NOTE: this should be understood less as general-purpose advice, and more as a manifesto that applies to me personally. With that out of the way, let’s begin:
It’s all to easy to, with today’s software ecosystem, just use things written by other people. In some senses, this is a great success; software today is more accessible and does more things than it’s ever done. However, too much of this software is controlled by big corporations without your interests in mind. And even for software developed by smaller teams, the pace of change is too much to keep up with. A seemingly never-ending cycle of updates always keeps you on your toes, wondering when the rug will get pulled out under your feet next.
Changing this requires changing how we interact with computers. Companies want you to view computers as tools for you to consume “content”, for you to rely on for everything, for them to push advertisements, for them to collect all your data. I reject this. Computers are tools for creating things. Computers are tools for sending silly messages to your friends and hearing them laugh. You can make computers do anything you set your mind to, because computers are programmable, and the world-wide-web is as wide-open as it ever was.
By “Write Your Own Tools”, I don’t mean you should re-write the entire history of computing from scratch. It’s completely fine to re-use graphics layers (HTML), programming languages (Python, Javascript), frameworks (Sanic, Astro, SolidJS), operating systems (Linux), filesystems (ext4), network stacks (TCP/IP), chipsets (x86_64), etc. (all these parentheticals are things I’m using to host my blog, after all :P). What I mean is, if there’s something you want to do with a computer, and it’s not already being done in a free & open manner, you can just… do it yourself. You can program! Programming is fun! It looks good on a resume too!
Even if it’s already being done by someone else, writing your own tools forces you to learn, which is almost always a good thing. The end result may not be the most polished thing in the world, it might even be the jankiest, but gosh darn it, you made it, you know how to fix it, you can make it better. This is empowering. Hold onto this feeling, cherish it, this is what computers are actually about.
Cohost’s (impending) death had me re-evaluating my standing with respect to a lot of things (social media, online presence, social sphere), and this was one of the thoughts that came out & I felt strongly enough to write down. I wrote this in my own post composer, created exactly so I can publish to my blog (which you’re reading now, hi!!) from my phone. I’ll be reposting my favorite chosts here once I get them downloaded. Until next time!