As I look back at 2013, I am reminded of how much pain it sometimes takes to make a difference in the world, but how immense is the reward when what you believe in slowly comes true.
A year ago we were already 6 months late on the Microsoft release cycle. This year we added support for Visual Studio 2013 and .NET 4.5.1 the next day after the preview release and we soon caught up with the C# compiler.
A year ago, I almost lost faith in aspect-oriented programming. Today I strongly believe in a better, fundamentally simpler way to think about software. I believe a once-in-a-generation paradigm shift is coming. It will be an era in which developers will tell compilers what to do and not how to do it. In this vision, aspect-oriented programming plays a central goal in concert with static analysis and meta-programming. Today, we are proud as we contribute to the evolution of programming languages.
A year ago the company was in crisis. Today the team is solid and confident. This is why now my looking back is filled with gratitude and thanks for many.
I give thanks to our customers, those small teams of engineers who fight hard within their corporate bureaucracies to be allowed to use non-mainstream technologies.
I give thanks to our local team, who chose the shivers on the Santa Maria across unknown waters over the safety of cabotage in familiar territory.
I give special thanks to Marek Byszewski’s team for its crucial support during the storm, and to Art of Change’s Vlasta and Jana for their help in strengthening the team and our minds.
Last but not least, I give thanks to the Friends of PostSharp, those benevolent speakers who dedicated their free time to educate the community. Together, the Friends of PostSharp reached an audience of over 1,000 just this year.
We were looking for a way to express our gratitude and we thought there would be no better way than a donation to a charity on behalf of our community. We wanted to support a worthwhile cause that resonates with our industry. Thankfully, we were able to find a great one.
In the name of the Friends of PostSharp, we have donated $2,000 to the Czech Association Helping People with Autism (APLA).
Autism diagnoses have surged in the last few years and associations like APLA struggle to meet the demands of parents. Causes of the disease are still being debated. But beyond the usual jokes about socially-odd programmers, researchers have found signs that autism may indeed be more prevalent among children of those in highly intellectual and technical professions. Autism is a focal concern of industrialized societies and especially of high-tech professions.
Last for Matt, Donald, Dustin, Lance, Dror, Adam, Yan, Joe and Chad, thank you so much for your dedication and support.
We wish you all at least a few work-free days without PostSharp before the 2014 New Year.
Happy Christmas from all of us at PostSharp Technologies!
-gael