One of my biggest complaints with the .NET Framework is its horrible support (or lack thereof) for handling string input. If you have an application that allows a user to enter arbitrary content, there is no single way to “project” that content into its appropriate data type, without having to write a ton of boilerplate code.
At first glance, you might think this is an easy problem to solve, and in some instances you’d be right, but the devil is most certainly in the details (as in figuring out quantum physics!). If you’re looking to be able to handle an infinite number of different data types, and generically interpret any possible form of input, then you’ve got quite a serious problem on your hands.
Thankfully this problem ends today. In addition to developing the recently released ASP.NET MVC framework, Phil Haack and Eilon Lipton have also been hard at work addressing the global issue of string input handling and quantum entanglement. This afternoon, the first public CTP of the new “String Input Handling Framework” (name pending) has been released. As much as I’d love to go on about how to use it, and how integral it will become in all future .NET development, Eilon has already put together a great blog post on this subject.
All I can say is: with innovative solutions like this under Microsoft’s belt, there is no question just how superior the .NET Framework is to everything else on the market. Move over Ruby, PHP, Python, Java, and everyone else (you know who you are), the .NET train is coming through, and we’ll be accepting any input you’ve got to throw at us!
