Programmers Kit

I am often encouraged to learn more about .NET and to get Microsoft certifications.

I know I will probably end up going to training & getting the certs - but…my heart will always be in the Open Source world.

The idea of Open Source is groovy like an afternoon movie. For those that aren’t aware, open source means that the software is open..so improvements can be made by outsiders to the code source.

Has Microsoft ever opened up its source code? uh, no…at least, not to my knowledge.

On top of that, what does Visual Studio offer? The ability to drag & drop code without any real understanding of what is happening? Nevermind the fact that the drag/drops within Visual Studio create the ugliest HTML code ever. I hope to see improvements in Visual Studio 2008. (Fingers crossed!)

My challenge to those just learning - go out there and find some open source software - learn it, improve upon it. Don’t ever rely on software to do your thinking for you - learn how to program, not how to program within a program.

It is great for a up & coming programmer to create software or other applications and submit them to the open source community. It’s a great way to get your name and reputation built.

Not only that, but once you learn how to program without the software, it will be no problem at all to learn the syntax of other languages.

Here are some really good open source resources:

http://www.opensource.org/ - open source initiative site

http://www.opensourcecms.com - I really, really like this site. You can demo open source content management systems and try them out before you download.

http://www.oswd.org/ - Open Source Web Designs. I am not a big fan of this site for my open source designs - although I cannot pinpoint why.

http://www.openwebdesign.org/ - Another open source web design site..I like this one a little more.

http://www.opendesigns.org/ - This one is my favorite of the open source web design sites.

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