Earlier this year I looked back at my life and said, “you’ve change, man - you used to be about the code”. From my first computer (a Commodore 64 when I was 13) I was always fascinated by computer programming. It was like leggo for big kids. I was (like many of you) fascinated by the process of learning a new technologies and languages.

About 11 years ago I started into Windows programming with the Win 32 API and then MFC. I have used those technologies day in and day out for the past decade and have for the most part got a good grip on them (depending on who you ask). However, I got comfortable and stopped keeping up with the new stuff. Sure, I played with PHP, flirted with Perl, and loved Lua, but I never really got deep into a technology again. It is not like I learned nothing else in that time - I learned a lot. Project management, marketing, software lifecycle management, how to change a diaper, etc. But when I stopped learning new programming languages I started to lose my edge.

I think that as a technical manager it is imperative that you keep that love of technology as an end unto itself - not just as a way to meet the next business goal. Not just for yourself, but for the company as well. Exposing yourself to new technologies and techniques will start to get your imagination going again like nothing else.

So, that being the case, a few months ago I started reading about the new changes coming out in .NET 3.0 like WPF and WCF and decided that would be my next project. I started by reading Charles Petzold’s most excellent free eBook “.NET Book Zero“. Wow, that guy knows how to treat a nerd right. Many years ago I read “Programming Windows” by Petzold and have gone back to it more times than I can count as a reference so I knew Petzold was the place to start. Now I have moved to “Applications = Code + Markup: A Guide to the Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation” and will do a review of such soon.

 My first project is to make a new version of Password Vault completely in .NET 3.0 using WPF. I have already started and it is slowly coming along as I slog through delegates, XAML, not “deleteting” stuff I “new” (which freaks me right out). I will be posting more about the project as time goes on.

So, wish me luck. I am out to recapture my programming youth.

Brett Kapilik :: Sep.09.2007 :: Development, Project Management :: 1 Comment »