Neal Ford

Neal Ford

CODE Author

Neal Ford is Software Architect and Meme Wrangler at ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy with an exclusive focus on end-to-end software development and delivery. He is also the designer and developer of applications, instructional materials, magazine articles, courseware, video/DVD presentations, and author and/or editor of five books spanning a variety of technologies. He focuses on designing and building of large-scale enterprise applications. He is also an internationally acclaimed speaker, speaking at over 100 developer conferences worldwide, delivering more than 600 talks. Check out his web site at http://www.nealford.com. He welcomes feedback and can be reached at nford@thoughtworks.com.

Articles Authored

  • Building Domain Specific Languages in C#

    Last updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2019

    Published in: CODE Magazine: 2009 - January/February

    At the JAOO conference in Aarhus, Denmark this year, domain specific languages came up in virtually every conversation. Every keynote mentioned them, a lot of sessions discussed them (including a pre-conference workshop by Martin Fowler and myself), and you could hear “DSL” in most of the hallway conversations. Why this, and why now?

  • Building Domain Specific Languages in C#, Part 2

    Last updated: Wednesday, February 20, 2019

    Published in: CODE Magazine: 2009 - March/April

    In the first installment of this article, I showed how to leverage C# syntax to create a specific type of domain specific language in C# called a fluent interface, converting an API into something with a fighting chance of readability. In this article, I’ll show you how to take advantage of some of the cool new features of C# to really push the envelope on this style of coding.

  • Polyglot Programming: Building Solutions by Composing Languages

    Last updated: Wednesday, February 20, 2019

    Published in: CODE Magazine: 2008 - September/October

    Polyglot programming refers to leveraging existing platforms by solving problems via solutions that compose special purpose languages.This concept leverages the multi-language nature of the CLR to create simpler solutions to vexing problems. This article delves into the motivation, benefits, and challenges of writing applications in this style.

  • The “Danger” of Dynamic Languages

    Last updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2019

    Published in: CODE Magazine: 2012 - May/June

    Back in 2005, when Ruby on Rails started appearing on developers’ radars, there was an explosion of blogs and articles discussing how dangerous these loosey goosey languages were, with their hippy dynamic typing. And many predicted dire fates for companies foolish enough to take the plunge. Regular readers are certainly familiar with Ted Neward, who makes technology predictions each year on his blog. Here’s what Ted said on January 1, 2006: