Intro!

OK, so I've decided to document some of the software tools I'm using during my PhD in a blog. I'm planning to do so for a number of reasons:

1. I get a lot from the internet community, if I have a question about literally anything then I'll invariably type it into Google and get almost always get an answer. I'd like to be able to give something back to that community, and if even one person finds something useful in what I've posted then that's got to be a good thing.
2. I need to practice my writing and publishing on technical subjects. Hopefully this will provide an opportunity to do this, with the possibility of (hopefully) getting comments on the results and thereby refining my writing style.
3. My PhD is industrially sponsored and therefore I need to be a little careful about what I post in the public domain. I will therefore be attempting to keep the subject of this blog specifically on the tools I'm using, rather than it being about my research - I hope that these two can be kept separate.
4. Having worked in industry previously, I am aware of a number of different tools and techniques that are available; however I am far from expert on the subject and therefore this will very much be a learning process for me. Any comments or feedback that I can get as I proceed will no doubt be invaluable.

I'm starting this around 6 months into a 3.5 year course and I've no idea if I will make past even a few posts - apologies if not! Let's see how it goes...