Update on 2015-03-30: I’ve moved to Jekyll.

Today I released my own blogging system, Taoblog, which has been powering this blog for months. This blogging system is nothing special – It’s neither more powerful than wordpress, nor more cool than jekyll. Yes, I reinvented the wheel. However, I learned a lot from this wheel:

Don’t reinvent the wheel

Even though this is what I did but it doesn’t mean I reinvented everything. In this project, I use a lot of excellent libraries to get wheel running. Focus on what really need to do, life gets easier.

Write tests

I don’t think writing tests is a good idea at the beginning prototyping process. It might be a waste time due to the unstable requirements. However, when it goes stable, writing tests is a must.

Refactor often

I find I always write awful code at the first version (it just works). To make them not that awful, the only way is to refactor them, as often as possible.

Publish it before it is “perfect”

I think nobody will care about my code is good or not (it’s my pleasure if you do). Most people only care about if it works as expected. Therefore, don’t be afraid to publish it and accept feedback. It is the right way to improve the project, and much better than working alone on it until the endless perfection.

I know you’ve heard about these practical tips for thousand times, but good practical is worth repeating.