Opinion

There's a thought in neuroscience/psychological circles that words are much more than sounds that represent things: they are the abstraction of our higher brain function. Words are language, code is language. Restricting yourself to one or two languages is limiting your cognitive abilities

Get up from your desk or chair or floor and go for a walk. Right now - I challenge you to do this. If you can walk through a crowded place - that's even better. Go by yourself, and soak it in... all of it...

If you've ever sent a support email to Tekpub, you know I'm in the habit of asking questions. I think truly serving the Customer sometimes means asking questions, and sometimes even saying "No"...

Some people have a code editor they use all their life. Others, like me, jump around a bit depending on the need. I thought I'd share with you what I've found out, as I get asked about this a lot.

Once the script outline is set and you have a skeleton of the words and tone you want to use - it's time to bake the demos. Yes: Bake.

It was exactly 1:32pm, HST, when the motor died. I stared at the throttle... hoping it was a joke. Land was 50 miles away, and the sea was building, and we were drifting. I thought: "This time dude... this time you really fucked up".

The tech industry, like many, is rife with sexual discrimination and muted policies towards equality in the workplace. I used to let it ride. No longer - this is my story.

Don Syme makes a very interesting postulation over on his blog: "Is Javascript code always so full of bugs?" His post goes on to show what happens when you turn on script errors in IE - which is striking. But is it really that easy?

One of the tomes we live by: "Global Variables are EVIL!!!!!!" - so we abstract our stuff into patterns and build up highly ceremonial and ornate bits of dramaware called "IoC Containers". For what? To use Global Variables - That's Why.

I made the mistake of publicly commenting on someone's idea of a RESTful API. And already - I've probably lost you. I don't know any single term more explosive and zeal-inducing than REST and "what it means to be RESTful". Oh - you say "it's quite simple?" You say "what's so hard?" Pedanticize away my pedantic pedant...

... In which we reflect on my ego-mania and just how in the dark Enterprise Devs using OSS really are...

Some interesting posts flying around about how ActiveRecord is rotting people's brains and how Rails is "pants on head retarded". I figured I might as well respond.

I'm not opposed to swearing in presentations, or anywhere for that matter. I don't cringe when I read F-bombs nor do I care if you have the word "Fuck" embroidered on your Calvins. Swearing says more about your abilities as a speaker then it does your content... that's the problem.

The startup world has an exaggerated sense of competition - almost as if each "player" is a puppy struggling for access to the funding teet. This serves the VC puppet masters just fine, but can ultimately destroy the very business you're trying to start.

Go ahead and write this off as a Fanboy post - just read this one point: when I bought a Mac as my primary dev machine, my work life became a whole lot easier. I know Macs don't resonate with a lot of people - and that's fine. I find it to be a highly versatile bit of hardware.

Magic Strings - they're bad right? What are these repulsive warts on good design? And why do they want to melt my code? The fear of strings drives otherwise talented and wise developers to do some extraordinarily ridiculous things...

We've been running for a little over a year and a half and I'm happy to say that we're doing really well as far as startups and small business go. It's my goal to be as transparent and communicative as I can be - so if you're a Tekpubber (or are thinking about joining) - here's what's going on.

TL;DR: I turned my Twitter account back on because as much as I like the silence and increase in my efficiency - Twitter helps me in a lot of ways I'm beginning to miss. Go ahead and crow. You were right.

In honor of pushing our newest series Mastering C# 4 with Jon Skeet, Tekpub is opening its doors once again for 24 hours for all people to come and check out the groovy content we have.

Having a lot of fun with this little tool - and more great comments are coming in. I've added some good stuff in the last few days - like Paging and streamed results.

I've been having a lot of fun with Massive and people are really giving me a lot to think about - and change/improve! I'm about to push an update today that will break stuff but that's OK, it's still newish.

I read Scott's post today about Interview questions and it made me chuckle a bit. They're great questions - no mistake about it - but you could almost (just barely) hear an audible set of mouse-clicks as managers around the world copy/pasted those questions into their "What To Ask Developers" Word Doc. I'm not sure the problem is the developer...

In a previous post I showed some fun stuff with System.Dynamic and Data Access. I'm happy to say that I tweaked it, loved it, and pushed it to Github if you want to diddle with it. This post is a tad long and dives into Dynamics at the end - read it if you want a fun mental exercise. Otherwise the code is upfront.

I don't normally use my blog to pimp Tekpub, but this is just too good. I've been holding my breath while we get this production together - and all the pieces recently fell into place. I'm giddy like a goose.

I promised myself I'd never do this again: create an ORM-y/Data Tool for .NET. But I needed some utilities for some work I'm doing, and I extracted the databits because I can't help myself. I like to share - mom taught me right.

You would think that someone would have tried this before - but I haven't seen anyone blog on it yet. I'm sure I'm not the only knuckle-dragging mouth-breather who eschews High Concept for Dumb-simple solutions when available. Today I think I might have broken my own record for ugly: I deployed a site using Git and Dropbox. And I love it.

I read K. Scott Allen's post today on The Great Rewrite and how it's "wankery" - the wrong answer to solving a business problem. I see his point, but I disagree. I don't think you can plan this stuff. You can try - but it will end up late and uninspiring.

I was incredibly skeptical when I heard about WebMatrix. I was dismissive and snotty about the WebMatrix data access story. I called the WebMatrix IDE a "MySpace Code Editor". I was wrong. They got it right, and I'm really impressed.

Haakon Langaas Lageng asked me the other day "How do you make your videos?" His question was less technical, more procedural. I answered him and thought that I would share this with you. You might be thinking "why would I do such a thing?" - the answer is that a well-made screencast saves everybody time and is 10 times as effective as a book.

Many have noticed that I've shut down my Twitter account. No, I wasn't suspended and no, I'm not having a mid-life crisis meltdown. I finally "got smarts" and did the math: Twitter costs me a lot more than I get from it.

I've always been a major proponent of Open ID. I love the idea and the intention - it's a great solution to a long-standing problem and solves a lot of issues for developers. Unfortunately it creates a ton more for business owners.

When I was at Microsoft I had an idea that I thought would help Open Source projects: prodding employees to ask for a percentage of their time (aka "commitments") to put towards an Open Source project. There were some issues to work out (mostly legal) - but I found an ally in DPE and it almost took off. Unfortunately I left (and so did he) and the idea died. But I think it's a good one - and it doesn't have to belong to Microsoft alone.

One thing that you can count on if you read anything online - you will be insulted at least once or twice a day. Or hour. If you have a blog or Twitter account - it's likely going to be more than that. Sometimes I laugh at it. Sometimes I introspect a bit. Sometimes I put on my headphones and shut off the stream. And then sometimes I write a post.

I don't know how I got on this weird tangent - but I'll warn you now: it's weird. It has something to do with Gary Bernhardt, my brother, and Vim - but I can tell you this much: I'm a changed guy and I'm kind of hooked on Vim.