Reflective Code

New Life for GMinder

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:00:00 -0600

GMinder is now hosted on Google Code.

Mike has taken the initiative to upload the code, make some improvements, and prepare a new release. You can download version 1.3.1 now.

I no longer maintain GMinder, so please consider Mike the new lead developer. He has ideas for further improvements. Thanks for volunteering, Mike!

Generic CSV Writer

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 22:11:36 -0600

What follows is a generic class for generating CSV files.

Usage

    CsvWriter<MyObject> writer = new CsvWriter<MyObject>();
    writer.Header = true;
    writer.AddColumn("Id", x => x.Id.ToString());
    writer.AddColumn("Name", x => x.Name);
    writer.AddColumn("Price", x => x.Price.ToString());
    writer.AddColumn("Guid", x => x.Guid);
    writer.AddColumn("Description", x => x.Description);
    writer.AddColumn("Url", x => x.Url);

    IEnumerable<MyObject> objects = Load();
    string csv = writer.WriteToString(objects);
    File.WriteAllText("objects.csv", csv);

Classes

    class CsvWriter<T>
    {
        private readonly List<CsvColumn<T>> _columns = new List<CsvColumn<T>>();

        public bool Header { get; set; }
        public bool QuoteAll { get; set; }
        public IEnumerable<CsvColumn<T>> Columns { get { return _columns; } }

        public void AddColumn(string name, Func<T, string> value)
        {
            if (name == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("name");
            if (value == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("value");

            foreach (CsvColumn<T> column in _columns)
                if (column.Name == name)
                    throw new Exception("Column with same name already added.");

            _columns.Add(new CsvColumn<T>(name, value));
        }

        public string WriteToString(IEnumerable<T> items)
        {
            if (items == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("items");

            StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
            WriteToStream(writer, items);
            return writer.ToString();
        }

        public void WriteToStream(TextWriter stream, IEnumerable<T> items)
        {
            if (stream == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("stream");
            if (items == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("items");

            if (Header)
                WriteHeader(stream);

            foreach (T item in items)
                WriteRow(stream, item);
        }

        private void WriteHeader(TextWriter stream)
        {
            bool first = true;
            foreach (CsvColumn<T> column in _columns)
            {
                if (first)
                    first = false;
                else
                    stream.Write(',');

                WriteValue(stream, column.Name);
            }
            stream.Write('\n');
        }

        private void WriteRow(TextWriter stream, T item)
        {
            if (item == null) return;

            bool first = true;
            foreach (CsvColumn<T> column in _columns)
            {
                if (first)
                    first = false;
                else
                    stream.Write(',');

                WriteValue(stream, column.Value(item));
            }
            stream.Write('\n');
        }

        private void WriteValue(TextWriter stream, string value)
        {
            if (value == null) return;

            if (QuoteAll || ContainsAny(value, '\"', ',', '\x0A', '\x0D'))
            {
                stream.Write("\"");
                stream.Write(value.Replace("\"", "\"\""));
                stream.Write("\"");
            }
            else
            {
                stream.Write(value);
            }
        }

        private static bool ContainsAny(string value, params char[] characters)
        {
            return value.IndexOfAny(characters) != -1;
        }
    }

    class CsvColumn<T>
    {
        public string Name { get; private set; }
        public Func<T, string> Value { get; private set; }

        public CsvColumn(string name, Func<T, string> value)
        {
            if (name == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("name");
            if (value == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("value");

            Name = name;
            Value = value;
        }
    }

Auto ToString()

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 16:58:45 -0600

I wanted to print the contents of some objects, for debugging purposes. One option was to override my Class's ToString method and simply use Console.WriteLine(myObject). I do this on a few classes, and suddenly I have to maintain all these ToString methods whenever I change their properties or fields.

All that extra work, just for some debug statements? I think not - I'd rather the computer do the work for me. After all, it always knows what properties my objects have. So I wrote a method for automatically generating a "pretty" snapshot of an object's state. C# code follows.

Console.WriteLine(AutoString(DBNull.Value));
// DBNull { }

Console.WriteLine(AutoString("A String", true));
// String
// {
//   FirstChar:      A
//   Length:         8
//   m_firstChar:    A
//   m_stringLength: 8
// }

Console.WriteLine(AutoString(new Customer
{
    Id = 12,
    Name = "Smith",
    Address = new Address
    {
        City = "Springfield"
    }
}));
// Customer
// {
//   Address: TestApp.Address
//   Id:      12
//   Name:    Smith
//   Region:
// }

public static string AutoString(object obj, bool includeNonPublic = false)
{
    if (obj == null) return "null";

    Type type = obj.GetType();

    BindingFlags flags = BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public;
    if (includeNonPublic)
        flags = flags | BindingFlags.NonPublic;


    List<MemberInfo> members = type.GetProperties(flags)
                                    .Where(property => property.GetIndexParameters().Length == 0)
                                    .Cast<MemberInfo>()
                                    .Concat(type.GetFields(flags))
                                    .OrderBy(member => member.Name)
                                    .ToList();

    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

    if (members.Count > 0)
    {
        sb.AppendLine(type.Name);
        sb.AppendLine("{");

        int longest = members.Max(m => m.Name.Length);
        foreach (MemberInfo member in members)
        {
            sb.Append("  ");
            sb.Append(member.Name);
            sb.Append(":");
            sb.Append(' ', longest - member.Name.Length + 1);
            sb.Append(GetValue(member as PropertyInfo, obj));
            sb.Append(GetValue(member as FieldInfo, obj));
            sb.AppendLine();
        }

        sb.Append("}");
    }
    else
    {
        sb.Append(type.Name);
        sb.Append(" { }");
    }

    return sb.ToString();
}

private static string GetValue(PropertyInfo property, object instance)
{
    if (property == null) return null;
    var value = property.GetValue(instance, null);
    if (value == null) return null;
    return value.ToString();
}

private static string GetValue(FieldInfo field, object instance)
{
    if (field == null) return null;
    var value = field.GetValue(instance);
    if (value == null) return null;
    return value.ToString();
}

The Death of Google Wave

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:30:00 -0600

From Google's blog today:

Update on Google Wave

We have always pursued innovative projects because we want to drive breakthroughs in computer science that dramatically improve our users' lives. Last year at Google I/O, when we launched our developer preview of Google Wave, a web app for real time communication and collaboration, it set a high bar for what was possible in a web browser. We showed character-by-character live typing, and the ability to drag-and-drop files from the desktop, even "playback" the history of changes--all within a browser. Developers in the audience stood and cheered. Some even waved their laptops.

We were equally jazzed about Google Wave internally, even though we weren't quite sure how users would respond to this radically different kind of communication. The use cases we've seen show the power of this technology: sharing images and other media in real time; improving spell-checking by understanding not just an individual word, but also the context of each word; and enabling third-party developers to build new tools like consumer gadgets for travel, or robots to check code.

But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don't plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave's innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users can easily "liberate" their content from Wave.

Wave has taught us a lot, and we are proud of the team for the ways in which they have pushed the boundaries of computer science. We are excited about what they will develop next as we continue to create innovations with the potential to advance technology and the wider web.

I am not surprised. Google Wave never seemed to have a clear purpose. I remember excitedly waiting for an elusive beta invite, only to experience a huge letdown when I finally tried it. The communication that Wave facilitated was confused and restricted to an elite group. So much for reinventing email.

However, I am disappointed. Google put a lot of hype into Wave, then it stagnated and died. I can see the same happening to Google Buzz. It seems like Google is playing it safe - they haven't made significant changes to many of their apps in a long time: Google Talk, Voice, and Reader are some significant examples. Gmail hasn't broken new any ground recently. 7.4 GB of email storage? Yawn - Hotmail and Yahoo offer unlimited storage.

I get the feeling that corporate beuacracy is starting to slow Google down and is making significant changes in flagship products more difficult.

Come on Google

Toggle Trillian with Caps Lock (using AutoHotkey)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:30:00 -0600

Behold the Caps Lock key, a vestige of a previous era and scourge to the modern user. I never use the Caps Lock key, and I get the impression that most users don't. Yet it still becomes accidentally activated, producing bothersome effects.

AutoHotkey is capable of disabling the Caps Lock key. AutoHotkey is a tiny program that lets you assign behavior to keystrokes, mouse actions, and more. It is actually very powerful and can run extremely complex scripts, which makes it somewhat intimidating. For these reasons I avoided it, although Lifehacker frequently praised it, until I finally took the plunge. I'll never go back.

SetCapsLockState, AlwaysOff

Disabling the Caps Lock key is a one liner. But that seems like such a waste of a key; can't I do something useful with it? Yes I can!

SetCapsLockState, AlwaysOff

CapsLock::
  if (!capsDown)
  {
    capsDown := 1
    Process, Exist, trillian.exe
    if (%ErrorLevel% == 0)
    {
      Run, C:\Program Files (x86)\Trillian\trillian.exe
    }
    else
    {
      IfWinActive, ahk_class TSSHELLWND
        WinActivate, ahk_class Shell_TrayWnd
      IfWinExist, Trillian
        WinActivate
      else
        SendInput, +^{t}
    }
  }
return

CapsLock Up::
  capsDown := 0
  IfWinExist, Trillian
    SendInput, +^{t}
return

This script shows my Trillian contact list while I hold Caps Lock and hides it when I release the key. Now with one keystroke I can easily peek to see who is online and return to my work undisturbed. It even launches Trillian if it is not already running. I greatly prefer this to Trillian's dock/autohide feature because I was always making Trillian pop open when I didn't mean to.

If you want to use this script, be sure to set the run command to Trillian's location on your computer, and assign the Hotkey Ctrl+Shift+T to the action "Contact List: Toggle Visible" (this setting is found within Automation in Trillian's Preferences).

I'm sure this script could be adapted to toggle other programs and Instant Messengers.

Note: This works on three of my computers running Windows 7 and Trillian Astra, but I imagine it would work with Trillian 3 and other versions of Windows.

GMinder: Now with Better International Time Support

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:28:28 -0600

Several users noticed that GMinder did not correctly display dates and times on their computers. This is because GMinder did not take into account various international time formats. New version 1.2.10 now has better support for such formats, including 24 hour formats. Note that GMinder will now use your regional settings in Windows to format the time.

Additionally, there is a new "About GMinder" window that displays the version of GMinder that you are using, accessible from the system tray.

As always, thank you for your suggestions and feedback!

Minor GMinder Update - Connectivity Testing

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:42:51 -0600

GMinder trys to ping www.google.com prior to downloading events. If ECHO is disabled on your network (possibly blocked by your admin), then events will not be downloaded even if your calendars can be downloaded. With GMinder ~~v1.2.8~~, an option has been added to enable/disable the connectivity test. To skip the ping, go into Options and uncheck "Test connectivity before downloading events".

EDIT: Version 1.2.8 used some faulty logic when deciding if it should ping. It has been quickly replaced by 1.2.9. I apologize for the mistake, please download the new version.

GMinder v1.2.7 - Add Events and Proxy Support

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:55:33 -0600

I released a new version (1.2.7) of GMinder today, with the following improvements:

Ability to add events to your calendars (Thanks to Dan at rowdypixel.com for getting this started!)
Improved Google authentication
Automatic proxy configuration
"Always on Top" option for the reminder window

The new Quick Add feature

I recommend installing this new version, especially if a previous version had given you trouble.

Thank you for all your suggestions and feedback!

Introducing GMinder for Google Calendar

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:09:56 -0600

GMinder is a reminder program that waits in your system tray and alerts you when you have an upcoming Google Calendar event. GMinder supports multiple calendars and allows you to configure how you want to be alerted. Since it downloads your events, it works offline and enables you to preview your agenda of events.

GMinder's main reminder window

Preview your agenda

Check it out on the project page!

Sequentially Accessing a Rectangular Array

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:20:00 -0600

We know that .NET performs optimizations when accessing rectangular arrays, but for sequential access should the inner loop be on the first or second index? Is there even a difference?

The Code

using System;

class Program

    static void Main(string[] args)

        int size = 512;

        int count = 1000;

        int[,] array = new int[size, size];

        int total = 0;

        var watch = System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch.StartNew();

        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)

            for (int x = 0; x < size; x++)

                for (int y = 0; y < size; y++)

                    total += array[x, y];

        watch.Stop();

        Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Sequential access by [x,y]: {0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds));

        watch = System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch.StartNew();

        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)

            for (int x = 0; x < size; x++)

                for (int y = 0; y < size; y++)

                    total += array[y, x];

        watch.Stop();

        Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Sequential access by [y,x]: {0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds));

        Console.WriteLine(total);

        Console.Read();

The Output

Sequential access by [x,y]: 825ms
Sequential access by [y,x]: 2414ms
0

What a difference! Incrementing the first index in the inner loop takes almost 3 times longer, probably because there are so many more cache misses.

The Verdict

For best performance, process your rectangular arrays by incrementing the first index in an outer loop, and the second index in an inner loop.

Concurrency Encapsulation

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:16:37 -0600

One of my projects is a perfect candidate for concurrency. There is a collection of entities that each need to be processed, and each can be processed independently. For the sake of Separation of Concerns, I developed a WorkManager class dedicated to performing an action on the elements of an enumeration. Before I spill the code, here is how it is used:

Entity[] myCollection = LoadEntities();

WorkManager manager = new WorkManager();

manager.ForEach(myCollection, e => e.Process());

Note the lambda expression above. It means that for each Entity in myCollection, the code will execute its Process method. The program will create a separate thread for each processor, and evenly distribute the workload across the threads.

And without further delay, the WorkManager class:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Threading;

public sealed class WorkManager

    private readonly int _numWorkers;

    private readonly Worker[] _workers;

    private readonly Semaphore _workStart;

    private readonly Semaphore _workFinish;

    private IWorkLoad _workLoad;

    private bool _stop;

    public WorkManager() : this(Environment.ProcessorCount) { }

    public WorkManager(int numWorkers)

        if (numWorkers <= 1)

            _numWorkers = 0;

            _workers = new Worker[0];

            return;

        _numWorkers = numWorkers;

        _workers = new Worker[numWorkers];

        _workStart = new Semaphore(0, numWorkers);

        _workFinish = new Semaphore(0, numWorkers);

        for (int i = 0; i < numWorkers; i++)

            _workers[i] = new Worker(this);

    public void ForEach<T>(IEnumerable<T> source, Action<T> action)

        lock (_workers)

            if (_stop)

                throw new Exception("Worker threads are stopped");

            // Shortcut for single threaded

            if (_numWorkers == 0)

                foreach (var item in source)

                    action(item);

                return;

            _workLoad = new WorkLoad<T>(source, action);

            _workStart.Release(_numWorkers);

            for (int i = 0; i < _numWorkers; i++)

                _workFinish.WaitOne();

    public void Stop()

        lock (_workers)

            if (!_stop)

                _stop = true;

                _workStart.Release(_numWorkers);

                for (int i = 0; i < _numWorkers; i++)

                    _workFinish.WaitOne();

    private interface IWorkLoad

        bool DoWork();

    private sealed class WorkLoad<T> : IWorkLoad

        private readonly IEnumerator<T> _source;

        private readonly Action<T> _action;

        public WorkLoad(IEnumerable<T> source, Action<T> action)

            _source = source.GetEnumerator();

            _action = action;

        public bool DoWork()

            T workItem;

            lock (this)

                if (_source.MoveNext())

                    workItem = _source.Current;

                else

                    return false;

            _action(workItem);

            return true;

    private sealed class Worker

        private readonly WorkManager _manager;

        private readonly Thread _thread;

        public Worker(WorkManager manager)

            _manager = manager;

            _thread = new Thread(WorkCycle);

            _thread.IsBackground = true;

            _thread.Start();

        private void WorkCycle()

            while (true)

                // Wait for the semaphone

                _manager._workStart.WaitOne();

try

                    if (_manager._stop)

                        break;

                    while (_manager._workLoad.DoWork()) ;

                finally

                    _manager._workFinish.Release();

Cleanup WSUS - Remove Computers No Longer in the Domain

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:20:00 -0600

One thing I love about WSUS is the ability to monitor the presence of clients. It gives me a good approximation of the last time a computer was on the network. I often use this information to help me clean missing computers out of Active Directory.

But what about when a computer is removed from the domain before it is removed from WSUS? Rather than manually checking, I wrote an IronPython script that compares the list of computers in Active Directory with the computers on WSUS. When I run this script, it lists computers that should be removed from WSUS, and deletes them for me (after prompting).

Below is a copy of the script. It is written in Python, and I run it using IronPython 2.0 Release Candidate 1. It requires the WSUS 3.0 API, specifically Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.dll. As long as that library is available, the script doesn't need to be run on the server itself.

def WsusComputers():

  """Load computers from WSUS"""

  import clr

  clr.AddReference('Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration')

  import Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration

  computers     = dict()

  wsus          = Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.AdminProxy.GetUpdateServer('WSUS-SERVER-NAME-HERE', False)

  computerScope = Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.ComputerTargetScope()

  for computer in wsus.GetComputerTargets(computerScope):

    name = computer.FullDomainName.lower()

    computers[name] = computer

  return computers

def AdComputers():

  """Load computers from Active Directory"""

  import clr

  clr.AddReference('System.DirectoryServices')

  import System.DirectoryServices

  computers = dict()

  entry     = System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry('')

  searcher  = System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher(entry)

  searcher.Filter   = '(&(objectcategory=computer)(objectClass=computer))'

  searcher.PageSize = 250

  for computer in searcher.FindAll():

    if computer.Properties.Contains('dnshostname'):

      name = computer.Properties['dnshostname'][0]

      if name != None: computers[name.lower()] = computer

  return computers

def Cleanup():

  """Delete computers from WSUS that are not in active directory"""

  print 'Loading WSUS computers...'

  wsus = WsusComputers()

  print wsus.Count, 'computers loaded.'

  print ''

  print 'Loading AD computers...'

  ad   = AdComputers()

  print ad.Count, 'computers loaded.'

  print ''

  """Identitify computers that are not in active directory"""

  missing = [computer for name, computer in wsus.iteritems() if not ad.Contains(name)]

  print missing.Count, 'computers to be removed'

  for computer in missing: print computer.FullDomainName

  print ''

  """Delete computers that are not in active directory"""

  if missing.Count > 0 and raw_input('Delete? (Y/N): ').lower().startswith('y'):

    for computer in missing:

      print 'Deleting', computer.FullDomainName

      computer.Delete()

Cleanup()

raw_input("Press any key to continue")

This script is released free of charge to do with as you please.

Embedding IronPython

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:57:04 -0600

In my current programming project, I've embedded IronPython in a C# program. I thought I would share the basics of embedding a scripting engine. I imagine the process would be the same for any language that uses the DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime), like IronRuby. Here is a sample using IronPython 2.0 Beta 5.

using System;

using IronPython.Hosting;

using Microsoft.Scripting;

using Microsoft.Scripting.Hosting;

public class Program

    // Delegate matching the signature of the factorial function

    delegate int FactorialDelegate(int n);

    static void Main(string[] args)

        // Our factorial function

        string[] lines = {"def factorial(n):",

                          "  for i in range(1, n):",

                          "    n = n * i",

                          "  return n"};

        string code = String.Join("\r", lines);

        // Instantiate the IronPython environment

        ScriptEngine engine = Python.CreateEngine();

        // Create a scope/module to work in

        ScriptScope scope = engine.CreateScope();

        // A little preparation

        ScriptSource source = engine.CreateScriptSourceFromString(code, SourceCodeKind.Statements);

        // Compile the code

        CompiledCode compiled = source.Compile();

        // Execute the code in the scope

        compiled.Execute(scope);

        //Now the factorial function exists in the IronPython environment. Let's use it.

        // Set x = 5

        scope.SetVariable("x", 5);

        // print factorial(x)

        ScriptSource print = engine.CreateScriptSourceFromString("print factorial(x)", SourceCodeKind.SingleStatement);

        print.Execute(scope);       //outputs 120

        // Get the result from IronPython

        int result1 = scope.Execute<int>("factorial(6)");

        Console.WriteLine(result1); //outputs 720

        // We can also call the function directly from C#

        FactorialDelegate factorial = scope.GetVariable<FactorialDelegate>("factorial");

        int result2 = factorial(7);

        Console.WriteLine(result2); //outputs 5040

        Console.Read();

Math.BigMul Exposed

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:43:12 -0600

Today a friend and I were reflecting through System.Math (courtesy of IronPython) and we noticed the BigMul method:

Math.BigMul(Int32, Int32) : Int64

Why have a method just for multiplication? It seems to be a trivial reason to add a method to the .NET framework. After all, multiplication with casting does the same thing:

(long)a * (long)b

Being optimistic, I suggested that perhaps Microsoft's BigMul is implementing a faster and more efficient multiplication algorithm. Maybe there is a clever way to multiply two 32 bit numbers without explicit casting to 64 bit. Naturally, I wrote a simple speed test.

static void Main(string[] args){    int a = 40993;    int b = 69872;    long c = 0;     DateTime start;    TimeSpan length;     Console.WriteLine("Inline multiplication");    start = DateTime.Now;    for (int i = 0; i < 1000000000; i++)        c = (long)a * (long)b;    length = DateTime.Now - start;    Console.WriteLine(c);    Console.WriteLine(length.ToString());    Console.WriteLine();     Console.WriteLine("Math.BigMul");    start = DateTime.Now;    for (int i = 0; i < 1000000000; i++)        c = Math.BigMul(a, b);    length = DateTime.Now - start;    Console.WriteLine(c);    Console.WriteLine(length.ToString());    Console.WriteLine();     Console.Read();}

The results were not encouraging.

Inline multiplication
2864262896
00:00:03.9375000

Math.BigMul
2864262896
00:00:07.2031250

Then I remembered to do a Release build and run without debugging. :-D The real results:

Inline multiplication
2864262896
00:00:01.9218750

Math.BigMul
2864262896
00:00:01.9375000

After running it several times, I saw that they had basically the same performance. This begs the question: why did Microsoft even include BigMul? I cracked open Reflector and checked out the code myself. What I found surprised me.

public static long BigMul(int a, int b){    return (a * b);}

That looks like an unsafe operation to me! Disturbed, I wrote and tested my own static method using the exact same code (named BigMul2). Sure enough, my copy-cat code overflowed. Puzzled, I looked at the IL code for both methods:

.method public hidebysig static int64 BigMul(int32 a, int32 b) cil managed{    .maxstack 8    L_0000: ldarg.0     L_0001: conv.i8     L_0002: ldarg.1     L_0003: conv.i8     L_0004: mul     L_0005: ret } .method public hidebysig static int64 BigMul(int32 a, int32 b) cil managed{    .maxstack 8    L_0000: ldarg.0     L_0001: ldarg.1     L_0002: mul     L_0003: conv.i8     L_0004: ret }

Do you see the difference? Math.BigMul pushes a on the stack, casts a to long, pushes b on the stack, casts b to long, multiples them together and returns the result. This is a correct algorithm for multiplying two ints (but not what Reflector initially indicated). My BigMul2 method pushes a on the stack, then pushes b, multiples, then casts to long and returns the result. Apparently Reflector didn't properly translated the code into C#. The actual C# code used by BigMul is exactly what you would expect it to be, there is nothing special going on here.

public static long BigMul(int a, int b){    return (long)a * (long)b;}

What does this all mean?

I learned a few things from this exercise.

Microsoft felt the need to include the trivial BigMul method although it does nothing special. It probably exists as a Best Practice device to ensure that integer multiplication is cast correctly.
Reflector is not reliable. It apparently drops cast operation under certain conditions. It doesn't express the cast in C#, VB, Delphi, MC++, or Chrome - only IL. This problem is reproducible, the explicit casts in my speed-test program are also missing when viewed in Reflector.
I was reminded that debugging incurs a performance hit. What is especially noteworthy is the tremendous slowdown that comes from the debugger as it follows the execution stack into another method (in another assembly).

Debugging with Internet Explorer and Visual Studio

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:00:00 -0600

I prefer Firefox as my default web browser. For website development, Firefox with Firebug is a killer combination. But when I test a page in Internet Explorer, I sometimes get cryptic Javascript errors that are impossible to track down. It turns out that Internet Explorer needs some coaxing to play nice with Visual Studio.

Enable Javascript Debugging
Open Internet Options and head over to the Advanced tab. Uncheck Disable script debugging (Internet Explorer).

That's all it takes; the next time you encounter a Javascript error, you will be prompted to debug. Select an instance of Visual Studio and you'll have interactive debugging.

Launch with Internet Explorer
When you run or debug a website, Visual Studio uses you default system browser. But maybe you prefer to debug in a different browser. To change this setting, right-click on an aspx file in Solution Explorer and select Browse With. Select the desired browser and set it as default.

That's it! Do you have any tips or tools for website debugging?