All my programming and web development articles:
21 Mar 2023
Copying files modified between two dates with Powershell, retaining original folder structure
How to copy a subset of files from one folder to another, filtering on last modified date and keeping the same folder structure in the destination.
02 Aug 2021
Shooting yourself in the foot with the C# default literal and nullable
I'm writing this so you don't go through what I just went through.
25 Jul 2021
Reading the raw request body as a string in ASP.NET Core
This seems like it should be trivially simple... but isn't. There are a number of gotchas, all explained here.
15 Feb 2021
Check the status of multiple Git working copies with Powershell
How to check the status of every Git working copy in a folder, and return information about untracked/uncommitted changes.
07 Nov 2020
Copying files modified between two dates with Powershell
How to copy a subset of files from one folder to another, filtering on last modified date.
01 Jul 2020
Local GitHub repository backups with Python
How to back up all your GitHub repositories to your local computer, using Python and the GitHub GraphQL API.
22 Jun 2020
Handling errors with specific error types and C# pattern matching
Improve your application's error handling by creating specific types for error cases.
10 Aug 2019
Local GitHub repository backups with Powershell
How to back up all your GitHub repositories to your local computer, using Powershell and the GitHub GraphQL API.
06 May 2019
Rolling database backups to Dropbox with Powershell
Automating SQL Server database backups using Powershell and the Dropbox API.
02 Feb 2019
Getting the first and last day of a week or month with C#
Extension methods for determining the first and last day of the week or month a specific date is within.
26 Sep 2016
Helping The Next Developer: Readable C#
A few tips for writing C# code which explains itself clearly.
26 Mar 2015
Election 2015: Manifesto Mining
Creating word frequency illustrations from the 2015 election manifestos.
25 Mar 2015
Revo SuperConnect Review
A review of the Revo SuperConnect DAB/Internet radio.
30 Sep 2014
Building a simple Google Chrome extension
In this example, I walk through creating a simple extension for Google Chrome which grabs the title, url and any selected text from the current page.
12 Mar 2014
Automatically converting tabs to spaces in Sublime Text
A Sublime Text plugin to automatically convert tabs to spaces when a file is opened.
21 Dec 2012
IntelliJ IDEA: Fixing "Permission denied: connect" Errors
An issue with some older Cisco VPN client software means IntelliJ IDEA will throw connection exceptions when trying to perform online actions. Here's how to fix it.
04 Feb 2011
Creating a simple Stopwatch/Timer application with C# and Windows Forms
A basic pattern for creating a stopwatch/timer application in C#, which is slightly trickier than it sounds…
17 Nov 2010
Portable Git for Windows: setting the $HOME environment variable to allow complete portability (including SSL keys and configuration for use with GitHub)
There are a few issues which make Portable Git not quite as portable as it could be. In this article, I explain the gotchas and walk you through creating a tweaked Portable Git for Windows install which is truly self contained.
© Mark Ashley Bell 2023