Why I'm Starting This Blog
A wide-eyed engineering student discovers the internet and decides to document the journey
So here it is. My first blog post. I have been thinking about starting one of these for months now and I finally did it.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I am an electronics engineering student, and honestly, until about a year ago, I did not really understand what the internet could be. I mean, I used it, checked email on Yahoo, browsed some websites in the college computer lab, but I did not get it. Not really.
Then everything changed.
The Linux Moment
A senior in my hostel showed me Ubuntu. He booted it from a CD, no installation needed, and I watched this entire operating system just come alive on a borrowed laptop. No Windows license. No piracy guilt. Just... free software. Written by people all over the world, for anyone to use.
I stayed up that entire night reading about open source. The idea that thousands of strangers collaborate to build something as complex as an operating system, and then just give it away? That broke something in my brain. In a good way.
I installed Ubuntu on my own machine the next week. Yes, I broke my Windows partition. Yes, I panicked. Yes, it was completely worth it.
Learning to Code
Right now I am trying to learn C properly. Our college teaches it, but they teach it like a chore: memorize syntax, write programs that calculate factorials, pass the exam. Nobody tells you why it matters. Nobody tells you that the Linux kernel is written in C, that the programs you use every day are built with it.
I found some tutorials online and I have been working through them on my own. I want to learn C++ next. I have heard that is what you need for serious software development. Game engines, operating systems, embedded systems, all C++.
The college library has a copy of "Let Us C" by Yashavant Kanetkar that I have practically memorized at this point. But the real learning happens at the computer, not from a book.
Why a Blog
Everyone has a blog now. Okay, not everyone, but it feels like every programmer I look up to has one. They write about what they are learning, what they are building, what problems they solved. I read these posts and I learn so much from them.
I want to do the same thing. Not because I think I have anything groundbreaking to say right now.I am just a student who barely knows how to write a for loop without messing up the semicolons. But I figure if I document what I am learning, two things happen:
- I understand it better (they say teaching is the best way to learn)
- Maybe someday, some other student will find this useful
Also, I just think blogs are incredible. You write something, put it on the internet, and anyone in the world can read it. A kid in Brazil, an engineer in Japan, a student like me on the other side of the world. That is wild if you think about it.
What is Next
I have so many things I want to learn. Networking, how websites actually work, maybe some web development. I have been hearing about this thing called AJAX that lets web pages update without reloading. Gmail does it. Google Maps does it. I want to understand how.
I also want to build something. I do not know what yet. Maybe a small utility program. Maybe a website. But I want to take what I am learning and make something real with it.
For now, this blog is that something. It is not much, but it is mine, and it is on the internet, and that feels pretty great.
If you are reading this, hello. Thanks for stopping by. Let us see where this goes.