Microsoft (devs, pm-s etc): thank you all for Net Core 3 and Xamarin! I've been a C# Winforms/Office dev for quite some years. From time to time I experimented with web and mobile dev tools/stacks and every time it left me frustrated: when trying to modify some example app, I didn't update all the magic strings and the setup broke. And even if it didn't, the whole experience felt quite unproductive without all the red squiggles and compiler errors. Just searching logs and messing around until all the strings are just right. Also inhouse there wasn't a obvious case for web/mobile app. Until a couple of weeks ago and I tried again. I'm sitting here with a wide smile, with my mind blown, how simple it has become. * I started simple, as before, smallest client-server demo. Used grpc instead of HTTP/REST. I experimented a bit and the whole setup wasn't hopelessly broken after first 30 minutes, which was a definite improvement. * Then I found [protobuf-net.Grpc](https://github.com/protobuf-net/protobuf-net.Grpc), which allows to keep service declarations as C# classes! Honestly, my mind is blown! I was returning lists and uploading files (relatively speaking) in no time! All from the console app, still. * Adding a database to the server. You call services.AddDbContext, but to use it... you magically pull it out in the constructor :)! * Adding a Xamarin app as a grpc client. My previous attempts with Xamarin all ended up with blank screens, because I broke XAML or databinding in some way and testing UI changes was painfully slow. This time I was prepared to build UI in C# - there's at least some checking by the compiler. Wait, what's that... a XAML previewer... that supports design time test data! The whole experience has been very rewarding in an intellectual sense. Obviously I have a lot to learn, but I'm learning about concepts, not chasing/transforming strings. I'm simply in awe.
https://redd.it/dxl47o