October 2008 Archives

From dozens of cool PDC 2008 videos there are two I obviously like the most:

"Deep Dive: Dynamic Languages in Microsoft .NET" by Jim Hugunin

The CLR has great support for dynamic languages like IronPython. Learn how the new Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) adds a shared dynamic type system, a standard hosting model, and support for generating fast dynamic code. Hear how these features enable languages that use the DLR to share code with other dynamic and static languages like Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and C#.

"IronRuby: The Right Language for the Right Job" by John Lam

IronRuby is a new dynamically-typed language for Microsoft .NET that offers more runtime flexibility at the expense of compile-time verification. Find out why this is a good thing in the right situations: static compile-time verification for components that need additional rigor, and dynamic typing for more fluid parts of a program. See how to use dynamic typing to create internal Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) and how to use them for systems that you create.

This is Microsoft Dynamic Languages Team, responsible for IronPython and IronRuby. Not as big as you might expect for the "most important project at MS today", but 100% blogging! Dynamic languages are the next big thing so believe me you want to keep an eye on these guys. I compiled an OPML file for the team, which you can import into your favorite blog reader to subscribe to the whole team in one shot.

In no particular order:

• John Lam - IronRuby PM
• Harry Pierson - IronPython PM
• Jimmy Schementi - PM for Silverlight integration
• Shri Borde - dev lead for the team
• Dave Remy - PM lead fro the team
• Oleg Tkachenko - Visual Studio integration
• Dave Fugate - IronPython tester
• Curt Hagenlocher - IronPython/IronRuby dev
• Jim Hugunin - architect for the team, DLR and Visual Studio languages
• Tomas Matousek - IronRuby dev
• Srivatsn Narayanan - IronPython/IronRuby tester
• Jim Deville - IronRuby tester
• Dino Viehland - IronPython dev

I still can't believe my name is on the list...