While we’re still processing all the news to come out of this year’s PDC it is worth looking back to remember that it was only 8 years ago at the 2000 PDC that C# and .NET was formally introduced. As we approach C# and .NET 4.0, hot on the heels of .NET 3.0/3.5 and the alphabet soup of WPF, WCF, WF and Silverlight, it can be tempting to complain that it is hard to keep up.
On the flip side, it is not too surprising to see all this growth when we remember that we’re still in the relatively early years of this language and platform. For comparison’s sake, Python was introduced in 1991 and Ruby in 1996, neither of which are popularly considered to be particular old or staid languages.
While Microsoft itself has the reputation for being slow and lumbering, the .NET community is amazingly vibrant as this young platform continues to grow and change. As much as I’ve worked with Python and Ruby in my spare time, that has fallen off as I find more and more opportunities to learn in .NET.
A great example of this is the ASP.NET MVC project, which has helped provide an easy avenue for traditionally outside of .NET concepts to filter into the ecosystem ranging from official support to specific libraries like JQuery, to API level constructs that better support TDD methodologies.
Without knocking other languages or environments, it is easy for me to say that I work with one that is dynamic, stimulating and forward looking. While software is only part of my job, liking the software I work with certainly makes that job more enjoyable. Of course, this doesn’t help with the perennial problem of convincing many outside of this line of work that enjoying it is even possible.