Two months on and the alt.net movement (that's right folks, by the only definition that matters, it's a movement) is showing no signs of slowing down. Over at the discussion group, there is muy talk on a myriad of topics, including some threads on how to talk in the discussion group itself which seems kinda metaphysical until you actually read the posts.

For my own part, my perception has altered ever so slightly. I'm still very much excited at the direction but I had a little mini-crisis of conscience about how much time I was spending on some of the more useless threads. And not wanting to add to the problem by replying to them, I voted instead with my mail reader. That is, I went through the alt.net-labelled mail and start pruning. Ruthlessly. Anything that had no direct impact on my work or added nothing to my sense of professional development - deleted for good. If there was any doubt, I trashed it.

If I wanted to be melodramatic, I'd say it was an uplifting, cathartic, and spiritual experience. But let's keep things grounded here. It's just deleting e-mail. If I were to be totally honest, all it really did was knock a few megs out of my inbox. But when I was done, I had gone from about 380 conversations to just under 250.

So with all the talk of whether the discussion group was going to pot and with all the head-shaking I'm doing about whether I'm wasting my time, there are still 250 genuinely interesting conversations that I would like to keep track of in some form. Seems pretty relevant to me.

The other thing I gave some thought to was how all of this would impact me in the near future. There is a lot of talk about what alt.net is and what it should be and what the logo is and what direction it's going. All of it valid and necessary to be sure (although all posts in these topics didn't make the cut), but I wanted some real tangible calls to action. Something I could write on a sticky note and put on my personal scrum wall.

And I'll tell you who I think is doing things the right way in this regard. Not someone who posts regularly on the discussion group (if at all). Rather, he's been spending his time touring Canada speaking at no less than six user groups in the last two months. It's the Igloo Coder, Donald Belcham, who apparently believes there's no better way to spend a brisk Canadian December evening than talking brownfield development techniques in Winnipeg.

Donald is braving prairie snows, 6:00am flights, and some dangerously friendly airline staff to get the word out. And you should talk to him about the reaction he's getting which, from what I've heard, is nothing less than stellar. Techniques that many of us take for granted are killing in eastern Canada. He's had to shift presentations midstream because people were so into his talk on TDD that they wanted more on that rather than whatever it was he had planned.

So when I think about what I want to accomplish in the next six months to a year, yes, it will probably include the likes of DevTeach and Canada's alt.net conference. But let's not forget that there are a lot of people out there outside alt.net that just want to learn how to do their jobs better. And they probably aren't that far away from you.

Kyle the Planned

To do list for the day:

1. Catch up with the latest posts to altnetconf group
2. Check my RSS feeds for new posts
3. Read the four new posts from Ayende that have arisen since I started step 2
4. Go to bathroom <optional>
5. Repeat ad infinitum

In light of this new schedule, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask all of you bloggers and ALT.NET contributors out there to preface your posts and e-mails accordingly with "Relevant to Kyle" or "Not relevant to Kyle" from now on. Try to err on the side of my lack of sleep.

Kyle the Overwhelmed

I'm having some trouble keeping up with the ALT.NET discussion group. The volume is one thing but the main impediment I have is that the level of discussion is ever-so-slightly out of my reach a good part of the time. At least when the topic turns technical. And with this group, it very often does.

This in and of itself isn't a bad thing. I kind of like the challenge, especially when the topics are interesting and relevant. I think I'm about 90% of the way there in understanding the thread on validation spheres but it's taken more than one read-through (and I'll leave the actual number to your imagination).

The problem I'm trying to come to grips with is a psychological one. This is a very open-minded and welcoming group of people. And yet I can't shake this feeling that I have to tread very lightly whenever I post a response. Like I need to walk this thin line 'twixt asking an intelligent question and sounding like I'm fresh off the boat (which, in some ways, I am and always will be).

No one has given me any reason to feel this way. At least not explicitly. I have no doubt that if I posted the question, "What exactly is TDD?", the rudest response I would get would be several people glossing over the post without giving it a second glance. I guess it's more in the way they throw out terms as if they are common knowledge. Or in the assumptions that are made about my base knowledge.

I have a feeling there are plenty of people on the list that feel the same way. The silent "unworthy" masses that are happy to follow along grasping what knowledge they can from discussions on lookup tables vs. enums, the same way I do. It's because of this feeling that I try to be somewhat self-deprecating in conversation and on this here blog thingy. I find people who don't take themselves too seriously more approachable and hillbillies do so like to be approached. In fact, this post is probably an extension of that.

And this is not to suggest that anyone should dumb down their conversation. That's kind of the point of ALT.NET. It's *my* responsibility to get up to speed to a point where I'm confident enough to argue coherently with the more prolific contributors.

But at this point, I'm still trying to sweat out the two posts I made last week. And in direct response to Scott Bellware, no less.

Kyle the Phobic

The conversations on changing the name of ALT.NET have (thankfully) died down and I don't want to resurrect them in the mailing list which is why I'm posting this here, tongue firmly in cheek. I just realized I've had the perfect name all along in my category list: Conscientious Coding. The underlying tenet from the original post (and let's ignore the misguided critique on TDD, shall we. So young was I in mid-2006): Someone else is going to have to deal with your &*%$ after you leave. Be nice to them.

Kyle the Affable

The image to the right is what greeted me after strolling through the ALT.NET participants list and updating my OPML list. And this is after reading posts all morning.

Damn you, ALT.NET, for making me think!

Kyle the Immort

Well, joining the ALT.NET movement has certainly honed my inbox management skills. Thank Allah for GMail's conversation grouping feature.

Some good and irrelevant stuff being discussed in the user groups ("good" and "irrelevant" being subjective terms in keeping with the nature of the group). My own reaction has been mostly in line with Master Simser's which has also been espoused by more than a few people. That is, I've reached out to three user groups I've never spoken at before to offer my own brand of down-home, folksy advice as it pertains to software development.

I'm already starting to scan, rather than read, the e-mail exchanges which are focused on the group's identity. Not sure why people are so hung up on it, especially since we've got all of one conference under our belt. But if everyone was as passive as I am, I suppose there wouldn't have been a conference in the first place. In any case, that's not what I came here to jaw about.

Much has already been said on Microsoft/Scott Guthrie's MVC framework. And during the conference, more than one person asked, "what does this mean for Monorail"?

The fine folks of Castle apparently have been asked this question as well because when I wandered over to their website (looking for Monorail documentation), I found a nice little reaction specifically to that question. And it was one that I expected them to make: choice is a good thing and we'll be looking at how to integrate it with the rest of our products.

'Tis a good time to be a software developer.

Jay the Schizophrenic

Bah! I sit down to summarize today's sessions and instead I'm staring, one eyebrow raised, at a pissing contest in the form of a string of posts slamming alt.net and others defending it. I'll let you Google the details partly because I don't want to call out anyone individually but mostly because I don't want to give anyone the press on it. Because this issue doesn't deserve any*. Some of these posts were so inane, I had to add the authors to my blogroll so that I could have the satisfaction of removing them.

All I want to do is write decent software. That's why I came. To meet people who have been espousing techniques I've been trying to learn for the last few months and pick their brains. I liked some of what I heard and didn't like other stuff. Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but can't we just stop bitching and assume people are smart enough to figure out for themselves who they want to read and how they should build software? I get enough of the "Janie said I was stupid" attitude from my eight-year-old.

That's enough of that &*%$. Here's what I did today:

How to get the word to the street

This was essentially a talk on how to promote some of the techniques that lead to good software design. How do you encourage other developers and managers that there is value in TDD or DDD, for example? (I.E.: "how to force other people to do what I do" **). There was an emphasis on how Microsoft and MSDN Magazine could play a role in this and the two main representatives in this area, Howard Dierking and Simon Guest were very receptive. There was very much a "we know some good alternatives, how do we let other people in on it?" vibe.

Language-oriented programming

Didn't realize this would be on DSLs but I guess I should have. It started slow with people harping on what I felt were irrelevant topics but Scott bludgeoned people back on to the right track.

Wrap-up

We all said a few words (some more than others) about what we got out of the conference. Then we held hands, sang Kum-Bah-Ya, and prepared for ascension to the heavens to meet our alien ancestors***.

The name of the group was debated to the bitter end and since you all asked, here's my opinion: I don't care. Consider the following and what relationship they have with what they are associated with: Sun, Java, Amazon, Civic, Oracle. The underlying meaning of the words behind the name will take a backseat to what the group actually accomplishes so don't dwell on it.

Final thoughts: I had a blast. Yes, there was some clique-ishness, if, by clique-ish, you mean people recognized old friends and treated them as such. I never once felt excluded from any conversation or discussion and never once felt like I was being talked down to (and keep in mind, I can pinpoint to the day when I started learning this and it wasn't that long ago). The closest I came was when I interrupted Scott Hanselman while he was distracted with a connectivity issue and even then, he kept encouraging me to stick around and chat. Seriously, these are some crazy-friendly people.

Now can I please go back to building software?

Kyle the Parental

* Yes, I'm being hypocritical. The Hillbilly works in mysterious ways.

** I'm kidding, get your mouse away from the Comments link.

*** I'm kidding again. Geez, did they remove your sense of humour with your appendix?

The first full day of sessions is over and I'm sorry to report there was not a single mention of moonshine, although by the end of Scott Guthrie's presentation on Microsoft's MVC, I sure felt like I'd had a few jugs.

The Hillbilly doesn't do note-taking, but I seriously doubt there will be a lack of coverage on individual sessions given the audience. So you will have to be satisfied with my own little Appalachian-American take on the proceedings:

Domain-Specific Languages

This topic holds some interest for me academically but I doubt I'll see any real-world implementations of this in my immediate future. There were a lot of questions about what exactly constitutes DSLs, at least until Martin Fowler joined. And I must admit, he held himself well considering the inner turmoil he was going through. But his example domain, "Dealing with loss" was telling.

Behaviour-Driven Design

Hey, did you know that Scott Bellware likes BDD? Neither did I!

Microsoft's MVC Framework

Wow! This looks fine like a greased porky-pine. There was a *lot* to like about this presentation. It was nice to see that Scott Guthrie and his team looked at existing frameworks and didn't develop this in a silo. I'm sure there will be much talk on this subject by people more qualified and verbose than I so I'll leave it at that except to say the beta is expected in six to eight weeks.

DDD Jujitsu

A scrappy affair this one was with Dave Laribee and Scott Bellware (among others) sort of butting heads on how best to implement a model. The debate was whether a function like TransferFunds for an account should reside in the Account object or in a separate service. My instinct had me on the latter side but there were good arguments from both camps.

After that was a quick wrap-up and judging from the comments from others, Microsoft still looms large with alt.netters. Much praise was given to Scott Guthrie for the new framework and when it was suggested that we shift focus from it, people simple commented on Microsoft in general.

I did meet another healthy dose of developers. And in that vein, I'll close up with a "fill in the blank" quiz. Given the following last names, fill in the first names. HINT: All answers are one or more of: Chris, Dave, or Scott

__________________ Laribee

__________________ Hanselman

__________________ Guthrie

__________________ Woods

__________________ Holmes

__________________ Ortman

__________________ Bellware

__________________ O'Hara

__________________ Patterson

Kyle the Alternate

First day of the ALT.NET conference. I read the mantra for Open Spaces but didn't quite take it seriously: Whoever shows up is the right group. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Whenever it starts is the right time. When it's over, it's over.

Sounds pretty zen, especially for Texas. In any case, it looks like it will make for an interesting conference. And I'll be trying out these rules the next time I get in trouble from the missus.

We started off with introductions and a little round table thingy where it became clear that I have a different definition of "alternative" than others do. I thought "alternative" implied the use of unconventional ideas or a choice between two or more options. Seems there are a few people who took it to mean "something better than what Microsoft feeds us". Hope that doesn't become a prevalent theme because I'm more interested in getting tools for my arsenal than discussing what's wrong with any particular technology.

We did manage to nail down some topics for discussion for the remaining two days. Here is my agenda for tomorrow:

9:30 - 11:00 -   Where is Justice Gray and why isn't he here?

11:00 - 12:30 -  Who is Justice Gray really?

1:30 - 3:00 -  Agile development as it pertains to Justice Gray's hair

3:00 - 4:30 -  How can we make Justice Gray a better developer in six months?

But despite at least one glaring omission, I've already met a lot of great people and I'm looking forward to continuing the trend tomorrow. And if I happen to learn something in the process, well, it'll still have been a successful trip.

Kyle the Anticipatory