You've reached the internet home of Chris Sells, who has a long history as a contributing member of the Windows developer community. He enjoys long walks on the beach and various computer technologies.
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004, 11:56 PM in The Spout
Consider Yourself An Artist
d.code has a lot of great stuff to say in his post, but hands down my favorite is this:
"How many software developers at Microsoft consider themselves artists first, and software developers second?"
This is the thing that separates today's Windows software from tomorrow's. IMO, this is the line between Windows Forms and Avalon. The former is hands down the best way for software engineers to build professional UIs that we're familiar with under Windows today. The latter is for artists to build things we've never seen before. I know this is scary for software engineers who don't know how to be artists (lord knows I don't) and for companies that don't have artists (better get some), but crossing this line is necessary to get from the best of today to the promise of tomorrow for Windows.
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004, 4:34 PM
MSDN Content Strategy Wants *You*
My boss, Shawn Morrissey, is looking for a Content Strategist. This is my position, which allows me to dig into my technology areas as deeply as I want to do, finding areas of weakness in our developer story and filling them with internal, external or self-generated content, whether demos, samples, tools, articles, videos, audio, events, etc. You get to be involved in the trifecta between the product teams, the marketing and evangelist teams and the developers themselves, balancing all of their needs and making them all happy. Plus, you get to work with the likes of Matt Powell (Web Services), Kent Sharkey (ASP.NET, Visual Studio and Whidbey), Brian Johnson (Security), Frank Redmond (.NET Framework and C#) and Christa Carpentiere (Data).
Right now, Shawn's looking for someone to fill Duncan's shoes in Visual Basic, be he's always looking for passion and ability. Drop him a line if you're interested. Don't be shy! This team is where Tim Ewald and Duncan Mackenzie got their start at MS. Plus, they hired me and made me a very nice home, so clearly their standards aren't too high. : )
Here's the official job description:
MSDN is looking for a Content Strategist for the Visual Basic Developer Center - a site on MSDN Online dedicated to all things related to Visual Basic. The subject matter expert acts as the public face of MSDN for the subject area to both external and internal customers, and leads the content planning and development for the developer center. As content strategist, planner, and writer, the SME must partner deeply with the product teams to understand the technology and the overall developer strategy.
Major responsibilities include:
- Coordinating with the product and marketing teams to produce a content plan on an ongoing basis
- Commission, review, and acquire content
- Manage ongoing review of content and the appropriate archiving of old content
- Working with site management on publication schedules, headlines, hot topics, featured books, and other content features
- Participating in the community by being actively engaged in the newsgroups and listsrvs; attending appropriate conferences and tradeshows as the MSDN representative; and responding, or coordinating responses, to technical questions directly from customers (ex: via feedback from the Web site)
- Act as a major stakeholder with regard to future site features, improvements, and evolution
Required skills include a deep technical knowledge of historical, current, and future software security issues, the Visual Basic (.NET) programming language and other .NET languages, the Visual Studio environment; a clear understanding of Microsoft's direction and strategy; ability to work in a rapidly changing environment; solid coding and writing skills; ability to assess content for quality and customer value; proven ability to work across organizations to align goals and execute against them; and an intense passion for and knowledge of the Microsoft developer.
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004, 3:35 PM in The Spout
Randy Jackson on Pleasing the Gods
Randy Jackson enjoyed my recent .NET Rocks appearance because of my discussion of how I like to learn things. I only remember talking about two strategies: "ignoring the docs" and "hyperventilating" but his take on it was so beautifully worded, I had to share it with you:
"I’m referring to flying in that strata called by some of my PhD'ed friends as the 'Shirley McLean' possession experience, where the actual act of jumping in to the unknown pleases the Gods in some twisted way and the outcome is usually beyond our expectations."
I don't get the Shirley McLean reference, but I love the bit about pleasing the Gods by jumping into the unknown.
And yes: today I'm going to read you my email because today, clever people insist on emailing me. : P
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004, 2:58 PM in The Spout
A Quote To Live By
I watched the first few episodes of the award-winning HBO series "Angels in America" and hated it (but I still love NetFlix for making is so darn available to me).
However, while I didn't identify with any of the characters (except, potentially, the hot nurse/angel), I did really resonate with one of the quotes, which went something like this (and feel free to correct me if you recognize the quote and I got it wrong):
"Don't run your life by what you want. That changes with a whim. Run your life on what you believe."
That really struck the Midwestern Eagle Scout idealist engineer in me.
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004, 2:38 PM in Tools
re: Business Object Design tools question
Today Ralph Loizzo asked me what tool I use to outline my objects, to which I replied:
The tool I use most often to design my systems is a text editor. I write my client code first against the objects I wish I had to obtain the first order of functionality I'm after, then implement those classes and refactor 'til I've reached a state of happiness between the clients and the object model.
In this age of development methodology du jour, I assume my methodology already has a name, but today I dubbed it CDD (Client-Driven Development). Also, I don't distinguish between client UI code and lower-level code, i.e. just as often as I write lower-level code against an imaginary OM, I design my UIs first, then implement an OM to enable the UI.
Over the years, I've become less and less of a fan of the idea of componentizing the functionality you think the higher levels are going to need, as it often results in over-engineering. Instead, I prefer just-in-time engineering, refactoring my design as I need new or different functionality, whether in the client during the initial development stage or during the maintenance stage.
Test Driven Development is very similar to Client-Driven Development:
- TDD: writing the tests first and writing your code ‘til the test pass
- CDD: writing the client first and writing your code ‘til the client has the functionality it needs
It may even be that CDD is a degenerate case of TDD where the "test" is "the client seems to work."
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004, 12:31 PM in .NET
.NET Show: Don and Doug on Connected Systems
I'm downloading this now, but anytime I get a chance to see Don Box or Doug Purdy speak, I want to do it. To see them both together?!? Oh la la!
And after watching them together on the latest .NET Show, I get to see them again next week at the Applied XML Developer's Conference. How lucky am I? : )
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004, 12:13 PM
Building Popular Software Even *Harder* Then Previously Thought
Raymond Chen points out that not even potentially paying customers can be trusted to tell you what they'll really buy if you build it.
Which begs the question that has plagued my entire software career: how the hell do you really know what to build?
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004, 12:09 PM in Conference
Rory Giving Away One Seat at the XML Dev.Conf.
Rory is giving away one seat to the Applied XML Developer's Conference. He's asking three questions before Friday and drawing from anyone that can answer all three. Question 1 and question 2 have already been posted.
There are still a hand full of seats left if you're like to purchase one.
Wednesday, Oct 13, 2004, 10:54 AM in Conference
DevCon5 Anticipation Reception for All
Here. If you're going to be checking into the Skamania Lodge for the DevCon by 7pm on Tuesday, 10/19, please join us for the Anticipation Reception for all attendees and speakers. If you decide to hang with the Portland Nerd Dinner crowd instead that night, I'll understand. : )
Tuesday, Oct 12, 2004, 9:13 AM in Conference
Don changes his talk at the DevCon
Here.
Don got a last minute bug to write on a completely different topic. I just got the slides this morning and they're different than anything I've ever seen from Don (which is saying a lot). The new title of the talk is "ws-islands" and while I have no abstract as yet, I'm still very much looking forward to the talk for the psychedelic effects of the slides alone (I asked him to be careful not to cause seizures in the audience).
There are just a few seats left, so register now or be prepared to sit this one out.
Monday, Oct 11, 2004, 11:26 AM
Raymond Continues to Shed Light
Like pretty much everyone else I know, I'm a huge fan of Raymond Chen's blog: The Old New Thing. He is constantly answering questions about things I've always wondered. This time, he answers the question "What's the heck the atom returned by RegisterClass useful for?" [ed: "the heck" added for emphasis]
Monday, Oct 11, 2004, 10:04 AM in The Spout
"How is anyone supposed to know that?"
The high priests that run the Internet and the IT industry have betrayed the trust of the secular community.
My wife called me over to her computer the other day when she was worried about an email stating a problem with her eBay account. By reflex, I said, "Oh, just ignore that."
"What? Why? They're going to shut off my eBay account," she said, motioning me over more urgently this time.
Looking over her shoulder, I saw an email that looked very official, including the eBay logo.
"See?" she pointed at the From line. "It's from ebay.com."
"I know, sweetie, but hang the mouse over the link they want you to click. It's a number; it's not ebay.com"
Looking at me like I'd just broken the news about Santa Claus, "But how is anyone supposed to know that?"
I didn't have an answer. There really should be one.
Monday, Oct 11, 2004, 9:56 AM in The Spout
All The Fun, Half the UK Price
Curt Johnson, my marketing guy at Addison-Wesley, has let me know this morning at the UK Amazon is having a 1/2 price sale on my Windows Forms book this month. Plus, the UK guys have their own reviews that are just as nice as the US reviews. Who knew? : )
Sunday, Oct 10, 2004, 10:15 AM in .NET
Rob Relyea on Fixing the XAML Attribute Grammar
Rob's been talking about fixing various parts of XAML lately, which is exactly the kind of result you want when a bunch of folks work with your technology and give you feedback on it. So, things will change and get better.
However, Rob isn't telling us just want the changes are likely to be because, as he puts it, "I'm not going into great detail in the description of our fix because I'd prefer to be the first company to ship our design. :-)"
Like Rob, I find this amusing. I grew up in a period of Microsoft's life where they were much derided for "leveraging" ideas from the rest of the world and repurposing them for use in Windows (or *as* Windows in some cases). Now that MS has caught up and passed most of the rest of the world in many crucial areas of technology, it's nice to see us grow into the role of thought leader instead of follower.
Saturday, Oct 9, 2004, 12:50 AM in Fun
Vermin King With Mutant Arm
(I couldn't possibly explain. Click the picture...)
Rory Blyth
Saturday, October 09, 2004 12:50 AM
www.Neopolean.com