Hi, It has been six months since I joined microsoft. I have moved this blog to a new location. http://blogs.msdn.com/vipul Please update your bookmarks to the new URL. Link to RSS feed : http://blogs.msdn.com/vipul/rss.xml

Check out http://blogs.msdn.com/csharpfaq/archive/2006/03/20/556192.aspx for a FAQ on Hashtable lookup for value types.

EricGu (Microsoft) has made an excellant post on readonly strings and read-only properties. Check it out http://blogs.msdn.com/ericgu/archive/2006/03/17/553934.aspx

Check out http://www.developer.com/net/csharp/article.php/3589916 for my article on " Anonymous Types ", This cool new feature coming in C# 3.0 is surely going to go places. Codeguru also contains the same article at http://www.codeguru.com/csharp/csharp/cs_misc/designtechniques/article.php/c11551/ Next stop, extension me thods.

Many a times, we use the catch block inside the try catch block for our clean up code. Something like try { // Do something } catch { // work failed, clean up code here } Rather than the above approach of using the catch block, it would be nicer to use the finally block, something like bool workSuccessful = false; try { // do some work workSuccessful = true; } finally { if(!workSuccessfull) { // cleanup code here. } } There is elegance in the latter method and I would certainly recommend that approach

A static constructor is invoked by the first of either of the following conditions: Create an instance of the class. Refer any of the static methods of the class. Confused ? Read ahead... Example class Sample { static Sample() { Console .WriteLine( "static constructor called" ); } public static void WriteTime() { Console.WriteLine("Static method called"); } public static void Main( string [] args) { Sample .WriteTime(); // call 1 Sample aNewSample = new Sample (); // call 2 } } In the above example

Check out http://blogs.msdn.com/psheill/archive/2006/02/20/535614.aspx for a fantastic quiz on SQL Server 2005 blocking and verify if you have got your fundamentals right. Good job, psheill .

Office Live (still in beta) website http://officelive.microsoft.com/ went live today. So what does Office live have for me? Three categories of services: 1. Microsoft Office Live Basic : Easy to use web site design tool (ala Frontpage online), Free domain name and hosting , 5 personalized email accounts(Office live mail), good data storage and data transfer facilities, and best of all web site traffic analysis and reporting tools, with online support. And all this for free , till the beta period

Do you want your application not in appear in Add/Remove Programs list? If yes, ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT property of the Windows Installer SDK helps. Setting this property to 1 prevents the installed application to be displayed in the Add/Remove Programs List. More information on this key is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/msi/setup/arpsystemcomponent.asp On a side note, i fyou want a quick access to Add/Remove Programs List, type appwiz.cpl at your Start >

Visual Studio.NET Service Packs are due this year, but their site is up already (The site clearly mentions it is still in process) http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/support/servicing/default.aspx Visual Studio 2003 Service Pack 1 ships Q2, 2006 Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 ships Q3, 2006