On the whole blogging in this format and at this frequency has been a pretty fun and fulfilling process. I get to practice writing free-form, nonscientific texts, and even if many of them might not be read by so many people, the idea that they might be turns it into a useful exercise.

Recently Flattr buttons were added to this blog, which allows users who use the service to donate money and show appreciation for my texts (some such people indeed exist – thanks a lot, all two of you!). Initially I had a single button for the entire blog, but now I am trying out a format where I have one button per post.

I’ve noticed, on this blog and elsewhere, that I can’t quite decide if I should write with British or American English. I feel culturally uncertain as a writer of this language. But recently I’ve come to think that I should embrace my European background, so more of the British variety in the future is a likely prospect.

Topics have been varied. The tag and category systems have been used in an attempt to bring some order to the table, but they’ve become too chaotic to be useful. A restructuring is perhaps in order during the next 13 months.

One of the most popular topics I’ve written about has been the Scala language. People tend to google Scala a lot, and it’s actually really uplifting to see the interest in it (since I hold it to be a way forward). If you are a blogger who wants to get a billion page views, write about Scala. I don’t want to consciously pander to the readers too much, so in itself it is not a reason for me to write about the topic. I will write about Scala when I want to say something about it. (A difficult principle to really practice.)

I’ve tried out some different WordPress themes occasionally, but so far I haven’t found anything I like better than this “Infinimum” theme. It feels very clean, functional and modern.

That will be enough of the reflections for now.

Primarily it will be a vehicle for me to express ideas about software and software research that I can’t express elsewhere. This will probably range from random thoughts to essayish writings. The benefit for me is that expressing myself coherently aids my thinking and understanding. In this sense the blog will be a kind of public notepad, but hopefully more well written than my notepads are.

Secondly, though surely this is too much to hope for, maybe it could attract comments from people who share my interests. Any kind of dialogue or exchange of ideas is always welcome.

This time around I use WordPress, one of the most popular blog packages. Times have changed since around 2004, when I made my own PHP/MySQL based system. At the time I had lots of free time and a kind of do-it-myself ethic. Today there is less time and no clear benefit in rolling my own. My focus should be more on the content and less on the form.

So let’s see how this instance of my blogging attempts turns out.

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