So you are a .NET developer?

For me I suppose I’m more specifically perceived to be an ASP.NET developer. However most of you will agree that to be an "ASP.NET" developer means a bit more than it used to when we were Web developers at the turn of the Millennium. In any given day/project an ASP.NET developer is assumed to be a master at

• UI design & graphics,
• HTML, CSS, JavaScript & Browser Quirks,
• ASP.NET itself, User controls, Custom control development & Ajax,
• OO, C# & VB.NET,
• Web Services,
• XML, XPATH, XQuery & XSLT,
• Data Access concepts,
• Code generation tool kits, Build scripts,
• SQL, Database design,
• IIS,
• Security (which opens a whole new door)
• Etc…

Its little wonder that a lot of the code I see on the web, user group list and projects I interact with, is of a average quality. “Jack of all trades, Master of none”. I don’t want to sound offensive or seem like I’m sitting on my high horse. I’m just calling it as I see it. It’s damn hard to learn just a few of those skills let alone be competent at many of them. However the intention of this Blog is to provide some direction, process and reusable code for the masses. I figure I have done the bleeding while learning this stuff, I have been to the user group meetings, the Tech Eds, watched countless hours of webcasts so this is my attempt to aggregate the useful stuff I have collected so less time can be wasted and more time can be spent on productivity or recreation :)

I’m looking forward to covering the following topics in future Blogs: Security, SQL Server Performance tips, Code Generation, Productivity and quality control tools, Authorization Providers, storing and cataloging files in the database. I will sprinkle in some other trendy topics as I go but I hope all of this helps you towards building your killer app.

Gumble