If you want to get a head start on ASP.NET 2, check out the ASP.NET 2 QuickStarts Tutorial. It's all beta, so of course treat it as such. I've played with a few of them and there is some decent stuff out there already. Code samples are avaialble in C# or VB.NET, as well.

I have been writing for MSDN Magazine for almost 7 years with what started out as feature articles and moved into my current Data Points column. 7 years is a long time and is it suggests, I love working for them. I get a lot of comments via email from readers and despite the volume, I do read all of them. I don;t have the time to reply to all...

I am really excited about some of the new features in ADO.NET 2. I posted here last month regarding how the ADO.NET 2 DataTable class will expose a Merge method (woo hoo!). I found this very useful when I had DataTable's to merge but no DataSet (and thus had to create a DataSet just to merge the DataTable objects -- yuk!) Anyway, there are...

The May 2005 issue of MSDN Magazine is now available online at http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/05/DataPoints/default.aspx. After a 2 month break, my Data Points column is back. In this issue I discuss several Data Access Strategies Using ADO.NET and SQL, inlcuding some tips on writing queries, connection maintenance and building...

I ran some tests using ADO.NET to measure the time it takes to retrieve a single value from a database. All of my tests had the following attributes: Each test gets the CompanyName for the specified CustomerID (in Northwind) The same connection string, using integrated security Stored procedure (vs inline SQL) I used a SqlCommand with a...

I've always wanted to write. I love Tolkien's LOTR, Shakespeare (MacBeth is my favorite ... yeah, I know its dark, but it really grabbed me), Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Beowulf (very cool monsters), and Homer's the Illiad (The Odyssey is just alright). I knew I was never going to be at that level, and with my career choice being what it is,...