The .NET framework is a technology stack that stretches quite far, from desktop development, database development, web development and mobile development, and you dont have to learn separate programming languages for each. I dont just write code for web development purposes – I write whatever I need for a particular job. Windows Powershell seamlessly integrates with the .NET framework’s BCL (base class library).

It seems to me that because Mac OS x is a UNIX system at the core it would integrate well with hosted content on Linux- or Unix-based systems, which means that you become part of a technology stack. With my limited knowledge and experience on Ubuntu I was able to connect through a shell to a Linux-based webhost, and I was able to traverse through directories and files. This seems like a natural extension of the development environment to me.

A while ago I noticed that at least two Microsoft people left to work for Google and while this may not seem like much of an event I find myself questioning the platform(s) I use for development. At heart I am a curious and innovative person who will generally seek to use something to solve a particular problem, regardless of what technology it uses. I have also been guilty of some fanboyism with regards to things like Visual Studio and C#, but I too realise that being a fanboy of something tends to make you a bit ignorant of other things. I have for instance decided not to learn PHP simply for the reason that I dont like its syntax style, the dollars just seem to clutter the code and PHP is not such a widely applicable language such as C# or Python. You could write any type of application with either Python or C# – windows-based or web-based. I also seem to think PHP is not quite on the same level as Python or C# in terms of language maturity, but that is just an opinion.

We played rugby on a quarter of a full playing field, by playing vertically down in that quarter. So if you can imagine a rugby field for a minute, think of the goal line and the quarter mark, and imagine a group of kids, maybe 4-5 a side playing in that space. We had imaginary goal posts, so we kinda guessed if we kicked a drop goal, and we only had three in the scrum, but it was the memories that were created that have remained with me in my short 29 years of life.

The last time we played cricket I was in standard 7, grade 9, or about 15 years old, and since that time I have had little to no contact with any of my childhood playmates. Due in most part to people moving around, and moving to new neighbourhoods. I saw the friend that died a few times after that, but not frequently, and I guess it kinda signaled an end to that part of my life.

Looking back at these memories got me thinking about personal branding and finding inspiration in my life through stories. Stories are sometimes the best way to communicate a value or a lesson, and I can personally say that I have learnt most of my values through the lessons in my life. In saying that I guess the first important aspect of my personal brand is that I love stories, stories about life and stories that reflect determination and character. Playing cricket as a young boy was about being able to play cricket, no matter where we played. We had our favourite spots, but often our spots weren’t available and we made plans, we adapted. We even kept stats of each game for each player, and there was always a lot of competitiveness for being the player with the most runs or the most wickets. We were free though, free to play and be, and that is the second aspect of my life that I have always tried to treasure, freedom. You know the feeling you get when you are in a swimming pool and you are all alone and you can swim freely without knocking into anyone? Freedom to run around on open fields, to sleep late in the school holidays, to express yourself in any way you wanted to, thats what I valued the most. How do you reflect that in a personal brand?

Firstly, a manager is a leader, and leaders lead by example. In other words there has to be some form of servant-leadership from the manager toward his workers. I’m not saying be feeble or bend to every whim of your workers, but rather have some humility towards them and treat them as grownups. One thing that I don’t like is to be micro managed, in other words be checked up on and so on, which makes me feel like I am seen as a school child. I have enough self discipline to realise and understand when I must work. I also find that some managers have small egos and need to either belittle someone or make an example of them in front of colleagues. I have had several instances where this has happened and this is NOT something a leader or manager should do.

Another thing that I have found in the last year is that managers sometimes make commitments to deliverables without any prior communication with team members which to me is BIG problem, because it creates distrust. If the deliverable being committed to is a long term one then it should be discussed with team members as well and ideally no commitment must be made.

Keep the social life out of it. I have had several instances where a manager has crossed the social line and it resulted in uncomfortable situations at work.

Respect people’s private time and life. I have had several instances this year where it seemed as if the measure of one’s contribution to the team was measured by how many late hours they spent working. I have also had a manager tell me that I must work ‘until 4 am’ because a team member was working till then. This is unacceptable, because working late does NOT prove you are actually working. For all intents and purposes you could be fixing bugs because you made decisions in an earlier situation and now it seems as if you are being a ‘good team member’. It is my opinion that one can work well and effectively without working until 4 am in the morning. You do have a life that you are entitled to.

• Describe the difference between a Thread and a Process?
• What is a Windows Service and how does its lifecycle differ from a “standard” EXE?
• What is the maximum amount of memory any single process on Windows can address? Is this different than the maximum virtual memory for the system? How would this affect a system design?
• What is the difference between an EXE and a DLL?
• What is strong-typing versus weak-typing? Which is preferred? Why?
• Corillian’s product is a “Component Container.” Name at least 3 component containers that ship now with the Windows Server Family.
• What is a PID? How is it useful when troubleshooting a system?
• How many processes can listen on a single TCP/IP port?
• What is the GAC? What problem does it solve?

I don’t know all the answers unfortunately, and if you visit that link you will see a whole list more, which I don’t all know either. But I guess the upside is that now you can find it out and make sure you do.

• Generics
• Delegates with the specific aim of better understanding Linq
• Linq to Objects
• Linq to XML

I would like to know and understand the C# programming language in a comprehensive manner. In addition to the language I would also like to understand design patterns and overall system design, with a very strong OO flavour. I think if I can spend the next 6 months learning C# I would be a better developer for it. In addition to C# I would like to learn a second programming language and I have been thinking Python is a good candidate in this regard. I would like to apply the knowledge directly into what I do though. So if I learn Linq to XML now, I want to start using it now. If I learn the yield keyword now, I want to use it now.

Other aspects that I would like to incorporate in my learning of C# would be areas of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. I really enjoy SEO (search engine optimisation) as well, I love the metrics and the art that goes with it. I believe I can develop many aspects of this in C#. I also believe I can develop a total marketing solution that encompasses email and social media.

I am interested in topics such as ASP.NET MVC and Silverlight, but I am also interested in developing full-blown client applications in WPF.

My manager also mentioned that each new thing that we learn should be set as a target for each day. You have set yourself some goals and stick to them. One way to determine a few goals is to reflect on yourself and see what you do each day, and through that reflection set some ideals and goals.

We are at work for a purpose after all.

A week later, and a few sleepless nights, I am on my way, dunno where yet, but I am going. I started out the week by writing a C# class that took a Dataset, created a Microsoft Word Document, added a 24 cell table and filled the cells with data from the dataset. The result from this is a printable sticker area, so you can use it and print labels on it, and it must convert that document to PDF as well. I have never done anything like it and felt a bit apprehensive because clearly this was a test of what I can do. I got a two week time line for this project as well. All I can say at this stage is that I did not expect to be able to do this project, but I have and it looks great so far. There are still a few tweaks that need to be done but its almost there. Every day this week I stressed about doing a particular bit, but after each day I managed to make everything work, for which I am very grateful.

I’ll write some more tomorrow, my brain is fried and I need the weekend.

My goals for this web log is to develop the C# page further and divide it into concepts with practical implementations. Polymorphism for example, is a concept but also has a specific implementation in C#.

My goal for 2009 is to become a proficient to intermediate/advanced C# developer for any platform (mobile, desktop or web).

Its also important as a professional to continuously strive to get better at what you do, and often you have to face brutal facts about yourself and the work you are doing. You have to constantly measure yourself.

So what keeps you positive, as a working professional?