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"Unless you are doing cutting-edge research in your daily job, you are not much different from those indies working on "superficial crap", apart from the fact t

"Unless you are doing cutting-edge research in your daily job, you are not much different from those indies working on "superficial crap", apart from the fact that being "part of a company" gives you the illusion that it's more legitimate. Was google search or skype superficial and trivial? They started as programmer toys. The point of the article is that a programmer can start with $0 and build the whole product." You, 6 years ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3202808#3203672 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3202808#3203672 "Show HN: A cryptocurrency portfolio simulator game" You, 28 days ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16122873 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16122873

zerostar07 9y ago
This is not the sense of the word "toy" that the article discusses about. He brings up facebook as a primary example of a toy project, not in the sense that it was fun for the programmer (aren't they all?) but in the sense that it was fun for the end user, not serious business. Google for example was not trying to be fun from the get-go, maybe skype was, i m not sure. Facebook is a tool that brings adults back to high school, with all the ensuing drama of the glass house that schools are. In that sense it was a toy, even though from the get-go it pretended to be the more serious counterpart to myspace (look, real names!). The article also implies that facebook somehow turned more serious after growth, which is simply not truth, the sillyness has just moved from pokes to the collective comment cringe. now thanks for digging my ancient comments , but it's obvious that i meant "programmer's toys", in the sense of a fun project back then. Also my crypto simulator game is indeed a toy in both senses, its a fun side project that a few people found fun to try.
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fiatjaf 9y ago
Amazing quotes. You're a gifted commenter.

zerostar07 9y ago

This is not the sense of the word "toy" that the article discusses about. He brings up facebook as a primary example of a toy project, not in the sense that it was fun for the programmer (aren't they all?) but in the sense that it was fun for the end user, not serious business. Google for example was not trying to be fun from the get-go, maybe skype was, i m not sure. Facebook is a tool that brings adults back to high school, with all the ensuing drama of the glass house that schools are. In that sense it was a toy, even though from the get-go it pretended to be the more serious counterpart to myspace (look, real names!). The article also implies that facebook somehow turned more serious after growth, which is simply not truth, the sillyness has just moved from pokes to the collective comment cringe. now thanks for digging my ancient comments , but it's obvious that i meant "programmer's toys", in the sense of a fun project back then. Also my crypto simulator game is indeed a toy in both senses, its a fun side project that a few people found fun to try.

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fiatjaf 9y ago

Amazing quotes. You're a gifted commenter.