No More ASP.NET

I have been writing a ton of software lately in C#, C++, and MCML. When writing software for the public, as opposed to writing for a client for internal use only, I tend to rely on tools more and more. This is especially true as a project comes to a close as my current project is. One of the tools I have come to rely on is MSBbuild. I was always accustomed to using plain ol’e Visual Studio to manage build projects; leaving those messy .proj and .sln files to the smart guys over at Microsoft. However, as my projects got bigger and things like deployment, testing environments of different clients, and tracking versions became more important, Visual Studio could not keep up. So I dove into the .vcproj files and found a treasure trove of useful stuff.

Then again, as I got even closer to product release, even MSBuild and .proj files (in their vanilla release states) fell short of my needs. The MS development docs give lots of info about writing MSBuild extensions for satisifying every development need. But sheesh… that is TIME CONSUMING. And with a big list of tasks to complete just to release my software products I was not willing to take on yet another time consuming project (that is, writing MSBuild extensions).

Enter pwelter ant the msbuildtasks project. This is a collection of custom msbuild tasks for just about every need from FTP to VSS to Zip. I downloaded and installed them and started using them right away.

Later I needed other things setting environment variables and code signing. msbuildtasks doesn’t do either of these. So I set about writing batch files and cussing at Microsoft for, yet again, removing features, shuffling things, and hiding useful stuff in documentation.

Then, by happenstance, I came across another MSBuild tasks project. I could have sworn that I did a thorough Google search for another project back when I found the original from Tigris. But, oh well. This new project, written by Mike Fourie and hosted as a CodePlex project called the MSBuild Extension Pack, handles both environment variables and code signing, as well as a host of other nice things.

There is some overlap in both of these projects, but they are both useful in their own right.

When David Heinemeier Hansson created Ruby On Rails he didn’t know he was creating something bigger than a language platform. He didn’t know he was creating a movement, one that would help fill a gap in software dev that has been around since 2002. He had no idea that his simple straight-forward, and inflexible, way of creating software would challenge the largest software company in the world.

Hansson didn’t know he was creating a replacement for VB6.

It is counterintuitive to think that a UI-centric, inflexible, memory hogging, butt-simple dev platform could actually fill the gap for VB6, a um … UI-centric, inflexible, memory hogging, anybody-can-do-it, development platform. One would think that a VB6 replacement absolutely must run on Windows. But, when you really think about it, anything that would replace VB6 would have to have the following qualities:

• It must be easy to pick up and very forgiving
• It must have a large set of code snippets to pick from
• It must support real-world applications
• It must be web-based

Why must it be web-based? Well, because the Internet is the new Windows platform. Eventhough I like to poke fun at Internet Pontificators I am going to make a wild and outlandishly obvious prediction: within 100 years 80% of daily use software will be web-based. I didn’t mean web-enabled, but web-based. iTunes is web-enabled. One day it will be web-based. Technologies like Google Gears will make that possible. Once Gears-like functionality is the norm, there will be very little reason to distribute software that requires an install program to run.

Enter RoR.

The trend towards all-web-based-all-the-time (AWAT) was going to happen, but RoR is going to get us there much faster. By making web dev as easy as VB6 dev, RoR is giving all those old VB6 programmers who had to leave the development market a new lease on life, and accellerating the proliferation of the AWAT. Now you don’t have to learn all about OOP and MVC and other stuff like that. RoR takes care of all that stuff in the background; just like VB6 did.

Welcome back VB6 guys.

If you were waiting for a Microsoft Surface display to show up in stores, like I have, prepare to stop waiting for that and start waiting for something even more jiggy.

The coolest part of the sphere is that it appears to use off the shelf technology (except for the sphere itself, which is probably a clear plastic), making it somewhat inexpensive, and therefore more readily available to me the public.

Johnny Chung Lee, the do-it-yourself-er’s do-it-yourself-er, started it with his Projects > Wii page in which he shows some pretty amazing things you can do with the Wii game controllers. Chung Lee got rid of the Wii entirely and inspired game developers, enthusiasts, and even middle school students to try their hand and making some fun and innovative software.

Now some guys from Israel (go Israel!) are getting rid of the Wii entirely with their CamSpace pure software solution that can really be explained best with a video.

I think this is gonna change some things.

Using just a PC and a webcam, CamTrax Technologies, have figured out how to make a wii-like controller out of just about anything, so long as it’s at least 5mm in size.

Imagine standing in front of your wide screen tv and drawing on the screen using your XBox, PS3, Blu-Ray player, or whatever. Virtual exercise with a partner is entirely possible. TechCrunch has some other ideas.

I might have to get a Wii… just to, you know, be ready.