Quick Note about the future of GrADSaholic

 Quick Note:

Since I started this blog in 2013 (mostly out of the monotony of post grad-school unemployment), I've been consistently surprised at just how much engagement it's gotten from the community.  Even now, after several years of relative inactivity, this blog still has a consistent following and seems to serve a useful educational purpose.  While GrADS is still very popular in the atmospheric science and climate community (I know because I can spot a GrADS figure a mile away in a paper/presentation), I haven't used it much recently myself.  Which brings me to what I see for the future of GrADSaholic.  

In short, I don't foresee myself coming up with new GrADS specific educational content, but would like to use this platform to continue to provide fresh and relevant educational computer programming and data science resources to aspiring atmospheric and Earth scientists.

Like many in my field, I made the jump to the Python bandwagon due to its extremely user-friendly feel, broad community support, and seemingly infinite number of data-science tools and applications.  In the past, I've been extremely wary of shifting the focus of this blog from a GrADS focus to a Python focus, if for no other reason than the fact that there is already an enormous wealth of information about Python on the internet.  However, a growing number of recent experiences have led me to believe that shifting in this direction may be worthwhile.

So, going forward, this blog will no longer be restricted to GrADS tutorials and will rather evolve towards a more broad focus on "how to be a better data-scientist and code developer" with a heavy focus on atmospheric science and (for now) Python.  My goal is NOT to regurgitate or provide completely redundant information, but given the shear amount of Python information out there, some overlap is unavoidable. All of the GrADS scripts and tutorials will remain up on the site, and if I do find anything new or interesting to write about with respect to GrADS, I'll be sure to do so.

Thanks again for all of the community engagement and feedback over the years, and I hope I am able to continue being a valuable educational resource for the community.