

Never Stop Hacking - b14ck
http://rdegges.com/never-stop-hacking

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zrgiu_
This is the true Hacker method of thinking. Problem solving, puzzles are what
makes us happy.

We built tens of products, website and apps. The fun is always when you hack
something new. When you manage to get the math right for an AR system for the
first time, when you add zoom capabilities to your canvas with just two lines
of code, or have the ability to embed youtube videos into your Android app
before everyone else. When you create things out of nothing, when you share
your creations and move to the next puzzle.

And once the hacking stops, although the product is pretty much finished and
all that's left is the launch (which is a very important part, but not for the
hacker in us), the fun is almost completely over. That is when fun ends, and
the work starts for the hacker.

Hacking keeps us sane. And if you ever get to that point when you're stuck in
a high position of your successful startup, look for role models that got the
recipe right. pg always comes to mind.

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mochazebedee
One of the most valuable coding tools that I learned to appreciate relatively
late in my coding career is the Thesaurus. Not only because I'm not native
English. Finding the right identifiers is often surprisingly hard, and seeing
synonyms and antonyms of the concept you try to express, all of which have
some different connotations and slightly different meanings can actually help
you to sort out your own thinking quite a bit. And if you try to have your
variable names describe what you are doing as best as possible, and you find
you run out of names, or the same name can mean very different things in your
code, then you probably have some big conceptual problems.

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mahmud
Nothing about this experience is unique to programming. People derive similar
pleasure & creative outlets from a variety of activities.

My partner spends most of her waking hours honing her craft, pushing
boundaries, and experiencing new heights of joy. She's a musician. Most of our
muso friends would gush similarly about their craft.

Lately I have been getting a lot of rush from golf. It's extremely rewarding
and frustrating at the same time.

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Canuteson
Reminds me of the old adage: You don't learn to hack, you hack to learn.

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krollew
I hack for fun. Learning is just useful and profitable side effect. xD

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web_chops
What leads to stress and frustration is not the craving for the solution but
rather the pressure to find the solution. Most of the time this kind of thing
happens in day jobs because there is less emphasis on learning and more on
getting things done.

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radioact1ve
Sudden urge to hack... will give in!

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reiz
Thank you for writing this down. I think the same. Keep hacking :-)

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jwoah12
Hack the planet!

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fmstephe
Amen brother.

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runeks
Except when you want to sleep, then hacking is really impractical.

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dperalta
so fucking true!

