Let’s start a blog!
As is custom in the land of programmers, we need a little hello world program. Let’s use C.
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
char str[11] = {'H','e','l','l','o',' ','W','o','r','l','d'};
printf("%s\n", str);
return 0;
}
// output: who knows?! Where's the null terminator?
Anyway.
I always found that blogs and articles from people about some fun little technical topic they happen to be interested in to be the most engaging stuff out there. Just folk geeking out about something they find interesting, and sharing in the hopes that others might find that interesting too. What’s not to like?
It’s great that even with the massive changes in the internet - like the whole thing coalescing into a handful of a few major players, or a complete change in the type of media that is consumed, or the resurgence of individual writing through the likes of Substack - people have continued to publish about fun topics. And this is what I love most about the internet: a place where you come together to further your esoteric interests, way beyond what you could do with those physically around you.
But why should I write one?
I’ve gone back and forth 100 times on whether to start writing.
On the positive, writing concentrates your thoughts from a crazy mess into a structured stream of words. It closes out little side projects with what feels like a solid conclusion. In encourages you to take a task to satisfying end. It hones a skill that’s going dull in these LLM days.
On the negative, you’re putting your thoughts and - more importantly - your personality out there to be judged, scrutinized, analyzed. Gone are the days of internet anonymity; when we write, we publish our full persona to the full audience of the internet, now and into the future. I’ve always been a big fan of lurking and consuming content, but then sharing and dissecting with real people: it feels safer, and the interaction more meaningful.
I’ve decided to combat the negatives by simply keeping it technical and keeping it about hobby projects/learnings. We’ll try following the maxim: separate “who you are” from “what you produce”.
Let’s see how it goes.