Reusing objects in C# is a strategy that aligns with the principles of efficient memory management and application performance optimization. This concept is important in environments where memory resources are limited or when the cost of object creation is high. For instance mobile applications, embedded systems, or server applications handling multiple concurrent requests count as typical examples. The underlying technical reason for object reuse is to reduce the overhead related to the memory allocation and garbage collection. Every time an object is created, the .NET runtime needs to allocate space on the managed heap. As objects accumulate, the garbage collector…
Bedrock of Software – Part 2: C and Unix – A Symbiotic Relationship
The best way to describe the relationship between C and Unix will be mutual evolution. Both were developed at Bell Labs and each played a unique role in the other's success. This symbiotic relationship not only led to the widespread adoption of both C and Unix but also set the foundations of modern computing. Or computing as we know it. Unix began as a small project led by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs. Remember, Dennis Ritchie is also the inventor of C programming language. The primary principle was to be a simple, multi-tasking, multi-user operating system. In…
Advanced C# Tips: Utilize ArrayPool for Frequent Array Allocations
ArrayPool<T> in C# is a very useful but a less known feature. It has been around since .NET 2.0 but has never been popular. In order to understand ArrayPool, we can use the analogy of a communal bike-sharing system. Just as you can pick up a bike when you need it and return it when you're done. ArrayPool<T> lets you borrow and return arrays, reducing the need to constantly create new ones. This is useful when working with large arrays or in scenarios where arrays are frequently created and discarded. For instance high-performance computing, data processing, or handling large datasets…
Advanced C# Tips: Consider Leveraging Bitwise Operations for Simple Calculations If Possible
Bitwise operators in C# are special tools that let you work directly with the individual bits of a number's binary representation. If you are reading this blog post, I assume you also know that in computing world, numbers are actually stored as sequences of bits. Bitwise operators allow you to perform operations on these sequences bit by bit. They are like the switches that can flip the bits in certain patterns. They allow for a variety of operations such as flipping bits on and off, shifting them left or right, or comparing two values bit by bit. However we can't…
Advanced C# Tips: Use Exceptions Wisely
Exceptions in C# are definitely a great facility but we need to use them wisely. We should leave the least possible probabilities of throwing an exception since exceptions come with a cost. Exceptions simply signal that something has gone wrong in your code. The purpose of an exception is to allow your program to understand and respond unexpected problems like cleaning up resources or notifying the user. However making decisions about the program's logic is not among the primary purposes of exceptions. Even though I am talking through C#, this is true for all programming languages having exceptions. So, using…
Bedrock of Software – Part 1: The Origins of C
In the world of software engineering, there is a constant change. Anything we learn has a potential to get redundant just in a matter of years. A lot of languages, methodologies, techniques, tools, frameworks, libraries came in with a huge noise and went away silently. Very few things manage to live for a decade. However, there is one thing which has been there for more than half a century, and remained unchanged. It is the core of all operating systems, and also all compilers and interpreters of unexceptionally all programming languages, and it is also the father of almost all…
Advanced C# Tips: Prefer Structs for Immutable Data
Before diving into topic, I want to begin with clarifying the terminology. Immutable data refers to data whose state cannot be modified after it has been created. Once an immutable object is created, its internal state remains constant throughout its lifetime. Any attempt to modify the object's state results in the creation of a new object with the updated state, leaving the original object unchanged. In C#, you can define your data using either classes or structs. The choice between a class and a struct can influence the behaviour and performance of your application. Classes are reference types and structs…
Advanced C# Tips: Use ‘in’ Parameter Modifier for Large Value Types
In C#, the in parameter modifier is relatively a recent addition. It added in C# 7.2. The main point of in keyword is to pass a large value type to a method without copying the entire structure. Value types in C# are typically passed by value. This means that the entire thing is duplicated and handed off to the method. This may not be a big deal for small value types like int or bool. However, for larger value types, it can be quite expensive in terms of performance because it takes time and memory to take care of these…
Advanced C# Tips: Don’t Use unsafe for Minor Gains
The title could have also been "Don't use unsafe code at all!" You will come to the same conclusion after reading this post, but still I gave a room for its usage. In C#, the usage of unsafe code is a topic of debate. On one side, it offers the potential for performance gains in specific scenarios. Yet the risks and complexities it introduces often outweigh its benefits. What is unsafe Unsafe code in C# refers to a block of code that uses pointers and allows direct memory manipulation, bypassing the .NET runtime's type safety and security checks. This capability…
Unlock Faster Performance: Advanced Caching Tactics for .NET Core
In software development, performance optimization is a crucial topic and one of the most effective ways to improve the performance is caching. However, caching is a double edged sword we need to very careful about when and how to use caching. So, we need to use right strategy in right place. Caching can be implemented at different levels, including memory, network, and CDN (Content Delivery Network) levels. Each level has a unique purpose and is suitable for different use cases. In this post, we will focus on memory-level caching which is simply storing the data in the memory of the…
Containerizing a .NET Application with Docker – Step by Step Guide
Docker is a powerful tool that allows developers to package applications into containers. These containers can run on any system that has Docker installed, making it easier to deploy and run applications consistently across different environments. Containers are like lightweight, portable packages for your application, including everything it needs to run: code, runtime, libraries, and settings. I assume that you have already know what Docker is and also you have .NET and Docker installed on your machine. Don't worry, just download and then next + next. For more details and official documentation, you can visit Docker's official website and for…
D Programming Language: A Hidden Gem
D is an interesting language. For some reason, I have an emotional connection with this language and I believe that it is the subject of the biggest unfairness story in the history of software development. To me, it is the best programming language in the market for the reasons I am going to state below. However, this language is underestimated, underrated, and despised in the programming circles because it doesn't have a strong backer. In this article I want to talk about, and give some credit to D, an underrated sibling of C++, Java and C#. The D programming language…
Architectural Design Patterns 9 – Circuit Breaker
When designing systems, especially distributed systems, the flow of data and service requests must remain continuous. This brings us to an architectural design pattern called the Circuit Breaker. It comes from electronics. Simply, it is designed to stop the flow when something goes wrong. This prevents potential cascading failures in a system. Understanding the Circuit Breaker Pattern Imagine a scenario where a service relies heavily on another third-party service. However, that third-party service becomes slow or starts to fail at some point. Without any preventive measures, our service will keep making requests, waiting for timeouts, even getting stuck. This is…
PHP: The All Times Survivor
Whenever a major improvement happens in web technology, whenever a new framework or a language is introduced in the web development market, PHP's death is declared immediately. I have been witnessing a recent popular belief that PHP is nearing its end due to NodeJS becoming the new "darling" of the developer community. To me, this belief is a naive statement comes from lack of knowledge on the history of programming languages since the story of PHP is the greatest survival story of the entire computer science history. Over the years, many people have declared the death of PHP against a…
Remote Caching in Scaled-Out Cloud Applications: A Case Study with Redis, C# and Python
A few weeks ago, we were discussing a problem with my team mates and a colleague raised a question about a very basic distributed remote caching problem which was about an application scaled out across multiple instances, managing how data is cached can become a significant challenge. Let me take the shortcut and directly jump into the problem. Consider a scenario where you have multiple instances doing the same job and you need to cache the result of a function which takes about 30 seconds. This function's result needs to be cached to avoid redundant executions across different instances. The…
Using SignalR with Angular
In a previous blog post, we discussed how to create real-time web applications using SignalR and React. If you have already gone through that, you would know the magic of SignalR in pushing instant updates, allowing users to receive data in real-time. In this post, we're going to apply the same concept but with Angular. Setting Up the Server with SignalR Just as a quick refresher, SignalR provides an easy method to communicate between the server and the client in real-time. We start by installing the appropriate NuGet package: Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.SignalR The hub, as described before, acts as the communication…