ALT.NET for the Rest of Us

If you follow Microsoft comings and goings, one of the more interesting developments (at least to me) over the last 8 months has been the formation of a community that calls themselves ALT.NET.

As explained in What is ALT .NET?, the term was coined by David Laribee last year and describes a group of

like-minded individuals within the larger world of the Microsoft® .NET Framework who felt a growing frustration that Microsoft tooling, guidance, and .NET culture at large did not reflect or support an important set of core values.

The name is misleading because even though most members are from the .NET community, the group's purpose is to promote a set of core values that are platform/language independent. To summarize from Jeremy's article:

1. Keeping an eye out for a better way.
2. Adopt the best of any community.
3. Not content with the status quo -- experimenting with techniques.
4. It's the principles and knowledge that really matter.

The members of the ALT.NET group are distinguished technologist and many are productive bloggers, e.g. codebetter.com and Ayende@Rahien. Also, the discussion group altdotnet is very active (over 6200 posts since the beginning of the year) and lively. There are also periodic group meetings (see the ALT.NET site for links) that use Open Space Technology (OST) to organize conference agendas. Check out the interesting videos (by David Laribee) from the recent conference in Seattle.

So why are ALT.NETters not like the rest of us? We're experienced developers that use modern tools and techniques, but we:

• Have never used enterprise-class frameworks and tools (e.g. Biztalk, P&P Application Blocks, ESB, TFS, etc.).
• Have never worked with a "Software Architect". We have always had to design and develop our own systems.
• Have experimented with Agile development methodologies but have never been part of a "real" Agile team.
• Think Pair programming is an April Fool's joke.
• As with Agile, we know about all the different "driven" software development approaches, but have never had the opportunity to fully embrace any of them.
• Have heard about Boo, Spec#, and F#, but have never used them.

This list could go on and on. Many have never used an ORM or the MVC design pattern either. The point isn't what we know versus what they know. I've talked about Stereotyping Programmers before and how it's just plain bad. I think the ALT.NET community has made a conscious effort to improve their inclusiveness.

The ALT.NET group is certainly on the cutting edge of useful and innovative software technologies and techniques. We may not understand everything they're talking about, but the conversation is well worth listening to. Someday you may be faced with a challenge that will need just the type of solutions they've been discussing.