Dot-Net, or Not Yet?

Dot-Net, or Not Yet?

Y esterday, I was talking with one of VCDJ's frequent contributors, brainstorming about the next article he ought to write. "How about something on C#?" I asked.

"Uhh," he replied, "the fact is I haven't written a single line of C# code yet."

"OK, no sweat," I said. "Want to do a piece on Managed Code?"

"Haven't gotten to that yet."

"Fine. Interested in writing about using C++ within the .NET framework?"

"Look," he finally blurted. "I'm not even thinking about .NET yet. I've got to concern myself with writing code for products that have got to ship now. Alpha and betaware are just going to have to wait."

You've probably got a lot in common with this author. That is, like him, you've got a lot of demands on your time, and almost all of them have to do with getting your product out the door. And while your employer (whether that employer is a company or yourself) realizes you've got to stay on top of new developments, that gets ?shall we say, deprioritized in the face of looming code-complete dates.

This learn-what's-coming-up-but-use-what-you've-got dilemma is hardly new to developers. It's pretty well accepted, however, that VS.NET will cause the biggest waves in the development community since ?since ?sheesh, since ever. You can't wait 'til it ships to learn about it—there's too much there. So whatcha gonna do? Here's my advice: