CodeMash: What I Learned

What did I learn at CodeMash? First, planning conferences is a lot of work. Second, there is multiple ways to perform any task and you should be able to discuss the options. Third, software development is a human endeavor and, as such, has some very familiar limitations. This third point is really the most interesting to me. Two of the three keynoters - Bruce Eckel and Neal Ford - discussed different aspects of this very same thing. What I found really interesting was that both used art to illustrate their points. This strikes a chord for me since I've attempted to find philosophy in software development for quite some time. It started when I first read the Art of War, written by Sun Tsu over 2000 years ago. Sun Tsu actually seemed to be addressing the Agile versus Orchestrated development (a term I believe coined by Martin Shoemaker) controversy two millenia before the advent of the computer. So what was his stance? Plan carefully, but be prepared for contingencies or, put another way, plan to be agile. Back to my original point - taking the time to study the humanities is time well spent and can help you become a better developer.

So what do I do from here? First off, I'm really looking forward to completing the WCF webcast series. Along the way, I'm planning on learning something about producing professional webcasts. I may never get there, but I should certainly be able to improve my end product. Then I want to jump into Ruby on Rails. I may still do Turbo Gears instead, but my three minutes with Neal Ford has got me thinking Ruby. Functional programming is still an interest and I think it could really benefit me in my current projects. But what about the humanities part? I would like to learn to play the guitar. Music has been a huge mystery to me for quite some time and maybe it's time to address it.

And that's what I learned from CodeMash.