RE: Scoble Dives into .NET
OK, I'm motivated to moving from an advanced user to a programmer. I know it'll take two years. That's my goal. Now, I have a few advantages over advanced users. I used to edit Visual Basic Programmer's Journal. I understand at a basic level how Windows works. I've actually read most of "Code Complete."
Why will I focus only on .NET? Well, I only want to write apps for Windows and I need to start somewhere. If other things get more important over the next two years, then we can switch, but I don't think they will.
Advice is already flowing in from around the globe. One guy said "don't learn on Visual Studio, use the .NET Framework SDK. The problem with starting with VS.NET is it hides a bunch of stuff, leads you down certain development patterns, that might not make sense. I think if you learn the SDK tools first, then move onto VS.NET, you'll better understand what it's doing for you." Simon says.
[Robert Scoble]
You'll enjoy the constant discovery. After a decade of doing this professionally (and a decade of doing it in amateur mode), I'm still learning. In fact, there's so much to learn now that you couldn't possibly learn it all. It's good, because it means everyone you meet will know things you don't, and you'll know things they don't. So in one sense, you'll know a TON after two years, but in another, there's a whole lot you won't know. The best you can hope for is to know what you don't know, so you know when it's time to learn new things.
I sort of agree with Simon. If you VS.NET and use the wizards, it should be an important thing for you to understand what they're doing to take the magic and mystery out of it. You never know when you're going to need to debug into code the system wrote for you, and it helps to know what it all does.
[The .NET Guy]
+1. I've always maintained that code generative facilities/wizards of tools should serve to make the programmer more efficient, not supplement their knowledge.