Interview - Doug Seven of DotNetJunkies.com

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Whether you're a .NET newbie, or a seasoned hand at this technology, you've probably spent a little time over at DotNetJunkies.com, where they "put the dot in .NET". The site is Mecca to many on the .NET trail, comprehensively supporting the developer as they expand their skills in the .NET arena.

One of the founders of this cult-status site is Doug Seven, who's been building applications with the .NET Framework since the summer of 2000. But, not content with the challenges of running the site, Doug's co-authored five books related to the .NET Framework: Programming Data-Driven Web Applications with ASP.NET (Sams), ASP.NET: Tips, Tutorials & Code (Sams), Professional ADO.NET (Wrox), Developing Custom Controls for ASP.NET (Sams), and ASP.NET Security (Wrox).

He also consults on the technology to clients ranging from Microsoft to MIT, and has worked with C#, Visual Basic .NET, Web applications, mobile device applications, XML Web Services, Windows Forms development, and console and service applications.

We took a few moments of Doug's time to find out what makes this .NET guru tick...

Doug, hello and welcome to SitePoint. Please, tell us a little about yourself, and your programming background? What got you into Web development? And what about your goatee in your ASP.NETPro picture...?

Wow...that's a lot for a first question! I'll see what I can do.

I'm the son of a computer programmer. My father got his first job as a programmer the same week that I was born. As a result, I grew up with computers around me and dabbled with them a bit. I wrote my first application, a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure game in BASIC on a TRS-80 when I was 10 years old. I have since moved on to more elaborate applications (I think).

As a late teenager and early 20-something I thought computers were for geeks and scientists and decided that I'd rather be a rock star. I started a band (called sexwithsarah: circa 1992-1999 -- see www.mp3.com/sexwithsarah) and pursued the good life. Of course, true to my roots the music was primarily electronic and I used a Macintosh Quadra 650 to sequence it all. It was around 1995 that a band-mate showed me how to develop Websites in HTML. After that I couldn't be stopped. I was developing Websites for anyone who wanted one at no charge.

That grew into ASP and Visual Basic. I went to work for Microsoft as the Technical Lead of the tier one developer support group. That is where I met my business partner, Donny Mack. After working at MSFT for about a year, I left to be a Web Developer at GoftCertificates.com. The second week I was there I went to the Professional Developer's Conference in Orlando, FL and learned about the .NET Framework. Which leads us to the next question...(oh, and the goatee? It enables all of my super powers -- shaving it off is like Kryptonite to Superman).

What was your inspiration to start DotNetJunkies.com?

DotNetJunkies.com was sort of an accident. Donny and I had decided to start our own consulting company, named CodeJunkies.NET. We were doing basic ASP consulting. After we learned about the .NET Framework we decided to write about what we learned and put it up on a Website. Originally it was called ASPNextGen.com. Basically it was a hobby that grew out of hand.

By the time the .NET Framework Beta 2 came out we'd changed to DotNetJunkies.com and had attracted over 1,000 members. Now we have over 20,000 members, who generate 2 million page views each month. We have a new build of the Website coming out soon, with a whole bunch of new features.

.NET

A lot of people are unclear what exactly .NET is, both consumers and developers alike. How do you answer the question "What is .NET?"

Simply put, .NET is a marketing term Microsoft uses for just about everything. An easier question to answer is, "What is the .NET Framework?" The .NET Framework is a new computing platform Microsoft developed to make application development easier, make the applications you develop richer, enable your applications to run on multiple devices, and enable you to develop in any development language you prefer.

Microsoft also uses the term ".NET" to refer to server technology and a general marketing initiative.

You've been developing with .NET for quite some time now, from before the public beta phase. How did you get involved? Did you approach Microsoft or did they approach you?

As we were building up the articles on the Website, Donny and I were each emailed separately by the two guys that invented ASP.NET, Mark Anders and Scott Guthrie. At the time we had the only Website that wasn't run by Microsoft, and that used ASP.NET (called ASP+ at the time). We were actually running ASPNextGen.com on the pre-beta 1 bits (as beta 1 had not been released at that time). Anders and Guthrie had emailed us to say how much they appreciated what we were doing. Since then we've had continuous interaction with them, Rob Howard and many others on the .NET Frameworks team.

How much influence do developers like yourself, who are involved from an early stage but outside the Microsoft camp, have on the future development of a strategy like .NET?

Microsoft has been very great about having the developer community involved in the ongoing development of the .NET Framework. As Website owners and authors we were given interim builds of the .NET Framework on a bi-weekly basis and our feedback was used to make changes and enhancements to the .NET Framework. They continue to involve us in the future enhancements of the .NET Framework, although we're sworn to secrecy!

What are your three favourite features of .NET 'The Framework'? Is there anything you would like to see added or changed?

I think my three favourite features would have to be the language flexibility, the inheritance capabilities, and the simplicity of use.

Having a single platform where you can develop in anyone of 25 languages, with more on the way, and where every language has the same performance and capabilities is great. I don't know how else to say it. Additionally, the ability to inherit capabilities from one class, into another, and the ability to inherit across language boundaries is something I use a lot. All in all the simplicity is my favourite feature. Granted, at first it can seem a bit daunting and scary, but one you shift your thinking to the .NET way, it becomes very intuitive and natural.

It's hard to say what I would like to see added, since I get a little insight and influent as to what's coming.