Everytime I try a new language or technology I eveluate it based on what it can do for me. Will it make more productive or will it teach me something. I'm not a big believer that learning language X will make you a better programmer in language Y. I think there is some truth in that but not as much as some would lead you to believe.

Above all else, I look for pragmatic solutions. What can technology do for me? I think Ruby on Rails is a decent example of pragmatic software. It has its flaws but in the right scenerio I think its a very practical solution.

So when I go down the rabbit hole with some new language/platform, etc, I'm looking for benefits. I know what C# and ASP.NET can do for me. I've used them long enough to know the ups and downs and i'm constantly looking for ways around those low points. ASP.NET webforms is a great example. I hate using them. In anything but the most simple situations, they break. They "leak" in that they are not the best way to abstract the web. They represent the underlying web server event cycle more then anything. And they are painful to use.

I've looked at Boo, Nemerle, F#, IronPython, L#, Cat and probably some that I can't remember JUST in the .NET realm. This doesn't include my research into Lisp, Scheme, Scala, Factor, Ruby, etc. These .NET technologies have other benefits like cross platform abilities that make them attractive. With the .NET languages/tech, I'm looking for ways to solve or alleviate my C#/ASP.NET pain.

Boo seems to be a good language. It lacks good Visual Studio support though. This means I lose productivity to gain a cool language.

IronPython has a sweet spot in scripts and possibly web pages. I like the quick turnaround of editing a script and seeing the results without the long compile time.

On the framework/library front there is ProMesh.NET and MVC framework that replaces WebForms. It's pretty good but it still has some bugs. There is also MonoRail but I haven't gotten the courage and the time to test it out. It looks massive and I don't really get Inversion of Control and Dependency Injection yet. However, they sound odd and a bit scary. Do I really need them just to have a decent web framework? I don't need these in PHP.

A solid win on the ORM front is CoolStorage.NET. This thing blows the doors off of anything else I've used bar none. It is the optimal combination of light weight yet powerful features. I think CoolStorage wins by being a C# first project. It is not a clone of a Java project. CoolStorage takes advangtage of attributes and generics to produce a terribly productive product.

So with one win and so many that qualify as so close yet so far, what is a practical programmer supposed to do? The only thing I can do is spend hours testing out new languages and frameworks to see if there is anything out there. At least at the end of the day, if I don't find anything, I know that C# is king and I'm not left wondering.

So I must continue my crusade for the best even though most days its a big pain. I've recently found F# and it looks very nice. Visual Studio support, a real REPL and syntax and conciseness like a scripting language yet with a typing system more powerful than the one in C#.

So yes, these little discoveries are worth all the pain of downloading, installing, and compiling countless new programs. I can put my mind at ease and keep up on the latest developments. In the end there is something to be said for intellectual stimulation and if there is practical use then all the better.