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What I do: 1. Open terminal, `mkdir <project name> && cd <project name>` 2. Spend way too much time thinking of what language to use. 3. Spend way too much t
by mrlase 15y ago
What I do:
1. Open terminal, `mkdir <project name> && cd <project name>`
2. Spend way too much time thinking of what language to use.
3. Spend way too much time thinking of how I should implement it.
4. Start coding.
5. Get bored and have new idea.
6. Go to step 1.
I think I need to work on actually finishing my projects and spending less time with thinking.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- b14ck 15y agoJust do it, man. Start writing something and don't stop until your fingers are bleeding and you're suffering from dehydration. But seriously, just do it! I used to get stuck like that. When that happens now, I just start coding no matter what. I'll tell myself: "OK you MUST write code for at least 30 minutes or you can't leave." something like that.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- jrockway 15y agoI disagree. There is more value in starting something than in finishing it. Starting a project may involve designing and testing a new algorithm. Finishing it may involve playing with CSS for hours. At that point, there is no educational value in finishing it; the time would be better spent on a new project. Personally, I have a lot of 80-90% "finished" projects that are available for people to use. This is usually enough. If someone is really using them, I might be motivated to finish everything on my todo list. But otherwise, something else would interest me more than checking off some imaginary todo list.
- dan00 15y ago"There is more value in starting something than in finishing it." I see your point about learning and agree with it, but I don't think that in starting something is more value than in finishing it. Starting is pretty easy, because new things are always more interesting. It's getting hard when the interest vanishes. That's the challenge of finishing something, that you can overcome this stage. Otherwise you will never produce something remarkable, but just jump from something interesting to the next. For me, jumping from one to next thing just isn't satisfying, it's aimless, just following your desires without any direction.
- randomdata 15y agoI agree. I start a lot of projects. I will spend some time on just about every dumb idea I come up with, just to see what life the project takes on. Usually, with some small effort, I confirm that most of the ideas are, in fact, dumb. I'll stop development right there. But every once in long a while, the idea still sounds like a good one and it still keeps calling me to continue working on it. Those are the ones I will take to "completion." It is good to finish things sometimes, but if you find yourself lacking the motivation to finish a project, there is a good chance that it isn't worth finishing. At least in my experience, when you are on to something valuable, you'll naturally be drawn back to it.
- agumonkey 15y agoEither I have multiple personality disorders on HN or we have far too much in common .. I would have added a variation though, swap the first two. 1. read about a new language|framework 2. open terminal
- mrlase 15y agoI do this quite often too actually... was one of the last languages you looked at Haskell? Or even a functional programming language? I spent way too much time trying to wrap my head around that tonight.
- schrototo 15y ago0. Spend way way way too much time thinking of a project name.
- cturner 15y agoI do this as well. But I've stopped thinking of things I play with as projects, but rather patterns. > I think I need to work on actually finishing my projects I've wondered before - why do I get ashamed of sandboxing? I decided it was because projects were accumulating in my 'project' directory, creating noise about things that would never be complete. But it doesn't have to be like this! When you stop thinking of them as projects, no need for guilt. I've built a tool to make it easier to manage your data and encourage sandboxing rather than projects. It's stupidly simple but changed the way I work: http://trogrd.tumblr.com/post/15130555126/saga If the post doesn't explain it, you could try this: get it; create $HOME/saga. Then running something like "saga my test directory" a couple of times, and have a look at what it's creating in $HOME/saga until it's self-explanatory.