The title of this post is the question I asked myself as I fired up the silvrback blog platform and pressed the big "Get Started" button. I’ve posted on a number of personal blogs over the years on various topics, and there are already a ton of coder blogs in existence. So why should I start a new personal blog myself, specifically on the subject of coding?

Well, three reasons it turns out;

• Some of the best articles, tips and discussions I’ve benefitted from as a programmer were found on the personal blogs of other programmers. More than almost any other type of personal web site, I think that developers sharing experience and insight into their coding process adds real value to the Internet and is a uniquely useful resource. I hope to be able to help a few other developers in the same way I’ve found help from them.

• I find that lately (and thankfully) I’ve been working on projects and in companies that have given me the luxury of a lot more time to solve bigger problems and think in broader terms than just this week’s feature or today’s bug fix. I’ve had a chance to start polishing up some of my tools and frameworks to share on GitHub, and to work on code and tools that have universal applicability. Consequently, I actually have some thoughts and experience that are worth talking about.

• As I have gotten more exposure to many of the same recurring problems and the variety of different solutions applied to those problems, I have also gotten far more ambitious about coming up with better ways to address them. And with that great ambition comes great potential to be wrong, shortsighted or to overlook important factors while developing these new solutions. And a blog is a great way to (hopefully) get feedback and discussion of these ideas from other developers.

So that’s what I’m doing here, and why I’m doing it. I hope in the coming months and years that I’ll be able to share some useful insights with you, and that I’ll benefit from your comments, questions and discussions — please post them when you have them!