
Free Idea: Code equivalent to Morning Pages/750 Words - jnoller
http://jessenoller.com/2011/05/22/free-idea-code-equivalent-to-morning-pages750-words/
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quanticle
It wouldn't work because the _processes_ of coding and writing are different.
In writing, yes, "keeping the hand moving" is important. If you're stuck, a
good way to get unstuck is to just keep writing, and wait for your
subconscious to hit upon something that your conscious mind can use as a seed
to craft a story around.

Programming is not at all like that. In programming, getting "stuck" is a
signal to _stop_ writing code. Its a signal to stop and rethink your approach,
or at least step back and think about the problem before jumping back into
coding. You can't write yourself out of a programming problem, but you
certainly can write yourself into one.

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llimllib
I often have trouble getting my motor started on my current major project, but
banging on a different idea for half an hour puts me in a good coding groove
which I can then carry over into momentum on my major project.

750 code words would be more about _starting_ than about _being stuck_.

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jnoller
Exactly right; this isn't about being stuck. Or trying to unstick you. I don't
write 750 words/day to "unstick" myself from writing a blog post. I do it to
bang my head on something else a little bit to keep the juices flowing.

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a3_nm
Why would you need an online service to do that, if the point is just to write
code for you that you're not going to share with anyone? Or did I miss
something?

(I don't understand the point of 750words.com either, for that matter, except
if you're not satisfied with a text file and quick scripts for reminders and
word counts: but if you want to do a diary like 750words.com about coding and
getting your hands dirty, why wouldn't people just code the thing they want?)

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gvnonor
Or one could simply use a ready made blog-platform like Wordpress which
supports a majority of the features listed and maybe modify it a little

> Allow signup/signin

Check.

> Allow public sharing of journals/non public

Private and public posts.

> Allow submitted “ideas”

Use comments for getting those.

>Make it look decent

Thousands of free and premium themes available.

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jnoller
Or they could use posterous, livejournal, blogger - or an internal text file.
There's a million things that could do it, the idea is to make one tailored
_for_ it and tailored to the _idea_. Sometimes a custom built system can beat
a generalized system made to "sorta do it".

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Skywing
My most common scenario for kick-starting my creative coding is to bust open
the REPL and brain dump the more difficult concepts just to see if they're
feasible. I use the REPL so I can quickly debug code and see immediate
results.

There's no way I could just jot down 750 words of code without having executed
it _at least_ once. Normally, I'd probably have executed my code every 10 new
words of code - so like, 75 times by the time I write 750 words. I just don't
see a non-REPL editor helping me in this way.

I know there are in-browser REPLs for languages like Ruby and Python, etc.
Perhaps if it had one of those in it, or something, then it'd make more sense
for me to try it.

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frobozz
IIRC, The Pragmatic Programmer suggests writing morning pages. It's been a
while since I read it, though so I could be wrong.

