December 11, 2023

Professional Development – 2023 – Week 49

Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/54585499@N04/

.NET

6 INSANE Things You Didn’t Know You Could Write in C# (via Nick Chapsas)

Note that these concepts are possible but aren’t best practices.

  1. You can overload operators, for example “/”, to manipulate strings rather than do division.
  2. You can await anything, even numbers, by creating a static GetAwaiter method.
  3. You can make ranges with just numbers (e.g., for(i in 5)) by making your own enumerators.
  4. Extension methods can be used creatively on types (e.g., var today = 30.November(2023)).
  5. You can monitor thread-locked objects by making extension methods and saying that they’re part of the System.Threading namespace.
  6. (Not worth describing because it’s just esoteric language features and naming classes after keywords.)

Why Aren’t More Developers Using C#? (via Nick Chapsas)

  • C# is on track to be the fourth most used language (per Tiobe index)
  • Some suspect the stigma is around it originating from a Windows-only system, closed-source. However, VSCode and TypeScript (also from Microsoft) are popular as well; plus .NET runs on any platform and is open-source.
  • C# gets features and performance increases at a faster rate than other languages.
  • Many developers get their C# experience through Unity.
  • It’s difficult to say “I hate {language}” unless you’ve tried it recently; languages evolve.
  • Many devs don’t want to get out of their comfort zone, lest their skills go stale on their current stack.

Leadership

How Leaders Fake Psychological Safety (via HBR)

The following are ways leaders think they’re creating psychological safety, but end up making things worse:

  • Feigning uncertainty to appear open to others’ ideas
  • Asking for feedback they don’t really want, then not acting on it
  • Responding to failure with artificial compassion

Overcoming Your Need for Constant Validation at Work (via HBR)

  • Do a gut check — is this the right action, or do I want to be seen in a certain way
  • Formulate your own opinions first rather than agreeing with the most persuasive person in the room
  • Try a “so what” test — e.g., “so what if this decision isn’t universally popular?”
  • Give it 24 hours
  • Keep promises you make to yourself so that you build self-trust and self-reliance