Hello, World

#beginners #watercooler

Hey there. This is my first post on here so I have to do the obligatory “Hello, World”. I promise you it is not my last post.

My name is Dave Smith. I am a software developer. I am also a runner. You’ll see content for both activities here, heavy on the developer topics, with other topics that interest me. I did my first programming in 1996 on a TI-86 calculator, modifying games and programming trig equations to help me do homework faster. You could say I program more interesting problems now, but not everyday. Why include running and fitness here? As tech workers it’s easy to live a sedentary life. Running is my attempt to combat that. I have been running consistently since 2011. I particularly enjoy running long ultramarathons. People ask if it is boring. Yes, it can be boring, and boring is what I need some days.

I can’t believe I’m writing something that isn’t for work. My high school English teachers would be more surprised. I did the bare minimum when it came to writing in school. I hated it. That was part of the reason for going into software development. I only have to write code, right? Why am I doing this? I have a lot of thoughts banging around the old wetware. I have tried to get them into a coherent medium for quite some time. My personal goal for 2023 was to write blog posts. We’re in 2024, how did that work out for me? I was approaching my goal the wrong way. My goal now is to just write down thoughts as they come to me with a date. This post is the result of writing down a few thoughts and turning them into sentences.

Help keep me accountable with this. If you see something you like or don’t like, leave a comment, ask a question. I‘m always trying to get better at anything I spend time doing, including writing. There will be more, hopefully soon and it will be better over time.