As you can tell from our cover, this is the 15-year anniversary of CODE Magazine's first publication. When discussing our anniversary content with Markus (our publisher), I began reflecting on my tenure as Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. First, I had to figure out just when I became editor of the magazine. I was blown away to learn that the first issue of CODE I assembled was the March/April 2002 issue. I've been editing this magazine for 13 years now. Wow, how that time has flown! For my anniversary content, I thought it would be fun to take a look over the last 13 years of March/April issues and discuss the editorials
*The name of this column is borrowed from one of my long-time writers, Kevin Goff. Kevin writes about SQL Server, BI, and other topics, one of which you'll find in this issue.
Mar/Apr 2002
This was a fun issue to put together. It was my first one and my editorial covered riding new technology waves. I discussed big software trends that, if caught, provided great opportunities for developers. The waves included Microsoft Access, ASP (1.0), SQL Server 7.0, and others.
Mar/Apr 2003
In 2003, I talked about how working conditions affect the process of writing software. I discussed one of my favorite tools, the Mead Lab Book, and how keeping notes is important. I also talked about how working on a team makes you a better developer. This editorial is 12 years old and is still relevant.
Mar/Apr 2004
The editorial for this issue was one of my absolute favorites. In “Never Give Up,” I recalled my struggles to become a published author. Despite facing numerous rejections, I never gave up and finally got published! There are few feelings like publishing your first article. Over my tenure as editor of this magazine, I've “paid it forward” and given numerous authors the same chance. I felt a sense of pride last week when I saw a press release where one of my authors included writing for CODE as an accomplishment.
Mar/Apr 2005
In this issue, I gave a shout out to Robert Heinlein with my editorial: “Grokking .NET,” which discussed how it's my goal to use CODE Magazine to help you grok (fully understand) the various tools and technologies in the .NET ecosystem.
Mar/Apr 2006
For this issue, I discussed some of my favorite books on software development. Two that stand the test of time are “The Mythical Man Month” by Fred Brooks and “Postmortems” by Game Developer Magazine. These two books discuss the structural issues related to team management and the software development process. I try to reread these annually.
Mar/Apr 2007
I took a look at introspection in this issue. I was becoming a student of agile development and was fascinated by the ideas surrounding constant and continual process improvement. I'm still a student of agile, BTW!
Mar/Apr 2008
This editorial is very interesting to look at now. Two of my major topics are gone or in significant decline: Silverlight and Windows Workflow Foundation. Silverlight had a lot of promise and filled a need for .NET developers. I'm sorry to see it in decline. The other, Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), was a non-starter and has been relegated to the scrap heap, like Microsoft BOB!
Mar/Apr 2009
This issue is one of my all-time favorites. With a flower-power cover, we discussed all things agile and open source. My editorial covered the importance of open source technology in the .NET ecosystem. I could never have predicted where we are today. The landscape has completely changed with Microsoft open sourcing massive parts of the .NET Framework and tools.
March/Apr 2010
Software development in 2010 (and today) was more complex than ever. Developers were faced with more technology choices than anyone had imagined, making it a tough business to enter. My editorial discussed this problem and tips for starting small and growing knowledge over time. This is as true in 2015 as it was in 2010.
Mar/Apr 2011
I'm starting to notice a trend in my springtime editorials: They're all about learning stuff. My 2011 editorial discussed starting with basics and building from there. At this point, I was knee-deep in learning the Ruby programming languages and the Ruby Koans proved invaluable to my learning process.
Mar/Apr 2012
Yes, this editorial continued the trend of learning. It discussed the difficulty in choosing technologies and three topics still being discussed today: HTML5 versus native mobile apps, data technologies (SQL/NoSQL), and Windows 8. I always seem to be contemplating what the future brings and how we should focus our time now.
Mar/Apr 2013
This editorial managed to meld two of my favorite topics together. It compared filmmaking to software development and shows how many parallels there are. I love contrasting the art of software development with other arts. I believe that software developers are artists and our medium is brought to life via the keyboard. Wait - aren't movies made that way now?
Mar/Apr 2014
It looks like I took an issue off. But Markus followed the trend and discussed….which technologies a developer should focus on.
Mar/Apr 2015
Finally, we're at last month's issue. This issue is also one of my favorites and my editorial discusses - you guessed it - learning. Learning from mistakes, learning to get off the bleeding edge, learning other tools to make your current process better. It's all about learning.
Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me. I also want to thank the team that helps me put this magazine together every other month. First and foremost I want to thank my content editor, Melanie Spiller. Melanie spends countless hours shaping our words into Shakespeare-like prose. Next, I would like to thank the crew at EPS, Markus, Ellen, Tammy, and others. They keep the ball rolling! Next, I would like to thank our authors who create some of the best content in the world. And finally, I want thank you, our readers. Without you, this whole thing has no purpose.
