Aside from that the people running the technocracy are likely to still be human, and thus prone to humanity's usual defects?

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I'm not keen on VB.NET (even though I'm using it on my current job) for three reasons: 1. I grew up on curly braces, and have an irrational preference for them. 2. VB.NET, unlike C#, is wholly proprietary. There isn't even an ECMA standard for it, let alone ANSI or ISO. 3. I spent nine years maintaining various VB6 codebases, and I have the scars on my forearm to prove it. (Remember, kids: down, not across.) However, the C++ hotshot who thinks every class member should be made public so that "nothing will break" needs to stop smoking my catnip.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

I dropped out of college in 1999 and have since managed to make a living as a developer for twelve years, but it hasn't been easy. Many HR people will automatically bin a resume which doesn't mention having a BS in computer science or mathematics, which strikes me as a form of class-based discrimination in a country where college is only for the wealthy or those willing to sell themselves into indentured servitude by taking on tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

I call it, "You're gonna pay me to use this shit, right?".

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

Only when I don't get to do things my way and use HTML5 Boilerplate, which takes advantage of Modernizr.js to deal with all of IE's bullshit.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

It's easy to go so long without learning the basics. Just ask somebody who has been driving cars for 20 years but can't even swap out a flat tire -- because they've always been able to have somebody else do it for them.

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Having to play sysadmin is a distraction from coding. Not that I can't fix my own machine if necessary (sometimes I use a M-79), but I'd rather not have to do so.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

I sure as hell don't ask for $120/hour to do C#. I save that for when my recruiter says she needs a VB6 developer or somebody who knows bugger-all about RPG or COBOL.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

I held a job like that from 2003 until 2009. Never, ever work for family.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

What really matters is getting paid. If I get paid the same amount per hour either way to use C# or VB, then I'll keep my preferences (C#) to myself and give the client his money's worth.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

The last reason, involving extending arrays, shouldn't be relevant. If you're wasting time extending arrays instead of manipulating a generic list, and then calling List.ToArray() (or List(of T).ToArray() if you insist on VB) when you're done manipulating the collection's contents and need to return the array, then you're probably doing it wrong.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

I don't care one way or the other about the Metro UI. I tend to take jobs at .NET shops because they're willing to hire me. I'll probably use Metro when I take a contract at a shop which has standardized on Windows 8.

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We should have bribed the DNS root admins to censor the entire US government, instead.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

If you want it all done your way, you have to do it yourself.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

Just be grateful you're not using VB6.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.

I've quit jobs over this. If you want me to lie to you, you should have made that clear when you hired me. I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear, no matter how much you bully me.

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Clear requirements, sane deadlines, reliable hardware and software, a reasonably free hand to admin his own machine, and time-and-a-half for overtime.

When posting here, I do not represent anybody but myself.