Month: April 2008

C# in Depth – it’s really real

By jonskeet

On Saturday, when I returned from Mountain View, there were two boxes waiting for me. Guess what was inside… So yes, it really exists, it’s slightly slimmer than expected – and even Amazon have it for sale now instead of as a “pre-release”. Apparently they’ll have stock on May 3rd. Now that it’s on “normal” sale, it’s open for reviews. So, any of you who happen to have read the eBook and wish to make your feelings clear on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, please feel very free… (Really, I’d appreciate it. But please be honest!) On a different note, … Continue reading C# in Depth – it’s really real

Programming "in" a language vs programming "into" a language

By jonskeet

I’m currently reading Steve McConnell’s Code Complete (for the first time – yes, I know that’s somewhat worrying) and there was one section was disturbed me a little. For those of you with a copy to hand, it’s in section 4.3, discussing the difference between programming in a language and programming into a language: Programmers who program “in” a language limit their thoughts to constructs that the language directly supports. If the language tools are primitive, the programmer’s thoughts will also be primitive. Programmers who program “into” a language first decide what thoughts they want to express, and then they … Continue reading Programming "in" a language vs programming "into" a language

Book review: User Interface Design for Programmers (Joel Spolsky)

By jonskeet

Resources Joel on Software (Joel’s blog) Amazon Introduction This will be a brief review. It’s a short book, after all – a mere 134 pages for the main body of the book. That’s not a bad thing at all, mind – quite the opposite. This book is a quick read, and it’s easy to read the whole thing without skimming over anything. I’m not good at UI design, either on the web or for rich client apps. My applications tend to be functional but not pretty – and even in “functional” terms I strongly suspect users don’t always find my … Continue reading Book review: User Interface Design for Programmers (Joel Spolsky)

Critical dead-weight

By jonskeet

We’re all familiar with the idea of a technology achieving critical mass: having enough users (subscribers, customers, whatever the appropriate metric might be) to keep it alive and useful. This morning I was considering the idea of critical dead-weight: having enough users etc to keep the technology alive long past its natural lifetime. Examples of technologies we might like to kill SMTP: I suspect that completely preventing spam and other abuses (while maintaining a lot of the benefits we currently enjoy) would be difficult even with a modern protocol design, but the considerations on a messaging system created today would … Continue reading Critical dead-weight

Google, here I come!

By jonskeet

This may be a somewhat unexpected announcement for many of you, but I’m delighted to announce that as of April 7th I will be an employee at Google. (If you really needed to follow that link to know who Google are, I have no idea what you’re doing reading my blog in the first place.) This may seem an unusual move for someone who has been concentrating on C# for a while – but I view it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with some of the smartest engineers around on hugely exciting projects used by billions of people. Strangely … Continue reading Google, here I come!

We’ve shipped! C# in Depth is out now (ebook)

By jonskeet

I’m hugely pleased to announce that C# in Depth is now available in finished form as an ebook. The hard copy will ship in about three weeks. Thanks to everyone who’s been involved, particularly the folks from Manning, Eric Lippert (for both the tech review and the very kind comments!) and all the peer reviewers. Oh, and Holly for putting up with my lack of spare time over the last year 🙂 The work isn’t over yet, of course… I’ve still got to write up the specification map on the book’s web site, and I’ll probably end up writing various … Continue reading We’ve shipped! C# in Depth is out now (ebook)