In my current life I'm a consultant contributing to design and development of software for a health care company. At the moment my work consists primarily of ASP.NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005, though plenty of other technology is involved (Oracle; .NET 1.1; etc.). I'm also currently in charge of evaluating and demonstrating Visual Studio Team System internally. This gives you an idea of topics you'll see on this blog. I enjoy digging deep into technology so expect some material not covered often by others.

I started on .NET 1.0 when it was in pre-release, before it had any IDE support. I knew it would soon be big and I managed to get a couple articles published in Software Development magazine, but I foolishly did not keep up the publishing momentum, something I hope to rectify. Unfortunately the company I was at took a major financial hit and let roughly 80% of the company go. For my next job, I wound up in the Java world, taking the position to maintain a paycheck. After coming to grips with reality in a post-.COM era, this company downsized and although they kept me on, I soon decided to leave. I was a bit disillusioned with the software world and took some time off. I jumped back in eventually, again in a Java shop, working for a government contractor. Around this time I was given an opportunity to contribute to a Java book, Professional Java Programming with JDK 5, a book that is highly regarded based on feedback at amazon.com. We just finished the next edition of the book, Professional Java Programming with JDK 6, which should be in bookstores early 2007.

So I was a Java developer in my previous life, sandwiched between the Microsoft work of the past (VS 6, MFC, COM, a dash of .NET) and the Microsoft work of the present (mostly .NET, but I jump at a chance to do C++). I'm ecstatic to have the position I do now, getting to use Microsoft technology and truly utilize my skills. I'm passionate about software development - both getting down and dirty and spending late nights hacking, and also reeling in this inclination and focusing on the users of the software, the customer and what makes good business sense.

This is primarily a Microsoft blog, however if Java or other technologies make a guest appearance, don't be surprised. If you are a reader of either PJP book or in general have suggestions for topics or questions, please e-mail me at suggestions AT artofcoding DOT net. For all other correspondence please e-mail me at jeff AT artofcoding DOT net.

Thank you, and welcome!

P.S. The pun in the domain name is both intentional and serendipitous because the domain name was available.

P.P.S. I do ask that conversation in comments stay civil. No flame wars please. I have no desire to censor comments, but any comment I consider excessively harsh will be deleted without notice.