<code>

"A network needs retention to thrive; it cannot just continually add new users." - AC

The hardest thing about programming is to ask the right question for every line of code.

If you control the hardware, you don’t just control the software, you make the existence of that software possible.

Most of the people that I talk with regarding the product I am developing tend to ask if I'm using any frameworks or libraries. When I say none, they all make this weird looking face and ask, "Why!? It's far easier and takes you less time to create". They make me question myself again and again, and it's nonsense. Each and every single line of code that makes my product alive is written by me, by my own way of thinking, my own creative ideas. This does not only make my coding more efficient, and manageable, but each piece of code is there, because it is intended to be there. It has its own objective. I hate to see unnecessary data in places that would only just take space. I want to be in control of each part of the process cycle. When I think about the web, I don't just think about being efficient, but also about the load time and the weight of each request from your machine, back and forth to the server. How can I improve this? How can I make it better for the user? In the end I think that this is something I was born with, it was always in me. I never really liked the idea of someone else being in control, even if it's just a few lines of code.

Thinking about web products, it's really hard today not to overlook someone else's projects, and say this one is better than mine. It might as well be, but you're forgetting the reason you started this in the first place. Launching a web product nowadays is quite a challenge. Both in creating an intuitive design, and the main idea behind the product. After all, this product must either be helping you in achieving something easier and in a better way, or it teaches someone something, and enriches a small slice of life. IT TAKES TIME. A lot of it actually. It has been nearly a year now since we started working on Buttons. I've been thinking to stop ever since, but somehow I always manage to keep going. Although the product looks like shit (compared to what I want to achieve), and performs somewhat fine, slowly I start seeing everything developing, one small step at a time. Don't forget that you are a small team building this heavily coded web application. You're also constantly learning while creating. This is the best part about the whole process, looking back and see what YOU have achieved. And that's why it takes time. This year was tough for building the base structure, and getting the product to stand on its feet for the first time. Now's the phase to focus more on functionality and performance. Next year we'll kick design in the face, and create a better one. Other people look at it mostly financially, but you should look at it as part of your life. One side gives you money, and the other gives you life. At least I can escape wherever I want. Whenever I want.

So, I just noticed something wrong in this page, and it's the title, well, it was the title before I changed it. </code> it was, and I didn't realise that this is the beginning and not the ending. Me and my brother, Arnold, were quite busy these past few days, we launched our second beta release of Buttons. And we also gave the papers to our new partnership, Dreamlabs. It's amazing to see something we created come alive, on the internet, and accessible to the world. For me it's a profound feeling. For once, I can finally show one of my abilities, and something that I enjoy creating. But this has no meaning to what I truly enjoy the most about it all. It's that I get to spend time with my brother. There's no point in doing something together, unless you love with whom you are doing it with.