[dba-Tech] Dot Net

Hi All:

There is one comment in the article that says it very clearly and this is from a senior developer...

<quote>
Your picture is incomplete...

...if all you are looking at is .NET, Ruby on Rails and PHP frameworks.

The developer tool ecosystem on Python is very extensive and useful. Perhaps you should try Python based frameworks out like Django or Flask. I've written Python REST interfaces quite easily without the assistance of any formal "framework" at all which attests to the power of the language.

Perl is derided as a "dying language" but it has the biggest library of code of any language out there (CPAN completely dwarfs all .NET resources)--it is still has an active developer community and keeps up with the times.

There are countless other platforms and technologies for app development as well. Node.js has its fans and is apparently quite scalable. Erlang is also very scalable and built for concurrency. Kepler is a framework for Lua, which is a language with a relatively flat learning curve. I've not done much with any of these but it helps to be aware of the alternatives.

That is one habit I've had to fight against that seems to be human nature--to embrace one thing that you've gotten used to at the expense of looking at alternatives. I see it with .NET and PHP people a lot. I've seen people write contorted code to address shortcomings in MySQL when PostgreSQL's built in capabilities would make the solution trivial. I know .NET people who will spend five figures on MSFT kit before they'd spend even minutes to look at any alternatives. I myself was used to developing in Perl since the mid 1990s and had to make myself spend the time to give Python and Ruby a chance.

But I do have one thing to say against .NET (which I know quite well): of ALL the options out there, it is the MOST LOCKED IN--even more so than Java. It is completely dominated by MSFT, and Mono is really second fiddle and lacks the large development community and full framework support. To make FULL use the "cutting edge capabilities" of .NET you MUST adopt the full MSFT stack--that means buying into Windows OS and MSFT all the way up. OTOH, all the others are much more multi-platform. You can stick with Windows or you can go to a Linux- or BSD-based OS, or Apple, or other commercial UNIX.

The development environment and supporting tools and libraries for .NET are first rate I admit, but that large investment and the relatively insular development community are its shortcomings.
</quote>

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Arthur Fuller" <fuller.artful at gmail.com>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 7:51:53 AM
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Dot Net

I wish to nominate myself as the future CEO of Microsoft. And I need all
you people to second this nomination. I have radical plans for transforming
this dinosaur. "Just watch me!" as the saying goes. Don't let me loose in
this playpen, else s**t will happen. But seriously, I figure that if I
gather a few million votes then I could reasonably become the big
shishkabob in Redmond. And as my first platform plank, I shall make Windows
free, and of course charge correspondingly more for Office... no wait,
other way around, make Office free and charge big bucks for Windows. Nah,
both ideas are bad. How about this? We clone Windoze and make it free and
call it Lindows. That is pretty much guaranteed to fork them all up.



On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 9:32 AM, Dan Waters <df.waters at comcast.net> wrote:

> If you read the comments you'll find some knowledgeable people taking the
> author to task.
>
> The one discussion point I do agree with is the amazingly high cost of the
> Ultimate and Premium versions of Visual Studio.  This would cause people to
> find alternatives.
>
> Dan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lawrence
> Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2013 11:17 PM
> To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
> Subject: [dba-Tech] Dot Net
>
> "...Is Microsoft falling behind the open-source and cloud world in offering
> easy-to-deploy services and development environments?  Is the world moving
> beyond .NET?..."
>
>
> http://www.zdnet.com/software-engineer-explains-why-he-swore-off-net-platfor
> m-7000021038/
>
> Jim