Blog.init()

Intro to this blog

I have not written a blog. Like ever. I have been a programmer for 20 years and have worked in the software industry for the last 15. I have learned a lot and worked with a lot of smart people. And I have never written about it publicly.

This is not a failure. I just did not prioritize it while I was working. Well, here it is, the middle of 2025 and I am finally getting around to it.

.init()

There I was staring at a blank screen not knowing where to start. Over the past year, I have been in the midst of the AI revolution. The internet started having LLMs that could parse most requests and provide responses that were somewhat useful. My tools started getting AI features. YouTube was featuring AI-generated content. It seems that AI is not just a fad, but just becoming part of life.

I decided to use an AI tool to help create my blog. I knew I wanted to use Astro as the framework. I have a subscription to Jetbrains’s AI plugin. I went ahead and pressed Go on my first prompt.

AI

I was trepidatious about using AI to write code. It was much like trusting a stranger (or co-worker) to touch my keyboard. It could be bad and I would have to fix it. And that would end up being more work than if I just wrote it myself. Another reality is that it could just be better than me and I may not understand what it was doing. Both of these realities are fear-driven. I decided to get over my fear and give it a try.

I was surprised. I was about to work with my AI of choice by focusing my prompts and adjusting what I was asking for. I learned how to communicate better and ask for what I need. Like I thought, there have been some issues, but overall it has increased my speed in getting this started.

I am going to continue learning and using this tool and possibly share more about how it goes.

Astro

Just to speak briefly about Astro. I have been wanting to use a site generator for a while. I have walked through tutorials and guides for a few options. Hugo, Jekyll, Next.js, and Gatsby are some that I have tried. I have also tried newer contenders like Cobalt.rs. When I found Astro, I was happy to see that it had the features that I was looking for and focused on those. The developer experience is great. I do not have to learn extra features that I do not need. And I was able to use knowledge of other tools instead of learning product-specific languages.

Overall, I am happy with Astro and I am excited to see how I continue to develop with it.

.close()

I am still learning. I am still building. I am still working. I will continue to write about my journey and what I am learning. It is fun so far and now I have a blog. So, I guess I am a blogger now. Another thing to add to my resume. :D