John posts a macro how to automate creating connection strings in visual studio .NET, and demonstrates a few key points (which have nothing to do with him probably being a great guy, good blogger etc..)
1. The blog space keep reinventing things, meaning that if I write something two years ago, it may as well have never been written. Case in point is the macro I wrote in 2003 to do the same thing.
2. People don't take the time to search before solving things.
3. VB.NET preserves the awesome power of *late binding* (and I don't mean data binding) to unknown object interfaces, which shines in the face of such a simple macro.
Just compare the length and complexity of the macros that John posted and I posted.
4. Lack of knowledge of the language and its main advantages puts you at this special place where you are both "with" and "without". "Yes, I just bought a car, but I still drive at 2 miles per hour" would be a good analogy.
Again, this has nothing to do with John, just a good case to make a few points to learn from:
- Learn all the ins and outs of the tool you are using and the language you use, and you could be 100 times more productive.
- Search before embarking on a task. Chances are you're not the first one who either had to do something like this or faced with a problem such as this.
Oh, and yes, my crazed ego demanded that I write this (nobody's perfect).