Useful Links

Professional Bodies & Organisations

Professional Bodies & Organisations
Web Site	Link
The Institute of Engineering & Techology
The Institute of Electronic & Electrical Engineers
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers
The Institution of Chemical Engineers	IChemE
The Institution of Civil Engineers	ICE

Technical Help

There are uncounted web sites that offer technical help. Some focus on specific products, others on application programming interfaces (APIs). Some are more general and deal with a wide topic, such as Windows™ programming.

LA Solutions does not endorse or recommend any of the sites listed here, nor do we claim that they are a substitute for a formal support contract. However, we have found them useful ourselves from time to time.

LINQPad: The Ultimate C# / VB Scratchpad

LINQPad is a valuable tool for .NET developers. LINQPad lets you test fragments of VB.NET or C# code. Cut-and-paste a code statement or fragment into LINQPad for instant code validation and testing.

General Programming Topics

.NET

.NET
Web Site	Link
LINQPad	LINQPad

Visual Basic™ and Visual Basic for Applications

Visual Basic
Web Site	Link
Code Guru	Code Guru
The Code Project	Code Project
DevX	DEVX
Hardcore Visual Basic	Hardcore Visual Basic
HTML Help Center	HTML Help Center
Karl E. Peterson's One-Stop Source Shop	Karl Peterson
Microsoft VB6 Resource Centre	VB6 Resource Centre
MZ-Tools	MZ-Tools for VB and VBA
Programmer's Heaven	Programmer's Heaven
The VB Zone	The VB Zone
Xtreme VB Talk	Xtreme VB Talk
Visual Basic User Group	VBUG

C++

C++
Web Site	Link
C and C++	C/C++ Users Journal
Code Guru	Code Guru
DevX	DEVX
Microsoft Developer Network	MSDN
Programmer's Heaven	Programmer's Heaven
The Code Project	Code Project
The Standard Template Library (STL)	STL Introduction

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous
Web Site	Link
Code Guru	Code Guru
DevX	DEVX
Matrix Algebra	The Mathematics of the 3D Rotation Matrix
Microsoft Developer Network	MSDN
Programmer's Heaven	Programmer's Heaven
The Code Project	Code Project

Text Editors

A programmer's editor typically lets you edit multiple files of monospaced text. They may include features such as keyword highlighting, syntax colouring, regular expression searching, and file searching. There are many programmer's editors: there's a summary of text editors at WikiPedia. Two editors that we've happily used are TextPad ™ and CodeWright ™. Zeus has also been recommended.

If you are familiar with Unix text editors, such as vi and emacs, then you may find vim to your liking.

Microsoft's Visual Studio ™ can be useful, especially if you're writing a C++ DLL for MicroStation^®. Visual Studio Express ™ is currently a free download from Microsoft.

Programmers' Editors
Web Site	Link
CodeWright	Borland Web Site
TextPad	Helios Web Site
Visual Studio Express	Microsoft Web Site
Zeus	Zeus Web Site
vim	vim online

TextPad is useful as a general-purpose text editor. It handles huge files very well, and lets you edit multiple files simultaneously. It's good for MicroStation configuration files, and there's a syntax colour file available.

TextPad™ Editing a MicroStation Configuration File

MicroStation^® & GeoGraphics™

MicroStation^® & GeoGraphics™
Web Site	Link
	Bentley Systems
	BE Communities
Dimension Driven Design	Colin Larkin's Dimension Driven Design Tutorial
	UK and Ireland User Group
	Micro-Press: publishers of MicroStation XM, MicroStation V8, MicroStation/J 2D and 3D training manuals. This company also offers MicroStation Internet-based distance-education courses
	Eat Your CAD
	Ask Inga: Your MicroStation Therapist
	The Molotov Project
Ambrosa: hints on VC++	Ambrosa

XML, SVG, XSLT, and XPath

Extensible Markup Language (*XML*)
Web Site	Link
	Extensible Markup Language
World Wide Web Consortium SVG	Scalable Vector Graphics
	XML.org
	XMLSpy Development Tool
Microsoft XML: download MSXML4 from here	MSDN XML Development Center
Gallery of Stupid XSL and XSLT Tricks	Stupid XSL and XSLT Tricks

Relational Databases

Relational Databases
Web Site	Link
Microsoft SQL Server™	SQL Server Home
Microsoft SQL Server™	SQL Server Programming Forum
Microsoft SQL Server™	SQL Team.COM
Microsoft Access™	MS Access Technical Support
Microsoft Access™	Access Technical Articles
Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)	ADO Home Page
The Code Project	ADO Connection Strings
Oracle Corporation	Oracle Home
Oracle Corporation	Oracle Technology Network

Project Management & Engineering Solutions

Project Management & Engineering Solutions
Web Site	Link
Engineering Resolutions 8D Methodology, and Six Sigma Black Belt … both recognised Problem Solving Techniques in the Automotive Industry	Engineering Resolutions Home

Somerset Art

Some of our promotional material uses art created by Nancy Farmer, an artist in Somerset, England. Visit her website to see more of Nancy's art.