Picture the scene, it's 9pm, I'm in my caravan (yes I know, I've heard all the jokes!) with my family and I'm trying...

The biggest new feature in C#5 is Async, and its associated Await (contextual) keyword. Anybody who is faced with creating Metro applications for Windows 8 is having to tackle the very different mindset of Async Programming. Clive explains what is happening under the covers and how one can investigate, using .NET Reflector.

Pixar recently confessed, in an engaging video, that Toy Story 2 was almost lost due to a bad backup, but sometimes there is no 'almost'. Grant Fritchey casts a sympathetic eye over some catastrophic data losses, and gives advice on how to avoid what he has termed an RGE (résumé generating event).

"Imagination…One little spark, of inspiration… is at the heart, of all creation." – From the song "One Little...

SQL Views are essential for the database developer. However, it is common to see them misued, or neglected. Joe Celko tackles an introduction to the subject, but there is something about the topic that makes it likely that even the experienced developer will find out something new from reading it.

In this excerpt from his book Troubleshooting SQL Server: A Guide for the Accidental DBA, Jonathan Kehayias provides a guide to identifying the causes, reacting to, and ultimately preventing the dreaded deadlock.

As well as running TSQL and PowerShell, the free SQL Scripts Manager tool can also run Python scripts. This allows even more sophisticated scripting possibilities for managing automated database tasks.

An automated build and deployment system is no longer a dream. Now that PowerShell has matured as a product, and since the emergence of new tools such as Psake and Chocolatey, the ambition of the perfect build process has come nearer to reality.

In this excerpt from his new book, Practical Performance Profiling: Improving the Efficiency of .NET Code, Jean-Phillipe Gouigoux discusses the Dispose mechanism and the finalization process in the context of .NET Garbage Collection

One of the most radical features of PowerShell is amongst the least known. It is possible to extend the buit-in Cmdlets to provide extra functionality. One can add or remove parameters to make subsequent scripting simpler. Michael shows how this is done to meet a practical requirement:, excluding entire subtrees from a recursive directory trawl for automating source control.