Almost every object you create needs to be initialized in some way. In C# 3.0 you now have a new shorthand method for doing so called an object initializer.

Here’s some typical code to initialize an object:

Stud mark = new Stud();
mark.Name = “Mark”;
mark.Hotness = 10;


Here’s the new C# 3.0 object initializer way:

mark = new Stud() { Name = “Mark”, Hotness = 10 };


This does exactly the same thing as the three lines of code above, but in one line! And the IDE (Visual Studio 2008) even helps out with IntelliSence showing you the fields available. Pretty cool eh? If you’re running Visual Studio 2005, then this won’t work.

This past week, I have been undergoing a week of rigorous training learning the key differences between .NET 2.0/3.0 and .NET 1.1. For the past two years our company has been working with the 1.1 framework, and is now migrating towards the 2.0/3.0 framework. This week the instructor said something I knew, but was glad to be reminded about. It wasn’t even a .NET oriented question, it was an object oriented question that does not apply to one specific language, but to all OOP (object oriented programming) models in general.

What is the difference between a struct and a class? When should you use a struct versus a class? How do you know?

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If you hang out on enough web development forums, mailing lists, or chatrooms, you’ll eventually get asked this question:

What language should I use to program my next project?

As someone who has been on a few of said forums, mailing lists, and chatrooms for a while now, I hate seeing this question. Yes, it comes around a lot, but repetitiveness isn’t what bugs me about it. What bothers me is that there’s usually very little background information attached to that question, which makes it as open-ended as asking what mode of transportation you should take to get to the store. I can tell you anything from a skateboard to a jet and either vehicle can get you to the store, but to give you the best answer I need to know how far you have to travel, what you plan on buying, and how much money you have, among other things. The same holds true for the programming language question, so let’s look at some factors that can help you choose which language to use on your next project.

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Search-This welcomes Louis Simpson to the team!

Often times when you belong to a forum you start stalking certain people. Every time the person you are stalking post and you notice it, you go read what they have to say because you know it’s going to be good. Well, Louie was the first person I ever stalked

So when I was putting together the Search-This team I knew that I had to get him on board, it makes it easier to stalk him that way! We’re glad to have you on the team Louie.

Enjoy Louie’s bio below:

User Name: louissimps

• childhood ambition: marry a rich woman
• fondest memory: going to my grandpa’s ranch
• favorite music: a little something from every genre
• retreat: the ocean
• proudest moment: the path I have lead so far
• biggest challenge: not going to college
• alarm clock: 6:50(snooze until 7:45)
• perfect day: coffee, surfing, lunch with my wife, afternoon nap, head to my favorite bar
• first job: busboy at a banquet hall
• indulgence: Belgian Ale
• favorite movie: too many to name, Super Troopers, Napolean Dynamite, Platoon
• inspiration: accomplishment

Something I think every blogger should do is introduce themselves; it gives the community a little more insight to you. Mark gave me a sweet introduction, but I wanted to share a little bit more and give you a preview of what you’re in store for with my posts.

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Long time users of Search-This will no doubt know cpradio. Matt pretty much grew up on Search-This. When he was just a young lad in high school he was administering the forums and helping people with all their web related needs.

Matt’s passion has always been as a coder. Now that Matt has graduated college and become a full time software engineer there’s not many languages he hasn’t worked with.

Look for Matt’s, or rather cpradio’s first article this Monday titled: “OOP in PHP from a .NET OOP Perspective” - should be a good read.

I can’t really welcome cpradio as a new member to the team, because he has always been part of the team. So just enjoy his bio below.

User Name: cpradio

• childhood ambition: to be a software developer, seriously, it was…
• fondest memory: looking at my old code and just realizing what an idiot I was back then
• favorite music: anything but elevator music, seriously, how do you not fall asleep to elevator music?
• retreat: hiking in the smokies
• proudest moment: three weeks of hammering an application, countless thankful users
• biggest challenge: writing quote engines for an insurance company and making it easy to maintain
• alarm clock: 6:30 AM on a good day, 4:30 AM on implementation day (project going to production)
• perfect day: my wife told me it was her wedding day, err… our wedding day.
• first job: PetsMart stocker/fork-lift driver
• indulgence: hard drives, I have 10 (in one PC) equaling 1.8 TB but that is not enough
• favorite movie: geez, I can’t just pick one, that would be unfair to the rest of them
• inspiration: knowing knowledge has no limits other than a person’s refusal to continue learning