VB Wire News is a joke

**Kasracer** · May 14th, 2009, 08:08 AM

Came across this little gem today: Show a Footer for All ASP .NET Pages in a Site. When you look at the actual article, it doesn't talk about good practices (like... well, I don't know... KEEPING UI SEPARATE FROM THE CODE) but, instead, says to do this:

Code:

Sub Application_EndRequest(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) 
   With Response
     .Write(String.Format("<div width='{0}' style='{1}'>", _
        Unit.Percentage(100), "text-align:center;"))
     .Write(String.Format("<img src='{0}' alt='{1}'/>", _
        "footer2.jpg", "Footer"))
     .Write("<div>") 
   End With 
End Sub

This is just a small piece of the crap that's up there. Who has control over this? Last week I read an article on there that said Java didn't have a platform (then what's the JVM?).

EDIT: Here's the Java platform-neutral crap that was posted last week.

Originally Posted by Stephen B. Morris

C# is inextricably interwoven with the .NET platform, whereas Java is platform-neutral.

Sorry, these things bother me.

**kregg** · May 14th, 2009, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by Kasracer

VB Wire News is a joke

Then stop visiting it then if it bugs you that much.

**Kasracer** · May 14th, 2009, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by kregg

Then stop visiting it then if it bugs you that much.

but... it's at the top of the page...

**kregg** · May 14th, 2009, 11:35 AM

Wait... you come to a forum to read news??

**wossname** · May 14th, 2009, 02:25 PM

VB Wire is fantastic.

Let me give you an example: did you know that you can read files sequentially with something called a "FileStream". Not only that but you can declare "variables" that hold little pieces of information.

Were it not for VB Wire, this mother-lode of invaluable knowledge would simply pass us by.

So please, show a little respect before you condemn something that is, to many, an indispensable lifeline on the long and rocky road to becoming a programmer.

**penagate** · May 15th, 2009, 03:40 AM

Moved to Feedback

**Nightwalker83** · May 15th, 2009, 05:26 AM

Originally Posted by Kasracer

but... it's at the top of the page...

Yes, it is! However, that does not mean you have to keep visiting that site every time you visit vbforums. Also, if that code/article is not up to your expectations why not ask Brad for a job there!

I'm sure you'll be a big help.

That article you linked to "Show a Footer for All ASP .NET Pages in a Site" mention nothing about the good coding practices that you say should be on that page. Maybe you linked to the wrong page?

The site is a programming site after all what use would it be if it did not talk about/mention things to do with code. Being a developer is a lot more than coding it is about planing the solution as well.

**Kasracer** · May 15th, 2009, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Nightwalker83

However, that does not mean you have to keep visiting that site every time you visit vbforums.

Oh... sorry, didn't know. I occasionally check it out just to see what's there.

Originally Posted by Nightwalker83

Also, if that code/article is not up to your expectations why not ask Brad for a job there!

I'm sure you'll be a big help.

It's not that it isn't "up to my expectations", I just would like to think that inaccuracies or things that would be considered bad practice wouldn't make it in there. Does no one check the content before posting it?

Originally Posted by Nightwalker83

That article you linked to "Show a Footer for All ASP .NET Pages in a Site" mention nothing about the good coding practices that you say should be on that page. Maybe you linked to the wrong page?

What? Obviously it mentions nothing about good coding practices that I say should be on the page... that's why I brought it up... why would you think I linked to the wrong site? It's weird; it's like you agreed with me in that sentence, then asked me if I did something wrong

. IT'S TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR THIS! heh

**Kasracer** · May 15th, 2009, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by penagate

Moved to Feedback

While I was being somewhat serious, I was having fun with this (why I posted in Chit Chat). So, um... yeah... hey, if something changes then cool

but I wasn't expecting it or trying to do so.

**Nightwalker83** · May 15th, 2009, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by Kasracer;

Does no one check the content before posting it?

Maybe their standards aren't too high!

What? Obviously it mentions nothing about good coding practices that I say should be on the page... that's why I brought it up... why would you think I linked to the wrong site? It's weird; it's like you agreed with me in that sentence, then asked me if I did something wrong

. IT'S TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR THIS! heh

Were you referring to what it had written on the home page directing people to that post? It is the only thing I can think of because no where in the post you link to does it say anything about coding practices.

**Kasracer** · May 15th, 2009, 08:48 PM

Originally Posted by Nightwalker83

Were you referring to what it had written on the home page directing people to that post? It is the only thing I can think of because no where in the post you link to does it say anything about coding practices.

*head explodes*

What I was saying was that they're showing poor practices where as articles that teach people something should always use the best possible practice to avoid creating bad coders.

I never said they talked about good practices.

**Nightwalker83** · May 15th, 2009, 11:49 PM

Who is to say that the examples they are showing bad coding practices? I am sure someone moderates the posts before they are submitted.

**Kasracer** · May 15th, 2009, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by Nightwalker83

Who is to say that the examples they are showing bad coding practices? I am sure someone moderates the posts before they are submitted.

The example I pointed out is obviously a bad coding practice. Keeping the presentation layer separate is always the best idea and the article blatantly writes html out through the global.asax page in C#!

I can understand if this is needed in an environment where the code is old and this can be used as a hack but no one should be teaching this kind of thing.

That's like publishing an article on C++ and only talking about how to use procedural C when a pure C++ solution would obviously be more informative and overall better.

**Kasracer** · May 17th, 2009, 05:37 PM

Good Old OOA, OOD, OOP Techniques are Economically Sound.

I... just don't know what to say. The article speaks for itself (ugh). Example 1 should always call the base class (otherwise why are you inheriting and why on Earth are you changing expected behavior?). Example 2 is just a wrapper (*** is this "faC'ade" crap?). I don't even want to get into why the title just plan sucks.

Can we please move this back to Chit Chat? I'd like to just come here and vent regarding stupid articles.

**penagate** · May 17th, 2009, 09:34 PM

It's valid feedback! But okay.

**Kasracer** · May 18th, 2009, 11:04 AM

If you feel that way then you can move it back yet again. I just don't want people to think I'm just randomly bitching as I was having fun more than anything... though VB News Wire still sucks.

**techgnome** · May 18th, 2009, 12:05 PM

VB Wire News itself doesn't suck... it's the material that's getting linked through it that's sub-par. It's a user submission system.... let's say I write an article, post it on my website. I can then submit the link to it to VBWN, along with a synopsis (at least this is how it used to be)... and eventually it gets pulled into the wire feed. To the best of my knowledge there isn't any editing or review that happens (I could be wrong about this though) and VBWN doesn't actually do any editorialization or fact checking on it. At best I think all that's done is to make sure the link is valid, and that it fits VB somehow. Other than that, if there's issue with an article, take it up with the author, but it's not VBWN's fault.

-tg

**Kasracer** · May 18th, 2009, 06:20 PM

No, it sucks. If it grabs tutorials / articles that are factually bad and displays them on a major site such as VBForums with little to no checking, then something is wrong with it.

Either require moderation or let the users vote for the content that's good or bad.

What your telling me is I could write a long article that shows some VB code connecting to a database, say that it's bad and explain why everyone should use C for RAD and it would eventually show up in VB Wire News. Hopefully it's not that easy...

**kregg** · May 18th, 2009, 06:39 PM

With the article you linked, there was a vote bit at the very bottom. Maybe an answer to your prayers?

**mendhak** · May 18th, 2009, 07:27 PM

I shouldn't have read this thread, that first post made my head explode and the only thing that splattered the walls instead of blood was my agony. This has to be worse than inline code.

**DeanMc** · May 18th, 2009, 08:10 PM

Whats wrong with inline code?

*runs*

**EntityX** · May 19th, 2009, 12:34 AM

Kasracer there are 21 posts in this thread so far not including this one and only 9 of them are yours. Your posts only account for a measley 42.8% of the posts in this thread. See if you can get that up to at least 75 %.

**Kasracer** · May 19th, 2009, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by EntityX

Kasracer there are 21 posts in this thread so far not including this one and only 9 of them are yours. Your posts only account for a measley 42.8% of the posts in this thread. See if you can get that up to at least 75 %.

Working on it!

**Maven** · May 23rd, 2009, 08:50 PM

What did you expect? VBWire is not a journal.

**Kasracer** · May 25th, 2009, 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by Maven

What did you expect? VBWire is not a journal.

Never said it was but if I put a system that aggregated development oriented news and tutorials, you're damn right that I'm going to make sure it's as accurate and sound as possible. Most of these articles and tutorials are laughable at best and riddled with archaic paradigms.

In other words: any moron who knows a little bit about programming could have reviewed many of these entries in just a few seconds and decided not to show them.

**Kasracer** · May 26th, 2009, 12:04 PM

Wow, this article is just a cluster ****er: Article :: Robert C. Martin's Clean Code Tip of the Week #8: Your Build Shouldn't Require More Than One Step.

It starts out as a huge story (this is under a .Net programming article category). 1,787 words later, you're only left with this "value" piece of information (i.e. the only non-story piece of information):

Originally Posted by Robert C. Martin

Building a project should be a single trivial operation. You should not have to check many little pieces out of source code control. You should not need a sequence of arcane commands or context dependent scripts in order to build the individual elements. You should not have to search near and far for all the various little extra JARs, XML files, and other artifacts that the system requires. You should be able to check out the system with one simple command and then issue one other simple command to build it.

I feel more stupider now.

**Kasracer** · May 26th, 2009, 12:07 PM

Who was the person who thought this was a good idea: DataBinding a DropDownList in a FormView. Why would you want to put all of your data binding code in the aspx file? Nasty.

**techgnome** · May 26th, 2009, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by Kasracer

Wow, this article is just a cluster ****er: Article :: Robert C. Martin's Clean Code Tip of the Week #8: Your Build Shouldn't Require More Than One Step.

It starts out as a huge story (this is under a .Net programming article category). 1,787 words later, you're only left with this "value" piece of information (i.e. the only non-story piece of information):

I feel more stupider now.

Wha- the he-- is THAT supposed to mean (the bit you quoted)? I right-click, get latest. I right-click Rebuild All..... and that doesn't even count the automated build that happens on check-in too. Aaaaaany ways, sounds like some one isn't happy with his little Java world... shrug.

-tg

**mendhak** · May 26th, 2009, 12:42 PM

You mean he doesn't just say "Use Ctrl+Shift+B"?

**wossname** · May 26th, 2009, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by Kasracer

Wow, this article is just a cluster ****er: Article :: Robert C. Martin's Clean Code Tip of the Week #8: Your Build Shouldn't Require More Than One Step.

It starts out as a huge story (this is under a .Net programming article category). 1,787 words later, you're only left with this "value" piece of information (i.e. the only non-story piece of information):

I feel more stupider now.

To be fair, this does sum up MS's whole view of the world. "This is the way the world should be". They will throw money and people at the problem until the goal is achieved, no matter how they achieve it and no matter how many adorable puppies are stomped on and obliterated along the way.

The kind of software we produce at my work cannot be built in one single step. It's just physically impossible (mainly because of MS, ironically).

Anything that makes me hate MS more is a good thing and I thank Kasracer for this thread.

**Maven** · May 28th, 2009, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by wossname

To be fair, this does sum up MS's whole view of the world. "This is the way the world should be". They will throw money and people at the problem until the goal is achieved, no matter how they achieve it and no matter how many adorable puppies are stomped on and obliterated along the way.

The kind of software we produce at my work cannot be built in one single step. It's just physically impossible (mainly because of MS, ironically).

Anything that makes me hate MS more is a good thing and I thank Kasracer for this thread.

Having design goals is an important consideration of any software project.

**wossname** · May 28th, 2009, 02:46 PM

MS don't measure project action-points in terms of man-hours. They use puppy-stomps. They actually finance large dog-breeding farms, simply to get more puppies stomped per financial quarter. Smaller coding departments (who are less well funded) have to make do with baby rabbits.

*fact*

**EntityX** · May 28th, 2009, 02:54 PM

What type of dogs do they breed?

Question about the falsity I mean fact.

**wossname** · May 28th, 2009, 02:56 PM

These:

...That's a badly drawn icon and an irremovable Office Assistant right there.

**Kasracer** · May 28th, 2009, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by techgnome

Wha- the he-- is THAT supposed to mean (the bit you quoted)? I right-click, get latest. I right-click Rebuild All..... and that doesn't even count the automated build that happens on check-in too. Aaaaaany ways, sounds like some one isn't happy with his little Java world... shrug.

Not only are they not happy in their Java world but they posted only Java code examples and placed the article in the .Net section.

**Kasracer** · Jun 16th, 2009, 10:53 PM

This is a better one but still irks me with some of the false and partially false or misleading information: another gem from the same author!

This article is basically how to create a sample class that outputs **** to the console (arguably bad since this is UI being put into a DLL but that's another issue) and save it in a Library project. Um... how is that even worth the bytes it took to load the page? There are plenty of better, beginner tutorials on OOP and other items in C#.

Originally Posted by Stephen B. Morris

Back in the late 1990s, when C++ was in the ascendancy, the humble dynamic-link library (DLL) was the accepted unit of Windows software distribution

I don't remember software being distributed via DLLs. Sure, some pieces of software included them but distributing just DLLS?

I guess that could be let go because of a technicality as you'd distribute them anyway but it's just very oddly worded, in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Stephen B. Morris

One such facility is language independence—code in an assembly can be used by any of the .NET languages. In this context, language independence helps to unify multi-language solutions.

Since when can you not use a native C++ DLL in any language on a Windows platform? Using this logic, native DLL or even COM is just as good.

Originally Posted by Stephen B. Morris

However, unity between Java and the .NET languages currently remains an aspiration. This is most likely due to commercial considerations; neither side wants to add value to the other by bridging the two languages.

Dumbest speculation regarding two platforms that I've read in quite a while. First off, Java and .Net both have a runtime / VM that is used to execute code. Why on Earth you'd actually want to create a solution dependent and used through two different, large runtimes is beyond my comprehension. Secondly, it's doable but you would have to use C++ with the CLR or create COM compatible DLLs.

But I can't figure out why anyone would do such a horrible thing. If it's necessary you can either interface Java to .Net or vice versa via command arguments (if you require a spawned GUI process or something similar) or you can easily port the code to Java or vice versa if it doesn't need GUI.

Originally Posted by Stephen B. Morris

(Now that Java is an open source platform, we might see some progress in the future.)

Java is not entirely open-source as Sun didn't hold all of the copyrights in order to do so. Plus, you'd have to get your custom VM to be widely installed as Sun still controls their version. Good luck with that!

**nemaroller** · Jun 18th, 2009, 05:02 PM

Yes, VB wire news is a joke, and the joke's on you.

Jeez, took you nearly 5 years to figure that out... in the meantime, we had all but forgotten about it.

I mean, you gotta put something up there in that big blue space besides paying advertisements - or, wait, maybe, just possibly, the VB Wire News is a paying advertisement!

**Kasracer** · Jun 18th, 2009, 10:17 PM

It didn't take me 5 years to figure it out; it was very obvious from the beginning. I just wanted to post about it now because I never did before.

**penagate** · Jun 18th, 2009, 11:13 PM

It isn't just VBWire who syndicate bad articles. This was featured in the latest CodeProject news update: 24 JavaScript Best Practices for Beginners.

**Kasracer** · Jun 19th, 2009, 08:17 AM

Bah, I can't believe this is even an article: Article :: C# GUI Programming. It's an article about dragging and dropping standard controls. Yes, dragging and dropping standard controls.

How is that even useful? Not to mention the interface looks like complete crap.

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