By Aritraa Mitra
Missing the intellectual discussions that he regularly enjoyed with his colleagues at SAP AG, he turned to online communities for conversation. Instead of spending his time on just any social networking community, Siddhartha logged on to a vibrant forum of more than 100,000 registered developers: CodeGuru.com.
Troubleshooter par excellence
Browsing through the forums, Siddhartha discovered that his experience in Windows application and driver programming enabled him to answer many of the questions that various perplexed users had asked. Enthused, he got to work, helping developers right away.
Whether the questions related to the CString class – used to manipulate text information — or passing SAFEARRAY within VARIANTs, Siddhartha had a solution. Often he would not only provide code snippets, but also fully functional projects to help members test their solutions.
In addition to helping with problems at a technical level, Siddhartha detected and solved various problems at algorithmic levels that helped the community. His expert contributions were soon noticed. Acknowledged as an expert in all matters technical, he was made a moderator of the development community. Within a couple of years, Siddhartha had voluntarily provided approximately 6,000 solutions.
Siddhartha says that forums like CodeGuru have been a source of invaluable joy to him: “It is not only the intellectual stimulation, but getting to know other technologists at CodeGuru that was the icing on the cake. When I started with CodeGuru, I never ever thought I would get to eventually meet such nice people and interesting personalities.”
Microsoft MVP
Microsoft soon recognized Siddhartha’s efforts to help the development community at CodeGuru. The company named him a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for Visual Studio – Visual C++ for three years in a row (from 2005 to 2007). As an MVP, he was invited by Microsoft to participate in various MVP events, such as the Global Summit at Redmond, Microsoft TechEd at Barcelona, and networking meets at Munich.
“It was an enriching experience to meet software experts from around the world as well as professionals from Microsoft that make the company go round,” Siddhartha says.
During one of these events at Redmond, where Siddhartha was reviewing Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 in development, a fellow Microsoft MVP (and an author) suggested that Siddhartha write a book for Pearson, a large education company and book publisher with brands such as Addison-Wesley, SAMS Publishing, Que, and Penguin Group in its portfolio.
Teach Yourself C++
“Given recent major amendments to the language that make it a lot more developer-friendly, C++ allows the developer to extract best performance without compromising on productivity,” he explains. “Indeed, ABAP itself and many other SAP software components — including major SAP platforms and database products — are programmed using C and C++. For many programmers, C++ thus provides the optimal mix of being a high-level language that allows the development of complex applications while being flexible.”
Published in 2009, Siddhartha’s work became the fifth best-selling C++ book in the United States. In 2012, Siddhartha published a new version of the book, rewritten from scratch to reflect the new C++ Standard, called C++11. The 2012 version also features updates based on reader feedback to his previous work. This new book became the best seller for its category in the United States on Amazon.com. And its availability isn’t limited to America. Both of Siddhartha’s C++ books have been translated into Chinese.
Through his interactions with developers at SAP and at CodeGuru, Siddhartha learned that many programming books were either just too theoretical or too simple for professional developers. Hence, his books teach C++ programming from a pragmatic and practical perspective, addressing developers with plenty of code samples and guiding them with dos and don’ts.
Helper at Large
On top of that, Siddhartha still enjoys plunging into a development environment to answer questions, solve problems, or satisfy his curiosity. As someone who pursues and shares knowledge outside of work, Siddhartha does not see himself as unique. He strongly believes in the potential of SAP employees, and he hopes that his story will encourage others to write as well. In Siddhartha’s opinion, SAP employees can also use their expertise to educate by publishing books.
And as a best-selling author, he should know.
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