Learning curve...less getting in the way than in VS..??? Sorry, I don't get it. I use VS, MSSQL and IIS with no worries no problems. I am looking forward to VS2010. Every other product I have used seems second rate. In any enterprise situation I can't see where PHP would be a viable option over the Microsoft solution. I am not saying VS is the perfect tool or that PHP is useless, I just dont see where there is a huge learning curve or that VS has anything that gets in the way of learning or developing. Perhaps for the hobbyist or the part time code monkey PHP would be useful. And I really hate how elitist this sounds but....enterprise level applications developed by experienced programmers are going to be done with VS. I am not sure what Rise of PHP you are referring to. The article is obviously an opinion based piece but look at the HUGE assumptions without any factual backing: "More significantly, Microsoft is struggling to understand how MySQL, the relational database that's "good enough," is stealing an increasing amount of momentum from SQL Server." "PHP and MySQL have beaten Microsoft at the game it practically invented. Together, they offer a programming environment with a low barrier to entry, high productivity, more-than-sufficient functionality, low cost and a wildly enthusiastic ecosystem of developers. Dial back to the early 1990s, and that was Microsoft. In the latter part of this decade, it most certainly is not." My particular problem with this statement is that it assumes that everyone WANTS to go back to the old way of doing things. Personally I HATE classic ASP. Why would I want to go back to that style of programming when it has evolved into something more? "But Microsoft can, and must, serve the productivity programmer as well. Because if it doesn't, others clearly will." By productivity programmer do you mean novice independent coder? I am not trying to put down PHP, it is what it is. What it isn't is a replacement for VS. It would seem that Microsoft understands that, but this author did not.

I think that is actually in my job description :) Things around my office work much the same way. My boss looks at our yearly productivity and determines how well we have done. He has never watched the clock or worried about the times we come and go. We are probably much more productive because of it too.

Children are able to sustain temperatures of 105. After reaching adulthood it is almost impossible to go over 103 without going into a coma. Not impossible but beyond uncommon. It isnt a linear progression with regards to body temp and severity. 99 degrees is a low grade temp, 101 is moderate, 102 becomes severe. 107 is death simply because in order to reach that temp on a thermometer your body has to literally burn up your internal organs. I only know all of this because my wife is in the medical field and when I relayed the story to her she cracked up laughing and proceeded to explain it all to me. I just thought 107 was high and seemed unreasonable, she explained it was virtually impossible.

I had a co worker once use the excuse that she could not come in because she was running a fever of 107 degrees. I asked if she was calling from the morgue. Our team got a good laugh out of that, but then she was known for exaggeration. Needless to say, she is no longer employed by our company.

Straight out of college I took a position with a small family run business. It wasnt just that the job was bad (and the pay was pitiful), but my boss and I had serious communication issues. I literally was handed a napkin with some scribbles on it and was told that the scribbled notes were supposed to be the documentation for the project he had just sealed the deal on. Three months later when there was a critical part of the project that was missing he blamed me for missing it, because it was inside the folds of the napkin. And here I was thinking that all of the documentation was on the front, go figure. Later, when I was discussing my future with the company I expressed a desire to take on a bigger role, maybe lead the team through some projects. My boss was quick to tell me "this is a family company and you dont have the right last name for that type of position." A couple of weeks later I was handing in my resignation. Luckily, since then I have moved through some great learning positions and into a terrific job with a top notch team.

I have experienced 3 levels of Solo programming. The first was where I was 1 of 5 programmers for a company where each of us developed our own projects and consulted with each other only when there was an issue that we absolutely could not resolve on our own. The second was where I was the only programmer working for a company writing software that was very specific to their business model. The third (my current job) is where I am one of 4 programmers. Each project is assigned to the team and each team member takes a certain portion of the project to develop as their own. While this is much more of a team method it is still solo programming as opposed to paired or extreme programming. The advantages and disadvantegs to each: In the first case the advantage was that I could easily define my task list as I saw fit. That was about the only advantage. I eventaully left that company, one of the reasons being that i felt I was not growing as a programmer. There simply was NO interaction between developers. The software we were putting out was not evolving, it was cookie cutter. Individual development like this usually means no (or very slow) growth as a team. In the second case the advantage was that I was pretty much my own boss. I set deadlines, I determined priorities, I did it all. However, this was another case where my personal growth as a developer was limited to what I could find on the internet. This situation probably suits a self-taught type of developer well, but for me it lasted about 2 years then things began to get really stale. My productivity went down and my ideas were running out. The last situation, and my current position, is my preferred methods for development. I am able to grow as a developer due to the amount of interaction I have with the team. As a team we are able to designate task specific roles for each member. When there are questions about the database, well we have a DBA role that is filled by one of the team. She doesn't have to worry about Web 2.0 stuff because we have a UI guy that keeps on top of that. The only downside is the same thing that makes this such a powerful development model and that is interaction. In order for this to work you absolutely MUST have a solid team that can work well together. Without that you will run into many instances of team members complaining that other members are trying to tell them how to do their job, or trying to do their job for them. As for your boss who has 20 years of experience, if he is truly that ri

I have owned a Wii for almost a year now. Havent played much on the PS3 so I cannot give a comparison, but I can tell you that I have enjoyed the Wii a lot. It has better than average graphics but it more than makes up for any lackings in the visual department with its unique playstyle. If you stick to games created by Nintendo you cant go wrong. Unfortunately some of the other game companies rushed out to make below average Wii games only to have something on the market. Games like Zelda, Metroid, Res Evil 4 and Madden were all very well done. You wont be disappointed with a Wii.

I use a Dell M2010 for development. It has a 20.1" widescreen, but dont call it a laptop until you try using it in your lap. It is much more of a mobile desktop. Has the horsepower for development and the mobility I need to visit and demo at multiple clients in a single day. But I am getting off track... The 20"W is perfect for me, but I have a 24" wide at home that I use as well and honestly I cannot tell much difference in real estate between the 1600 res on the 20" and the 1920 res on the 24". It is nice to have enough space to pin open the toolbox, property window, solution explorer and server explorer all at once, but hardly necessary.

I find that programmers that have some background in music dont tend to remain code monkeys for very long. Typically these are the people who start as programmers and end up as project managers.