Speakers Corner
This month, Jason Bunting interviews INETA Speaker, Kate Gregory.  Kate is a Microsoft Regional Director, co-owner of Gregory Consulting in Toronto, Ontario and well known author, conference speaker and C++ guru.

Kate Gregory

JB.  When did you first start writing code?
KG.  My standard line in talks is "I've been paid to program since 1979". I guess I wrote some Fortran in 1977... yikes! coming up on 30 years! It didn't utterly thrill me at first, but I guess it surely grew on me. 

JB.  You are consistently rated as one of the best presenters at the conferences you speak at, to what do you attribute your high ratings?
KG.  I really enjoy speaking to crowds about technology; I think having a good time is a big part of doing well. I rehearse, I run my demos over and over, and I try to know more about the topic than I would really need to. I have to know what I want people to get from coming to my talk, and then I do my best to give them that. I also listen to as many speakers as I can -- whether they're good or bad I can learn from them!

JB.  What are the biggest misconceptions people have about C++, both in a general sense and as the language relates to the .NET platform? What does the future hold for C++ with regards to the .NET platform?
KG.  So many people think C++ programmers should have all moved to C# and C++ applications must all be ported to C#. I'm helping a lot of clients move into using managed code without leaving behind all their tested working C++ code. And people who have put in the time to learn this complex and powerful language can do things that simply cannot be done in any other language. It's not for everyone, but what tool is?

As for the future, if you haven't seen C++/CLI yet, you really really have to. The most common response from non-C++ devs: "I can read that! It makes sense!" and from C++ devs "I am switching back from C#! That is so totally cool!". Here is a language that offers both templates and generics, so you can choose the right technique for your needs, that offers deterministic destruction for all kinds of objects, even those written in languages like C# and VB.NET that don't have destructors, and that still supports the fastest possible interop between managed and unmanaged code. The double underscores are gone, the language feels more like C++ than it ever did, and it's just plain beautiful.

JB.  On your blog you have said that you have "feelings" towards C++ that you don't for have other languages/technologies, yet at the end of last year, you were writing code for a client in VB.NET; do you have any qualms about that? Negative things tend to be said about VB.NET, what positive things do you see in the language?
KG.  I work in VB.NET a lot; clients ask for it and it's a fully OO language that can do everything C# can. I actually prefer VB to C# because I never drift off into C++ by accident; I know at a glance what language I'm working in. It can access all the goodness of the runtime, the libraries, and so on; Visual Studio is rich in wizards for it -- what's not to like? Sure some folks write horrible code in it, but people write horrible stories in English, and I'm sticking with it anyway. I'm just not passionate about it: I use it to make software and solve my client's problems. 

JB.  Let's suppose you are invited to speak to a user group (as a member of the INETA Speaker's Bureau), and the user group leader asked that you speak on whatever subject you currently find interesting, what would that be and why?  
KG.  If the leader would indulge me, I would show them what's going on with C++/CLI. Did I mention it's beautiful? If you're not careful, I could probably do 5 or 6 hours on the topic ... but don't worry, I'll cheerfully do Smart Clients or ADO or What's New In Whidbey with all my samples in VB or C#. I would rather tell people all about a topic they want to hear about than all about a topic I want to talk about -- at least until we get to the bar afterwards!

JB.  You and your husband are "geeks;" do either of your children write code? If they do, do you have all-night coding sessions together as a family? If they don't, do they think you are strange?
KG.  I think kids always think their parents are a little strange. At 15 and 11, my two are both old enough to be coding, and they've done a few things, but it's not that thrilling to them. They liked HTML at first glance, but would rather use apps other people wrote at the moment. They aren't really "into computers" any more than we might have been "into phones" or "into TV" -- it's just an appliance, a way to do your homework or have fun manipulating images -- or of course stay in touch with your friends. Messenger is a huge part of their lives.

JB.  I heard from a little bird that I should ask you about something called the "Brian equilibrium." What is this referring to?
KG.  At Tech Ed 2004, there were as many women speakers as there were speakers named Brian -- something that was easy to notice because the speaker dropdown was alphabetical by first name and Brian comes early in the alphabet. For a while during Tech Ed and shortly after, I kept finding myself in groups where that balance was maintained -- say a dinner group with two women, two Brians, and some other people who were unfortunate enough to be neither. And at home, I'm always in balance since the aforementioned geeky husband happens to be called Brian.