One of the Reasons Why I Like Blogs

Blogs are something I can (usually) take or leave alone. Some are good and some are bad. I am aware of the reasons WHY blogs are (supposedly) important to businesses, but, at times, I question some of those reasons. It is difficult, although not impossible, to ascertain accurate numbers regarding how much new business, increased prestige, and other worthwhile benefits are gained as a result of routine blogging. One thing that is easy to measure, however, is how useful a particular blog is to ME. How a blog benefits ME is really the best reason that I can come up with to justify reading blogs.

Today's perfect example is the most recent post ( http://doughennig.blogspot.com ) by one of the legendary (hope that description doesn't go to his head) super-players in the world of Visual FoxPro, Doug Hennig. Hidden within the code that Doug generously provides is a Visual FoxPro function that I did not know even existed. The ObjToClient() function has limited use, but like most functions, when you need it, you are glad it is around. I have never used it, but after reading about it, I KNOW that I could have used it in the past when I "jumped through hoops" to achieve the desired effect. AND... I KNOW that I will use it in the future when the need arises.

I would not have gained this knowledge had I not been in the habit of reading Doug's blog. Now it so happens that, today, Doug's blog was the one that contained the nugget that made me a smarter software developer, but it just as easily could have been one of the many other blogs that I read on a regular basis. So, if you are not reading blogs regularly (which begs the question, what are you doing here right now?), get in the habit of spending a few minutes each day. I guarantee that, in the long run, it will pay YOU dividends.