How to Properly Read Programming Blogs

1. What is a Blog?

A blog is a personal journal where an individual (or a group) shares information about personal viewpoints or writes on a specific topic. In the IT realm, there are numerous technical blogs for you to read, and the IT community actively shares their knowledge.

2. Pros and Cons in Adapting the Blog Content

One of the greatest advantages of blogs is their flexible writing style. Unlike traditional articles or reports, blogs do not follow any rigid template, which makes the content more accessible and easier to understand. 

The language used in blogs is often straightforward, relatable, and not overly formal or dry, making the reading experience more enjoyable. This conversational tone helps readers feel more connected to the author as if they are having a personal discussion with a friend.

However, blogs also come with their own set of drawbacks. Since blogs reflect the personal perspective of the author, they are heavily influenced by the author’s feelings and experiences at the time of writing. 

⭐ This means that the accuracy of the information may not always be high. Additionally, the content might be biased, depending on the author’s personal beliefs and viewpoints.

3. Are Blogs Trustworthy?

As mentioned earlier, a blog is just one way to look at a problem, from the author’s subjective viewpoint, within their specific context, conditions, abilities, and emotions at the time of writing. 

So, the information provided on blogs isn’t guaranteed to be 100% reliable, even in this blog, the guide for readers to properly read other programming blogs might not be correct because it’s written from the writer’s perspective only.

However, whether a blog is trustworthy or not also depends on the specific blog, its correction, and your perspective.

4. How to Read Blogs

You might think reading a blog is simple – just open it and read. However, it is essential to know how to filter the information you come across. 

As stated, blogs aren’t always reliable, and applying knowledge from them without critical thinking can be dangerous. Personally, when I visit a blog, I feel like I’m entering someone’s home, listening to them share their interesting opinions and perspectives.

A blog is not an official information source; consider it a reference channel, a fresh viewpoint on the topic you’re interested in. So, when encountering controversial topics, don’t react too harshly. Everyone has different backgrounds, conditions, and abilities, so perspectives vary. On blogs, we should respect each other’s individuality and experiences.

How to effectively read blogs?

1. Find the right topic before start reading
2. Read the title, description, then table of contents
3. Research for keywords, content, the piece of knowledge that we didn’t know yet
4. Re-read the blog, not only Read the Blog but also learn it!
5. Think in your respective, double check, comment your opinion if have, and finally respect the author for sharing

5. Conclusion

Sometimes reading blogs can be more enjoyable than reading reports or documentation, offering us various multi-dimensional viewpoints. They are very useful, but we also need to be careful and selective in what we read, so that our knowledge base is comprehensive and properly developed.