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What a wonderful project to read about. It’s too easy to get into a mindset where you auto-filter your ideas based on whether or not it’ll make money, or direct

by davb 4y ago

What a wonderful project to read about. It’s too easy to get into a mindset where you auto-filter your ideas based on whether or not it’ll make money, or directly help you reach some career goal (especially in the HN bubble). This is fun. This is art. I wish I took more time to do “pointless” (in the least derogatory sense of the word) projects like this one. Bravo.

lostgame 4y ago
I think; for myself, at least - doing ‘useless’; or passion/pet projects are a way to ‘keep up your chops’ or the like as a developer, and keep your inspiration for it. I do SEGA Saturn homebrew, and mostly actually just experiments (I’ve never published any of my Saturn projects so far, though I intend to for one of them), and I only really do it for the obscure interest of learning a kind of fairly obscure and complex processor and co-processor architecture for…the love of it? I don’t care if I make money off it; I don’t really need to, I don’t care if people see or use it; because that’s not the purpose behind the exercise, and I guess that does seem almost strange but the curiosity and learning is what drives me. I work a 9-5 as a mobile developer and it’s honestly usually not that challenging or growth-inducing. Not that I’m complaining, I love my job and my company, but in order to stay passionate and ‘into’ programming I find doing these weird passion projects really helps. Hope that makes sense! EDIT: I’m also a music producer, and one task I really like to do in a similar way to ‘keep up my chops’ is to re-produce an almost carbon copy of a song I’m interested in particular audio engineering qualities about to, EG, learn about particular techniques being used. I’ll obviously never be able to use or sell them, but I can re-apply the techniques I learned in that experience elsewhere.
- sasas 4y ago
  > I’m interested in particular audio engineering qualities about to, EG, learn about particular techniques being used Have you considered combining your enjoyment for audio production with your programming skills to develop audio plugins? This is also something that could be monetised, although the VST market seems to be pretty saturated. Start as a side project and see where it leads !
- omgmajk 4y ago
  I've been meaning to go into SNES or Sega Genesis homebrew for a while now but can't seem to find the time. Good to hear that others are doing something fun though. :)
deleted 4y ago
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by davb 4y ago

lostgame 4y ago

I think; for myself, at least - doing ‘useless’; or passion/pet projects are a way to ‘keep up your chops’ or the like as a developer, and keep your inspiration for it. I do SEGA Saturn homebrew, and mostly actually just experiments (I’ve never published any of my Saturn projects so far, though I intend to for one of them), and I only really do it for the obscure interest of learning a kind of fairly obscure and complex processor and co-processor architecture for…the love of it? I don’t care if I make money off it; I don’t really need to, I don’t care if people see or use it; because that’s not the purpose behind the exercise, and I guess that does seem almost strange but the curiosity and learning is what drives me. I work a 9-5 as a mobile developer and it’s honestly usually not that challenging or growth-inducing. Not that I’m complaining, I love my job and my company, but in order to stay passionate and ‘into’ programming I find doing these weird passion projects really helps. Hope that makes sense! EDIT: I’m also a music producer, and one task I really like to do in a similar way to ‘keep up my chops’ is to re-produce an almost carbon copy of a song I’m interested in particular audio engineering qualities about to, EG, learn about particular techniques being used. I’ll obviously never be able to use or sell them, but I can re-apply the techniques I learned in that experience elsewhere.

sasas 4y ago
> I’m interested in particular audio engineering qualities about to, EG, learn about particular techniques being used Have you considered combining your enjoyment for audio production with your programming skills to develop audio plugins? This is also something that could be monetised, although the VST market seems to be pretty saturated. Start as a side project and see where it leads !
omgmajk 4y ago
I've been meaning to go into SNES or Sega Genesis homebrew for a while now but can't seem to find the time. Good to hear that others are doing something fun though. :)

deleted 4y ago

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