I haven’t had a blog in quite some time, although I started blogging back in the old days. I wrote an application named htmlPX in Java around 1999. I wrote it to learn the Java programming language, but also to make it easier to build HTML pages. It was a pre-processor that allowed me to build functions in HTML and then generate a website by building simple pages that used the functions to generate the appropriate HTML code. I still find it a very useful application.
After releasing that application, I began to build web site and try to find my way in the web world. I suppose if I had stuck with it, I might be a well-known web personality by now, a lot of other folks made quite a name for themselves without having too much extra-ordinary skill or knowledge. I built a few blogs and tried my hand at a little e-commerce through affiliation sites. I didn’t find that too profitable or too interesting, so I moved on to other things.
A few years ago I moved out of the programming end of software development and into management. It is a move that everyone who has been in the field for a while contemplates. I did that for a couple of years, but really missed the programming end of things and when a reorg came along in the company I worked for, I was able to move back into the programming end of things. Here I am now with a lot of new stuff to learn, and yet a lot of hard-earned and well-crafted experience.
I plan to use this blog to share some of the lessons learned as well as chronicle my efforts to continue expanding my programming and software development skills. I have interests in all of the aspects of software development including methodologies (I was an early proponent of agile in my organization in very late 1990′s), programming languages, software design, coding techniques, and development tools in general.
I hope you benefit from the journey as much as I plan to.