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> To be clear, I don’t mean to dismiss the work of a lone programmer toiling on programs without anyone to pair with or learn from. I’ve been that person many t

> To be clear, I don’t mean to dismiss the work of a lone programmer toiling on programs without anyone to pair with or learn from. I’ve been that person many times in my career as a programmer, it’s not fun. I'd say it's a lot of fun.

rohan1024 8y ago
I agree with the author maybe because for first four years of my software development career I was a lone developer. Maybe Dave was in similar situation.
ahartmetz 8y ago
It completely depends on the quality of your collaborators. Are they good developers, do they have somewhat compatible views, and are they reasonably friendly? I prefer working in a highly capable group.
- zeroxfe 8y ago
  Yeah, working with other good devs is fun too, but working alone is a special kind of fun. :-)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- erikpukinskis 8y ago
  If you have collaborators you are not in that situation.
r_singh 8y ago
I agree with this sentiment, however, it does not continue to remain fun if that's the only development experience one has
designcode 8y ago
I’d say it’s in fact where the real fun happens
- saagarjha 8y ago
  Working on personal projects, not having to conform to other people’s requirements, trying a bunch of cool hacks and getting to see how things really work…that’s the most fun part of programming!
  - Insanity 8y ago
    Side projects are probably the most fun that can be had with programming, not just for the freedom of requirements but also because you can build something you truly enjoy building. I'm lucky to be writing fun code at work - most of the time -, but the side projects keep me sane for many reasons. Not having to deal with 'bad' code that I didn't write, is also a nice benefit. All the bad code in my personal projects is mine, so no one else to blame :D EDIT: typos and delete possibly negative statement
    - EugeneOZ 8y ago
      Bs, nobody will read your code. 1 per 10 000 maybe. And even that 1 will be polite enough. Don't spread this bs - people shouldn't be afraid of shaming when they have some code to publish.
      - Insanity 8y ago
        That's why I put the `/s` there. I wasn't being serious, and hope that most people got that. If not, my apologies. I constantly commit my toy projects and the few that got some viewers / comments were all polite indeed. EDIT: I have deleted the original statement. After your comment it made me think that it might involuntarily scare people from sharing things in the open source world, which is not my intention.
  - boyter 8y ago
    Oddly enough I find the collaboration more interesting now. Not sure if that’s a getting older thing but I like managing the PR’s, ensuring code is of a high quality and serving the needs of the users.
noxToken 8y ago
Definitely fun, but also slightly nerve-racking. A new project, script, or proof of concept left entirely up to you. The canvas is completely blank. Your initial code will probably be the seed for whatever this is for months or years to come. Remember all that trash you talked about the poor decisions everyone who came before you made? It's your turn. Don't screw it up. Tangentially related for some of the younger devs: The predecessors on your project probably weren't idiots. It's possible, but they were likely working with a different set of requirements under a different scope. Even the code that it morphed into over time was probably a good enough decision for the constraints at the time.
commandlinefan 8y ago
I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to admit that, but I agree. Of course, if somebody asks me in person, I agree that team work makes the dream work and there is no I in team and we're all better together and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you tell me.

rohan1024 8y ago

I agree with the author maybe because for first four years of my software development career I was a lone developer. Maybe Dave was in similar situation.

ahartmetz 8y ago

It completely depends on the quality of your collaborators. Are they good developers, do they have somewhat compatible views, and are they reasonably friendly? I prefer working in a highly capable group.

zeroxfe 8y ago
Yeah, working with other good devs is fun too, but working alone is a special kind of fun. :-)
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
erikpukinskis 8y ago
If you have collaborators you are not in that situation.

r_singh 8y ago

I agree with this sentiment, however, it does not continue to remain fun if that's the only development experience one has

designcode 8y ago

I’d say it’s in fact where the real fun happens

saagarjha 8y ago
Working on personal projects, not having to conform to other people’s requirements, trying a bunch of cool hacks and getting to see how things really work…that’s the most fun part of programming!
- Insanity 8y ago
  Side projects are probably the most fun that can be had with programming, not just for the freedom of requirements but also because you can build something you truly enjoy building. I'm lucky to be writing fun code at work - most of the time -, but the side projects keep me sane for many reasons. Not having to deal with 'bad' code that I didn't write, is also a nice benefit. All the bad code in my personal projects is mine, so no one else to blame :D EDIT: typos and delete possibly negative statement
  - EugeneOZ 8y ago
    Bs, nobody will read your code. 1 per 10 000 maybe. And even that 1 will be polite enough. Don't spread this bs - people shouldn't be afraid of shaming when they have some code to publish.
    - Insanity 8y ago
      That's why I put the `/s` there. I wasn't being serious, and hope that most people got that. If not, my apologies. I constantly commit my toy projects and the few that got some viewers / comments were all polite indeed. EDIT: I have deleted the original statement. After your comment it made me think that it might involuntarily scare people from sharing things in the open source world, which is not my intention.
- boyter 8y ago
  Oddly enough I find the collaboration more interesting now. Not sure if that’s a getting older thing but I like managing the PR’s, ensuring code is of a high quality and serving the needs of the users.

noxToken 8y ago

Definitely fun, but also slightly nerve-racking. A new project, script, or proof of concept left entirely up to you. The canvas is completely blank. Your initial code will probably be the seed for whatever this is for months or years to come. Remember all that trash you talked about the poor decisions everyone who came before you made? It's your turn. Don't screw it up. Tangentially related for some of the younger devs: The predecessors on your project probably weren't idiots. It's possible, but they were likely working with a different set of requirements under a different scope. Even the code that it morphed into over time was probably a good enough decision for the constraints at the time.

commandlinefan 8y ago

I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to admit that, but I agree. Of course, if somebody asks me in person, I agree that team work makes the dream work and there is no I in team and we're all better together and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you tell me.