This is a post about trace, why I started it, and how it is expected to look like going forward.
Traceability is important in software development, so does it in life.
Table of contents
Open Table of contents
About trace
trace is a blog that I started to document my journey, thoughts, and experiences.
It is a place for me to share insights, lessons learned, and reflections on various topics that interest me.
Why I started trace
I have been admiring people who share their knowledge and experiences through blogs. I am impressed with their ability to communicate complex ideas and articulate their thoughts so clearly.
I wanted to create a space where I could do the same too, and trace is the result of that desire.
The life before trace
Before starting this blog, I have been recording my thoughts and ideas in my personal notion.
The records were very valuable to me, but they were also very raw and unstructured. Even I myself had hard time understanding what I had written a few months ago.
That was when I realized that I needed a better way to organize and articulate my thoughts and experiences.
Starting a blog seemed like a natural next step, because it forces me to think more deeply about what I want to say, and how I want to say it.
How it got its name
As I was thinking about how to name this blog, I had LLM assist me in generating some ideas. After getting a few candidates, I went with the name trace, which I felt captured the essence of what I wanted to achieve with this blog.
It resonated with me because I have been using the word “trace” in my personal notion to refer to the records I have been keeping, that includes some copy-pasted commands, parameters I use, screenshots, and outputs from various tools.
They were all traces of my journey, and I wanted to continue that tradition with this blog.
What language will I use
Being a polyglot, I use different languages for different purposes.
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When talking to myself or my family and friends, I use Chinese, but very accented with borrowed words from many other languages.
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When I am at work or outside in public, I use Korean, because I live in Korea, and I work with Korean colleagues.
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When I am writing code or doing research, I use English, because I am most comfortable reading and writing in it.
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I think in Chinese and Korean, but use English and Korean when expressing my thoughts.
My tone depends on the language I use
Depending on the language I use, the tone of my writing will change.
I tend to be more technical and precise when writing in English, while being more expressive when writing in Korean.
For this blog, I have chosen to write in English most of the time, because that is the primary language I use when consuming and organizing technical concepts.
However, I will also write in Korean because some experiences are just better expressed in that language.
What I will write about
Despite primarily being a technical blog, it will also contain non-technical content. I will write about anything that I find interesting, and that I think is worth sharing.
Sometimes, I will write about my personal experiences, and the lessons I have learned from them. Other times, I will write about technical topics that I find fascinating, and that I think others might find useful or interesting as well.
Closing thoughts
Traces are the footprints we leave behind. The traces, when accumulated, become the trail. I hope that my traces becomes something meaningful, not just for me to look back on, but for the lost ones to find their way to the right path.