A year ago, I wrote a post about three projects that I thought would be useful for .NET developers but didn’t exist at the time. I thought it would be fun with a follow-up on that post.

1. Silverlight XHTML editor

Rich text editors like FreeTextBox and FCKeditor are extremely difficult to do right, so I wasn’t expecting a Silverlight rich text editor anytime soon. Back then Silverlight was also still in beta. A little while back I noticed that Michael Sync has started a CodePlex project of a Silverlight rich text editor. Way to go Michael!

2. OpenID membership provider for ASP.NET

I’ve really needed a plug ‘n play membership provider that supported OpenID natively. Then came along exactly that, which also is open source and available at Google Code. Good stuff, but it would be cooler if no third-party assemblies where used to make it easier to modify the code. Thumbs up anyway!

3. ASP.NET MonsterID implementation

A MonsterID is a visual image representation of an e-mail address that can be used either as a security measure or as an avatar. Only a few days after I wrote the post, Alexander Schuc wrote his MonsterID HttpHandler. This was so good that we implemented it in BlogEngine.NET 1.2. Now Gravatar supports it natively as well. Good job!

There are still a few projects that I think would be great contributions to .NET developers.

1. OAuth .NET library

The starting-to-get-popular API authentication mechanism, OAuth, would be a great addition to the .NET toolbox. Google and others are soon to support OAuth and we need both the server and client mechanisms. That would make it possible to both send and retrieve data to and from third-parties.

Update: It already exist right here code.google.com/p/devdefined-tools/wiki/OAuth

2. Semantic document writer

The relative new semantic document types such as FOAF and SIOC can be a bit tough to write yourself. They use the RDF XML format which is pretty tough to both read and write without the right tools. I would think a simple library would help democratizing these standard formats and broaden their reach. As an open source project, the library would also quickly adhere to best practices for writing these documents.

Am I missing some non-existing projects?

I was tag-team wrestled by Keyvan Nayyari and Janko today. They wanted me to take up the challenge of writing about my programming history. Since they are two seriously cool dudes I decided to play along.

How old were you when you started programming?

Eighteen years young.

How did you get started in programming?

Red and white wine. That was my business ten years ago. I ran a small wine import business during college and my wines where so good I drank most of it myself. That’s when I knew I had talent. So I started programming.

What was your first language?

VB 5 or 6 - I don’t remember exactly.

What was the first real program you wrote?

The first version of my Prison Bitch Name Generator, written in VB 6, revolutionized modern English forever. There's an online version of it here made by someone else.

What languages have you used since?

VB.NET, C#, Java, PHP, Action Script, Lingo (this is a weird language) and all web oriented scripting- and mark-up languages.

What was your first professional programming gig?

The Prison Bitch Name Generator never took off commercially so I had to look for other venues. I started a web design business like 3 billion other people did during the IT bubble. My success was limited but I did manage to build about 50 websites and win a design award with one of them (I wasn't the designer but took full credit like the gentleman I am). The first website must have been for a small Norwegian pharmaceutical company located in Oslo if I remember correctly.

If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?

Definitely yes. It’s the most gratifying, creative and challenging thing and it makes me very happy every day.

What is the one thing you would tell new developers?

Rule #1. Buy the most expensive pair of Ray-Ban’s you can find. You probably look dorky like the rest of us programmers, but with a pair of Ray-Ban’s you look like a rock start. Don’t fall into the trap that any pair of shades will do no matter the price, and take pride in wearing them 24/7/365. 

Rule #2. When a girl ask what you do for a living, lie to her. Here are some good job titles I've had great success with over the years.

• Pet detective (girls like animals for some reason)
• Organic chef (girls like organic food for some reason)
• Hybrid car designer (girls like the environment for some reason)
• Bestselling novelist (girls like to read for some reason)

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had … programming?

That’s without a doubt when I learned about the semantic web and the process of teaching myself how to implement the various technologies in ASP.NET. It only became more interesting when I learned how to consume, aggregate and do cool things with semantic technologies on the web.

And with those words I’d like to pass the torch to James Avery, Al Nyveldt and John Dyer.