The 2015 of LeXtudio and Me
This post is about what I have done in 2015.
2015 was a fantastic year for LeXtudio and me. So below is a summary on what were the achievements.
Projects
There are several open source projects under the LeXtudio brand, and each of the active ones has been updated in a certain way.
#SNMP
#SNMP Library has been quiet for a long while after I published its 8.5 release in Feb 2015. But in fact I have been working on a .NET Core 5 port throughout the year, in order to chase what Microsoft has been developing. So if everything turns out to be fine, in early 2016 a new build will be delivered.
Its twin project, #SNMP Pro, continues to grow and has new customers applied trials and purchased. We will definitely see more improvements in 2016.
Obfuscar
Obfuscar has been updated several times so as to fix newly discovered bugs. Two beta releases have been done in 2015 for 2.0.2, so in 2016 the final release will be delivered.
DockPanel Suite
This project was actively boosted in the last few weeks of 2015. First, I created a new documentation site for it. Second, we switched to a new theme structure where new themes can be separately developed and deployed via NuGet. Thirdly, a new theme of VS 2013 Blue was added.
So in 2016, the first priority is to ship its 2.10 release, and move everything forward.
reStructuredText for Visual Studio Code
It was kind of unexpected but I decided to try something new in the last few weeks of 2015, and the outcome was this addin for VS Code. It requires a lot of effort to learn TypeScript, Python, reStructuredText and so on, but I believe it is worth the while.
Jexus Manager
The last thing or my core focus was Jexus Manager and its components. The plan is to make Jexus web server fully compatible with IIS settings and management modes, and then this little utility can have some impact too.
In 2016, this utility will become fully open source, and we will see how people can reuse the code to do something cooler.
Non-Project Related
Except all those projects I worked on, in 2015 I had learned too much from others.
In the first few months I was reading about rock climbing and finally started to play it with my colleagues in the summer. It was tough for a guy like me who fears the height, but I tried to use what I learned from “You Are Your Own Gym” to make myself stronger, and it turned out to be helpful to keep me on the walls longer and longer.
I also started to run a little bit, so as to improve my breath, legs, and feet. It did help me out and my pull-ups become way far easier. However, due to the deathly air pollution in the autumn and winter, I could not run outdoor any more. Look forward to the summer time.
I flied to Hong Kong in Feb 2015. It was a wonderful trip to visit old friends, and to buy an iPhone 6 Plus and Macbook Pro. And also my stay (two nights on Lantau Island) in the hostel was so impressive and changed my view of myself in a certain degree. Will try to visit there some time soon.
I also visited my home town Wuhan in the early summer for an alumni event. The middle school classmate reunion day was unexpectedly awesome because you never knew what we would have become 20 years ago, and we knew it then and still felt that we have been tightly bind to each other. Of course there were surprises and incidents, but they are more suitable for a page in my personal dairy.
The longest trip in 2015 was my visit to New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Jose, Bellevue, and Redmond. It took me four weeks to know my colleagues in North America, visit some of my classmates who settle down there, tour around the cities, make new friends, take pictures, eat, and learn new things. Thanks to everyone I met and who helped make this trip perfect.
There was a flight to Yantai a few days ago, where I gave my first public presentation on a developer conference. The city was lovely and the conference arrangement was great. I think such changes might finally help me shift away from purely coding. I love to evangelize, and that could be the start. Wishes
So it is now 2016 already and Microsoft sent me another MVP award. Will try to keep moving fast and see what I can work out this year.
Happy new year, my friends.