Now that I’m back from the PDC and my manuscript’s in, I’m starting to catch up on some of the backlog. One of the things I didn’t mention last week was that Cameron posted more information about operator overloading on his blog. Check it out!
Looks like I’m starting to get comment spam just like everyone else. For those of you subscribed to my comments feed, please bear with me until I get a chance to implement some simple spam blocking. I’ll work on it this weekend.
Some VB.NET chat information:
More information about the upcoming chats can be found on the MSDN chat page. Hope to see you all there!
The most aggravating thing to hear from customers at the PDC? “But I heard from (someone) that VB is (going to be dropped/going away/dead) and that we should switch to (insert language here).” (I hope it goes without saying to loyal readers that this is not true. Otherwise, I’m mystified why I keep getting that check in the mail every month…) It’s not the customer’s fault they got faulty information, but it’s still aggravating nontheless.
I will say that this is so far a very, very, very small piece of the customer interactions I’ve been having here at the PDC. The general consensus seems to be that Whidbey is really going to hit it out of the park for VB users, which is wonderful validation for the hard work the team has been doing. Now we’ve just got to ship it!
(Hmmmm… I wonder if you play some of Don’s songs backwards you’ll hear “VB is dead.” I’ll have to have a chat with Mr. Box about that…)
Someone pointed out that MSDN has updated its Microsoft Developer Tools Roadmap to include a lot more information about upcoming releases of VB, C#, C++, etc. I highly recommend checking it out if you want to get more information about the future, right from the horse’s mouth.
(I apologize for not linking to the person who pointed out the update – unfortunately, I deleted the entry and I’m having problems finding the entry using Google, Feedster, etc.)
Unfortunately, I missed the Monday keynote between nursing my cold and trying to get my wife on a flight back to Seattle. Apparently during the keynote, though, Chris and/or Don made a comment about the C# command-line compiler shipping as a part of Longhorn. (See places such as Peter’s keynote notes.) Which, of course, has prompted a number of queries, “Does that mean VB won’t be shipping with Longhorn?”
Nope, it doesn’t. We’ll be right there alongside C# in Longhorn. The VB command-line compiler is part of the same set of components as the C# command-line compiler is, so anywhere we go, they go. And vice versa.
There’s definitely some weird juju over this PDC. While I was fortunate enough to make it into Los Angeles without trouble (I came in a day early), last night I started getting the sniffles. And, yep, now it’s developed into a full-blown cold. What great timing! Anyway, I’m drinking lots of fluids and getting as much rest as possible in preparation for the week ahead.
Here’s what I’m going to be up to, assuming this cold doesn’t get any worse. I hope to see some of you! (Disclaimer: My schedule is subject to change, so caveat emptor…)
General:
If I’m not anywhere else, I’ll likely be in the Programming Languages and Tools Track Lounge.
Sunday:
Eat chicken soup, rest, drink lots of fluids…
Monday:
6pm – 9pm: Staff the Pavilion
10pm – 11pm: BoF46 Experiences and Concerns in Migrating to .NET and Visual Basic .NET
(I’d love to come to the Weblogging BOF at 10pm too, but VB is closer to my heart!)
Tuesday:
11:45am – 2pm: Staff the Pavilion
2pm – 3:15pm: TLS200 Visual Basic “Whidbey”: Rapid Application Development for the Visual Basic Developer
3:45pm – 5pm: TLS300 Visual Basic “Whidbey”: Advanced Language and IDE Features
6:30pm – 9pm: Ask the Experts
9pm – 10pm: BoF24 Reader to Author to Publisher for .NET
11pm – midnight: BoF19 Alternate Programming Languages
Wednesday:
Play it by ear…
Thursday:
11:30am – 1:30pm: Programming Languages and Tools lunch in Languages Track Lounge
1:45pm – 3:15pm: PNL10 The Future of .NET Languages
OK, I’m here and desperately trying to catch up on all the PDC blog entries that have been posted since I last looked at my NewsGator folders on Thursday. Sheesh. (I came into the Westin on Friday and took the weekend off to recharge after getting the manuscript in.) Hopefully later today I’ll have a chance to post some more stuff about interesting things for VB people at the PDC (as if you haven’t already found them yourselves).
Just sent the electronic copy of the manuscript off and am about to drop the hard copy of the manuscript in the express mailbox… To be honest, there were more than a few times that I didn’t think I was going to make it.
I’m not totally done yet – there’s still more work to be done before I get to see my name in print – but I’m over the hump. Now on to LA!
There I said it. I realize this is not the nicest thing to say about someone who’s been generous enough to invite me into his home this coming weekend, but I felt I had to get it out before I saw him in person.
In truth, Ken is a pain in my ass because I (well, actually, my editors) asked him to be and he was nice enough to agree to do it. He’s one of the technical reviewers for my book, and his comments have caused me no end of grief because: a) he feels free to comment at length about the shortcomings of my writing, and b) he’s usually pretty on the money. The way I’ve been working is to edit a chapter first and then look at the comments the reviewers had about it. I’m pretty much guaranteed that if I skim over some weak passage and weasel by with the thought “Hmmm. I’m not sure that’s such a good passage. Ah, well, I’m sure it’s OK…”, then Ken’s going to have a comment calling me out on it. Very valuable stuff, but I tell you: after ten or so chapters of it, I’ve started to steel myself before flipping to his comments. I’m going to be very grateful for all his insight… when I’m done editing the damn book.
(And in saying all this, I am not meaning to slight any of the other reviewers, all of whom have been providing insightful and invaluable comments of their own. I just call Ken out here because he seems to have the knack for writing comments that particularly bedevil me.)
As a side note, you’ll notice that I haven’t been posting a lot of happy, chatty entries about getting this book finished, the way, say, ChrisAn has about getting his presentation done for the PDC. I’m not sure what Chris has been taking, but I missed it when they handed out the happy pills. Me, I’m just slogging it out as best I can. Maybe I need a life-size Chris Sells looking over my shoulder…