Brian H. Madsen - .Net Powered by Caffeine : .Net Framework

New .Net Logo - the wave

Brian Madsen — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:06:00 GMT

Here we go - a new design..more modern and (imho) sleeker design of the .Net logo.

It's been in the system for a while but finally it's been revealed in all it's geeky glory.

So welcome it and embrace it..

I personally love the sublety of the "N" in the wave and i'm sure we're going to see a lot more from it in the future.

Seems that design and developers CAN work together to make something beautiful.

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and .Net 3.5 SP1 released to RTM

Brian Madsen — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:38:28 GMT

I’m surprised that ScottGu didn’t post this news – but i guess he needs a well deserved rest after the work that’s been done with .Net 3.5 SP1.

Anyways, the long awaited Visual Studio 2008 SP1 and .Net 3.5 SP1 has now finally reached RTM.

.Net 3.5 SP1 download can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AB99342F-5D1A-413D-8319-81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en

ASP.NET Dynamic Data, which provides a rich scaffolding framework that enables rapid data driven development without writing code, and a new addition to ASP.NET AJAX that provides support for managing browser history (back button support). For more information, see What’s New in ASP.NET and Web Development.
Core improvements to the CLR (common language runtime) that include better layout of .NET Framework native images, opting out of strong-name verification for fully trusted assemblies, improved application startup performance, better generated code that improves end-to-end application execution time, and opting managed code to run in ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) mode if supported by the operating system. Additionally, managed applications that are opened from network shares have the same behavior as native applications by running with full trust.
Performance improvements to WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), including a faster startup time and improved performance for Bitmap effects. Additional functionality for WPF includes better support for line of business applications, native splash screen support, DirectX pixel shader support, and the new WebBrowser control.
ClickOnce application publishers can decide to opt out of signing and hashing as appropriate for their scenarios, developers can programmatically install ClickOnce applications that display a customized branding, and ClickOnce error dialog boxes support links to application-specific support sites on the Web.
The Entity Framework is an evolution of the existing suite of ADO.NET data access technologies. The Entity Framework enables developers to program against relational databases in according to application-specific domain models instead of the underlying database models. For more information, see Getting Started with the Entity Framework. The Entity Framework introduces some additional features, including support for new SQL Server 2008 types, default graph serialization of Entities, and the Entity Data Source. This release of the Entity Framework supports the new date and file stream capabilities in SQL Server 2008. The graph serialization work helps developers who want to build Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services that model full graphs as data contracts. The Entity Data Source provides a traditional data source experience for ASP.NET Web application builders who want to work with the Entity Framework.
LINQ to SQL includes new support for the new date and file stream capabilities in SQL Server 2008.
The ADO.NET Data Services Framework consists of a combination of patterns and libraries, which enable data to be exposed as a flexible REST (Representational State Transfer)-based data service that can be consumed by Web clients in a corporate network or across the Internet. The ADO.NET Data Services Framework makes data service creation over any data source. A conceptual view model of the underlying storage schema can easily be exposed through rich integration with the ADO.NET Entity Framework. Services created by using the ADO.NET Data Services Framework, and also compatible Windows Live (dev.live.com) services, can be easily accessed from any platform. For client applications that are running on Microsoft platforms, a set of client libraries are provided to make interaction with data services simple. For example, .NET Framework-based clients can use LINQ to query data services and a simple .NET Framework object layer to update data in the service.
Windows Communication Foundation now makes the DataContract Serializer easier to use by providing improved interoperability support, enhancing the debugging experience in partial trust scenarios, and extending syndication protocol support for wider usage in Web 2.0 applications.
The .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server (SqlClient) adds new support for file stream and sparse column capabilities in SQL Server 2008.

VS2008 SP1 can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=FBEE1648-7106-44A7-9649-6D9F6D58056E&displaylang=en

Here’s some of the features that’s available in VS2008 SP1:

Class Libraries and Web Application Projects in Express
JScript Formatting
More Support for External JScript Libraries
Dynamic Data Templates
SQL Server 2008 Support
WCF Renaming Support
IIS Module and Handler Templates
Multiple Selection in Design View (new since SP1 Beta)
Ability to add ADO.NET Data Service Reference in web projects (new since SP1 Beta)

There’s also further releases available in conjunction with these two:

Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions with SP1 download available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F3FBB04E-92C2-4701-B4BA-92E26E408569&displaylang=en

Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition with SP1 - enables developers to rapidly create Web applications that deliver the highest quality rich user experiences. This new version enables cool, fun features that build on the latest technologies including AJAX, CSS, LINQ and JavaScript IntelliSense.
Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition with SP1 – enables developers to rapidly create Windows applications that deliver the highest quality rich user experiences. These new versions enable cool fun features that build on the latest technologies including WPF, WCF and LINQ.
Visual C# 2008 Express Edition with SP1 – enables developers to rapidly create Windows applications that deliver the highest quality rich user experiences. These new versions enable cool fun features that build on the latest technologies including WPF, WCF and LINQ.
Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition with SP1 – is the development environment for creating native Windows applications that deliver the highest quality rich user experiences. This new version includes an easy installation of the Windows Platform SDK.
SQL Server 2008 – SQL Server 2008 Express is a free full-feature database that is ideal for learning, creating and deploying Windows and Web data-enabled applications.
Also includes:
SQL Server Compact Edition.

IMPORTANT
If you have multiple Visual Studio products installed, you must upgrade all of them to SP1. If you have Visual Studio 2008 and one or more 2008 Express Editions, you cannot upgrade the Express Editions until you have upgraded Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server SP1 download available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9E40A5B6-DA41-43A2-A06D-3CEE196BFE3D&displaylang=en

Support for Windows Server 2008.
Support for SQL Server 2008.
The Add to Source Control dialogs have been improved to be easier to use and more scalable.
Drag & Drop from Windows Explorer to add to Source Control.
Support for Version control operations on files not in bound solutions.
Right-click access to set Working Folder/Cloak of folders from within Source Control Explorer.
Check in date/time column in Source Control Explorer.
Editable path field for the Source Control Explorer.
Email work items and queries to someone.
A new API to download files to a stream.
Links to Team System Web Access pages from notifications.
Improvements to the number of projects per server.
Performance and scale improvements.
Improvements to the VSS converter to make it much more robust.
Support for creating Team Projects from the command line.

Since i’m handing my laptop in at the end of next week i’m not going to download this here, but i certainly will get my betas and previews etc replaced at home :)

and yes, this is fantastic news for sure!!!

Bill Ryan is ready to consult!

Brian Madsen — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:53:31 GMT

Bill Ryan [MVP], an overall great guy, professional and adept in all manner of technologies are taking the step into consulting.

Bill's been reaping the rewards and gaining some valuable experiences, while working at Magenic as a principal consultant. And he's now taking that a step further by going solo.

I wish Bill all the best of luck in his new endeavour.

Good luck Bill!

ASP.Net MVC Framework articles

Brian Madsen — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:51:00 GMT

Naturally being in the web industry you HAVE to subscribe to Scott Guthrie's blog.

Lately he's been posting a lot of news on the ASP.Net MVC Framework - something I think has been missing from the .Net framework for a loooong time.

As always, Scott's thorough in his posts and these 5 take no exception to that:

If you want to have a sneakpeak at the framework, then download the ASP.Net 3.5 Extensions CTP from here: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/12/09/asp-net-3-5-extensions-ctp-preview-released.aspx.

Thanks for keeping us informed Scott!

Free Code Focus magazine issue...

Brian Madsen — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:00:19 GMT

Excerpt:

VSX CoDe Focus magazine is now online at http://code-magazine.com/focus/vsx. Microsoft sponsored this special edition of CoDe Magazine on the topic of VSX. The entire 76 page magazine is available online in multi-page HTML format and also as a PDF download (13MB). Printed copies of the magazine will be available in late October at various developer events and mailed to many existing CoDe magazine subscribers.

Coates put it up there: Andrew Coates ::: MSFT : Visual Studio Extensibility CoDe Focus Magazine Online.

Nice, just got myself a look..think i may have to subscribe to that one..certainly goes well with my FHM subscription :)

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) @ Perth .Net Community of Practice

Brian Madsen — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:56:02 GMT

Tomorrow I'll be presenting on Windows Communication Foundation at the Perth .Net Community of Practice - My first presentation on .Net 3.0 and my second presentation at the user group. First one was on ADO.Net.

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) with Brian Madsen

Join us at the Perth .NET Users Group November 1st to hear Brian Madsen present on Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). The Windows Communication Foundation (previously codenamed "Indigo") is Microsoft's unified framework for building secure, reliable, transacted, and interoperable distributed applications. In this session, Brian will look at what WCF means as a platform for distributed applications and some of the key features and differences between WCF and ASP.Net Web Services.
TOPIC: Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) with Brian Madsen
DATE: Nov 1st, 5:30pm
VENUE: Excom, Level 2, 23 Barrack Street, Perth
COST: Free. All Welcome.
Brian works as a Senior Software Engineer for Micromine (www.micromine.com.au) - a Perth based ISV which provides software and management solutions to the mining industry internationally. Besides .Net, his passion for SQL Server lead him to organise the MS SQL Server User Group - Perth, associated with the national SQL Server organisation (www.sqlserver.org.au). He is also the founder and administrator of CSharpZealot, a C#.Net centric online community (www.csharpzealot.com).

So if you got a few spare hours come along and meet some of the cool guys there.

Is a smart developer an efficient developer?

Brian Madsen — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 01:37:54 GMT

note: this is a poke at Nick Randolph..Nick, watch this space :)

VB.Net:

Dim x As Integer

C#:

int x;

what else is there..let me think..

VB.Net:

While i < 100
i += 1
End While

C#:

while (i < 100)
n++;

i must admit, ensuring that you indicate this is the "End" does mean that even "slow" people can read the code :)

dig dig dig dig..

btw, fyi, i'm bored today and Nick isn't responding..yet :)

Multiple namespaces in a project

Brian Madsen — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:54:23 GMT

Here's a funny one - last night I had a chat to a new developer. He's throwing himself into .Net and leaving Java (good on him!).

After having had a look at his code, which is generally sound, he has a LOT of projects. His response was "a project should only contain one namespace to make logical ordering of classes easier to navigate".

We discussed this and i noticed that there's two very seperate minds on this.

1) As long as functionality is dictated by the namespace it doesn't matter.

or...

2) The namespace should be directly related to the project it resides in.

For instance a business model project:

MyProject.BusinessModels.ServiceDiscovery
MyProject.BusinessModels.AuthenticationServices
MyProject.BusinessModels.ServiceTokens

Once you reference the assembly/project, the logic of keeping it seperated is not beyond me. You don't see this seperation when you code but as the solution grows it can become rather "busy" in there.

So, should you keep 1 project for 1 namespace?

I believe you should and i commend this young fella for keeping his logic and architecture simple :)

Microsoft is releasing the .Net framework source code

Brian Madsen — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:57:59 GMT

It's a milestone in development - finally, the source code for the .Net framework is being released.

At 9am local Redmond time, Scott Guthrie made the announcement via his blog.

Link to Releasing the Source Code for the .NET Framework Libraries - ScottGu's Blog

This is to say that this release is NOT to mean that the .Net framework has suddenly become open source - but it is yet another way Microsoft is going to support it's developerbase.

Excellent - now we just have to wait for Visual Studio 2008s release!! awesome!

Ozzie Rules Blogging : Release Candidate of Windows Presentation Foundation labs now available!!

Brian Madsen — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:03:31 GMT

Charles "Chuck" Stirling has just released a nice 3 part series of labs for WPF.

After having a good read through them, i'm surprised in how much effort he must have put into these "manuals".

If you haven't already had a read, i suggest you skip on over to Chuck's blog and go through the material:

Ozzie Rules Blogging : Release Candidate of Windows Presentation Foundation labs now available!!

Great work Mr. Chuck and Mrs. Chuck!

Currently listening to:
H I T M U S I C S T A T I O N . N E T - http://www.HitMusicStation.net - Enjoy the best & *** the rest! -

I see things....

Brian Madsen — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:52:06 GMT

Lately i've seen a lot of "hysterics" from the Open-Source community about Ruby and how Ruby is going to take development to another level and how the Microsoft .Net platform is shaken and loosing followers.

Haven't we seen this all before? PHP was the biggest thing since sliced cheese 5-6 years ago..and now it seems it's disappearing slowly..we haven't had a major update for quite a loooong time and frankly i'm not surprised.

So is Ruby going to be another PHP? No, honestly i don't think so..Ruby has far more potential than PHP did and i think it's here to stay. Is it going to shake the foundation of the .Net framework to the extent that people are fleeing it?

IMHO no..i seriously doubt it. What i like - or rather - what i find amusing is the somewhat almost heroic poise that seems to be common from the Ruby community, which just screams injustice at the big bad wolf (aka. Microsoft)..The absolute need for them to justify their choices and the platform they support by pointing fingers is almost the self-same reaction that came from the PHP camp not so long ago.

Why is it that these feelings seems to center around Microsoft constantly?

For whatever reason there is, the Ruby community feels obliged to fight Microsoft...but isn't that just becoming a little too old? seriously, is it vindication that now another horse has entered the race and they need to support it en masse to make an impact?

Frank Arrigo's post in response to Martin Fowler's post - RubyMicrosoft contended that .Net was dying. Martin stated that "Alpha Geeks" are leaving the .Net platform which is a first to me. My observation is that .Net is becoming bigger and bigger..jobs are available in abundance because of massive growth. Either Perth is just so special that it hasn't noticed this change yet, or the indicators are swinging in the opposite direction of what Martin Fowler claims.

Now lets look at what really supports a platform - it's not really the developers that are the final decision maker in this scheme...no...money is..pure and simple. A development platform is strong if it provides stability, flexibility, strength and most importantly, rapid development life cycles.

The generation of languages available today shows that this is true, otherwise we'd still be doing punch cards.

.Net is becoming more flexible, more stable, stronger and development life cycles are shortening and the adaption rate is growing as well. Again, this is from my observations only.

Now back to money..the big M..mulah..well, lets see how the process goes for a corporation which is in need of a developed solution.

1) get requirements
2) invite ISVs to tender for the project
3) choose the most affordable solution which covers all aspects of the requirements

I know that's simplifying it a great deal, but to keep it short that's really what it comes down to. Money talks, it's as simple as that. With infrastructure costs being as they are today, nobody is going to swap their entire server architecture out in order to cater for a new application..

So where am i going with this? Well, from this side of the country, all companies i've worked at has been almost entirely Microsoft based and none would have swapped 20-30 server operating systems out in order to cater for an application. No, the application simply had to run on the hardware and software available (were possible of course..upgrades are sometimes needed).

Martin Fowler also states that the Alpha Geek is leaving the .Net platform. Well, that is the nature of an Alpha Geek, even according to Martin's own interpretation - to try out new things. So, IMGO Martin is taking a very clean (and safe) stance here by basically stating the obvious.

At first i thought that Martin's post was indepth and thoughtful - yet it seems more and more to me to be the pure ramblings. None of the facts or statements he's made is in any way reflected from what i've seen from this side of the country. On the contrary..job offers are floating in constantly with more frequency than before..all demanding .Net skills.

Back to Ruby..is it a fluke..no i don't think so. But as i'll constantly maintain, all languages and platforms has a place. Some are successful and takes the world by storm..some are not. Ruby will be hugely successful on its own, but the main factor for its success is and will continue to be the support on the Windows OS..simple as that. The alternatives are just looking too bleak.

Perth Central Tafe Presentation - Professional .Net Development

Brian Madsen — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:13:25 GMT

Today I had the longest presentation i've yet to do - nearly 4hrs long - for Perth Central Tafe, a tertiary educational institution.

I broke the presentation down into 4 main groups:

.Net Framework - Overview of a development platform
ASP.Net - Working with the web
ADO.Net - Data manipulation and beyond
Tools of the trade - Visual Studio 2005, Expression Web and SQL Server 2005 Express

Here's a few screenshots - i used Office Powerpoint 2007 and the themes built it comes with per default..Actually quite happy with Powerpoint 2007 compared to earlier versions..

First slide..

history of ASP.Net

ADO.Net architecture

It was quite a success, but 4hrs is definitely a bit too long for only 1 presenter. I did give plenty of breaks, but for some reason each of my own "breaks" was taken up with answering questions...Still it was good to see the enthusiasm and how the interest spread quickly.

We also went over time by roughly 40 minutes as more questions came in - this time for how to implement interfaces and how to bind a custom collection to a GridView.

All in all, it was great - the organise, Helen Burgess covered her ankle brilliantly by providing me with plenty of coffee.

So, thanks for the introduction goes to Helen and to Perth Central Tafe for having me present.

FeedGhost - When an application is cool to start with...

Brian Madsen — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 15:04:13 GMT

I must remember to thank Davo for putting me onto FeedGhost in his post earlier today.

Well, i downloaded it and while it was installing (took a while cause i had tons of other stuff running - but i took the opportunity to actually take a look at the screenshots, read about the features and sneak back over to Davo and read abit more on his post.

I'm not quite sure what it was initially about FeedGhost that i liked so much, but before it had installed i had paid for my first year of use. Hmmm...talk about impulse purchases...well it was only $20 so no biggie if it went downhill from there.

After playing around with it after installation i got to like it a lot..i mean, seriously like it..i almost felt as if it was that very first girlfriend that you just knew was going to have your kids, make your dinner and errr...well the rest you know, i'm sure!

So, what exactly was it that caught me this much? lets see...

1) tabbed reading...nice clearly defined tabs for when you're flicking around your feeds.

2) Switching from preview and back again..nice feature..i really like it.

3) easy OPML import

4) IE7 right-click menu integration

- This feature is VERY handy as it will scan the page for feeds and give you a list to choose from. Simply check the ones you you want and FeedGhost imports them for you.

5) Drag n' Drop to subscribe. Just drag the link onto FeedGhost and voila, you're subscribed.

6) Fast and handy search feature.

7) It just looks plain sexy...

And last, but certainly not least, it's written in C# .Net 2.0...

What can i say, Stu and Lee has done a brilliant job with this one.

I also had a good long chat with Stu today and the outcome is that he made up some banners to display on web pages.

Now, not an uncommon trait with me is that i love C#.Net - everything else plays second fiddle - and with an application as sexy as this how can i not help promote it?

Is this normal, or am i being anal?

Brian Madsen — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 05:12:39 GMT

One of the tools i use is ReSharper - i love this tool and cannot...live...without...it..

A feature i really like is the code analysis bar on the right hand side of the code window.

I especially love seeing the little square go green - and stay that way.

Of course, this has its drawbacks, especially when working in a team environment since whenever i see this:

I rush over and fiddle with the code till it turns green.

It does really matter what it is since the warnings can be quite varied..i just cant help myself..

sometimes when i'm waiting for a file to be checked in, or a build to complete on the server...or just passing a few moments "thinking" of some problem or possible solution...i flick over to a file that i know has a warning in it and start going through a few warnings.

I mean, there's really nothing wrong with using .ToString()...but sometimes it's redundant to do so...and i remove it...

so, am i being anal or is this normal?

Hosted Team Foundation Server...

Brian Madsen — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 05:31:17 GMT

It's actually surprised me quite a bit that the results for searching for Hosted Team Foundation Server on Google or Live Search shows up nada..zip..zero..

I'm sure there's plenty of technical issues around such a service, but insofar as i can see it would be a brilliant step (if you could get in there fast enough) to gain a market share that's virtually limitless at the moment.

Anyways, i was searching around through forums, news groups, mailing lists, blogs and i couldn't find anything - again, odd..maybe i'm growing senile and missed out on some keywords in my search?

Lastly i resorted to my MSN list - and the first one i pick is Darren Neimke on my DotNet grouped list of contacts..and wouldn't you know - he pointed me to Mitch Denny's blog (hmmm...how'd i miss that one?) and told me that Readify is actually looking at getting a Hosted TFS service up and running.

Obviously its not live and ready to rock just yet but Mitch Denny is asking for feedback on his blog from interested parties.

I do seriously hope Readify gets this off the ground...i would personally pay to have my own account set up there.

Bye to GotDotNet - or is it bye?

Brian Madsen — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 03:50:06 GMT

Shame on your MSFT!!!

One of the best sites/communities at the moment found online, GotDotNet.com is being laid off.

Microsoft's has decided to put it on the shelf as of July 2007. To me, it's a big hit but i do suppose I don't see the statistics behind the decision.

MSFT has announced this because they want to improve the other existing community sites, which in a sense is logical to do. But GotDotNet.com has been a great source for me over the last couple of years - at least!

So on a personal level i think its a shame to see it go and would support any effort to keep it alive.

Now, Frank Arrigo received an email from Paul Stovell regarding closing down GotDotNet.com.

Good work Frank and great initiative Paul...i hope MSFT will comply with Paul's wishes and allow him to gather the public information available at the moment.

Perth Bloggers Call Out!!!

Brian Madsen — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:50:46 GMT

Nick Randolph decided to band the Perth bloggers together and form a World Domination Consortium - the aim is to take over the world, one blog at a time...

ok, not really, but it had initially such an evil sound to it. But for real, he has just set up a blogging network for those living in Perth, Western Australia..join up by contacting Nick via his blog.

Code crunching getting boring? Spice up your code with coding4fun

Brian Madsen — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:48:40 GMT

Believe it or not, but i actually wasn't aware of MSDN's Coding4Fun site until this weekend - i was looking for some info and saw this MSDN site linked on Live Search and thought..hmmm...click click click..open in new tab..

A whole host of applications and articles are plasted all over the site (nicely grouped of course). Excellent source and great entertainment when cutting that usual code is just getting a bit boring.

The categories are:

Click here to get started having some fun

Reflector 5.0 has been released

Brian Madsen — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:39:26 GMT

It's here - Reflector 5.0 has been released and i'm sure a lot of people has been waiting patiently for it.

On Lutz Roeder's site you can find links to Reflector and the different add-ins that's available.

I'm not entirely sure but i don't think there's anything that matches up to Reflector in doing what it does. It's a brilliant class browser with quite a few features added in.

Good work Lutz for giving us another great tool to work with.

Click here for download links

C# Code tips #3, Strings

Brian Madsen — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 11:52:00 GMT

As most of us has figured out, string comparison is a performance bottleneck - so why do we do it? Well, data is most often in a humanly friendly format (eg. we can read it), and secondly we need to manipulate data to display to an end-user - both cases which require string comparison and/or creation.

lets take this example, comparing two strings, say email addresses, which is passed in from a registration form:

Code:

private bool CompareEmailAddresses(string email1, string email2)
{
   return (email1 == email2);
}

or, alternatively, we want to ensure that two usernames are compare, with a business rule dictating that both strings the same case (here lower case).

Code:

private bool CompareUsernames(string username1, string username2)
{
   return (username1.ToLower() == username2.ToLower());
}

well - both sets of code does what it's meant to do - namely, compare two strings and returning a true/false.

But is it effective?

no - not really, for instance, using either ToUpper() or ToLower() actually doesn't change the current string, but actually returns a completely new string in the case requested. Logically that would not be effective in any way.

How do we know this - well i use a handy tool called FxCop (http://www.gotdotnet.com/Team/FxCop/), which will actually give you the following piece of information for the last string comparison method:

Quote:

"StringCompareTest.CompareUsername(String, String):Boolean calls String.op_Equality(String, String):Boolean after converting "stack1", a local to upper or lowercase. If possible, eliminate the string creation and call the overload of String.Compare that performs a case-insensitive comparison."

so how does that look:

Code:

private bool CompareUsernames(string username1, string username2)
{
   return (string.Compare(username1, username2, false, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture) == 0);
}

There's also other tools available out there today which will help you write effective code and/or performance tune you code. One such tool is NProf (http://www.mertner.com/confluence/display/NProf/Home) which is a .Net profiler.

Another snippet which is quite common is to check to see if your string is empty:

Code:

if (username1.Length != 0) {}

Code:

if (username1 != "") {}

i've learned not to use either of those - granted i've probably been a culprit before.

personally i prefer to use:

Code:

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(username1)) {}

Code:

if (username != string.Empty) {}

Anyways, google is your friend as there's tons of tidbits out there which explains the ins and outs of performance tuning code and help you get your code habits on the right track...