Crafting Code
Several months ago I decided to (once again) change the software that powers this little site. There was no real reason for this beyond me just wanting to. So I decided to write everything from scratch.
To be clear, I can't think of many good reasons to do this. There are a bazillion ways to publish a webpage. Funnily enough, it's a touch harder to find a framework that does as little as I want: No JavaScript, no cookies, no tracking, no bloated CSS framework. But again, still a number of options.
It really just comes down to, why not? The answer to that, is, well, bugs in the code, lack of features, you can add any new sections without creating the code to support it, just to start.
But the thing is, it's my mess. My site, running in the server with just my code. Static pages, no tracking. And for an aging hacker like me, it's a lot of fun.
But even more than that, there's a craft to writing code that gets missed a lot. Especially in these days of vibe coding and AI slop. It's not just typing. And this is the problem so many people miss.
This isn't an issue around just software, of course. I'm used to hearing people who think of construction work as "just manual labor." My usually response is, "Ok, let's see you do it."
Everything looks easy when you don't know what actually goes into it. Building a house is just swinging a hammer. Software engineering is just generating lines of code.
Some of us, though, we actually enjoy the creating part, the creative part. And I know, most people don't think of "software" and "creativity" in the same breath. Most people are wrong.
So, that's most of the reason why I've written yet another bespoke blog system.