When a business manager invests in new or modified software, he or she expects business results from that investment. Sadly, more often than not, they don't get that. They may get a technically brilliant system, but if that system's architecture isn't based on the architecture of the business, or on business goals and strategy – then it's still a failure. 

ADO.Net has a very tedious API out of the box, so Weasel alleviates that with quite a few extension methods to make your code a little quicker to write and hopefully much easier to read later as well. 

• Convert.ToDateTime()
  
• DateTime.Parse()
• DateTime.ParseExact()
• DateTime.TryParse()
• DateTime.TryParseExact()

CultureInfo culture = new CultureInfo("en-US");    
DateTime tempDate = Convert.ToDateTime("1/1/2010 12:10:15 PM", culture);

string datestr = null;
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToDateTime(datestr));//0001-01-01T00:00:00
datestr = "wrong string";
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToDateTime(datestr));
//Unhandled Exception: System.FormatException: 
//The string was not recognized as a valid DateTime. 
//There is an unknown word starting at index 0.
datestr = "Tue Dec 30,2015";
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToDateTime(datestr));
//Unhandled Exception: System.FormatException: 
//String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.

string datestr = null;
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.Parse(datestr));
//// Exception: Argument null exception
datestr = "wrong string";            
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.Parse(datestr));
//// Exception: The string was not recognized as a valid DateTime. 
//// There is an unknown word starting at index 0.  
datestr = "Tue Dec 30, 2015";
//Unhandled Exception: System.FormatException: 
//String was not recognized as a valid DateTime. 
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.Parse(datestr));  
 

string datestr = null;
CultureInfo provider = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.ParseExact(datestr, "mm/dd/yyyy", provider));
//Unhandled Exception: System.ArgumentNullException: 
//String reference not set to an instance of a String.
datestr = "wrong date";
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.ParseExact(datestr, "mm/dd/yyyy", provider));
//Unhandled Exception: System.FormatException: 
//String was not recognized as a valid DateTime
datestr = "Tue Dec 30, 2015";
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.ParseExact(datestr, "mm/dd/yyyy", provider));
//Unhandled Exception: System.FormatException: 
//String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.
datestr = "10-22-2015";
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.ParseExact(datestr, "MM-dd-yyyy", provider));
//30/07/1394 12:00:00 ق.ظ
datestr = "10-22-2015";
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.ParseExact(datestr, new string[]
    {"MM-dd-yyyy", "MM/dd/yyyy", "MM.dd.yyyy"}, provider, DateTimeStyles.None));
//30/07/1394 12:00:00 ق.ظ

string datestr = null;
            DateTime temp;
            Console.WriteLine(DateTime.TryParse(datestr, out temp));
            Console.WriteLine(temp);
            //False
            //0001 - 01 - 01T00: 00:00

            datestr = "wrong date";
            Console.WriteLine(DateTime.TryParse(datestr, out temp));
            Console.WriteLine(temp);
            //False
            //0001 - 01 - 01T00: 00:00

            datestr = "Tue Dec 30, 2015";
            Console.WriteLine(DateTime.TryParse(datestr, out temp));
            Console.WriteLine(temp);
            //False
            //0001 - 01 - 01T00: 00:00

  string datestr = null;
            DateTime temp;
            CultureInfo provider = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
            Console.WriteLine(DateTime.TryParseExact(datestr, "MM/dd/yyyy", provider, DateTimeStyles.None, out temp));
            Console.WriteLine(temp);
            //False
            //1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM

            datestr = "wrong date";
            Console.WriteLine(DateTime.TryParseExact(datestr, "MM/dd/yyyy", provider, DateTimeStyles.None, out temp));
            Console.WriteLine(temp);
            //False
            //1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM

            datestr = "Tue Dec 30, 2015";
            Console.WriteLine(DateTime.TryParseExact(datestr, "MM/dd/yyyy", provider, DateTimeStyles.None, out temp));
            Console.WriteLine(temp);
            //False
            //1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM

            datestr = "10‐22‐2015";
            Console.WriteLine(DateTime.TryParseExact(datestr, "MM/dd/yyyy", provider, DateTimeStyles.None, out temp));
            Console.WriteLine(temp);
            //False
            //1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM

            datestr = "10‐22‐2015";
            Console.WriteLine(DateTime.TryParseExact(
            datestr, "MM‐dd‐yyyy", provider, DateTimeStyles.None, out temp));
            Console.WriteLine(temp);
            //True
            //30/07/1394 12:00:00 ق.ظ

            datestr = "10‐12‐2015";
            Console.WriteLine(DateTime.TryParseExact(datestr, new string[] { "MM/dd/yyyy", "MM‐dd‐yyyy", "MM.dd.yyyy" }, provider, DateTimeStyles.None, out temp));
            Console.WriteLine(temp);
            //True
            //20/07/1394 12:00:00 ق.ظ

ChatGPT is bullshit

Recently, there has been considerable interest in large language models: machine learning systems which produce human-like text and dialogue. Applications of these systems have been plagued by persistent inaccuracies in their output; these are often called “AI hallucinations”. We argue that these falsehoods, and the overall activity of large language models, is better understood as bullshit in the sense explored by Frankfurt (On Bullshit, Princeton, 2005): the models are in an important way indifferent to the truth of their outputs. We distinguish two ways in which the models can be said to be bullshitters, and argue that they clearly meet at least one of these definitions. We further argue that describing AI misrepresentations as bullshit is both a more useful and more accurate way of predicting and discussing the behaviour of these systems.

 >ng g m UploadFile -m app.module --routing

 >ng g c UploadFile/UploadFileSimple

 >ng g cl UploadFile/Ticket

export class Ticket {
  constructor(public description: string = "") {}
}

import { Ticket } from "./../ticket";

export class UploadFileSimpleComponent implements OnInit {
  model = new Ticket();

<div class="container">
  <h3>Support Form</h3>
  <form #form="ngForm" (submit)="submitForm(form)" novalidate>
    <div class="form-group" [class.has-error]="description.invalid && description.touched">
      <label class="control-label">Description</label>
      <input #description="ngModel" required type="text" class="form-control"
        name="description" [(ngModel)]="model.description">
      <div *ngIf="description.invalid && description.touched">
        <div class="alert alert-danger"  *ngIf="description.errors.required">
          description is required.
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="form-group">
      <label class="control-label">Screenshot(s)</label>
      <input #screenshotInput required type="file" multiple (change)="fileChange($event)"
        class="form-control" name="screenshot">
    </div>

    <button class="btn btn-primary" [disabled]="form.invalid" type="submit">Ok</button>
  </form>
</div>

 (change)="fileChange($event)"

fileChange(event) {
    const filesList: FileList = event.target.files;
    console.log("fileChange() -> filesList", filesList);
}

 C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft VS Code\resources\app\extensions\node_modules\typescript\lib\lib.dom.d.ts

{
    "lib": [
      "es2016",
      "dom"
    ]
  }
}

import { Component, OnInit, ViewChild, ElementRef } from "@angular/core";

export class UploadFileSimpleComponent implements OnInit {
  @ViewChild("screenshotInput") screenshotInput: ElementRef;

  submitForm(form: NgForm) {
    const fileInput: HTMLInputElement = this.screenshotInput.nativeElement;
    console.log("fileInput.files", fileInput.files);
  }

 >ng g s UploadFile/UploadFileSimple -m upload-file.module

import { Http, RequestOptions, Response, Headers } from "@angular/http";
import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";
import { Observable } from "rxjs/Observable";
import "rxjs/add/operator/do";
import "rxjs/add/operator/catch";
import "rxjs/add/observable/throw";
import "rxjs/add/operator/map";
import "rxjs/add/observable/of";

import { Ticket } from "./ticket";

@Injectable()
export class UploadFileSimpleService {
  private baseUrl = "api/SimpleUpload";

  constructor(private http: Http) {}

  private extractData(res: Response) {
    const body = res.json();
    return body || {};
  }

  private handleError(error: Response): Observable<any> {
    console.error("observable error: ", error);
    return Observable.throw(error.statusText);
  }

  postTicket(ticket: Ticket, filesList: FileList): Observable<any> {
    if (!filesList || filesList.length === 0) {
      return Observable.throw("Please select a file.");
    }

    const formData: FormData = new FormData();

    for (const key in ticket) {
      if (ticket.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
        formData.append(key, ticket[key]);
      }
    }

    for (let i = 0; i < filesList.length; i++) {
      formData.append(filesList[i].name, filesList[i]);
    }

    const headers = new Headers();
    headers.append("Accept", "application/json");
    const options = new RequestOptions({ headers: headers });

    return this.http
      .post(`${this.baseUrl}/SaveTicket`, formData, options)
      .map(this.extractData)
      .catch(this.handleError);
  }
}

  postTicket(ticket: Ticket, filesList: FileList): Observable<any> {
    const formData: FormData = new FormData();

    for (const key in ticket) {
      if (ticket.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
        formData.append(key, ticket[key]);
      }
    }

    for (let i = 0; i < filesList.length; i++) {
      formData.append(filesList[i].name, filesList[i]);
    }

    const headers = new Headers();
    headers.append("Accept", "application/json");
    const options = new RequestOptions({ headers: headers });

    return this.http
      .post(`${this.baseUrl}/SaveTicket`, formData, options)
      .map(this.extractData)
      .catch(this.handleError);

import { UploadFileSimpleService } from "./../upload-file-simple.service";

export class UploadFileSimpleComponent implements OnInit {
  constructor(private uploadService: UploadFileSimpleService  ) {}

  submitForm(form: NgForm) {
    const fileInput: HTMLInputElement = this.screenshotInput.nativeElement;
    console.log("fileInput.files", fileInput.files);

    this.uploadService
      .postTicket(this.model, fileInput.files)
      .subscribe(data => {
        console.log("success: ", data);
      });
  }

namespace AngularTemplateDrivenFormsLab.Models
{
    public class Ticket
    {
        public int Id { set; get; }
        public string Description { set; get; }
    }
}

using System.IO;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using AngularTemplateDrivenFormsLab.Models;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace AngularTemplateDrivenFormsLab.Controllers
{
    [Route("api/[controller]")]
    public class SimpleUploadController : Controller
    {
        private readonly IHostingEnvironment _environment;
        public SimpleUploadController(IHostingEnvironment environment)
        {
            _environment = environment;
        }

        [HttpPost("[action]")]
        public async Task<IActionResult> SaveTicket(Ticket ticket)
        {
            //TODO: save the ticket ... get id
            ticket.Id = 1001;

            var uploadsRootFolder = Path.Combine(_environment.WebRootPath, "uploads");
            if (!Directory.Exists(uploadsRootFolder))
            {
                Directory.CreateDirectory(uploadsRootFolder);
            }

            var files = Request.Form.Files;
            foreach (var file in files)
            {
                //TODO: do security checks ...!

                if (file == null || file.Length == 0)
                {
                    continue;
                }

                var filePath = Path.Combine(uploadsRootFolder, file.FileName);
                using (var fileStream = new FileStream(filePath, FileMode.Create))
                {
                    await file.CopyToAsync(fileStream).ConfigureAwait(false);
                }
            }

            return Created("", ticket);
        }
    }
}

 SaveTicket(Ticket ticket)

 formData.append(filesList[i].name, filesList[i]);

var files = Request.Form.Files;
foreach (var file in files)

AutoMapper has been a popular library in the .NET open source community for a long time. As their site says:

AutoMapper is a simple little library built to solve a deceptively complex problem - getting rid of code that mapped one object to another. This type of code is rather dreary and boring to write, so why not invent a tool to do it for us? 

The new .NET framework is modern, lean, modular and open source. No longer is .NET a system-wide installation – it is merely a folder. Instead of a huge underlying framework, you only pick and choose the pieces of the .NET framework that you need in your apps. And more importantly, you can package the required components of the .NET framework right alongside your app. We’re entering an age of app-runtime silos and ultimate portability. 

In this post I’ll quickly explain the minimum you need to know in order to publish an Angular component to npm. By the end of the post you’ll know how your module to: 

• Be platform independent (i.e. run in Web Workers, Universal).
  
• Should be bundled and distributed.
  
• Work with the Angular’s Ahead-of-Time compiler.
  
• Play well with TypeScript and allow autocompletion and compile-time type checking.