[Note: This is another personal post. Not in the “I just got not-dumped” vein, but in a “I think this guy is freaking awesome, and I want the world to know it” kind of way. If you really don’t care, then please don’t let me bore you. On the other hand, if you know Carl Franklin, or know of him, and think he deserves laudations as much as I do, then read on my friend…]

There won’t be much in the way of updates this week. I’m back in New London, Connecticut, hanging out with Carl Franklin and generally having a splendid time. It’s weird, because what I’m doing is “work,” but if you’ve ever gotten a chance to “work” with Carl, then you know how bloody cool it can be.

I’m not sure how many of you are developers. My readership has changed a lot over the past year or so, and it seems that there are more and more “secular” readers than ever. I mean, I actually get fan mail from people who barely know how to turn their computers on, if that gives you any idea what demographic I seem to be serving now.

But those of you who are crazy enough to live the strange lifestyle that is the basement-dwelling LCD glow of the software developer will know what I’m talking about in this post.

After we finished working today (I got to co-host an episode of .NET Rocks – it should be out soon), Carl and I went for dinner and then an evening coffee.

I miss the guy. Like crazy. We used to have the best late night conversations, usually fueled by a combination of caffeine, alcohol, and sleep-deprivation. We traded the craziest ideas back and forth and came up with loads of business ideas, some of which actually would have succeeded, but most of which would have just gone up in flames.

Tonight was more of that, except that we’ve both changed a lot since I moved back to the west coast. I’ve had my first real taste of American corporate life, and Carl has managed to take his business further than I, or probably anyone else, ever thought possible. I wish I could bring you people here to tour around his offices and see what he’s built.

What’s great is that Carl recognized a niche several years ago that had pretty much gone unserved: Real developer community.

Yeah, yeah – I know. We’ve always had community in a technical sense, like in the form of USENET, web forums, and the like, but I’m talking about something different.

I started listening to .NET Rocks back when it had just begun. Back when it was Carl and Mark Dunn. Back when there was no intro music, no real structure, and it was just a couple of guys interviewing their developer friends over the phone.

I was hooked immediately. I love software – I love tech – I’m a geek. But I also love people – those bipedal walky things that have feelings and talk and stuff.

Although it grossly oversimplifies the situation, I think there are two (2) types of developers:

1. The developers who take everything seriously, completely lack a sense of humor, and are so concerned about “signal to noise ratio” that they turn down the human until nothing but straight tech information is coming through.

2. The developers who think coding is a fun, creative thing to do, and that it’s perfectly all right to do things like joke, show emotion, and have a pulse while engaging in geeky activities.

I think it’s pretty clear that I belong to group number two. Carl as well. And that goes for his various co-hosts, many of his guests, and many of his listeners.

Now, and this is part of the reason I’m out here this week, he’s expanding on that, and he’s doing it in a way that I think is just brilliant (although I don’t know if I can talk about all his plans yet).

I don’t say that enough about Carl, by the way: He’s very, very intelligent.

He sees, perhaps better than anyone else I’ve ever known, just how large the population of developer group number two is. He gets that these people don’t just want their information straight up, but rather would like to have it delivered in many ways – whether it’s by someone like me who’s completely crazy, or by someone like Mark Miller who’s… well, completely crazy.

I’m glad that Carl’s alive. I’m glad that he’s worked his ass off on projects like .NET Rocks.

Developer group number one kind of drives me nuts. The cold, humorless, we-have-to-pretend-this-is-rocket-science mentality of that group is rather lacking in charm.

Anyway, all I really wanted to do here was thank Carl for creating spaces for group number two. If it weren’t for him, I don’t think I’d still be in this industry. He gave me opportunities that I probably didn’t deserve, and opened doors that wouldn’t have otherwise been available to me. He, along with Chris Sells and Scott Hanselman, helped me realize that it was OK to think coding was fun. He gave me a venue to express that.

And now he’s working on a whole new set of ways to connect with and grow the community.

I’m telling you: He’s one to watch, this Franklin guy. I’m several time zones away from home, tired as hell, and ready to pass out, but I still felt the need to write this.

He’s a hell of a human being.

Word to the Carl.