What do you get when you combine 3 experienced .NET developers, one laptop
with only 5 hours of battery life, ASP.NET v2.0, one page of loose specs, and
an ample supply of Texas barbecue? The Code Room! In this videotaped competition
three developers have only five hours to create a fully functioning new web
app using ASP.NET 2.0.
During
a recent MSDN event in Houston, Texas three developers were chosen to take place
in a pilot for a new series called "The Code Room." After attending
a presentation on ASP.NET v2.0 our lucky developers were locked away in a warehouse
and given the challenge to create a fully functioning e-commerce web application
using only Visual Studio 2005 Beta, SQL Server Express, and a laptop running
on batteries with no power cord. TSS.NET spoke to the executive producer and
one of the three developers involved to learn more about this unusual .NET developer's
challenge.
The developers were Chris Menegay, Scott Bellware, and Tracy Sawyer. Chris
is a Microsoft Regional Director in the Dallas area who specializes in .NET
architectural consulting. Scott is a C# MVP and a .NET consultant from Austin
specializing in OO and Test Driven Development. Tracy is a .NET software engineer
for The System Shop in Houston.
The
requirements for the application were fairly straightforward and directed at
using the new features of ASP.NET v2.0 that they had just seen demoed such as
Master Pages, Personalization, and Security. But as the team quickly found out,
there were a lot of details left out of the specs that had them making decisions
for the users themselves. This is the list of requirements for the application.
Allow anonymous & authenticated users to add products to their order
Create a method for existing users to reset their passwords
Allow existing customers to log in and see their order history
Recognize existing users and allow them to add products to their order
but prompt them to log in when attempting to complete the order
Utilize master pages to store the theme and navigation of the website
The video does a good job at depicting what it takes to move new technology
concepts from a presentation into an actual solution. The developers were surprised
at how much of the work that they started to complete manually was actually
automated in Visual Studio 2005.
"There was quite a bit of friendly squabbling about the right approach
to do certain things. There was only one machine so while somebody was trying
something out, you had to wait." - Chris Menegay
While
the pilot episode is only a half hour long, the film crew shot more than nine
hours of footage. Unlike many developer oriented productions, this film crew
was right out of Hollywood. The director of the episode was Darrell Suto who
directed "Bill Nye, the Science Guy". The Co-Executive Producer was
C.F. Bien who has credits with Fox and NBC. The producer was Mark Strachan,
who has worked on major motion pictures such as "Charlie's Angels"
and "Rush Hour". In addition to its release here and on MSDN, the
pilot will also be shown on several television stations across the country starting
with Seattle on December 10th.
"The primary context of the series is to show the social and team
aspects of programming" - Paul Murphy, Executive Producer
In
the case of these three developers the interactions were very social with Tracy
taking to tattooing "C#" to Scott's bald head while Chris worked with
the Login controls. We also understand that there might have been some singing
involved during the van ride to the warehouse. The results are both humorous
and insightful as we watch how the mind of the .NET developer goes about integrating
new technology and working in a team environment under pressure.
To learn more about The CodeRoom or to register to become a contestant, visit
www.TheCodeRoom.com.
Editors Note: This episode is a pilot for what the producers hope will
be an ongoing series. They are VERY interested in receiving feedback on the
video including new ideas, what you thought of the developers, and how to make
the show better. So take a look and hit the "Post Reply" link
Paul Ballard is a MCSD, MCAD, and MCSE certified consultant and the President of The Rochester Consulting Partnership, Inc. He has more than 15 years of experience designing and building client/server and web based distributed applications and is currently specializing in Microsoft's .NET technologies as a consultant, speaker, and trainer. Paul is also a volunteer with INETA and an editor for TheServerSide.NET.
During
a recent MSDN event in Houston, Texas three developers were chosen to take place
in a pilot for a new series called "The Code Room." After attending
a presentation on ASP.NET v2.0 our lucky developers were locked away in a warehouse
and given the challenge to create a fully functioning e-commerce web application
using only Visual Studio 2005 Beta, SQL Server Express, and a laptop running
on batteries with no power cord. TSS.NET spoke to the executive producer and
one of the three developers involved to learn more about this unusual .NET developer's
challenge.
The
requirements for the application were fairly straightforward and directed at
using the new features of ASP.NET v2.0 that they had just seen demoed such as
Master Pages, Personalization, and Security. But as the team quickly found out,
there were a lot of details left out of the specs that had them making decisions
for the users themselves. This is the list of requirements for the application.
While
the pilot episode is only a half hour long, the film crew shot more than nine
hours of footage. Unlike many developer oriented productions, this film crew
was right out of Hollywood. The director of the episode was Darrell Suto who
directed "Bill Nye, the Science Guy". The Co-Executive Producer was
C.F. Bien who has credits with Fox and NBC. The producer was Mark Strachan,
who has worked on major motion pictures such as "Charlie's Angels"
and "Rush Hour". In addition to its release here and on MSDN, the
pilot will also be shown on several television stations across the country starting
with Seattle on December 10th.
In
the case of these three developers the interactions were very social with Tracy
taking to tattooing "C#" to Scott's bald head while Chris worked with
the Login controls. We also understand that there might have been some singing
involved during the van ride to the warehouse. The results are both humorous
and insightful as we watch how the mind of the .NET developer goes about integrating
new technology and working in a team environment under pressure.