

Ask HN: Where do you get your ideas? - DoritosMan

I want to start programming but I would like to learn through doing instead of just following meaningless tutorials or reading boring books. So HN, where do you get your ideas for projects?
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iaw
A few options :

1) Questions you want to answer... I had a question about the quality of two
investment strategies so I'm in the process of solving them in R (where I'm
proficient) and then later Python (where I'm learning)

2) Problems that have been posed... Euler problems may be the best for this
<http://projecteuler.net/problems>

3) Finally, as others have said, real world problems that you or those you
know have themselves. One thing I would like is an easy drop down wiki-style
notes editor that has tree organization, that solution exists in multiple
forms but not for free on OSX that I've found so it's something that I've
considered building and open sourcing if I get back into compiled languages.

One anecdote : I share you're feeling about reading boring books, I'd rather
do something real. I taught myself R by solving real problems one by one. An
acquaintance is the opposite, he prefers to read the books, work through
examples, play with them to be sure he understands them, and continue on. In
the end he was able to show me a ton about optimizing code (as well as explain
why certain things were slow). Just be aware that you might be skipping
something intangible by skipping the book.

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ne0phyte
Usually when I need something and I can't find a simple/suitable solution I
take that as an idea to write something on my own.

I mostly program "on demand".

So focus on tasks you often do that you could automate or programs you use
that you think are way too heavy for what you need them for until you find
something.

Keep in mind that you have to start with the (language independent) basics no
matter how boring books and online resources are.

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jbrooksuk
There was a good thread on here recently about Solving Problems your Parents
have: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5232716>

I tend to solve problems that I have, sometimes others. Or, if I interested in
something and believe it might do okay, then I build it.

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samuelcox
Finding problems that need fixing in the world, creatively solving them with
technology.

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rosenjon
I would find an open source project you find interesting and hack on that for
a while. It will allow you to learn from code that others have written, while
also creating your own.

I ran a website a while back that ran on TikiWiki, and I learned a lot by
hacking on its internals. I think it's hard to start from scratch, so seeing
other people's working code can be useful. However, partly it's personal
preference also. There is a downside to open source, which is that you might
start off learning bad habits or learning from poorly written code.

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LarryMade2
Something which you think you can do better.

Doesn't matter if you can do it right away, but you probably have a passion
and know the process/concept and want to improve on it; from there you have a
good idea on what you want to do, so now its a matter to research the coding
to accomplish it. With such you might also figure out that certain platforms
languages are well or worse suited for what you want to accomplish.

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miriadis
Meditation helps

