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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?

#31

Post by jakelazaroff »

rambambram wrote: post #25
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.

Oops, looks like there was an invalid character in one of my posts. Should be fixed now — thanks for the kind words and for subscribing! :)

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

#32

Post by pjc50 »

mrich wrote: post #29

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…

Nice! This prompted me to post my own code from the same era: https://github.com/pjc50/ancient-3d-for-turboc

I guess I should add screenshots.

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

#34

Post by noufalibrahim »

I vote for publishing it. A full product that several people used is an achievement and that the code might embarrass you now shows that you've grown.

I have my earliest programs on 5.25" disks at home which are probably too damaged to read from but which I've never even been able to try since i don't have access to a drive anymore. If i could, I'd put my earliest BASIC programs on GitHub.

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

#36

Post by HankB99 »

I'd be delighted with any attention my code on Github got, good, bad or otherwise.

The only thing that would embarrass me is the number of things I start and never finish.

As far as suggestions for improvement, I'd be happy for any. But I understand the reluctance of the OP. This is a little like my impression of code reviews. That's like standing in front of your coworkers, naked, and asking them to point out any "opportunities for improvement" with your body. I wonder if there is a strategy for code reviews that avoids this.

(HankB on Github (for anyone curious.)

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

#37

Post by WalterBright »

Publish away. I published all my old source code (that still exists and I legally can), some of it 45 years old. It doesn't matter how embarrassing it is, just say "I've learned a few things along the way" but frankly nobody is going to complain about it.

If someone is rude enough to complain, they are not worth your while.

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

#38

Post by aaronbrethorst »

I just published the source code for the first app I ever built, all the way back in 2003: https://github.com/aaronbrethorst/irooster

It "turns your Mac into a $2,000 alarm clock."

I originally made it because I had endless amounts of trouble waking up for my morning classes in college, and found that the only alarm that could get me up was a subwoofer right underneath my bed. So I hooked a 2.1 speaker system up to my Mac, wrote a little app to start playing an iTunes playlist at a particular time, and ended up productizing it.

It was never a huge commercial success; I think the best I ever did with it was about $2,000 in sales one month after Apple featured it in a newsletter (different times!), but it taught me several important lessons about building a commercial software product that still guide me today.

Enjoy checking out my super janky code!

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

#39

Post by andai »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #38

I just published the source code for the first app I ever built, all the way back in 2003: https://github.com/aaronbrethorst/irooster It "turns your Mac into a $2,000 alarm clock." I originally made it because I had endless amounts of trouble waking up for my morning classes in college, and found that the only alarm that could get me up was a subwoofer right underneath my bed. So I hooked a 2.1 speaker system up to m…

That's a great idea with the subwoofer. I slept straight through my digital alarm the other day. What wakes you up now?

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

#40

Post by aaronbrethorst »

andai wrote: post #39
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #38

I just published the source code for the first app I ever built, all the way back in 2003: https://github.com/aaronbrethorst/irooster It "turns your Mac into a $2,000 alarm clock." I originally made it because I had endless amounts of trouble waking up for my morning classes in college, and found that the only alarm that could get me up was a subwoofer right underneath my bed. So I hooked a 2.1 speaker system up to m…

That's a great idea with the subwoofer. I slept straight through my digital alarm the other day. What wakes you up now?

My Apple Watch has been a great alarm clock for the past few years. Its gentle taps on my wrist never fail to wake me up.
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