

Ask HN: How do you choose your weekend projects? - apaitch

Hi all,<p>I've been trying to come up with some kind of personal project for myself to do but quite honestly I'm hitting a wall - kind of like writer's block. I'm a 3rd year CS student so I have some programming experience, but nothing of the "make something from start to finish" kind. I've made small games in 24/48-hour competitions, and small things like a Boggle-solver or Tic-Tac-Toe to get comfortable in a new language, but I'm trying to think of something that's not a game nor a tiny project and that's harder. I know it's a big gap in my education and I want to cover it (I'm excited at the thought of developing something bigger, just having trouble thinking of what).<p>So, how do you choose what you code on your free time? Do you come up with your own projects? Do you contribute to open-source? Do you just make lots of small things? Or do you not have time for that sort of thing because you're working 24/7? (=P)
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alexholehouse
Not really answering the question, but for quick fixes;

A friend of mine recently implemented an Enigma machine (i.e. for coding WWII
messages - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine>) which he enjoyed and
said was a great challenge.

Alternatively I've recently done Spotify's coding puzzles
(<http://www.spotify.com/us/jobs/tech/>) - who knows, you could even get a job
out of it!

~~~
cd34
I did one of Spotify's or Facebook's coding puzzles a while back, using 4
languages in the same source file and obfuscated my contact info in the
response.

If their recruitment team isn't up to the task, I don't want to work there. :)

However, it was a fun exercise.

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code_pockets
Here is how I do it:

1\. Find a pen. 2\. Find a paper or notebook. 3\. Sit down for 5 minutes. 4\.
Write whatever idea comes to my mind in those 5 minutes. 5\. Review ideas. 6\.
Pick the one I like best. 7\. Design it. 8\. Code it. 9\. Test it. 10\. Ship
it.

Rinse and Repeat.

------
geekytenny
All software couldn't possibly work perfectly for you....? So fix a problem
you have or one you think you will have soon. Alternatively, go have a chat
with a prof or business person or whoever and ask them what problems they
would like solved.

