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Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

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Re: Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

#21

Post by jfk13 »

I'd say, go for it!

My most widely-used project (that I was solely responsible for) is an absolute horror of tangled code. It was originally written -- or rather, hacked together with spit and baling wire -- purely for my own use, as a tool to accomplish specific tasks.

Turned out some other people thought it was interesting. I made the code available -- and nearly 2 decades later, it's still going strong, largely thanks to others who have stepped in to handle the occasional maintenance tasks.

The code is still appalling; but it does its job, and people still value it.

Re: Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

#22

Post by tomashubelbauer »

Yes, you should do it and others interested in old games and tools that are closed source should try emailing their authors and asking them to consider open source. I've successfully convinced people to open source SEImgTool, an old utility for extracting images from firmware files for old Sony Ericsson feature phones, BFSunpack, a tool to extract game files for the 2006 game Flatout 2 and I think I contributed to open sourcing Dink Smallwood, because I remember asking the author and now it is open source and there is a lively community around it. Still have work ahead of me convincing Sony to open source the above mentioned firmware, whoever owns the rights now to open source Flatout 2 and I could stand Supreme Snowboarding (in the US known as Boarder Zone) being open sourced as well! One can dream. But also, one can act and ask and sometimes it works!

Re: Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

#23

Post by thesnide »

I cannot care less about "embarrassment" when I publish code.

Code is code. Everyone has its own style. Every project has its own constraints.

I guess you didn't write bad code on purpose. You wrote it because it was the best way at the time.

And, frankly, if someone mocks you because of code you wrote somewhere, it's a good sign to ignore them. I don't mean code to be included in some other projects, but code that you wrote for your own eyes.

Re: Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

#24

Post by tomashubelbauer »

jmclnx wrote: post #3

I have things out in github that is very embarrassing, so go for it. But I wonder if putting embarrassing things in github would hurt future job searches ? I very much doubt that since the people doing the hiring will not have any idea what they are looking at :)

I have a lot of embarrassing stuff on Github and an interviewer has never asked me about any of it. Sometimes they'll ask me to show them my work that I can (is not proprietary from previous employments) and I'll pick a few of the better looking repos to browse thru and provide context. But nowadays I put half my prototypes out there in the open by default so maybe the interviewers just don't go through many of the repos if they do check them out.

Re: Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

#25

Post by rambambram »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #19

I made an online “museum” of every website I’ve ever made that I could find the source code to: https://jake.museum

Nice memory lane! I like the color combos you use, especially the first site. I've this in the corridor in my house, with flyers and other visual designs I made back in the day. I always look at it and realize I was less skillful then, but still care about the same underlying concepts.

By the way, your RSS feed gives an error. Now I can't get updates from your interesting blog posts.

Re: Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

#26

Post by pryelluw »

I’m embarrassed of the code I’ll write tomorrow …

Honestly, no one cares. Add a note at the top of the readme that provides historical context if you must address the point. Otherwise don’t worry cause everything will be alright. People are too self centered to care about your old shorty code.

Re: Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

#28

Post by jimmydean12 »

I’ve learned a lot over the years by reviewing old code. It might not be elegant but your methods might spark an idea for someone else.

Sometimes elegant well structured code that is 50 revisions deep doesn’t tell the story anymore

Re: Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

#29

Post by mrich »

Recently I dug out the source code for a game a friend and myself made in school in 1997. It was amazing to compile it, which it did flawlessly in a DOS/Turbo Pascal emulation. Playing it with my kids was an amazing experience. The code is definitely something I would be embarassed about from a readability/maintenance standpoint today. But on the other hand it can play back video on a 80286 processor :) And I believe everyone understands that you make progress over the years. So I can recommend it, go for it!

My game is available at Github here:

https://github.com/mrichtarsky/K-BOOM

Re: Ask HN: Publish old projects even though the source code embarrasses you by now?

#30

Post by simonw »

Anyone who judges someone else based on the quality of code they wrote 15 years ago is not somebody whose opinions you should respect.

Honestly, judging anyone else by the quality of the code they have shared is pretty poor form - unless they explicitly say "this code is amazing and you should respect me because of its quality".

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