puts 'Hello, world!'

Most programmers start dabbling with a programming language by printing that good old “Hello, world!” string on the screen (or console/terminal). In Ruby, this is accomplished by typing (and running) the following:

puts 'Hello, world!'

In keeping with that tradition, this post marks the start of blogging my learning journey!

We have different reasons why we put up our website and blog. Here are my reasons:

Document the things I learn.

I love learning, and I learn most when I try to solve problems. Currently, I am learning about full stack web development. I think what’s missing in my learning process though is being able to document the things I learn. My brain, like a RAM, is volatile. I need to find a way to store them, especially how I’m able to solve the problems I encounter. The moment I forget how I solved a problem, I just need to refer to that document and follow the steps I previously did. By doing so, I get to:

• save time
• make the problem solving process less painful

Blogging gives me that opportunity.

Share my content with others who might find it useful.

The good thing about putting up your content (say, tutorial) online is that others get to benefit from it too, besides the content’s author. There might be someone out there who’s currently looking for a solution to a problem which I might have solved already, and sharing how I solved the same problem would also help them save time and make the problem solving process less painful. How many of us have benefited so much from other people’s blogs posts that address and solve a similar problem we face? I am one of the many and I can’t thank these people enough who took the time to write down, document and share their approach (for free) so others would benefit. By putting up and sharing my content online, not only do I get to document the things I learn, but I also get to share it with others and so somehow help them.

Track my learning progress.

I can’t really tell how much progress I am making unless I know where I started. If I blog regularly about the things I learn, I get to see how I progress. I’m excited to see in the future how I’m beginning to grasp and understand what used to be a confusing topic or paradigm. This blog site would also serve as a reminder to myself (at times I’m stuck, down or frustrated) that I, by the grace of God, was able to face and solve challenging problems before, and the same can happen to the current challenge/problem I face.

So there you go with my reasons why I’m starting to blog! Anyway, that first hello world program above is rather short, so I’m ending this post before it gets too long. Till next time.

puts 'Goodbye!'