A discussion about .NET reflection.

Darren posted up an entry about using metadata and reflection to dynamically manage message routing. Its an elegant solution and an example of where attributes can be used to perform a mapping function. Geoff and Scott chimed in with their feedback.

I was fortunate enough to see Darren apply this technique to the actual problem domain (the message routing thing is just a disguise) – in that instance it worked really well because the code didn’t live on the server-side – it was client side so thoughput was not going to be an issue (possibly wouldn’t have been anyway – even with reflection).

The thing about reflection is that it gets cheaper (relatively speaking) to closer you get to the end user where is typically a dedicated processor core. So if you can use reflection in a windows client application to improve maintainability and clarity in the code base then you can probably do so safely – but you should always test.

Oh – and Geoff – for the record Lutz Roeder’s Reflector doesn’t actually use .NET reflection to pluck apart assemblies – he has his own unmanaged library for doing that – in fact you don’t even need .NET installed.

24% Evil

I am 24% evil.


I try to stay away from evil deeds but succumb to temptation every once in a while. I’m not quite on my way to hell but I certainly have some explaining to do.

Are you evil? find out at Hilowitz.com

Theory: iPod shuffle shortage is on purpose.

OK, I’ve got a theory, don’t shoot me down – I haven’t done much research, but the conspiracy theorist in me says that Apple has intentionally limited supply of their new iPod shuffle.

There is nothing like limited supply to generate desire amongst the lemming population. They new that there would be enough customer loyalty to instantly drive sales to a certain (high) point, so all they had to do was aim a little lower in their production numbers, wait for guys like engadget to comment on the shortage and bingo you have people stockpiling them and camping out in their bomb shelters.

UofT: Sun-powered material invented.

All I can say is WOW to this one. Although I am sure this is the last we will hear of it – some oil cartel will buy the rights to the technology and we’ll never see it again