi

After improving my general typing speed, getting more comfortable with the keybaord and obtaining a MS Natural Ergo 4000 keyboard, the next step to increase my productivity at work is to do more in VS.NET without using the mouse device.

I will need some discipline to leave the mouse navigation habit behind, but I think it will be worth it. The preconditions for a successful migration are:

• Roy's Keyboard Jedi
• Learning the shortcuts: VS.NET and Resharper
• One week commitment - if I don't feel comfortable in a week with the keys, I don't plan to be extra stubborn
  

I will report on my progress next Friday :)

UPDATE: Next Friday's report: It turned out that I found it impractical to abandon the mouse completely. In a lot of cases reaching to the mouse was easier: navigating through various VS.NET windows, running rarely-used commands, etc. On the bright side, I succeeded to replace some mouse movements with the corresponding key strokes both in VS.NET and in other applications. Now I find it natural to navigate through text and select text with the keyboard.