Web 2.0 ASP.NET

I have to say I have been really impressed by the google mobile smart phone/PDA interface. So here I am in a café on a very sunny day here in Osaka blogging away! its as simple as downloading the mobile toolbar and logging in once. Only have to say its a shame that more stores don't have wifi access but Japan being what it is I doubt it will be long before there is total coverage here. Really check it out! I think mobile devices have come along way since the early days. That said, for the big fingered out there you may find the keyboards a little clumsy, but gadget or not this is at least fun!

Just read Rob Conery’s Blog and saw that Subsonic 3 is now available for download. For those unfamiliar with Subsonic it really is the ONLY no BS ORM out there, in fact it is so easy to get up and running that it is easy to forget that you ever set it up in the first place. The whole Subsonic ethic is to remove the hoops that other ORM’s have you jump through and essentially to get you home earlier.

Forget XML templates, cumbersome GUI twiddling etc etc it is really as simple as adding a reference, adding a build provider section to your config file and a database connection string. See here for a quick start screen cast (which has a rocking led zep black dog backing track.. hey hey mama said the way you move..):

http://subsonicproject.com/docs/The_5_Minute_Demo

Other cool stuff to get your geek on are the new LINQ support, Simple repository and T4 templates it is built on, roughly translated means the learning curve is tiny and you can go customize it to your hearts content. Also, for the ”I don’t want to get the push cos I recommended a dog brigade” remember that these days RobCon is heavily involved in the ASP.NET MVC project and with their emphasis on open source and community input it is highly unlikely that the project will be left to pasture, in fact if I were to gaze into my crystal ball, I would hazard a guess and say that Subsonic could be destined for placement in the VS2010 suite of tools as an alternative to LINQ to SQL.

Seriously, give it a try. I was knocked out after watching a few demos and now a couple of projects down the line and having done my own ORM wars I can honestly say that it is the best. Don’t get me wrong NHibernate has been well cooked and probably has more features but for sheer ease of use and slap your head innovation you just can’t beat it.

Rob Conery and Team… guys you rock!