Insights into the .NET Architecture...

Last summer, Bruce Eckel and Bill Venners came to Seattle to talk to the C# team, which lead to the Anders interviews that have been featured on Artima. During a break between talking to more important people, I got the chance to talk to Bruce and Bill for 20 or 30 minutes, and this interview is the result.

One of the cool things about my job is that I sometimes get to meet “important people”. I'd always really enjoyed Bruce Eckel's C++ books (I learned C++ from some of his early C++ titles), and it was a distinct pleasure to be able to meet him and express my appreciation.

Feel free to comment on the interview in this entry, or on the comment page for the interview. Special thanks if you find a place where I've said something stupid, so I can correct it. (No, I didn't use the word “Indite”...)

[Update: In a comment, Tom asks how Java requiring a JVM on the other end is any different than .NET requiring .NET on the other end.

My point - which didn't really come through very well - was that presuming what you have on the other side is <X> is a constraint. The way around this is to use Web Services, which are platform agnostic. In that sort of world, the ability to ship code around the network doesn't really gain you anything, because you can't do it on all platforms.

]

• Anonymous
  February 09, 2004
  I like your explanation of "burning" the base class with MarshalByRef. I was just thinking the other day "gee it would be nice to inherit a Thread object and make an entire class a thread." I suppose that would have the same effect as well -- having to derive from Thread and nothing else. Good explanation.
• Anonymous
  February 10, 2004
  Except that the Thread class (in C#) is sealed (but not for J# I suppose).
• Anonymous
  February 10, 2004
  inheriting from Thread ala Java???
• Anonymous
  February 10, 2004
  I haven't examined the interview in great detail, but if I find any errors, I be happy to point them out. :)
  
  I worked for a short time with Chuck Allison in 2000. He's a great guy, and he spoke highly of Bruce Eckel. I never seen him, but I do read his blog. Was he a good interviewer?
• Anonymous
  February 12, 2004
  Bill did the lead part of the interview, with Bruce doing color commentary (for want of a better term), so I don't think I saw enough of Bruce's interviewing skills to have an opinion.
  
  He certainly had no trouble picking up on things quickly.
• Anonymous
  February 17, 2004
  Eric - In this interview, you said: "And I think there's one other issue. It's going to sound strange when I say this, but I think we actually care more about not constraining whom you are talking to than Java does. When you send mobile code in Java, you're assuming the other side has a JVM that supports what you want to do. That brings up the same sort of issues you had with DCOM and CORBA. Anytime you're doing something that presumes what's on the other end... "
  
  With .Net, we're presuming that the .Net Framework (correct version) is present on a
  user's machine too.
  
  This has been a HUGE roadblock to my clients' adoption of .Net WinForms apps. The same battle that people fought with applets back in the day.
  
  What's the difference?
• Anonymous
  December 18, 2004
  Helpful For MBA Fans.