A. Jesse Jiryu Davis - Write an Excellent Programming Blog

Writing rewards you and benefits us all: when you write you refine your thinking, share your knowledge, and connect with your niche community. This talk describes the special challenges of writing a programming blog. It outlines solid article structures, and offers methods for generating ideas and writing more skillfully. Get the guidance and inspiration to craft articles of enduring value.

https://us.pycon.org/2016/schedule/presentation/1668/

Transcript

1. Write an Excellent
   Programming Blog
   A. Jesse Jiryu Davis
   @jessejiryudavis
   MongoDB
   

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2. Why?
   

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3. Share your
   expertise
   

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4. Meet fellow

   specialists
   

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5. Writing is
   thinking
   

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7. Why?
   Share your expertise
   Meet fellow
   specialists
   Writing is thinking
   

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9. Why?
   What?
   Who?
   How?
   When?
   ✓
   

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10. What?
    

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11. Story
    

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12. Story
    “I'm going to tell you a story about
    Foo, how it taught me Bar, and led to
    Baz. First this happened, then that
    happened. And that's the story of Foo.”
    

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14. Opinion
    

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15. Opinion
    "Thesis.

    Points of evidence.

    Response to likely objections. 

    Restatement of thesis."
    Karate for defense only.
    

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17. How To
    

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18. How To
    "Doing Foo is important under the
    given conditions. I'm going to show
    you how to Foo. Do this, then do that.
    There, now I've shown you how to
    Foo. You should go out and do Foo."
    

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20. How Something
    Works
    

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21. How Something
    Works
    "Do you wonder how Foo
    works? I'm going to show you
    how Foo is implemented. It does
    this and that. Now I've shown
    you how it works."
    

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23. Reviews
    

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24. Reviews
    "I read, saw, played, or used
    something. This is what it is.
    This is what my experience was
    like. The thing has these
    strengths and weaknesses. In
    conclusion, it's best when
    evaluated by certain criteria."
    

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26. Story Opinion How-To
    How
    Things
    Work
    Review
    

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27. Find your audience
    

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28. SEO
    

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29. Planets,
    aggregators,
    weekly emails
    

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31. Specialists
    will find you
    

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32. Improve Your Writing
    Practice, read, get an editor
    

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33. Make Time to Write
    

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34. Write infrequently
    

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35. Write when inspired
    

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36. Or, write short things
    

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37. Write Together
    

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38. A. Jesse Jiryu Davis
    @jessejiryudavis
    MongoDB
    bit.ly/programming-blog
    

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