6 ms·

I feel like this is me spinning in circles deciding on “the best language” to use for a side project, never committing, and then inevitably losing momentum. Fr

by dan-g 3y ago

I feel like this is me spinning in circles deciding on “the best language” to use for a side project, never committing, and then inevitably losing momentum. Frameworks and languages are a software engineer’s “kit”, I guess?

allenu 3y ago
I think so, but even things like focusing too much on a perfect design or well-tested system can bog you down on a side project if you actually want to finish it. I know for me I used to spend way too much time trying to organize my code and folders just right. If I learned a new design technique, I'd incorporate it into the project. I was obsessed with doing things right, which I think is fine if my goal was to learn, which it partly was. However, I also wanted to ship! Over time I relaxed my requirements on perfect design and testing and was able to ship things.
dehrmann 3y ago
This is why you should about companies touting their choice of an exotic language as a perk. Rather than hiring people who want to build a product, they hire people who bikeshed language debates. Choose Java and move on with your life.
- Ma8ee 3y ago
  I kind of agree with your general point. I just wish the default was something a bit less painful.
  - the_gipsy 3y ago
    Go is the new java. Not great, but not so painful.
  - jwhiles 3y ago
    There's two main groups on hacker news. The people who think Go and Java are the only reasonable languages, and the people who think Rust and TypeScript are the only reasonable languages.
    - glogla 3y ago
      You forgot the people who love SQL and people who hate SQL.
      - dehrmann 3y ago
        How one feels about SQL is moot because it isn't really a choice. Same for shell and client-side Javascript.
        glogla 3y ago
        Yes, but people will still not stop complaining and arguing about all of those.
    - Mawr 3y ago
      You'd think so, but from what I've seen, the overlap between enjoyers of Go and Java is tiny. The languages may occupy the same niche, but their design philosophies are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
- amoss 3y ago
  I choose not to choose Java. I choose life.
- irrational 3y ago
  You had me in the first half.
layer8 3y ago
The solution, of course, is to start making your own kit.
RugnirViking 3y ago
The best language for a side project is either a) the language you want to learn, the side project is a means towards this end or b) the language you know best, you want the side project to actually be good
- boredumb 3y ago
  I agree with this 100%, every time i've wanted to get into a new tech stack I start a new side project more-or-less as a thinly veiled reason to learn it and hit my head on real world roadblocks within it. If nothing else you can learn beforehand that you'd never want to use it as a daily driver and drift on to the next big thing.
- dan-g 3y ago
  This is the way. A combination of the two would be prototyping in the language you know best (b), and then once you have it working rewriting it in (a). That way you’re only dealing with one novel thing at a time. For me that’s Python (b) and any shiny object (a), respectively.
Xcelerate 3y ago
When I was a kid, I was super into programming languages. Read all about the different kinds, learned about Haskell, self-modifying code, dependent typing, and of course I wanted to design my own language. Now I just want whatever breaks the least and let’s me get the job done. It’s funny because my family always used to ask why I went into engineering instead of computer science, and I said it was because as soon as programming became a job, it would suck the fun out of it. Well I veered away from engineering into data science, and sure enough, I don’t seem to get quite the same joy out of coding that I did when I was younger.

by dan-g 3y ago

allenu 3y ago

I think so, but even things like focusing too much on a perfect design or well-tested system can bog you down on a side project if you actually want to finish it. I know for me I used to spend way too much time trying to organize my code and folders just right. If I learned a new design technique, I'd incorporate it into the project. I was obsessed with doing things right, which I think is fine if my goal was to learn, which it partly was. However, I also wanted to ship! Over time I relaxed my requirements on perfect design and testing and was able to ship things.

dehrmann 3y ago

This is why you should about companies touting their choice of an exotic language as a perk. Rather than hiring people who want to build a product, they hire people who bikeshed language debates. Choose Java and move on with your life.

Ma8ee 3y ago
I kind of agree with your general point. I just wish the default was something a bit less painful.
- the_gipsy 3y ago
  Go is the new java. Not great, but not so painful.
- jwhiles 3y ago
  There's two main groups on hacker news. The people who think Go and Java are the only reasonable languages, and the people who think Rust and TypeScript are the only reasonable languages.
  - glogla 3y ago
    You forgot the people who love SQL and people who hate SQL.
    - dehrmann 3y ago
      How one feels about SQL is moot because it isn't really a choice. Same for shell and client-side Javascript.
      - glogla 3y ago
        Yes, but people will still not stop complaining and arguing about all of those.
  - Mawr 3y ago
    You'd think so, but from what I've seen, the overlap between enjoyers of Go and Java is tiny. The languages may occupy the same niche, but their design philosophies are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
amoss 3y ago
I choose not to choose Java. I choose life.
irrational 3y ago
You had me in the first half.

layer8 3y ago

The solution, of course, is to start making your own kit.

RugnirViking 3y ago

The best language for a side project is either a) the language you want to learn, the side project is a means towards this end or b) the language you know best, you want the side project to actually be good

boredumb 3y ago
I agree with this 100%, every time i've wanted to get into a new tech stack I start a new side project more-or-less as a thinly veiled reason to learn it and hit my head on real world roadblocks within it. If nothing else you can learn beforehand that you'd never want to use it as a daily driver and drift on to the next big thing.
dan-g 3y ago
This is the way. A combination of the two would be prototyping in the language you know best (b), and then once you have it working rewriting it in (a). That way you’re only dealing with one novel thing at a time. For me that’s Python (b) and any shiny object (a), respectively.

Xcelerate 3y ago

When I was a kid, I was super into programming languages. Read all about the different kinds, learned about Haskell, self-modifying code, dependent typing, and of course I wanted to design my own language. Now I just want whatever breaks the least and let’s me get the job done. It’s funny because my family always used to ask why I went into engineering instead of computer science, and I said it was because as soon as programming became a job, it would suck the fun out of it. Well I veered away from engineering into data science, and sure enough, I don’t seem to get quite the same joy out of coding that I did when I was younger.