When there is a need to get to know a subject better, googling is usually the first step one takes. Few things can be more satisfying than finding a well-written, informal and accessible blog or tutorial amongst loads of links to dry and formal scientific or technical papers. I am visually oriented and learn best by doing, so for me personally a web page with figures and snippets of code is almost a prerequisite to wet my appetite. If the plot unfolds in several stages, by iteratively refining an idea or implementation, testing and comparing various possible approaches, i'm usually all ears.
I wonder about the possible effects that writing a blog about something might have. It might be even more illuminating to write one than to read one? When i am developing ideas, when i am implementing, i have always kept a work log and made sketches. It is like talking to myself, in a way, establishing a feedback loop. Seeing the thoughts and ideas in front of me seems to make them clearer, more neutral and manageable. However, my log files tend to be quite chaotic, because they are written as i go along, like a diary, while i wander and wonder, fight a battle here and there, doing the occasional discovery, or stand perplexed, struggling with some unexpected issues. Such is life as i know it... I never go back to older log entries to edit or clean them up. They remain raw impressions, a fragmented timeline of notes. Very useful to search through however! The older one gets, the more likely it is that one has encountered a similar problem before, and can't recall the solution exactly, if at all. Log files to the rescue.
So the plan is to write and publish some blog posts here, and in doing so, discover how that is different from keeping a work log. Of course it is also a gesture to give something back to the community, no longer being the eternal lurker who only takes.
To be continued...
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