In the year 2000, I was forced to learn a new programming language, Microsoft C#, aka C-Sharp. As a decades long Basic and Visual Basic developer, abandoning something I put so much effort into was difficult. It didn’t take long for me to understand the immense power of this high-level programming language.
Ordering machines to entertain and perform for me was an intoxicating experience. Having those machines dictate end-user tasks… that was a pure-cut drug. C-Sharp is a thick 1980s line sprinkled across the mirror of rapidly evolving computer processing power, and the razor? Web technology. Nothing enhanced the high of writing code like seeing it lit-up inside a browser window.
In the late 2010s I cheated on her with a trashy little language called PHP. PHP was exciting, fun, and did things it shouldn’t do. Eventually, most notably with Microsoft making C-Sharp compatible with Linux, I returned to the beautiful elegance of the most powerful programming language I had ever used. I run back and forth between my two loves now, PHP and C-Sharp. PHP is starting to lose its luster, but it’s everywhere.
As much as I instinctively want to hate a gigantic corporation like Microsoft, I have nothing but respect for their dedication to developers. They give us tools, education, and an endless supply of useful help. They know technology in a way most companies don’t, or choose not to.