The journal

Notes from the workbench.

149 articles on building software and understanding how it works.

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7 Mar 20225 min read

Unsafe reference arithmetic in .NET

A closer look at CompilerServices.Unsafe as the modern alternative to the fixed statement: doing reference arithmetic on GC-managed memory without pinning, what "unsafe" really means, and what the CLR does and doesn't promise you.

C#Performance .NET

7 Oct 202114 min read

Why C# multidimensional arrays are slow

int[,] looks like the natural choice and performs like the wrong one. Digging into IL and JIT output to show what actually happens when you access single-dimensional, multidimensional and jagged arrays — and why the rectangular one loses.

C#Performance MSIL

1 Jun 20209 min read

Faster C# array access

Every array access in .NET pays for a bounds check — unless you convince the compiler it can skip it. I read the JIT'ed x64 assembly and benchmark tricks that make plain array access 18-34% faster.

C#Performance MSIL

24 May 20203 min read

Automatic unlock QNAP volumes from network

Encrypted QNAP volumes protect against stolen hardware, but someone must enter the key after every power loss. This BASH script in a cron job on another machine logs in, finds locked volumes and unlocks them automatically — security without the 3AM wake-up.

Admin Encryption Storage

7 May 202014 min read

Demystifying async/await (with memes)

Async/await looks simple and is widely misunderstood — I have seen entire conference talks get it wrong. A trip down the rabbit hole with examples (and memes) of what the compiler actually does: no, async does not create a thread.

13 Apr 20201 min read

Recompress zip-files (PowerShell)

A PowerShell script that recursively re-compresses ZIP files with 7-Zip at maximum settings (Deflate64), reporting how much space each file saved.

PowerShell Compression Tips

25 Jun 20193 min read

ASP.NET Core TypeScript

Part of my ASP.NET Core recipe series: compiling TypeScript as part of the project so the frontend gets types too.

ASP.NET Core TypeScript ASP.NET

25 Jun 20191 min read

ASP.NET Core memory cache

Part of my ASP.NET Core recipe series: using the built-in memory cache for data you don't want to fetch on every request.

ASP.NET Core C#ASP.NET

25 Jun 20191 min read

ASP.NET Core response cache

Part of my ASP.NET Core recipe series: enabling response caching so identical requests are served without re-executing the pipeline.

ASP.NET Core C#ASP.NET

20 Jun 20192 min read

ASP.NET Core AutoMapper

Part of my ASP.NET Core recipe series: wiring up AutoMapper to map between entities and view/API models without hand-written copy code.

ASP.NET Core C#ASP.NET

20 Jun 20192 min read

EF Core in separate project

Part of my ASP.NET Core recipe series: moving EF Core into its own project so the data layer stays separated from the web application.

ASP.NET Core EF Core C#

20 Jun 20191 min read

ASP.NET Core API with Swagger UI

Part of my ASP.NET Core recipe series: exposing your API with Swagger UI so it documents and exercises itself.

ASP.NET Core C#ASP.NET

20 Jun 20192 min read

ASP.NET Core API versioning

Part of my ASP.NET Core recipe series: adding API versioning so /api/v1/ and /api/v2/ can coexist while clients migrate at their own pace.

ASP.NET Core C#ASP.NET

20 Jun 20192 min read

ASP.NET Core MVC with /api/-area

Part of my ASP.NET Core recipe series: carving out an /api/-area in an MVC project so pages and API endpoints live cleanly side by side.

ASP.NET Core C#MVC

20 Jun 20192 min read

ASP.NET Core managed config

Part of my ASP.NET Core recipe series: binding appsettings.json to typed config classes so settings are managed code instead of magic strings.

ASP.NET Core C#Configuration