This past week I attended the Visual Studio Live conference in my home town of Chicago. For three days, I attended different sessions on tooling, unit testing patterns, and a host of other topics. While the conference was mostly focused on the Microsoft tech stack, there were a handful of other sessions for either different platforms or subjects that were more abstract.
One trend I noticed from the various sessions is how we are converging upon a point where it seems like you can run any code anywhere. JavaScript now runs on servers with Node.js. Compile languages like C# to WebAssembly and execute them in the browser. Build .NET Core apps on Linux. Host your legacy Ruby on Rails app on Azure. Cats and dogs living together in harmony. Total madness! It's almost like Java's vision of "write once, run anywhere," except in a way that actually makes developers' lives easier.
The sessions were beneficial, but the best aspect of the conference was the opportunity to converse with other developers and even the session speakers. We often get caught up in our own ways, and it's hard to break outside of that bubble. Getting exposure to other ideas is always beneficial, even if you don't necessarily agree with it (don't get me started on C# 8's default methods for interfaces).
Overall, I'd say the conference was well worth my employer's money.
~ MAD