I have to say that I am really getting into the whole dynamic HTML/JavaScript thing as well as the MySQL/PHP thing. It’s quite cool how much you can do even with fairly limited knowledge. Of course you can make a hell of a mess too, but since most “apps” I use these days are web apps I think I’ll definitely be doing more of it in the future.

Quite often when dealing with clunky win32 API stuff at work I long for the flexibility and scriptability of a web page. The whole look and feel of an interface can be described in CSS and the interaction provided by a reasonably comprehensive event model and a little asynchronous updating (via Ajax or even the hidden frame technique I’m playing with for the new blog).

Compare the ease of letting a web designer create a nice well laid out UI with trying to get a bunch of C++ coders to create something that doesn’t make you want to barf, with hideous resource editors and copious amounts of compiled boiler plate code that can mean a small change takes anywhere from an hour to a day. I guess this is the gap that Microsoft is trying to bridge with Windows Presentation Foundation and thin client friendly frameworks like Silverlight, but unfortunately one cannot simply port old win32 style apps to these shiny new technologies– legacy code is a bitch.