Articles about programming, learning, code, books, and teams
You should ship software that does nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m not being cheeky about this. I have no hidden meaning. The very first thing you should deliver when you start a new web application is absolutely nothing.
Many people will tell you to ship a minimum viable product. Others say to ship a prototype to get feedback. Not me. I think you should ship a blank page to your production servers on day one.
It’s been a while since I’ve had a crisis of confidence. But tonight, I read Steve Yegge’s recent post, “Revenge of the Junior Developer.” In it, he lays out a vision of a future—only two years away—in which nobody writes code anymore. I felt a cocktail of anger, fear, worry, and disbelief. Then, I thought through the implications, and came up with a plan of action: Kerrick’s Wager.
I’ve been paid to write web applications for over a decade, but my only exposure to ASP.NET has been as an API consumer on the front-end, and I’ve never touched Blazor. That’s changing—I’m learning how to be a full-stack developer. There are almost too many books about the .NET platform, so I had to choose a few to focus on. I started by reading the front matter: the title, cover, foreword, preface or introduction, and table of contents of 24 different books. This was enough to compare and choose the books that I’ll read as soon as possible.
But there are two top contenders for the first book, and I need your help deciding!
I also made a list of 3 books that I’ll read once I’m familiar with T-SQL and the Clean Architecture. 3 more books made my “someday” list—I have no specific plans, but I’d like to read them eventually. At the end of this article I’ll reveal exactly which books made the cut, and ask you to help me choose between two books to learn ASP.NET Core. But first, here are my thoughts on each book.
I’ve been writing code for money for 17 years, but I’ve never used C# or any other .NET language. That’s changing—I’m learning how to be a full-stack developer. There are almost too many books about the platform, so I had to choose a few to focus on. I started by reading the front matter: the title, cover, foreword, preface or introduction, and table of contents of 26 different books. This was enough to compare and choose the 2 books that I’ll read as soon as possible. I also made a list of 7 books that I’ll read once I’m familiar with ASP.NET and Blazor. 6 more books made my “someday” list—I have no specific plans, but I’d like to read them eventually. At the end of this article I’ll reveal exactly which books made the cut. But first, here are my thoughts on each book.
When I learned lean software development, I abandoned year-long planning at work and at home. This year, I broke my rule. I made a New…
I’ve been programming for over two decades, and I can’t make a full-stack enterprise web application. The first lines of code I wrote were in GW-BASIC. When I was in eighth grade, I enrolled in a typing class. Students who finished their typing practice before class ended were given an extra credit opportunity: copying program source code. It was a fantastic test of applied accuracy, and I gladly participated. Eventually I started to pick up on some of the patterns I saw in those BASIC programs. I came up with my own programs—mad libs and simple calculators—and fell in love.
