So, I’ve recently made the commitment to myself to update this blog twice a week, and, thus far, I’ve been able to stick to my commitment.  But, I do have to ask myself: why does the world need yet another software blog?

So, these are the reasons I’m blogging, both as a note to myself and so readers can check me if I lose my way in the future:

1. I want to better my own software engineering skills. For every post that I write, I do research and I learn all kinds of things I didn’t know before.  By writing about it afterward, I think I retain the things I learn much better.  I’m not sure I really understood all the nuances of inheritance until I wrote a post about it. Additionally, there’s always the (slim) possibility that someone else will benefit from the information I’ve gathered. 
2. I love reading and writing about software. I still find programming and software development as interesting as I did when I first got into it.  In fact, it’s possible that I find it more interesting now than I used to.  Blogging is a way of dealing with this (hopefully healthy) obsession.
3. I want to hear opinions other than my own. I really do.  Comments are the big thing that distinguishes a blog from a book or a lecture; readers are allowed to discuss, criticize and add on to the content of the original post.  And this can go on for months after the post is originally published.

Additionally, the following are NOT reasons that I’m blogging, so if I ever catch myself doing these things I can stop myself:

1. To get into a pissing match with other bloggers/writers. I’m all about interesting and constructive discussion and debate, but I’m not interested in getting into a contest of wills or a “who’s smarter” kind of contest.  With this in mind, I pledge not to ever link to another blog post just to trash the post or its author, and I reserve the right to ignore such links to any of my posts.
2. To promote/disparage any specific technology or platform. I have technologies that I use on a daily basis, and I will tend to write about the things that I know.  This means that posts will tend to lean towards Windows development, Web development and .Net.  However, this should certainly not be seen as an endorsement of this platform over any other.  Generally speaking, developers don’t usually have the luxury of choosing all the technologies they will work with, and I think that a lot of software engineering is about dealing with the constraints that are placed on the development process from outside.
3. To promote myself. I’m a mediocre developer at best.  I don’t have a lot of experience, I’m quite ignorant in certain technical areas, and overall I try to keep my ego in check as best I can.  I never want this site to turn into “Nathan on Software.”  No offense intended to Joel; his site is wonderful, and he has the knowledge and experience to make a site which actually is about his opinion on software.  The site is about Software, not about Me.

August 14th, 2008 | Tags: blogging | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL