2013

This was an intense and vibrant year of sharing for me! And I absolutely loved it.

As I immersed myself in the world of web technologies, I found myself taking the route of writing, screencasting and podcasting to further strengthen the understanding of my work. After all, teaching and sharing is learning for myself as well. Through this I also made so many wonderful conversations from fellow developers all around the world!

After focusing on the "hows" of making things with the web, I have realised I need to scratch deeper to understand the "whys" and pen down my reflections and explorations. Writing seems to be the perfect reflective process to do so and bring clarity to that thinking.

I will specifically write on 3 things that have come to define my "what", "how" and "why".

The What - Web & IOT

The web still excites me so much because of its democratic power to put ones creation at an instant to every single person anywhere in the world. In the coming decade, potentially 5 billion more will be coming online.

Along with the world of bits and bytes, I also discovered that I can make cool things to connect the physical world to this web. Sensors are becoming cheaper and the hardware movement is becoming exciting for beginners with projects like Arduino and RasberryPI.

In the coming year, I want to pen down my journey into the world of web that I fell in love few years back as well as a new field for me - hardware, sensors and the Internet of Things. These are some interesting links I found on the Web and IOT...

1. Little Bits
2. Adafruit
3. Makers: The New Industrial Revolution
4. ECMAScript 6
5. Polymer project

The How - Minimalism

In almost everything I do, I'm finding a bliss in simplicity. Whether it is applying the DRY principle in programming, traveling light or keeping an uncluttered home, I have fallen in love with minimalism as a way of doing anything.

In the coming year, I will have the chance to apply minimalism into more areas such as designing my upcoming home, applying test-driven development or understanding the principles of minimal design.

I have come to draw inspiration for minimalism from some these links...

1. Dieter Rams: ten principles for good design
2. Github Flow
3. Zen Habits
4. Becoming Minimalist
5. Test Driven Development

The Why - Space

Big topic to comprehend is the very space, the universe we are all engulfed in.

Over the years, the amateur study of the universe has not only brought me back to the fundamentals of mathematics and physics, but also given me huge inspiration to why we must deny our boundaries of country, race, religion and unite to do great work that will pass on after we leave this world. I had an amazing time in Chile this year experiencing some aspects of astronomy. I hope to consistently remind myself of the much bigger universe we all live in to give a bigger perspective as we live through the days.

These links might interest anyone keen to take a peek into the current work of humanity into understanding space:

1. Star Talk radio
2. ESO Cast
3. Overview Effect
4. SpaceX
5. Nano Satisfi

What's next

I'm really looking forward to 2014! I'm excited on what's to come and the things I'm gonna make :) And yes, keep writing!

I would love to know your thoughts too!