The Eric Wroolie Blog

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I take back all the things I’ve said about Silverlight

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After my initial resistance to using Silverlight, I have to say that I have been using it heavily for the past month and am very impressed with it.  When I look at Silverlight as a web technology, I am amazed by the stuff you can do with it and how extensible it is.

My apprehension was due to web standards.  And I still have concerns here.  Microsoft had a big win when they got SL to work on Macs as well as Windows.  But the lack of a Linux version still bothers me (the Mono guys are working on this).  The biggest blight on the technology is lack of iPad support.

I like HTML and I feel comfortable with it.  When ASP.Net webforms were released 10 years ago, I felt Microsoft were trying to bring a Visual Basic-type development experience to the web.  I can’t tell you how many developers I’ve met who profess not to know html.  They only know the very basics of html and a bunch of tags like <asp:Button>.  With php, classic asp, and the new MVC framework, you have more control of how your page renders in different browsers because you wrote the code to do it.  I guess I’m a purist in this area.

But Silverlight is not html development.  It’s also not flash.  It’s more like writing a client application which runs on the desktop—but has to play safely in a web sandbox.  The rules are all different.  All calls back to the server are asynchronous and you can’t stop and wait for them.  Binding is very heavily used, and the code-behind works better than in ASP.Net because there are no postbacks required.

In the past month, I’ve really geeked out.  I spend most of my time thinking about the project I’m working on and how I can improve it.  I’m reading my fourth book on Silverlight in the evenings and spending the days coding away.  You might think that’s sad (it has been said to me), but I’m really enjoying it.  It won’t last forever, so you need to take full advantage of enthusiasm when you get it.

Anyway, I take back some of the things I said before about Silverlight. 

The lone developer is dangerous.

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The lone software developer is the reason for most bad software and most spaghetti code.  A lone developer will sit down and code before making a plan.  Since there is nothing to explain to anyone else, there is absolutely no reason to make a plan or to write any documentation.  There is no reason to comment code.

Any software developer who has worked in a development team knows just how the team dynamic changes compared to an individual coder.  In a team, all your code must be justifiable.  Any areas of ambiguity, inefficiency, or prone to error will be caught by other developers.  Any code comments are written with other developers in mind (instead of simply “Notes to Self”).

A good software team needs a leader.  Software development is very personal work.  A developer sits down and wrestles with code from morning until night.  Even when in a team, he is often alone with functionality or bugs and must do what is necessary to complete them.   Any criticism of this work at the end of the day is a recipe for disaster.  A team leader, with a position of authority (but preferably with a good dollop of tact) needs to be able to step in and clean up the areas ambiguity at the earliest moment (daily, preferably).

I’ve worked in environments where all greenfield projects are given to a Grad student to cut their teeth on before working on the big applications.  Frequently, these small project become critical systems.  When things go wrong, the code is given to more senior developers to fix.  So, senior developers make patch work fixes on systems which began on a shaky foundation already.

But the truth is, not every project is big enough for an entire team.  In those cases, peer review becomes even more important.

I give up on the iPhone fanboy thing

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Two years ago, I bought the iPhone 3g.  It was awesome.  I missed the first rush to buy it, so had to wait for weeks until more were available. 

I liked most things about it.  I was annoyed that it didn’t sync very well with my Windows machine and it forced me to use iTunes, but it was so cool I overlooked all that.  Then it bugged me that I couldn’t tether the phone to laptop so I could surf the web using my 3g connection on the train (so I would have to take out a second contract with O2 for mobile broadband").  But I have to overlook that too.

Six months ago, I got a call from O2 saying my contract was up and asking if I wanted to upgrade.  I told them I wanted to wait for the iPhone 4.  So, as June 7 approached—I couldn’t wait for the iPhone 4 announcement to see what it would be like.  I registered my interest on the site.  The new phone would have a clearer display, video editing, a webcam!  Apple is touting as a game-changer.  The rush is on.  The pre-orders have already sold out. 

You know what?  I don’t want to be a part of this any more.  I don’t want to be someone who drools over the next Apple product.  These game-changer features are incremental improvements.  I never look at my current iPhone and say “Man, the resolution on this thing is awful!”  I never once thought—”If only I could edit video on this thing.” 

I don’t want to wait for new stock or stand in a queue.  I don’t want to pay through the nose for the privilege.  I don’t want to read any more news stories about new features.  I want to break free.

I got my new phone.  It’s an Android phone—the HTC Desire.  It does most everything I need it to do and it was much cheaper.  Highly recommend it.