Humble Beginnings

Books get outdated eventually. There’s nothing more frustrating than reading an outdated book. To expound that statement, I would like to start with a little back story.

I was planning to start a programming blog. I started with the name “jStartJava” since I wanted to teach Java specifically focusing on Java GUI and swings. I was no longer a beginner to programming and I am quite adept with several other programming languages. I knew that a day would come when I wanted to talk more about programming languages other than Java. Then I decided on the name “jStartProgramming”, conveying the meaning that the blog would be about programming and it would be a jumpstart to programming rather than an absolute beginners’ guide. I was planning to target the novice programmers who are no longer beginners and naturally I would read a lot of resources already on programming.

I just opened the book “Beginning programming” to get yet another perspective on programming and starting reading the chapter “.NET - the future of online programming”. Even after reading several pages, It was no longer clear on what exactly .NET really meant. The frustration reached pinnacle when I read the sentence:

“The question, “what is .NET?” is difficult to answer in fully simply because .NET is so comprehensive and so forward-looking that it has not been completely defined yet.”

Then I remembered reading the sentence:

“As mentioned earlier, the full .NET implementation will probably not be released until Blackcomb, the version of Windows slated to be released after Windows XP” in the section C# could replace Java.

I could no longer read. I immediately turned to the back side of the cover page to find the copyright information. Proving my worst fears true, the book is indeed written in 2002 and I was reading it in 2013. .NET might have been fully implemented, I don’t exactly know (the whole point I read the chapter 21 detailing .NET immediately after going through the contents of the 400 page book). What I know for sure is the Windows released after Windows XP is Windows Vista and C# didn’t wipe Java completely from the face of the Earth.

My whole point is books undeniably get outdated but an online resource such as a blog can be updated from time to time. I hope my blog serves just that, keeping things interesting and yet up-to-date.