All of us got started with computers that shipped BASIC at the commandline. Turning on the computer and typing “10 PRINT “Hello World” was a pretty welcoming environment for us as budding young nerds who wanted to play with computers.

Fast-forward 25 years and things have regrettably gotten more difficult. If little Jimmy down the street wants to play with computers, he needs to (1) somehow know there’s a Visual Studio Express product (2) figure out where to get it (3) download it over his slow internet connection (4) install it (5) if he’s made it this far, play. That amount of friction is just plain silly.

And please don’t mention csc.exe. Maybe a REPL style C# console might work, but csc.exe is not at all what I’m talking about.

I spent about half my development career in corporate development shops, and worked with a broad range of developers: really skilled and passionate developers, junior developers who were just learning the ropes, and 9-to-5ers who didn’t see the point of going beyond the minimum required (which included a ban against learning anything new). It’s also really hard to hire alpha-developers, especially under time and budget constraints. So some projects/systems will get more love and skill than others.

Maybe a show about the challenges of corporate development - with an appropriate guest - might make for a good followup show somewhere down the line.

- Jon

Also, maybe a discussion about the adoption of TDD as you’ve seen it and success stories. I think its odd that I haven’t come across anyone using it when I’ve worked at a considerable number of places.

Thanks guys and keep up that great work on this pod cast.

…Ed (@emcpadden)