I faffed around forever with lisp and bash and perl, never really getting it. Eventually I read one of these “Learn C++ in 30 Days” books and it just clicked.
Today I would recommend getting Copilot and just start typing :)
Ask HN: HN people who write meaningful software, how did you learn to program?
71–76 of 76 posts
Re: Ask HN: HN people who write meaningful software, how did you learn to program?
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well...here goes. Mom used to have an AOL buddy she always talked to. Di57 was her screen name, and what she called her when talking to us about her. They were about the same age, both married, had kids, etc, so a lot in common. They'd talked for at least a couple years, I guess. One day the lady asked her if I could write something to see what her family was chatting about... in the guise of 'protecting my family' a…
https://magnesiumandhealth.com/murder-by-methanol/
Ugh. I hate that stuff like this exists. Even Googling the case is nothing but people grasping at straws, nothing about the facts.
Sorry, but searching for 'methanol poisoning' one month before your husband dies of methanol poisoning, is a terrible coincidence at the very best. Then trying to hide the hard drive when the police start asking questions is...guilt.
Re: Ask HN: HN people who write meaningful software, how did you learn to program?
#73I started at home, using guides on the internet. My first project was Random Facts for Palm OS.
However I made my first real money building websites for small businesses. This is where I learned what customers actually value. It also taught me how valuable an honest broker [0] is. Honesty is a powerful sales pitch. Trust signs blank cheques.
I then spent a few years as a professional web developer, making not-so-meaningful things for large companies. It slowly killed my passion until I found my way out.
Recently, I returned to small, home-cooked software [1]. I run a website that helps people immigrate to Germany. I built many tools and calculators to support the content [2]. It's so much more fun to build concrete stuff! With many users but no paying customers, it's a lot more relaxing. People really seem to enjoy the tools too.
I thought that I'd lost my passion for programming, but in reality I just don't like professional programming. I probably wouldn't like being a professional cook either. Better keep it small and personal.
[0] https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/how-i-became-the-honest-brok...
Re: Ask HN: HN people who write meaningful software, how did you learn to program?
#74When I was in 4th grade and Mrs. Brady let me stay in from recess and play with the TI computer in the classroom. I would copy BASIC programs out of a magazine and get a feel for how they worked.
Then in 9th grade I bought a TI graphing calculator and learned BASIC on it, and then in 10th grade Mr. Stanley let me use the serial cable on it which made programming assembly feasible.
When I went to college I didn’t even know computer science was a thing, so my starting major was electrical engineering. Someone told me I was stupid for not being in computer science, I said “wait, what’s that?” and the rest is history (for me).
I’m not sure if much of what I’ve built is that meaningful, but it has made for a comfortable life for me and my family.
Edit: the TI cable was a serial cable, not a USB cable.
Re: Ask HN: HN people who write meaningful software, how did you learn to program?
#75I’m a full stack (web and mobile) engineer. When I was on product teams building the actual app experiences, I was so much happier and fully engaged. I thrive from customer feedback calls and working with product manager to build the best solution for the problem at hand. Probably built a dozen calendars and complex grid layouts, tested a few different cart/checkout flows, and improved performance for a tool by rethi…
Hello there! I've been building a Reddit scrapper, to analyze the connections between subreddits (subreddits are the nodes, and the users who posted or commented in the same subreddits, are the links). My future plan is to build an API for it, so others can use the data for their research or side projects. It's not done yet, but almost - the data will be stored on Firestore. I have plans on how to scale it up - currently it's 5-10 seconds / user, and given the Reddit's large user base, it's an issue which needs to be handled. For the API, I'd add tiered pricing as well, because storing, writing and reading data is a cost.
So, what do you think about it?
Also, I've been a solo programmer my whole life, because basically all of my programmer friends are like "why code after 5pm?". They just do their 9-5 jobs and that's all, they're satisfied. Which is okay! Just for someone like me, who loves to code, build stuff and discover new technologies, it's sad, because I can't partner up with others to build more complex stuff and to exploit our full potential.
About me: currently I'm a mid-level frontend dev, and I'm trying to move from frontend to backend/devops/cloud, not sure exactly where, but definitely away from frontend.
So if you'd like to have a programmer buddy to discuss tech-related stuff, or to build fun things together, feel free to reach me out, I love programming and I want to level up and I think it's almost impossible alone.
Re: Ask HN: HN people who write meaningful software, how did you learn to program?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can vouch for this. Major project that took months of my time and effort? Seemingly little impact; sometimes I question where it was just management trying to keep me busy. Minor feature added to a tool as a side project? Seems like every damn person in the company, and all of our customers, use it on a daily basis. Funny how these things work out.
I have a very minor example of something similar myself: A quick 1-liner Stack Overflow answer that addresses a common typo is my highest rated answer. Those that I spent hours (or maybe even days!) answering: almost nothing.
Sad to say I'm in a similar boat. My highest rated answer explains how to do a callback. I just happened to be first, and correct. 11 years later it still makes me points.