let Matt = CodeBetter + 1
#light
type FullName = string * string
let FullNameToString (name : FullName) =
let first, last = name in
first + " " + last
let blogger = FullNameToString("Matthew", "Podwysocki")
I'm pretty excited to be joining the CodeBetter gang after following for so many years. I want to thank Jeremy Miller, Brendan Tompkins, Dave Laribee, Greg Young and others for welcoming me to the fold. No, this blog won't be going away, but instead will also serve as a host for my posts.
So Who Are You and Why Are You Here?
So, just to introduce myself, I work for Microsoft in the Washington DC area. I'm active in the developer community in whether it be in the .NET space, Ruby, or less mainstream languages (F#, Haskell, OCaml, Lisp, etc). I also run the DC ALT.NET group since the November timeframe of last year and helped plan the latest incarnation in Seattle.
The number one reason I'm here is to help better myself. Deep down, I'm a language geek with any of the aforementioned languages. I'm one of those who strives to learn a language every year, but not just learn it, let it sink in. That's really the key. Sure, I can learn a certain dialect, but it's not quite being a native speaker. That's how I can take those practices back to my other languages to try to apply lessons learned such as functional programming paradigms (pattern matching, currying, first order functions, etc).
I also have a pretty deep interest in TDD/BDD, Domain Driven Design and of course one of Greg Young's topics, messaging. Right now in the world of messaging, I think we're in a pretty important time in the development world when messaging, multi-threaded processing and such is going to be more mainstream and hopefully less hard than it is now.
I'm also a tinkerer at heart. I'm looking at testing frameworks to help make my TDD experiences easier. I'm looking at IoC containers to help make my system just a bit more configurable. I'll look at the tests to see how each one does what it is. That's the fun part about it.
I'm also on the fringe with such topics as Spec# and Design by Contract. I'd love nothing more than to see many of the things being done at Microsoft Research become a bit more mainstream and not just seen as a place where we might see something 10 years down the line. Topics such as Spec#, F# and others have real importance now and it's best to play with them, give them our feedback and such.
So What Do You Want From Me?
Here's the thing, since I'm always looking to better myself, I'll need your help along the way. I value your feedback along the way and hopefully we'll learn from each other. Now that this is out of the way, time for more serious topics...
