Published in October 2015

It’s getting cold outside, the trees and foliage are turning a different shade of brown or yellow with each passing day and the dark nights are drawing in – Autumn is most definitely here.

What better way to spend a chilly weekend afternoon than exploring the local area with my four-legged buddy, followed by an evening in front of the fire? Last weekend I took Mickey to the local nature reserve to visit the ducks and explore the multitude of colours nature has blessed us with.

The open-source database fork of MySQL, started by MySQL’s original developer – MariaDB – have certified their latest release of the 10.1 series (10.1.8) as Generally Available – i.e. suitable for production use.

MariaDB 10.1 is a drop-in, binary replacement for MySQL for those that want a quicker development cycle and don’t want to have their hands tied by Oracle, who know own the MySQL project.

I’ve already upgraded my server to this release, and if any of the below sound good to you – so should you.

Microsoft Learning today announced a new Windows 10 developer qualification aimed at software developers who want to target the recently-released Windows 10 universal platform.

The qualification is an MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer) entitled “MCSD: Universal Windows Platform” and is earned by passing 3 exams.

These exams are:

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Microsoft’s Team Foundation Server (TFS.) It is a complete tool for managing an application throughout its lifecycle. However I was bought up (and learnt most of my programming skills) on open-source software. It’s important to me that I don’t forget my roots!

Software developers sometimes have to get involved in choosing an infrastructure partner or web hosting provider, especially if that developer runs their own application or websites, or they work in a small company that can’t afford (or don’t want) to employ separate infrastructure engineers.

In my current role as a technical consultant, I can be called upon by a client to recommend a hosting environment, so it’s important I know what’s available on the market, and who to trust.

This is all very daunting, particularly if you’ve never had to experience it before.