C# Advent 2021 Awards
It's the first ever C# Advent 2021 awards! Every year, you all put out such great stuff. Every post is the best!
But, I wanted to do something to recognize the best of the best: the standouts from the latest Advent that have performed above and beyond, and give everyone a chance to revist them and give the Advent one last "hurrah".
Some of these rewards are based on stats like Google Analytics and Reddit upvotes. Some of them are completely arbitrary. I hope you enjoy!
☝ Most Reddit Upvotes
I make sure all of the articles are submitted to /r/csharp and /r/dotnet (with permission of the respective admins). Here are the posts that got the most (combined) upvotes (as of January 5th, 2022):
1. Don't Do That, Do This: The .NET 6 Edition - Dave Brock killed it with over 300 upvotes
2. String Interpolation Trickery and Magic with C# 10 and .NET 6 - Brant Burnett bringing in around 150 votes
3. Using DateOnly and TimeOnly in .NET 6 to Simplify Your Code - from Christopher C. Johnson, grabbing around 100 votes
🖱 Most Clicks from the C# Advent Site
I put Google Analytics on the C# Advent site for the first time this year. This award will favor the earlier participants, of course. Here are the posts that have been most clicked on from the site.
1. Fastest way to enumerate a List<T> from Gérald Barré got 292 clicks from 272 users
2. The shortest quine in C# 9 and 10 from Martin Zikmund got 276 clicks from 259 users
3. Using C# and Auto ML in ML .NET to Predict Video Game Ratings got 242 clicks from 225 users
🤓 Matt's Favorite
Every post is great and appreciated, but these in particular stuck out to me as especially interesting, fun, and/or useful. Got favorites of your own? Leave a comment below, tweet #csadvent, or write your own C# Advent Awards blog post!
1. Can You Teach C# as a First Language for Kids? - Excellent points made about the strengths and challenges, some great examples and ideas.
2. Fastest way to enumerate a List<T> - Straightforward topic, easy to understand, and introduced me to BenchmarkDotnet!
3. Parallel.ForEachAsync Deep Dive - Again, I was introduced to a tool that I wasn't aware of, and I can potentially make use of.
🐣 Best Newcomer
The best content from someone who has never been on the C# Advent before. The criteria is a combination of all the above.
1. Sarah Dutkiewicz - I can't believe it's Sarah's first time, but she killed it. She claimed day 1, which may be the most challenging day. AND she filled in for someone who dropped out, just two days later. Well done!
2. Matthew MacDonald - My favorite entry this year is from a first-timer.
3. Alvin Ashcraft - Another author who I can't believe is a first-timer! Check out Calling the Microsoft Graph API from WinUI
👴 Best Veteran
Same as above, except for those who have posted to the C# Advent before.
1. Brant Burnett - One of the first to sign up back in 2017, and he has delivered every year since. This year his post was especially popular: String Interpolation Trickery and Magic with C# 10 and .NET 6
2. Ed Charbeneau - Another great post this year. Ed is one of the most enthusiatic participants, and he always creates a great entry: Accessibility Test–Driven Blazor Components
3. Baskar Rao - He is a workhorse when it comes to the C# Advent. A unique topic this year: A Quick Peek of Accessibility Insights and Automating Desktop Applications
Honorable Mention to Roman Stoffel, just because I love the illustrations in Automated Tests Advice, C# Edition
Thank you to everyone who participated! I've already started planning enhancements for next year. Be sure to watch mgroves on Twitter, the C# Advent site, and this very blog for announcements when the calendar gets toward the last third.
Thank you Smashing Magazine for featuring the C# Advent in your Advent Calendars For Web Designers And Developers (December 2021 Edition) round-up.
Thank you Sergey Tihon for the inspiration.
A special extra thanks to Calvin Allen, who does a lot of behind-the-scenes work on C# Advent (including the domain name, LinkedIn, the new CsAdvent twitter account, testing, and much more) AND writes an Advent entry AND deserves accolades for all of it!
