Letters from Readers

Not So Clear

Not So Clear
A VSM reader responds to the September 2009 cover story on how to use the Repository pattern to eliminate dependencies in Test-Driven Development:

This approach makes a ton of sense to me if you're doing data access in the traditional ADO.NET fashion. But I'm not as clear about how to use it when you're using something like the Entity Framework (EF) for your data access (which is obviously another Microsoft-recommended best practice). It seems to me that you'd need to throw another two layers on top of the EF-generated objects for this to work (the repository plus the object facades), and that sort of misses the point behind letting the EF do the work for you. In other words, I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to use database mocking with the EF.

Ken Smith
Woodinville, Wash.
Posted online

'New' and 'Different'
Is Windows 7 a fresh start for Microsoft and developers, asked VSM Editor in Chief Michael Desmond in his September Frameworks column. Here are a few of the responses that we received from VSM readers:

How can a company that reinvents its products ever hope to make something work? Had development continued on XP, it could have evolved into Vista and everyone would use it. However, it was "new" and "different," one of which customers fear. Personally, I think Apple has it right. Continue working on your product and refine it instead of starting "fresh." Then, charge a small amount for that newer version of what they already know. Watch, OS X users will be running 10.6 in a very high percentage. Vista uptake was what ... 26 percent? And that was mostly due to forced upgrades when purchasing a new computer (no choice but run Vista). My two cents.

Jeff, California
Posted online

Win7 is definitely an improvement, but Vista was never as bad as the media made it out to be. The problem was that Microsoft and PC makers misled the public into thinking that it could work on hardware that couldn't really handle it. So, in the end, I guess it was just poetic justice that Vista got smeared.

ESB
Posted online

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This story was written or compiled based on feedback from the readers of Visual Studio Magazine.

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