Developer Faceoff: Scott Hanselman vs. Phil Haack
Filed Under Developer FaceoffWelcome to the first Ultimate Developer Faceoff!
Developer Faceoff will be a monthly spotlight where 2 well known developers will answer some quick questions side-by-side, and the readers get to pick the winner!
For the first faceoff, I can’t think of two more visible developers: Scott Hanselman vs. Phil Haack – The Battle of the .NET Bloggers.
Scott Hansleman has been on the forefront of technology and blogging for many years. Before recently joining Microsoft, Scott is most famous for his blog Computer Zen, where he releases famed “Ultimate Tool” lists, and primary driving force behind the Das Blog project. His recent adventure is trying his hand at podcasting which can be found at Hanselminutes.
Phil Haack is most known for his blog Haacked. Rarely off-topic, he flexes his mature .NET development skills with in-depth examples and anecdotes. By day, he is a Sr. Program Manager at Microsoft – by night, he is the lead of Subtext an open source blog engine.
I can’t think of a more evenly matched faceoff. Here we go!
 Scott Hanselman |
 Phil Haack |
|
| 1. How long have you been developing? | For money? 16 years this next Feb. For fun? Since COMPUTE! Magazine circa 1985? | As a human? For 32 years. As a programmer? 24 years. As a professional programmer? 10 years. |
| 2. What is your favorite language to date? | Zulu | English, then C#, followed very closely by Ruby. |
| 3. What is your favorite pattern/architecture? | Factory is a nice classic pattern. Also anything with queues. | My favorite pattern is the one that elegantly solves whatever problem I happen to be facing, but not wanting to be a wet blanket, I choose Decorator. |
| 4. Is formal academic education necessary for development? | It can’t hurt. | If you mean CS, I sure hope not. I was a math major. In general, I think a formal academic education can help a lot, but is not necessary. |
| 5. Are software developers – engineers or artists? | Cat-herders | Don’t take this as a cop-out, but a little of both. I see it more as craftsmanship. |
| 6. Do you blog? If so how long and how many subscribers? | 5+ years ~22,000 subscribers | ~6 years, but haacked.com for almost 4 – 6700 subscribers |
| 7. If you could read only one blog, which one would you pick? | CodingHorror | CodingHorror |
| 8. What is the biggest mistake you made along the way? | Not paying attention in database class. | I hadn’t done a good job of testing a password reset feature for a large music community site. The person to catch the bug was the child of a VP (or an investor, I can’t remember). |
| 9. Anyone in the software community you are star struck around? | Fortune 1000 CTOs. | Anders Hejlsberg – that guy is crazy smart. Once during a one-on-one conversation with him I kept telling myself “Don’t sound stupid. Don’t sound stupid.” |
| 10. What is the secret of your success, expressed in one word? | Sticktoitiveness | Fun |
25 Responses to “Developer Faceoff: Scott Hanselman vs. Phil Haack”
Great idea for a post!
+1 to Hanselman for picking Zulu as his language and fessing up to not paying attention in database class.
+1 to Haack for Anders Hejlsberg bragging rights.
-1 to both for not picking Codesqueeze or CaffeinatedCoder as their favorite blog.
+1 Russ for pointing out the “obvious” mistake on the blog question 😉
Scott did ask if he gets extra credit for returning the questionnaire via smart phone…
Hi Max, the poll doesn’t work here with Firefox (2.0.11), but does with IE7. Is it Firefox or just me with my bunch of plugins standing in the way
Nice idea though, the faceoff!
@Arjan – JavaScript enabled? The poll is provided by PollDaddy so it should work regardless of browser!
I say Hanselman won that one. I mean Sticktoitiveness just rocks.
Faceoff Haack vs Hanselman It Gets Real
Faceoff Haack vs Hanselman It Gets Real
Haacked won this faceoff. I think Scott didn’t put alot of effort to his answers…
Effort?! I wrote them on a Smartphone!
😉
I had a hard time picking, but i picked phil because his blog following is so small compared to the hanselmater 😉
Developer Celebrity Deathmatch: Scott Hanselman vs. Phil Haack
I think I’ll give this one to Hanselman just for the cat-herders comment.
I was going to vote for Haack, but then I seen Scott’s last comment. LMAO!
That comment plus “sticktoitiveness” cannot statistically be less than worthy of a vote from me.
I love this idea… well done.
“Sticktoitiveness”!??? That’s not even a WORD people. It’s like 3 words crammed together! I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
😉
Honestly, I think we need to get Websters and Oxford to add that word to their respective dictionaries. Scott gets +1 for his neologist tendencies.
Neologist? That’s not even a word, Haack!
I don’t need facts man, I just look the truth up in my gut. THAT’S a fact.
😉
>>”As a human? For 32 years.”
Well played, sir. My vote to haacked.
Cool idea. Can’t wait to see the next matchup. +subscribed!
Anyone that can write enough interesting stuff to keep 22,000 people subscribed to their blog has my vote. Plus Hanselman did build the kick ass development machine for around what the wife allowance would allow.
Dude, I’m getting my ass handed to me on this poll. Time to send in the minions! 😉
So when does the poll close, anyways? 😉
[…] Developer Faceoff: Scott Hanselman vs. Phil Haack (dazu der original Blogeintrag von Phil) […]
Nice one. I can’t vote, since I like ’em both. It will only hurt me. Maybe we should have a “both” option. 🙂
@Haacked –
Never thought that through… New rule to UDF – the polls are open for 1 week…
If you haven’t voted, 3 days left!
Hey Now,
Great post. Displays the importance of Coding Horror & password resets.
Thx,
Catto
Haacking 2007
Haacking 2007