Get Started, Start a Fire

I'm a .Net programmer. Some programmers say that with embarrassment or downright shame these days, but not me. Now, I'm sure good ol' uncle Bill and crew have engaged in some rather nefarious business practices over the years, but what major U.S. corporation doesn't have a few skeletons in the closet? Hey, programming the Microsoft way has fed my family for years. Frankly, I'm far too self-centered to spend my time developing political opinions about gay skeletons. So I have neither a war to wage nor an axe to grind against Microsoft. I'm fairly satisfied with the .Net programming opportunities available to me in the marketplace (that's in Austin, TX, by the way). I'm comfortable creating applications based on the .Net framework, and I will continue doing that professionally.

So why bother with Ruby on Rails? The simplest answer is: I want to be a better programmer. Like I said, I'm comfortable with .Net. But I readily admit that Microsoft's marketing plan does not necessarily lead programmers to create software using the highest degree of craftsmanship. It's time to be uncomfortable again. Even if I never use RoR professionally, I want to broaden my understanding of my chosen profession.

I will use every resource available to me to further my education and progress. This includes easily available stuff like http://www.rubyonrails.org/, RoR books, tons of online samples and tutorials, etc., as well as local resources like the Austin on Rails developer community. Hopefully, I'll be successful enough with my experiments to post some of them online, so that the world might gratefully acknowledge my genius by mailing me hundreds of cards and letters containing their good wishes, offers of moral support and prayers for my progress along this pilgrimage, and small honorariums (cashier's checks only please, no personal checks).

So here we go.