"Load it, check it, quick - rewrite it, Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it" -- What Daft Punk Teaches About Tech
The title of this text is a piece of a Daft Punk’s song called Technology. Though this song was written a few years ago, it still incites me to the feeling that to do something right we must do many things in a short time, and in an automated way. Do it now and faster. It is a call for action. Perhaps it's because I dive deep into data, but this magic really speaks to me. It wasn't always the case. As much as I wanted to be ready to code, jam it, break, rip it, or whatever Daft Punk suggests as the base line activity for a modern world, there was a lot of hand holding and hand stitching in the early coding environments.
That has changed. Basically, we are in a much simpler time now.
This post was written by one of our Microsoft BizSpark Ambasaddors in Brazil, Carlos Eduardo Pinto, who founded BizSpark startup Pratical One.
When I started system development in 2003, .NET was at the beginning of its use as a programming platform. Most of the programs were using Visual Basic 6.0 to desktop and ASP to web, where I was coding. Looking back, I wonder how I could code in a jam environment. A very limited one.
Things that seems easy now -- like an autocomplete field -- were almost impossible to do back then. If you didn't get it intuitively, a developer had to waste a lot of time trying to figure out the solution. However, time is money and limited and there always a huge backlog to attend.
However, .NET grew up and spread around. LINQ replaces Store Procedures, AJAX replaces hard work at Javascript and Webservice replaces EDI (or part of it). Sounds simple now, but back in the early environments, it was certainly not.
How Times Have Changed
This week, I built a system to figure out some technical possibilities. In exactly 5 days, using Visual Studio 2012, C# and Windows Azure I created an entire system, including front end, batch and database. If I used the old ASP, it would take a month or even more, because besides the fact to code the system, I would have to find a server, set it up and so much more.
It’s like a musician has to worry about finding a place to play, set the equipment, tune it. Then, after they've busted a gut doing that, when they are tired from all the pulling, pushing and setting up, they can focus to create and play music. If you are musician, that should not be the focus. Same thing with building an app or being a developer.
Recently, Microsoft launched a new tool called Apps for Office and Sharepoint. It is in developer preview, but it reveals the company wants to help developers to focus on what they know best. Creation!
This is a good move to support those who want to resolve simple things in a coding environment, without having to be the roadie, the crew, and the performer. At least at the first glance.
In fact there is no longer excuses to create new things, as easy as possible, to make money and to win the world. More than ever, it is in our own hands do that or keep in the same old place.
Maybe we are going to move to another Daft Punk’s track; Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, but this is another conversation.