Samuel Jack

I've embraced each new version of C# as it was released, seeking to plumb the depths of what the new features made possible. My favourite release was C# 3.0, and the features that made functional-style programming a reality. This was the inspiration I needed to start my blog, launching with a series on solving Project Euler problems in functional-flavoured C# (http://blog.functionalfun.net/search/label/Project%20Euler)

I delivered my first WPF application to a customer when WPF was still in beta. More recently, I've delivered or worked on several commercial WPF applications for clients including http://mixedinkey.com/, http://mashup.mixedinkey.com/ and http://hibernatingrhinos.com/products/uberprof Amongst my skills relating to WPF: * I adopted the MVVM approach to WPF right from the start * I've developed several custom controls including charting, and waveform rendering/editing controls * I've learned to appreciate the power of lose-coupling enabled by an event aggregator centered architecture.

I love the elegance and power of Asp.Net. I've delivered several public websites, including http://community.mixedinkey.com/ and http://churches.evangelical-times.org/ and the technology that powers www.truthvine.com, my startup.

It was .Net and C# which fuelled my love for development. I got started with .Net when it was still in beta, and have never wavered in my devotion to it since! I love reading about the inner workings of .Net, and this has paid dividends in giving me the understanding needed to optimise code. My favourite example of this is when I rewrote a computation engine which took 2 or 3 minutes to do its thing. Once I was done with it completed in just a few hundred milliseconds. This opened up many opportunities for the client, since we could provide features that enabled them to make changes and see the results in almost real time.

I've been responsible for moving Mixed In Key's server architecture over to AWS. We've made use of ElasticBeanstalk for auto-scaling, fault-tolerant services, RDS for robust SQL Server provision and DynamoDb for easily scalable NoSql data storage. My own startup is currently powered by AWS, using EC2 for compute, and S3 for storage of audio files.

Having fallen in love with WPF for desktop development, it was a natural step to adopt Silverlight when we needed apps for the Web. My biggest contribution in this area is the Silverlight-based Management UI that supports RavenDb 2.0. My favourite feature is the infinite scrolling approach I developed that allows DataGrids to display lists of millions of rows using just-in-time loading.

Continuous Integration is one of the development practices that I always urge clients to adopt. I got started on this crusade by introducing the CruiseControl.Net at my employers. Later we moved on to TeamCity. When I started working as a freelancer for another client, I set them up with a TeamCity installation. Lately, I've become enamoured with AppVeyor for its simplicity of setup, and ease with which it supports Continuous Deployment as well as Continuous Integration