How do we prevent it from being just another blog about programming (or programmers)?
Most of the blogs (on any subject) turn out be either tutorials or personal experiences and most often they are maintained by a single person or a group of few persons and most of them are just a huge rant of text. So for the programmers blog to reverse this trend and to be a blog by programmers (not entirely a blog for or to programmers), it could be grown upon the following snippets of thought
The Big Picture
An introduction to important topics explained both from a theoretical view and the industry view such as explaining AI and how it is used in a house-hold robot.
Same problem, different solutions
Different approaches to solve the same problem using different methodologies such as how could a problem be solved in the OOP way and the functional way.
Different problems, same solution
How different problems could be solved by a single solution. Design patters and their usage could be explained here.
A programmer meets an alien
Drawn from personal experiences, this section can give some interesting insight into how a programmer could/should approach an another programmer, the boss, the chief architect, the marketing manager, the newcomer and so on.
Things made simple
A simplistic metaphorical explanation of what happens behind the scenes from a user perspective
Programming - A way of life
This could deal with project management, software cost estimation, stress reduction, productivity tips and a lot of psychology and programming
Programming for other disciplines
Focusing on programming, for people from other disciplines (experts and newbies alike).
Real-world projects
A description of how real-world software projects are developed, implemented and maintained
The following are also worth thinking
- Tips and tricks
- Cheat sheets
- It worked in production but not in deployment cases
- Most common programming errors
- Impress your boss cases
- Standard conventions and practices
- Technical books
- Multi-paradigm programming
I believe that most of the above might already be thought over so the following could also be thought of thought they aren't totally related to programming(a few of these things may be controversial and this may seem to be a big rant from a freak)
Programming Humans by the Digital Divide
In this Age of Information, information is just being rammed into the minds of people as authentic facts fueled by the digital divide. Instant access to information includes access to wrong information also and a lot of people are using this technology to spread more falsities than ever before. So the underprivileged are likely to accept them as facts since there is huge information that isn't veritable by the common people. So how could facts can be distorted to make people believe in something. Can computers and programming turn out to be evil? (This is partly inspired by Orwell)
The State and the Computer
How could the State use the computer to better the lives of its people. How could computing be used in the context of Governments to enhance security and prosperity?. How could the data be used in a meaningful context? What and how could be the rules in creating software for the State? (By State I also include groups and communities)
Programming and Research
More insight into how programming is used in research and sciences. How huge data is dealt with? Can innovation be made faster and more questions?
More importantly, how does a Programmers.SE blog make the Internet a better place?
- Best practices that could be adopted by a new-comer (IMHO, there is a lot of bad code around since most of the early programmers are self-taught and followed their own principle). This could be done by guiding new-comers with a full-fledged real-world project (Need to discuss more)
- Making programming fun and easier for all so that it is as ubiquitous as a spreadsheet
So if some of us could agree upon a few of the above ideas, we can work towards building a programmers blog.
