Capers Jones on Software Quality and Productivity - Episode 150

Welcome to 2024. It's going to be a great year in .NET, in Azure, and with DevOps. To kick things off, I wanted to review some of the big things you'll want to look at in 2024. To do that, I'm airing a piece I recorded reviewing the highlights from .NET Conf looking at it from an architectural perspective. There are so many updates, but in this piece, I interpret the architectural thinking you'll undergo as you implement the new bits. So, Happy New Year, and I'll roll the piece. Topics of Discussion: [:14] Jeffrey is looking for his next software engineering apprentice. [5:44] The biggest architectural change in Maui is going to a single project system. [7:34] When you should do a proof of concept. [9:59] What is the architectural significance of the semantic kernel? [13:40] Cloud Native. [13:46] Microsoft is giving us the building blocks so that we can create our own GPT Program. [16:19] Training and use of the right library. [18:11] Health checks are essential for monitoring dependencies in an application. [23:03] Containers. [28:11] How do you know if AOT is for you? [29:25] .NET Aspire's biggest architectural opportunities. [32:07] In Blazor, the biggest news architecturally and the biggest impact on your team is the ability to develop any type of application with just one developer skill set, design patterns, and programming model. [38:22] In C#, class-level parameters are going to change your game. [43:15] The importance of continuous integration and environment types for .NET applications in 2024. Mentioned in this Episode: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

8 Jan 202444min

Jeff Fritz is an experienced developer, technical educator, and PM on the .NET team at Microsoft. He founded The Live Coders team on Twitch, and regularly livestreams builds of websites and fun applications. You can follow Jeff for more .NET, .NET Core, and Visual Studio content on Twitch and Twitter at @csharpfritz. Topics of Discussion: [2:00] Jeff talks about how he shifted from programming to teaching. [4:08] Teaching and mentoring led Jeff to an opportunity to join Microsoft as a developer advocate. [7:33] Jeff is the Executive Producer for .NET Conf. [8:10] What are some of the great events happening at .NET Conf? [10:00] When did Jeff build the .NET Conf 2023 team? [11:35] The planning and execution of .NET Conf. [15:31] Virtual vs. in-person conferences and interactivity. [22:16] The biggest .NET conference announcements and new features that attendees shouldn't miss. [23:20] .NET Aspire. [24:33] Intro to Web Applications for .NET for experts. [29:40] Jeff loves that "aha moment" that can come with thinking outside the box. [30:24] What should people do next? Mentioned in this Episode: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Github.com/dotnet-presentations/dotNETConf/tree/main/2023 .NET Conf Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

1 Jan 202435min

Carl Franklin is Executive Vice President of App vNext, a software development firm focused on modern methodologies and technologies. Carl is a 20+ year veteran of the software industry, co-host and founder of .NET Rocks!, the first and most widely listened to podcast for .NET developers, a Microsoft MVP for Developer Technologies, and Senior Executive of Pwop Studios, a full-service audio and video production/post-production studio located in Southeastern Connecticut. Topics of Discussion: [6:50] Tips for those interested in starting their own podcast. [9:42] What draws Carl to teaching and training? [11:01] Carl's mentorship from Ethan Winer at Crescent Software and how that ethic stuck with him. [12:10] What has and hasn't changed, and how do we navigate text moving off the paper and onto the web? [15:41] Why Carl finds it worthwhile to have talk code with ChatGPT. [20:22] SMTP in the '90s had little security. [23:40] What are the big things coming out that are going to change the game? [24:40] Steve Sanderson's demo of Blazor. [28:36] The remaking of how we do URL launches applications. [31:22] The Blazor component model is clean and easy to use, thanks to Steve Sanderson. [31:57] The evolution of web development, from static sites to interactive applications, and how Blazor's streaming rendering technology can bridge the gap between these two approaches. [35:42] EventCallback. [36:22] What does the next five years look like for Carl? [40:17] A new show, The Blazor Puzzle. [42:07] Taking inspiration from the Car Talk podcast. [44:44] What conferences and travel do Carl and Jeffrey have on their calendars for 2024? Mentioned in this Episode: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Carl Franklin AppVNext .NET Rocks podcast Blazor Train Blazor Puzzle DevSum Stockholm DEVintersection Vegas Podcast platform: Spreaker.com Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

26 Des 202352min

Steve works with companies that want to avoid the trap of technical debt by helping their teams deliver quality software quickly. Steve and his team at NimblePros have been described by clients as a "force multiplier," amplifying the value of existing development teams. Steve's client list includes Microsoft, Quicken Loans, Celina Insurance, and many other satisfied customers. He also offers career coaching to developers through DevBetter.com. Steve has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for over 20 years. Topics of Discussion: [4:24] Steve's path into development. [5:14] How writing testable software became a passion of Steve's. [7:09] Which parts of the .NET release stood out the most to Steve? [7:41] .NET Aspire. [12:26] Making local development easier. [14:05] Steve believes developers should be capable and comfortable writing unit tests for their software and writing unit-testable code. [15:27] Dependency inversion principle. [16:40] Thinking of interfaces as describing the "what" and implementations as describing the "how." [17:57] A few other items that Steve is also excited about in C# 12. [20:58] Class level parameters in C#. [25:59] Managing dependencies in distributed systems. [28:47] The PACELC Principle. [31:08] The trade-offs of using microservices, including the potential for inconsistent data and the need for coordination between services. [36:34] AI's impact on developer productivity. [41:46] The importance of understanding AI's limitations. Mentioned in this Episode: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Clean Architecture .NET Conf 2023 Steve Smith: Domain Driven Design Steve Smith Twitter Dependency Injection Pluralsight course on SOLID Pacelc Principle Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

18 Des 202343min

From humble beginnings as a mechanic who later became a software engineer/architect/now business owner and who has built software for some of the biggest companies on the planet, Clark's passionately unapologetic on a mission to create the most inclusive, tech-savvy, family-friendly community of geeks on the planet. Fueled by creativity, Clark invests his time partnering with companies on how to foster their communities while helping them solve business problems through innovative technology solutions and common sense. Topics of Discussion: [2:45] What events in Clark's career shaped and steered him in his current direction? [4:29] Developmentor, and how Clark got into user groups and events. [6:54] What should we know about That Conference? [9:52] The growing culture of That Conference. [12:22] The pros and cons of small tech conferences. [12:41] That Conference is only a team of four. [13:50] The importance of in-person connections and bonding at conferences. [14:56] We want to meet other coders! How That Conference gets people together where the conversation is perfectly aligned. [19:09] What was the first conference Clark attended? [25:06] Tips for both newbies and return attendees for getting the most out of attending That Conference. [26:09] Open spaces provide a place for unstructured conversation anytime, anywhere. [28:40] Making the most of networking when the "density of nerds" is extremely high. [28:55] At conferences, it's about the collective coming together. [30:44] How can someone learn more and get involved with That Conference? Mentioned in this Episode: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Clark Sell on LinkedIn Clark Sell on Twitter That Conference hello@thatconference.com Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

11 Des 202336min

Daniel Roth is a Principal Product Manager on the ASP.NET team working on ASP.NET Core, Blazor, and other web features. He has previously worked on various parts of .NET, including System.Net, WCF, XAML, and ASP.NET. His passions include building frameworks for modern Web frameworks that are simple and easy to use. Topics of Discussion: [3:08] Daniel talks about joining Microsoft fresh out of college and shares a brief history of how his career has evolved. [4:10] Working on Blazor with Steve Sanderson. [5:42] Different career paths at a company that sells software products. [7:20] How product managers blend technical and business aspects of software development. [10:40] There's nothing "normal" about Blazor. [12:25] Why Daniel would recommend Blazor. [15:34] The initial choice in building between Blazor server apps and web assembly apps, and how we have evolved past these two project template models. [16:29] Blazor components can be rendered in different ways depending on the render mode chosen. [27:15] The importance of maximizing choices in the future for an application. [30:28] Azure bill updates. [33:15] Server-side rendering, stateful vs stateless models, and new features in.NET 8. [37:00] Other exciting Blazor news and features, such as enhanced navigation. [39:55] Improvements for authentication and identity. Mentioned in this Episode: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Ep #204 with Daniel Roth BlazorMVC BlazorMVC Nuget Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

4 Des 202344min

Maarten loves building web and cloud apps. His main interests are in .NET web technologies, C#, and application performance. He is Developer Advocate at JetBrains and created SpeakerTravel, a tool to help conference organizers. Maarten is a frequent speaker at various national and international events. In his free time, he brews his own beer. Topics of Discussion: [4:34] The mindset difference between developing software applications for everyday use versus developer tools, and how it affects the programming process. [5:40] What is JetBrains, and why should .NET devs care? [6:44] IDE stands for integrated development environments. [9:01] JetBrains announcing Rider. [10:31] Essential software development patterns for desktop applications. [13:35] What does the code generally look like? Is it .NET events? Is it observer pattern? [15:54] Maarten talks about the approach of creating general-purpose business applications with modular components, making development and maintenance more efficient. [18:35] TeamCity, a continuous integration (CI) server used internally and for building products. [19:50] The concept of a safe merge. [21:11] JetBrains Toolbox. [21:53] How Maarten compartmentalizes tests. [24:44] Static analysis tools for code quality and customization. [27:38] Duplicate code identifier. [30:41] VS Code. [32:13] What are some interesting things to look out for in the future? Mentioned in this Episode: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Maarten's Blog Rider Resharper Building a .NET IDE with JetBrains Rider NDepend Visual Studio for Mac Retirement Announcement .NET Annotated Monthly — Sept 2023 Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

27 Nov 202335min

Scott is the Vice President of Product for Azure Developer Experience. He builds all the .NET tools for Azure. Topics of Discussion: [2:20] Scott talks about joining Microsoft in 2007 and a few of his most memorable milestones and moments. [5:55] .NET Aspire [6:46] The 3‒4 items in .NET that are important for developers to focus on. [12:02] Improving.NET performance through AOT compilation. [12:22] Introducing a self-contained application. [19:09] Advancements in .NET technology and its applications. [22:11] AI technology and its integration into various products. [22:12] The generative pre-trained to chat transform (GPT). [24:19] Semantic Kernel and open SDK in .NET. [30:12] Aspire, a tool for simplifying web development. [38:25] What Scott calls the orchestrator app. [43:27] Scott's excitement for the multi-part cloud applications coming together. [45:08] The great feedback that is already rolling in. Mentioned in this Episode: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo's Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Ep #211 with Scott Hunter Orchestrate Your AI with Semantic Kernel openai sdk in .NET Demystifying Retrieval Augmented Generation with .NET .NET Aspire .NET Conf Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

20 Nov 202347min