I have long been convinced of the worth of OpenId. I am unsure if it is the ultimate solution - but for now it is definitely the best solution we have (imho). When I heard about RPX, a new integration service from JanRain, my interest sky-rocketed. Previously, the thought of manually integrating into the current OpenId world seemed intimidating to me. RPX solves that problem - hands down.
And what does a developer do when confronted by an open API? He writes a custom wrapper in his language of choice - that's what he does.
So this post announces RPXLib, now available on Google Code. It is a .Net wrapper meant to take some of the pain out of RPX integration by handling most of the boring stuff for you. It presents a simplified service API and returns strongly-typed response objects for you to play with. Be sure to take a peek at the documentation wiki.
It is worth noting that this works well on my machine - but I am very interested to hear from others about the benefit that this provides (or lack of benefits, even more importantly). I figure it takes about 2-3 minutes to read the doco and about another 10 minutes to integrate this into your application. Your mileage may vary and I would love to hear your experiences.
Kyle Baley, The Coding Hillbilly has recently posted thoughts that are very similar to how I feel about life on the ALT.NET fringe. It is a tricky place to be and a hard place to move up from.
The altnetconf user group has nearly 200 participants but nearly all of the activity comes from a minority of about 15-20 people (the big boys). This means that us fringe dwellers are in fact not the minority ... and I am trying to think why ... but I can't come up with a reasonable explanation. There is no real obstruction of entry and all opinions appear to be valued. There is no derogatory 'flaming' and things are pretty much civil; which in itself is a credit to the community.
Realistically, the community will be better off for greater participation and it might help break down the perceived barriers of intimidation. What's the worst that can happen?
As I am still trekking on my path to development enlightenment I have recently subscribed to the altnetconf group hosted at Yahoo. To suggest that this is where the smart guys hang out would be a mild understatement.
When going to register, my eye was caught by the definition of the group.
ALT.NET
- You're the type of developer who uses what works while keeping an
eye out for a better way.
- You reach outside the mainstream to adopt the best of any community:
Open Source, Agile, Java, Ruby, etc.
- You're not content with the status quo. Things can always be better
expressed, more elegant and simple, more mutable, higher quality, etc.
- You know tools are great, but they only take you so far. It's the
principles and knowledge that really matter. The best tools are those
that embed the knowledge and encourage the principles.
Now this is all pretty admirable stuff and I certainly agree with the general direction. But what are we saying when we adopt the best of any community. Does this mean we are open to adopting the principles of that community or are we encouraging the use of them as an alternative to .NET? In that case, I pose the question - is the .NET portion of the ALT.NET moniker even relevant?
Specifically addressing other technologies in the definition of this community seems wrong to me. And I was literally staggered that Scott Bellware is going to implement the altdotnet.org website in rails. This seems inappropriate at best. Egotistical and exclusive at worst. Scott states -
In my personal experience, Rails is the right technology for this
kind of project. This statement is in line with the alt.net values
as I understand them.
The technology choice isn't a political statement. Making political
statements through technology choices doesn't seem to be a good way
to make technology decisions.
Whether he cares to admit it or not this makes a statement to the community, particularly to those still looking to embrace this developing set of values. If I am a developer looking to make the leap to a new paradigm of development within my chosen technology I would be thoroughly confused by this decision.
Surely the creation of this new hub is the perfect opportunity to embrace and encourage new members of the community. I would expect it to be open source. I would expect it to take advantage of the kind of concepts that make ALT.NET so appealing to me and many others. ORM, IoC, TDD, MVC should be addressed and incorporated where appropriate. Not using this new application to showcase the core ideals of ALT.NET (emphasis now on .NET) is a missed opportunity to my eyes and one that I hope is not regretted.
Personal disclaimer: I'll admit it. I'm a lurker. I currently exist on the fringes of the
community concept that is ALT.NET. Should I be more involved? Yes,
probably. For now, however, I choose to comment from the sanctuary of my
personal blog. One day I will have the confidence to integrate with the community and address my concerns directly. But for now, I am sheltered. Feel free to call me a coward.
So what better way to announce my entry into the blogosphere* than to test the maximum possible length of blog title on everyone's feed reader. Consider it a metaphor for the boundaries that may or may not be pushed by my ramblings. It is also of relevance that in a previous phase of my life I was a video store attendent and, therefore, a massive film geek. But like I said - that was a previous phase. My current stage has little time for film as much as it pains me to admit. Why? Well now I am a "real" developer.
When I started my career as a software developer about 6 years ago I landed straight in a .Net role. To be honest this was more from financial necessity than a conscious career choice but seemed as good an option as any. My university years were spent somewhat typically. Sports, booze and chicks, man! Books are for nerds, man! The predictable byproduct of this personal philosophy was a scrape pass on my Information Technology degree and no career passion or direction.
As it turns out I become a 5:01 developer well before I had ever heard the term. I learnt enough by osmosis to get my job done but I had no aspiration beyond that. In retrospect I was sheltered from the real development world by my introverted perspective and lack of career ambition. I also wasn't interested in being a better developer, due in most part to my stubborn reluctance to allow my choice of career to define who I was. My internal monologue would justify my behaviour - "I am not a geek, I am cool. I might be a developer but don't you dare judge me by that alone because I barely have any interest in it myself." I was dismissive and foolish. Perhaps, youth was to blame.
So about 18 months ago I changed jobs. Not a huge undertaking in the chop and change world of of "The IT Professional" but a significant one for me because I was comfortable and I enjoyed going to work even if I didn't neccessarily enjoy my work.
Now my eyes have been opened (cue the 'Hallelujah' music). I worked with a team leader/guru who was ALTernative. He introduced me to IoC (which would have blown my mind if I wasn't wearing my shiny new propellor hat) and continuous integration. He showed me what a unit test was and how to write test first code. He was a ReSharper jedi and he loved promoting the virtues of open source. And he was a normal human being (as well as a great guy). That last bit was key. Suddenly, I could be a normal human citizen and also a passionate developer. Suddenly the dark clouds of my internal struggle lifted themselves away and I immediately got better.
Whoa, it was that easy? Yep, it was. In the space of a few months I went from a 5:01 developer to an avid ALT.Netter (for want of a better term) and I haven't looked back. What had changed could be boiled down to a few interesting and convenient dot points.
- I lost my "too cool for geekdom" inhibitions.
- I became interested.
- Then I became passionate.
- Then everything took care of itself.
So I write this not to promote myself but to potentially inspire some others. I have no doubt that there are plenty of people in the same situation that I was in. Maybe by reading this they can better recognise where they fit into the development world. Personally I still have a long way to go. I am nowhere near the level of some of the people I aspire to, but I am confident I will get there. I am inspired by the ALT.Net movement as well as constantly challenged by the actions of the superior humans in my blog roll. This is a good great thing. I know that now.
Oh, and by the way, this blog is intended to be technical (as well as (hopefully) interesting). Future postings will be far more relevent. Subscription to the feed might mean that you will see the right way to do some things, but I can guarantee that you will see the wrong way to do some things as well. However, I can be confident that there will always be a commenter to put me in my place.
And isn't that the essence of what this community thing is all about?
* Note to self: Don't use the word blogosphere again. It's just seems odd.