
Day 180: Finished - wallflower
http://blog.jenniferdewalt.com/post/62472912052/day-180-finished
======
chestnut-tree
Very inspiring. I think this reinforces the idea that regular practice every
day (even if it's short practice) is often better than longer sessions done
intermittently or spaced apart more widely (like once a week).

Here's another example of the "daily practice" approach from a different
domain. A self-taught designer callled Mike Winkelmann has been posting his
"everydays" on his website. From his site's description:

 _" Originally I started out drawing and did that everyday for a year. Then I
decided I'd like to learn a 3D animation package so I did a render using
Cinema 4D every day for two years. Then I did some photography and also Adobe
Illustrator for a bit..."_

[http://www.beeple-crap.com/everydays.php](http://www.beeple-
crap.com/everydays.php)

Edit: Just to add, another great post on the idea of practicing everyday from
a motion graphics designer. I think it's applicable to any field:

[http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2013/01/one-a-
day/](http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2013/01/one-a-day/)

~~~
philtar
I don't think short practice does anything for you when it comes to something
like coding.

I can't see anyone benefiting from less than a couple of hours of coding

~~~
klibertp
From my own struggle to learn something each day I can tell you that - at
least for me - what you said is wrong. There are many "workflows" I tried and
am still using, but generally speaking even 15 minutes is enough to gain
something valuable. For example, when reading a technical book 15 minutes is
enough to read a descriptions of a (sub)problem and to understand high-level
concepts used in it's solution (if it's not, you're reading wrong book). I
then go to work and think about the details of the solution during the lunch
break and commute. Another 15-30 minutes in the evening is enough to check
what I thought up with a book and realize where my thinking was incorrect.
Then the next day I can code up whatever I was reading about in an hour max,
but frequently less (if not, then I was reading wrong book - that is one which
I was not prepared to read yet). Then in the next days I can deepen my
understanding with 30-45 minutes sessions, and at the end of the week I have
the problem internalized and I can move on.

That being said, when I'm not under extreme time constraints, I'm using other
approaches. For example, for a whole week I'm reading and gathering bits of
information I will need to build something. I have a large file, where I paste
links, paragraphs of text from articles and write tiny little snippets of
code, either mine or borrowed from somewhere. All this takes an hour or a
little more each day (but it's nice that it can be divided into pieces). Then
over the weekend I try to make this amorphous mass of data into understanding,
in one or a few coding sessions.

There are other ways to make the best use of what little time we get, too.
They'd better be, because otherwise we'd be royally screwed as working
programmers :)

------
ValentineC
Some background to this project:
[http://blog.jenniferdewalt.com/post/56319597560/im-
learning-...](http://blog.jenniferdewalt.com/post/56319597560/im-learning-to-
code-by-building-180-websites-in-180)

(HN discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6097155](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6097155))

------
faddotio
Lesson from Day 180: 99% of user generated content sucks.

~~~
bandwevil
I think that value might be a bit optimistic.

[http://i.imgur.com/zYsc6oa.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/zYsc6oa.jpg)

~~~
hayksaakian
"You should really rate limit this thing"

------
obilgic
Now the next challenge 1 website in 180 days.

~~~
sanderjd
Maybe she'll take a job where that will be exactly what she'll get to do!

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Pent
The entire journey is very inspiring. I wonder what she will do now that it's
done? You could take this idea and run with it into other niches, like music
or photography projects.

~~~
hownowstephen
Or if you're really ambitious (also: independently wealthy), try a new niche
each day. Must have been draining coming up with a new toy-size web project to
do daily...

~~~
sillysaurus2
This is by far the most interesting aspect of her journey. What was her
process for coming up with 180 unique ideas over 180 days? It's like there's
some secret wellspring of creativity she happened to stumble across.

When I think about what she's accomplished here, I get stuck in a mental loop
like, "How the heck did she think of 180 projects, each able to be completed
by a non-veteran developer within a _single_ 8-hour work session, _and then
unfailingly complete them all_?"

Congrats, Jennifer!

~~~
ktd
The secret is that there is no secret. The more time you spend on generating
ideas, the better you will be at it-- just like any other skill.

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bobbles
Full list of the 180 websites on the main page:
[http://jenniferdewalt.com/](http://jenniferdewalt.com/)

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ryan-allen
Cool experiment, lots of discipline and lots of creativity. I poo-pooed the
experiment in the past as the author described no programming experience
prior, which I disputed. But irregardless, this is pretty awesome in my
opinion, especially because the project was continued to completion, and that
in itself is a 0.5% thing.

Inspiring effort.

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ValentineC
Congrats, Jennifer! Now that you're done with 180 websites in 180 days, what's
next in life?

~~~
d0m
Around the world 360 days!

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ufmace
Cool project, and really cool on her actually sticking it out and producing a
site a day for 180 days straight.

I am curious about her status/background. Is she in high school, college, out
of school? Working a basic or full-time professional job? If she has a full-
time job doing something else, it's a hell of a commitment to do something
like this on an ongoing basis. I'm not sure how you could work 8+ hours a day,
then come home and work on a project like this every day for 6 months
straight. Even giving up more sleep than you should and any attempt to have a
social life, it'd be tough to pull off.

It's a little different if this is the only thing she has going on right now.
Not that it isn't still a great achievement - if I was in a position to do so,
I'd be interested in hiring somebody with the intelligence, independence, and
drive to complete a project like this with no definite payoff at the end. It
may even be better that she can maintain a reasonable work-life balance on a
long-term project and not burn out.

I'm working on my own project outside of work, but I sure couldn't spend 8-ish
hours on it every day over the course of 6 months while still working at my
normal job.

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thanks for the kind words!

Making a website a day takes a lot of time. I've been working on this project
full-time and on average worked for 10 hours a day including weekends. I'm
looking forward to getting my social life back!

~~~
jdotjdot
I think the question is, how were you able to afford to take so much time to
do that?

Everyone agrees that your effort is admirable; it's a matter of understanding
how you even had that kind of time to spend in the first place.

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mattholtom
Congratulations! This must have taken an incredible amount of personal
discipline to accomplish. I can't even bring myself to floss for 180
consecutive days!

~~~
sanderjd
In fairness, flossing is a lot harder than making web sites... :)

~~~
jenniferDewalt
I agree :)

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enry_straker
This is awe inspiring.

Programming is a hand-on activity, and the best way to learn programming is by
doing it every day, in every way, till you can do it in your sleep.

~~~
davvid
The site is inspiring. Unfortunately the "rate limit this" and other stupid
comments are annoying. The internet is 12 year olds, I guess... whaddaya
expect

~~~
smartwater
I was involved in a company that hosted and rented servers for video games. It
grew really big, but shut down solely on the basis of, "these 12 year olds are
going to drive us insane."

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thenomad
Massive congratulations to her.

I'm about to start on a similar project myself, and seeing Jennifer complete
her 6-month journey is both encouraging and quite a high bar to beat!

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BWStearns
Congrats Jennifer! I am quite impressed by the dedication you showed. Good
luck in your future efforts!

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damncabbage
... "Paul Graham is gay"?
[http://i.imgur.com/UTk9DlM.png](http://i.imgur.com/UTk9DlM.png)

~~~
frenger
the page takes user input & displays it in the background for the next
visitor.

~~~
damncabbage
Ah! Oops. Thanks.

------
hawkharris
I was really taken aback by the "Paul Graham is Gay" in the background. Seems
like that line is in poor taste unless there's some inside joke, which is not
mean-spirited, that I don't know about.

Other than that, great work. I admire the author's dedication and her ability
to create so many great apps on such a tight deadline.

~~~
joe_computer
Paul Graham is gay -- is not derogatory unless you think being gay is wrong;
it's simply factually inaccurate. Like saying, "Harry Potter is in Ravenclaw."
Which is offensive if you have a prejudice against Ravenclaws.

~~~
nyan_sandwich
>Like saying, "Harry Potter is in Ravenclaw."

Well actually... In a certain really good HP fanfiction, Harry Potter is in
fact a Ravenclaw.

[http://hpmor.com](http://hpmor.com)

~~~
cgag
I just want to second that this book is great. Ignore any negative inclination
you feel because it's called fan fiction. It's fanfiction the way John
Gardner's Grendel is Beowulf fanfiction.

------
holyZoso
Cool! Where does the "Say something! > Send" field go when I click send?

EDIT: Nevermind, it looks like the confetti dots were previously words, and
displayed unfiltered user input from the form. Always hilarious, always
dangerous, this thing with the unmoderated user input.

~~~
vacri
An important day 180 lesson :)

------
jbenn
Amazing and inspiring... how did you find the time to do this? Were you
employed?

------
shiftpgdn
The lack of rate limiting on the chat box didn't take long to cause things to
descend into chaos:
[http://i.imgur.com/IhaqMR3.png](http://i.imgur.com/IhaqMR3.png)

------
ateevchopra
Hope more newcomers will learn from you and make such goals. Not just in the
field of Web Development, but also other fields. Thanks for always sticking to
your goal. Good Luck !

------
ratsimihah
Why the heck is it raining bacon?

~~~
vacri
Everything on the page is 'awesome'.

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mmanfrin
Falling words are user-generated.

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kevonc
that's pretty impressive. usually a web idea takes more than a day to execute,
not including the learning part.

------
mjhea0
great job, jennifer. you basically put yourself through an intense bootcamp.
the amount of technologies you had to learn is inspiring and you've really
taught yourself how to learn a new concept/technology quickly.

did you track your hours?

what's next? build a course. get it on kickstarter. start freelancing. contact
me. i'll hire you. :)

on a side note, i cannot believe some of things others have said. it's sad.
what's worse, is the lack of moderation. don't let a few naysayers ruin what
you've accomplished.

congrats again. cheers!

------
kyro
Coulda probably done all that in a weekend.

Just kidding, great job! What's next? I'm sure you've already received a
handful of job offers.

------
npras87
Congrats, Jennifer. You inspire me!

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hnriot
This is really awesome, some of these are really well thought out and
executed.

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lnanek2
The difficult thing in writing web sites or apps isn't writing them, or
writing a lot of them, it's is writing a polished, successful, end product
people love. So I think having a goal to write a certain number is self
defeating.

~~~
overgard
Practice is never self defeating.

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epic9x
congrats! I remember seeing your first post and sticking with it. start day
181 by rewarding yourself - you earned it!

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zemo
stop flooding her server you assholes.

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dmak
Is the site down?

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kirklove
Congrats!

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andyl
A web page with photo of bacon and sushi? Congrats I guess.

~~~
pests
Do you not understand what she is trying to do? This is not an MVP, a tech
demo, being entered in design competitions, meant to conform to any specs or
requirement... it is to learn.

Why does it matter if the images is of bacon and sushi? The way you interact
with images do not depend upon their content.

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fedepyt
type this into the browsers console: setInterval(function () {
$.post('/node/hello_world/message', { message: 'lol' }); }, 1);

~~~
pearjuice
You do know that this results in a DoS attack?

~~~
scotty79
I guess what happens to this page is separate lesson in its own rights.

