Sure, it happens. But you almost always learn something from the experience, and get a bit or two of reusable code. This applies not just to code hacking... I

Sure, it happens. But you almost always learn something from the experience, and get a bit or two of reusable code. This applies not just to code hacking... I have a lot of other hobbies (woodworking, electronics, cooking, etc.). There have been countless times some big effort didn't have the intended effect in the end, but rarely if ever has the experience been a "loss". I would say though that I got over the whole "completely empty" thing afterwards a long time ago. Life is too short to get hung up on petty shit. Take what you can from the experience and move on!