Thoughts On Software

Books like Peopleware reported studies emphasizing the importance of providing a distraction-free environment for developers to achieve high productivity; however the pair programming movement seems to discount the idea that developers need a quiet place to concentrate to do their best work. Certainly there are trade-offs. As I've heard it said, more often than not whatever issue your having, someone around you probably already has the answer.  I am currently working in a noisy open environment and have become more and more aware of the difficulty of getting into "the zone". Although programming gets done, it seems that my thinking is at a very shallow level.  I find it hard to hold several concepts in my head at the same time or switch between tactical and strategic thinking.  I easily "lose my place" and have to constantly restart the sequential process of analysis. I find myself craving that quiet moment to truly concentrate - to slip into a state of flow, so...

I am starting an online course to learn MongoDB. I was a little turned off when I realized all the course code was written in Python.  Not that I'm against learning a new language; I was just not expecting to have to learn a new  language on top of learning the new syntax around MongoDB.  Nevertheless, I'm sure it will be interesting.  However it prompted me to check on the popularity of Python.  It seemed like sort of an obscure language to choose. It turns out Python is more popular than I imagined. According to the TIOBE survey, it was somewhere near the bottom of the top ten, but what was more surprising was that C is still the most  popular language (closely followed by Java - no surprise).  I suppose it is all the embedded devices that use C for its efficiency.

I'm beginning to feel like .NET development may not be a solid long-term career path. When I look at Microsoft becoming less and less relevant in the consumer space with several failed initiatives such as Silverlight, Zune, Bing, and WinPhone7, I wonder how long before they are marginalized in the business space as well.