3 ms·

It may surprise you, but some people like to program computers for reason other than money. Makes no sense right? Weirdos, all of them!

meowface 2y ago
I definitely didn't necessarily mean an app that had a way to make money. I mean exposing the work to more people who would get fun or utility out of the painstaking effort put into it. The world could use this sort of taste in a game, an activity, a tool, etc.
8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
Yes, but you can make free apps for a wider audience. Or even just useful apps for yourself. Can do what pleases you though. I sometimes work on intentionally useless apps just to try things out, but the idea is always to carry those ideas over to some app that has some purpose.
- exe34 2y ago
  do you think makers of abstract art should do something more useful? how about people in marketing? landlords?
  - toast0 2y ago
    All of those things are useful. With no abstract artists, art museums will have bare walls (which is fine, if the wall is the one they gave to me... but nobody wants to look at a bare wall and pretend its art for a whole museum!) Marketting seems useless sometimes, but when Pepsi spent their marketting budget on community projects, they lost a ton of sales. My local ice rink has no marketting and nobody in the county knows it exists, even people who would like to do ice skating or ice hockey; a smidge of marketting would be super useful; other rinks in neighboring counties have doubled or more the number of kids playing hockey in the past few years since we got a local NHL team, but ours struggles to get a single full team at most age groups. Landlords are not well liked on HN, but seems to me having a place to live on a month to month basis was pretty handy before I had the ability to make a long term commitment to a single place. I know some people buy a place to live for college, but an off campus rental seemed a lot more sensible to me. And similar when moving for work if you're not sure you'll be there long term, or you want out of a hotel before you're sure of what neighborhoods you like.
  - 8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
    I personally don't care much for abstract art, but if your goal is to produce an art piece, then sure, that's a purpose. I don't know if OP was going for "art" or just having fun with the tech. I wouldn't count it as art because it's very much a copy of an existing piece of software, not an original piece.
    - exe34 2y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicas_of_Michelangelo%27s_David https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicas_of_Michelangelo%27s_D...
      - 8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
        > Others were made for study at art academies in the late nineteenth century and later, while the statue has also been replicated for various commercial reasons or as artistic statements in their own right. Smaller replicas are often considered kitsch.[2] There you go. Many of them were commercial, not art. It does also say "artistic or statements in their own right" -- I'd like to know what statement they're trying to make, because I wouldn't generally describe carbon copies as art. It's a copy of art, but not really artistic in itself.
        exe34 2y ago
        I'm happy to be downvoted/flagged for this, but please kindly fuck off from gatekeeping art.
        8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
        I don't have a downvote button. And I'm not gatekeeping. I don't care what people do. Art is subjective, and carbon-copying is not within my definition or appreciation of art. If you think that's art, great, you do you.
exe34 2y ago
I think it's perfect. Art should be completely useless and yet spark joy - this one does both!

meowface 2y ago

I definitely didn't necessarily mean an app that had a way to make money. I mean exposing the work to more people who would get fun or utility out of the painstaking effort put into it. The world could use this sort of taste in a game, an activity, a tool, etc.

8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago

Yes, but you can make free apps for a wider audience. Or even just useful apps for yourself. Can do what pleases you though. I sometimes work on intentionally useless apps just to try things out, but the idea is always to carry those ideas over to some app that has some purpose.

exe34 2y ago
do you think makers of abstract art should do something more useful? how about people in marketing? landlords?
- toast0 2y ago
  All of those things are useful. With no abstract artists, art museums will have bare walls (which is fine, if the wall is the one they gave to me... but nobody wants to look at a bare wall and pretend its art for a whole museum!) Marketting seems useless sometimes, but when Pepsi spent their marketting budget on community projects, they lost a ton of sales. My local ice rink has no marketting and nobody in the county knows it exists, even people who would like to do ice skating or ice hockey; a smidge of marketting would be super useful; other rinks in neighboring counties have doubled or more the number of kids playing hockey in the past few years since we got a local NHL team, but ours struggles to get a single full team at most age groups. Landlords are not well liked on HN, but seems to me having a place to live on a month to month basis was pretty handy before I had the ability to make a long term commitment to a single place. I know some people buy a place to live for college, but an off campus rental seemed a lot more sensible to me. And similar when moving for work if you're not sure you'll be there long term, or you want out of a hotel before you're sure of what neighborhoods you like.
- 8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
  I personally don't care much for abstract art, but if your goal is to produce an art piece, then sure, that's a purpose. I don't know if OP was going for "art" or just having fun with the tech. I wouldn't count it as art because it's very much a copy of an existing piece of software, not an original piece.
  - exe34 2y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicas_of_Michelangelo%27s_David https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicas_of_Michelangelo%27s_D...
    - 8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
      > Others were made for study at art academies in the late nineteenth century and later, while the statue has also been replicated for various commercial reasons or as artistic statements in their own right. Smaller replicas are often considered kitsch.[2] There you go. Many of them were commercial, not art. It does also say "artistic or statements in their own right" -- I'd like to know what statement they're trying to make, because I wouldn't generally describe carbon copies as art. It's a copy of art, but not really artistic in itself.
      - exe34 2y ago
        I'm happy to be downvoted/flagged for this, but please kindly fuck off from gatekeeping art.
        8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
        I don't have a downvote button. And I'm not gatekeeping. I don't care what people do. Art is subjective, and carbon-copying is not within my definition or appreciation of art. If you think that's art, great, you do you.

exe34 2y ago

I think it's perfect. Art should be completely useless and yet spark joy - this one does both!