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Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

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Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#141

Post by em-bee »

FlyingSnake wrote: post #51

Building a web browser. I once took a stab at Ladybird browser but had to back out due to the complexity of its build chain. I couldn’t get it run on Xcode/CLion on macOS but would love to give it a try once again. Does anyone have any tips on getting started again?

if you are not already, stay connected to the ladybird dev community. don't complain to them about the difficulty to build, but keep an eye out for others having the same challenges. see if there are others also trying to build on MacOS and share your experience. perhaps together you can overcome the issues.

the majority of ladybird contributors are probably on linux, so mac support may take some extra effort. consider if you can work with a linux container or VM instead.

i just checked their discord, there is a "build-problems" channel, where you may be able to ask for help.

don't give up. one step at a time. we need more alternative browsers, so i hope you will be able to contribute.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#142

Post by WillAdams »

FlyingSnake wrote: post #51

Building a web browser. I once took a stab at Ladybird browser but had to back out due to the complexity of its build chain. I couldn’t get it run on Xcode/CLion on macOS but would love to give it a try once again. Does anyone have any tips on getting started again?

Maybe find the smallest one and read through its code?

Lynx is where I would start, or see:

https://lobobrowser.org/

since it's all in Java and presumably is straight-forward.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#143

Post by FlyingSnake »

em-bee wrote: post #141
FlyingSnake wrote: post #51

Building a web browser. I once took a stab at Ladybird browser but had to back out due to the complexity of its build chain. I couldn’t get it run on Xcode/CLion on macOS but would love to give it a try once again. Does anyone have any tips on getting started again?

if you are not already, stay connected to the ladybird dev community. don't complain to them about the difficulty to build, but keep an eye out for others having the same challenges. see if there are others also trying to build on MacOS and share your experience. perhaps together you can overcome the issues. the majority of ladybird contributors are probably on linux, so mac support may take some extra effort. consid…

You know what, I’ll give it a shot again tonight. Thanks for the fist bump. Let’s see how far I go.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#145

Post by WillAdams »

JodieBenitez wrote: post #126

Two things: - firearms technology: designing or modifying guns. Feels out of reach because... laws, obviously. - general ICE engines knowledge: Will probably be obsolete when I get the space and the time to pursue this.

The problem with firearms is of course the "thought crime" aspect of the recent/current? BATF stance on making a firearm w/o an FFL, using it, and selling it, as well as ITAR concerns.

Naturally, there are DefCAD/Defense Distributed and the like and a couple of very active subreddits/forums and some new developments/techniques.

Arguably, 1st Amendment + 2nd Amendment == the right to 3D print firearms, but of course, no one aside from Cody Wilson wants to be the poster child for that court case, note the example made of Philip Luty in England and his writings.

For internal combustion engines, small models are popular things (have you at least purchased a Revell Visible V8 model?)

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#146

Post by y-curious »

yu3zhou4 wrote: post #109

Being able to spontaneously speak with people and slow thinking. I am ok at writing with people, because it gives me time to think and refine my message. But I really suck at live events and talking to people in real life. Did anyone overcome it? And how?

Any advice you get is going to sound rudimentary, as with much of life advice. Now that I've put a disclaimer, here is what helped me the most:

When you are shy, there is sometimes the one kind person that introduces you/breaks the ice to others. You love this person because they lubricated the social interaction. I harness this feeling of being saved by pretending that everyone around me is the shy person waiting for someone to break the ice. I frame this internally as myself doing the shy others a huge favor that they'll appreciate. I want to be "that guy" that helped people feel included and involved.

I used to do this consciously. At this point, I rarely have to invoke this thought as I've now put in the reps and it's easier.

Tldr: pretend you're being a social savior and repeated practice

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#147

Post by nathan_douglas »

zikani_03 wrote: post #94

On the development side, I feel like I just don't have the "brain" for Rust even though I have built a couple of useful things with it and have also contributed to an open source project (checkout hurl.dev, great tool!) - I would love to get into low level OS development, VMMs and microVMs . It's probably just an issue of effort Outside of programming, I'd like to get into welding so I can make some things. I recentl…

Yeah, Rust was... nontrivial for me too. I feel like I understand it now quite well, but it took more effort than I'd expected to expend on anything. Prolog was a similar but distinct mindfuck too.

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#148

Post by speakfreely »

nathan_compton wrote: post #42
seanssel wrote: post #15

Game development. I’ll admit that part of my problem is chronic depression over a decade+. The idea of gamedev excites me, but I have a hard time feeling passionate about anything these days. You definitely need that for games. Hell, I’m barely able to sit down and even enjoy games anymore.

We're not depressed, the rest of the world is just stupidly optimistic.

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/dont-be-a-doomer

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#149

Post by shayway »

newswasboring wrote: post #127

Currently, just making a game. I have finished like one game in my life. There is something about the huge scope of things I need to know from music to UI to art that just seems daunting. I tried to do a couple game jams but I am now of the opinion that is too much stress for me.

I think game jams are a bit overrated, but when you're feeling stuck they're great for getting unstuck. For my big passion projects I get hung up on all the peripheral things you mention like music and art too, but game jams force you to move past those things quickly and learn the value of terrible placeholders and horrific hacks in service of maintaining momentum.

Check out the Week Sauce Jam [0]. You still make a game in seven days, but it can be any seven days of the month; there's no voting or ranking either. Jams are typically too stressful for me too, but this one is deliberately as low-pressure as possible, you can take on as much or as little accountability as you want, and release whatever you have done with no judgement.

[0] https://itch.io/jam/weeksauce

Re: Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

#150

Post by nathan_compton »

speakfreely wrote: post #148
nathan_compton wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're not depressed, the rest of the world is just stupidly optimistic.

https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/dont-be-a-doomer

Takes all kinds, I say.
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