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Originally Posted by JohnnyJimJams  I have strong programming skills, and was just considering setting up my own 'blog' using mysql and php. My question (getting to the point) is:
Are there other functions of blogging software/platforms that I am missing? What else do they do? Or are they just "MS Word' for the net? Why are they necessary? |
The main point of a blog system is to allow you to add/edit content without writing any code, much like a CMS. Most people who have blogs would not be able to create something like WordPress. It does more than just manage content for you -- it also has a search feature and I believe it helps you submit your blog to blog listing web sites. It also provides RSS/Atom feeds. I've played briefly with WordPress and I found it to be pretty good.
I should also add that I'm a very experienced software developer. The most important thing I've learned over the years though is that the best code is code that is never written, or at least never written by you. In other words, if I have a chance to use something that already exists (a library, a scripting language, a standard markup language) which works without problems, I'll always use that instead of rolling my own. Most programmers probably don't realize that writing something is only a fourth of the whole process. The other three parts are: testing, debugging, and maintenance. In the end making something yourself comes at a great cost. Take it from me, I learned this the hard way.
Your time is much better spent working on things that aren't so generic that many other people have created them already. When I was younger and starting out in programming, I wanted to write everything myself. It seemed like the cool thing to do and a great way to show off to other programmers. I think the best software developers grow out of that mindset. In the real world it's far more important to get things done
fast by whatever means necessary, and your customers won't care if you wrote it yourself outsourced it.