Real Programmers (TM) use MSFT C# not Linux languages (sez an expert)
in [CSharp]
|
Prev: Question about the garbage collector
Next: Real Programmers (TM) use MSFT C# not Linux languages (sez anexpert)
From: RayLopez99 on 24 Jun 2010 05:39 Don't take my word for it, see what this nationally syndicated author and computer programming guru says... and note the reader's comment at the very end...about Linux...I think he's talking about Linux. Anyway the takeaway executive summary of this article is simple: C# rulz. RL http://programmingzen.com/2010/06/23/how-microsoft-is-changing-the-programming-world/ How Microsoft is changing the programming world Posted on Jun 23rd, 2010 in .NET, Programming Languages | 47 comments Several years ago I knew a programmer, well call him Joe, who fancied himself to be a great developer. He was a senior developer at Big Co., who received a large enough pay check to just as easily compensate a few junior developers. The guy had Microsoft certifications, as expected of one in his position, and he appeared to know Visual Studio inside and out, just as youd imagine. What was surprising for me at the time, was that as I got to know Joe better, I slowly started to realize that the guy was absolutely clueless about programming beyond the scope of the Microsoft bubble. He had never used Linux in his life, nor was he interested in learning about it. He wasnt aware of tools like CVS or SVN. He didnt seem familiar with the ideas behind unit testing or Agile methodologies; words like refactoring were outside of Joes vocabulary. How about other programming languages or paradigms, like functional programming? Nope, nothing there either. He knew Visual Basic 6 and VB.NET, C# (the first release at the time) and a bit of C++. Thats it. And he was proud of it. As I enquired further in an attempt to figure out what he was all about, he didnt mind admitting to a complete ignorance of what wasnt printed on Microsoft paper. Whats interesting is that, despite his cluelessness due to a strict adherence to the Microsoft view of the programming world and perhaps a lack of intellectual curiosity, the guy did manage to be somewhat adequate at his job. Not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, but good enough to keep his well paid job. Joe simply didnt care about tools and techniques that fell outside of the narrow, yet mainstream, beaten Microsoft path. Over the years Ive met countless Joes. In fact, if I were to generalize and characterize many Microsoft developers in the early 2000s, Joe would come to mind like an unpleasant stereotype. I tell this story not to criticize Joe or to claim that Microsoft developers suck. On the contrary, my argument is that Microsoft will be a key factor in terms of enabling functional programming to become mainstream. In fact, what Microsoft is doing is introducing .NET developers to functional programming, one piece at a time. Just a few days ago I was reading the blog of a guy who seemed happy to discover a cool new function called Zip in LINQ (hey Haskell programmer over there, stop laughing, you are disrupting my article). These days following blogs by Microsofties is in fact like witnessing some sort of Renaissance, with plenty of talk about exciting features that are clearly borrowed from the functional programming community. The evolution of C# and Visual Basic, LINQ, and more recently the inclusion of F# as a fully supported language within the .NET Framework 4.0, all indicate Microsofts new outlook towards functional programming. F# in particular is essentially OCaml for .NET, and has been received with open arms by the Microsoft community (as far as I can tell). There are very few books by mainstream publishers on OCaml. On the other hand, F# already has a rich ecosystem of printed books that have been published by OReilly, Apress, Wrox, Manning, and likely in the near future Microsoft itself. On top of that there are titles devoted to LINQ and countless books on the recent, more functional oriented, C# and VB. Im not measuring the popularity of programming languages by the availability of books alone, but its clear to me that there are millions of Joes out there who are ready to learn these new concepts that are now being put out and promoted by Microsoft. It doesnt matter that theyre not new or that theyre borrowed from other programming languages like Ruby, Python, LISP, ML, Haskell, etcetera. The end result of Microsofts new approach is that now Joes everywhere are getting exposed to functional programming (masses of people who would otherwise be virtually shielded from the rest of the programming world). Microsoft may no longer be the influential powerhouse it once was, but I think it is fair to acknowledge the impact its currently having on making functional programming, or at least some degree of it, more mainstream. Emidio Bianco says: June 23, 2010 at 8:44 am Hi Antonio, I think that the microsofts philosophy about .NET is winning. Im a Linux-ian user but the thing that support the programming innovation is the fast time to develop, bitter lines of code = more productivities -> more $. Im too know more italian guys that they hasnt used Linux and GTK or Mono or other framework/languages that C# or VB but they are good programmer. The .NET strategy has changed the world of programming and there are, ever, programmer that dont knows Linux, design patterns, ecc nope the multiplatform compatibility. Im with you, on all this. P.S. Sorry for my bad, bad, bad English Ti seguo sempre, bel blog.
From: Peter Köhlmann on 24 Jun 2010 06:02 RayLopez99 wrote: > Don't take my word for it, see what this nationally syndicated author > and computer programming guru says... and note the reader's comment at > the very end...about Linux...I think he's talking about Linux. Idiot -- Microsoft Windows - The art of incompetence.
From: Bert Hyman on 24 Jun 2010 10:04 In news:fc120d4d-2a53-4074-8fc1-31ff8f621b4d(a)j4g2000yqh.googlegroups.com RayLopez99 <raylopez88(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Anyway the takeaway executive summary of this article is simple: C# > rulz. Hardly. -- Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert(a)iphouse.com
From: Steve Thackery on 29 Jun 2010 02:57
"RayLopez99" wrote in message news:fc120d4d-2a53-4074-8fc1-31ff8f621b4d(a)j4g2000yqh.googlegroups.com... >> Anyway the takeaway executive summary of this article is simple: C# rulz. << It doesn't say anything of the sort! The article isn't even about C#. It says ".Net is introducing functional programming to people who wouldn't normally explore it". No more, no less. Probably true; hardly controversial. And nothing to do with C#, except for the odd mention to set the context. SteveT |