The other day I was listening to .NET Rocks episode 1327 and I heard an interesting quote. One of the guests, Jamie Dixon said:
It’s a slow moving train, but if you sort of stand there with your OO [object oriented] imperative code that train does … leave you behind every day
Now, this quote has been keeping me up at night a bit. Not because I’m afraid that I’ll be stuck writing object oriented, imperative code forever – I firmly believe that functional programming is the future – but because I don’t know which slow trains I’m on, and which slow trains I’m not on.
Health is a good example of a slow train. I know that I’ve gained a little weight since I started computer programming. Pants that were comfortable last summer still fit, but they’re not comfortable. It’s a slow train, but it is leaving me behind. So I decided to re-evaluate a little bit. I’m training for a 5k. That’s not exactly a marathon, but it is a start. It’s a slow train in a direction I want to go.
This blog is another example of a slow train in a direction I want to go. I check the stats every morning, in case a post went viral the night before, and it didn’t. I usually have only a few reads, and probably from people who know me personally, but it doesn’t matter. I’m building up a long history of posts, getting my name out, practicing my writing, and learning. I hope I’m even helping a few other people learn. Again, slow train headed in the right direction.
That slow train quote is a great example of the right little thing. It started me thinking. It was someone else’s aside, but turned into a major catalyst in my mind.
I think that’s it this week. I do have one announcement: I’ll be blogging every Monday and Wednesday morning, instead of just every Wednesday. (This blog train is moving a little slow for my taste.)
I also have a question for you:
What slow trains are you on, and do you like where they’re going?
Till next week, happy learning,
-Will