.Net web service moving faster than light

So yesterday I got an email from Matt the CIO saying that he needed me to swing by to see him. I didn’t really think that much about it except that I was SUPER glad that I had decided not to host a bunch of bootleg DVD torrents on my corporate computer.

I had taken a day of vacation so this morning I rolled down to his office to see what was going on.

Me (pointing at his desk): That looks like a router right there.

Matt: It’s a switch.

Me: I don’t think it’s going to do much sitting right there.

Matt: I’m still configuring it.

Me: You should just make it dumb hub, this switch business is just a fad.

Matt: We don’t let you configure much on the network do we?

Me: Notsomuch.

Matt: *Nods approvingly* So anyway, we need to update the FTL Drive Guidance Transmogrifier to run as a web service so we can use it from a few different places.

Me: Just running it as a DLL like we have it currently isn’t going to work?

Matt: No, we’ll want to centralize it, use this network we have to its potential.

Me: But putting something critical like the FTL Drive Guidance Transmogrifier on the network is suicide! Don’t you remember that’s how the Cylons penetrated the fleet’s defenses?

Matt: That was a TV show you realize?

Me: Frak you man! This is all crazy talk!

Matt: If that’s how you feel I can disconnect your ports from the internet, just so the fake shiny robots don’t infiltrate your computer.

Me: I’ll go ahead start making the code changes.

Now, the last time I wrote a web service it was in C++, and really basic C++ at that. So there was no fancy schmancy integrated toolkits just a heaping helping of pain in the arse.

But, since this was all on Windows and Microsoft has been pushing .Net web services as the greatest thing since DCOM, err I mean CORBA, I figured it should be snap. Plus I’d get to use C# so I could just new, new, new as much as I wanted. It would be the digital equivalent of eating french fries wrapped in bacon without having to worry about a massive cardiac incident.

It turns out it was that easy, just a new project, some incredibly straightforward glue code to tie the new service to the existing DLL and I was rolling. I haven’t got the client code written yet but the .Net debugger interface shows it all working like a champ. (What I wouldn’t have given for that for that C++ web service. I would have given up both the fries and the bacon without thinking about it.)

I’m sure somewhere in California a tear is running down the cheek of a certain black mock turtleneck wearing executive because of my .Net/C#/web service praise. At the same time I’m also sure that somewhere else there is an evil looking robot with a red eye pulsing in anticipation. Too bad that the side that is happy has loads of nuclear weapons. Frak.