Developer self-improvement … or self-flagellation? -- Visual Studio Magazine

Desmond File

Developer self-improvement … or self-flagellation?

In the course of putting together the launch issue of Redmond Developer News, I ran across an interesting blog, which we highlight in our DevScope section in the front of the magazine. It's called An App a Day (www.anappaday.com ), and it essentially recounts one .NET developer's personal challenge to write a software application a day, every day, for a month. Thirty days later, Dana Hanna emerged, blinking, from his self-imposed coding exile with a passel of applications and a fresh mastery of C#. He also found himself with a pretty engaged audience of fellow coders who watched Hanna's project with interest.

The effort started as a lark. "When it started I was being goofy, wearing a Jedi robe on a webcam, showing up to code whenever ... I never imagined that it would net this much attention."

Hanna today is busy lining up his next efforts, including a second run at An App a Day. A separate effort, called An App a Week, will bring in third party coders to help improve some of the original 30 applications, as well as to create new applications. You can find both at www.TheSoftwareJedi.com.

Have you ever taken a coding idea to extremes?

Posted by Michael Desmond on 11/07/2006

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