Debugging Assemblies in 'GAC'

Visual Studio requires the program database (.pdb) files to find the debugging information of any assembly. Now to debug assemblies in GAC we can either :
- Create a symbol server and put all the pdb files there and configure visual studio to use it.
- Or else we can copy the .pdb files to the global assemble cache folder.
Now the c:\windows\assembly folder is not the real folder where the files are stored, it is just a virtual folder. To get to the real folder, we need to do the following:

Click: Start -> Run
Type: %systemroot%\assembly\gac [ENTER]

This will open the real GAC folder where the files are saved. Now go 1 level up :


Go inside the folder [GAC_MSIL]. Find the folder [assembly Name] \ [assembly version in format of #.#.#.#]__[assembly public key token].
Open the folder and you would be able to see your assembly. Now copy the PDB file to that folder and then attach the debugger and enjoy debugging . . . !!

A-Z Guide to being an Architect

While reading the Architecture Journal I came across this excellent list of skills from A-Z which really depicts that architecture is as much about softer skills—good judgment, balance, and other wisdom—as it is about understanding the broad technical landscape, or the skills required to design and implement an architecture.

I have compiled this table to stick it on my desk This would constantly remind me 'where I can imporve myself' . . .

Microsoft's Source Analysis Tool for C#

Microsoft released a Source Analysis tool for C# last friday. It is released under Ms-PL License and can be found at MSDN Code Gallery (Source Analysis 4.2)

Source Analysis covers around 200 best practises and rules around code formatting including line spacing, placement of brackets, file and method headers for documentation and many more. This blog covers more details and future plans for this tool.

One of the rule which draw my interest and made me 'google' around is the 'using' directive ordering rule:

I haven't heard many people recommending this as a good practise and hence I started searching around, trying to find when this rule could be useful.

On my search I came across this interesting blog post by Eric Lippert. The comments in this post also has couple of scenarious when this could be used.