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Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

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Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#81

Post by breck »

> where I am not facing loads of incidental complexity

This is my dream. Unfortunately there is no easy path to get there. We have to replace all the languages. Build replacements without the noise.

> looked good using tools only in that language

I think you can have a universal syntax, but not a universal language. I think Racket's term "Language Oriented Programming" is the holy grail. You need lots of DSLs because you almost always work across different domains.

It is possible to have a universal syntax, however ;)

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#82

Post by reacweb »

I give remote math courses (GoStudent 4h per week). I also have a student in computer science. She sends me her lessons and I explain to her what she didn't understand. I help her to do her lab work. If a subject doesn't suit me, I tell her. The level on the theoretical courses is excellent. To explain something, you have to know the subject well. This allows me to progress on all subjects at a very fast pace without spending much time (it is in addition to my usual work).

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#83

Post by declnz »

eckza wrote: post #19

https://elm-lang.org https://elmlang.slack.com Static FP lang targeting the web as a runtime environment. Wonderful people. The nicest compiler in the game. Tight dev loop. Good tooling. No JavaScript knowledge required. Join us.

This

Elm brought back joy and longevity for side projects to front-end for me (that had been ground down by the JS ecosystem sadly)

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#84

Post by jb1991 »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #12

It's not "fun", but it's perhaps best to start with the problem you're trying to solve rather than the tools you want to use. As for "fun" for UI, I found doing UI in Dear ImGui strangely liberating. It sounds like a web front end is part of your requirements, maybe, but if not, try one of the "immediate mode" UI toolkits like that. They have their limitations, for sure, but they come with a lot less "normative lifes…

My main problem with Dear ImGui is that it just looks pretty terrible on a high DPI screen like most macs' Retina screens. The scrolling behavior feels clunky too compared to how scrolling works in every other app or browser on mac. If those two things were fixed without my having to figure out workarounds myself, I'd probably use it.

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#85

Post by m3kw9 »

Fun would be to build utilities for your own use that would actually enhance it. I can think of home type projects with embedded system that interfaces with HomeKit. It could be anything actually, maybe work with another person with similar needs on that fun project.

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#86

Post by maldev »

C# with maui can natively compile (on most things), otherwise you can just ship the .net runtime with your app, you can target a webview on "any" platform with the same codebase and same tools using Blazor. Blazor has it's own syntax that works similar to Angular, but ALOT different. And you can pretty much do straight up C# in it. You also have super easy multithreading. And since all the frontend code is baked into your backend, it's super easy. You can also build webapps which function pretty much alone with no backend. Or have a backend linked into it. It also works in the browser and can target WASM, with the exact same codebase and UI as Linux, Windows, Iphone, ANdroid, etc(Assuming you use the webview with blazor)

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#87

Post by eddieroger »

bbarn wrote: post #80
eddieroger wrote: post #37

This thread has a lot of language suggestions, but I think you need a fun problem to solve. Pick a toy app and work on it. Learn embedded programming with an Arduino. Write an iPhone app to track when you feed the dog. Make a karaoke app for Android. If you pick a project you'll enjoy, the language won't matter. Use whatever is best for the platform. The fun doesn't come with the language, it comes with seeing your p…

Sounds like a super fun project. Did you find one with the moving pages for album pictures or with the pink yellow and blue "ticket" like song listings, or? Those are so awesome, I can think of all kinds of fun ideas to retro-mod either.

Thanks! It is ticket listing kind. It's closed so you can't see the record mech, which is what I wanted, and I will replace song cards with ones I add to the Pi. Then I will add all kinds of hidden ones for giggles because it would be a waste to only play 200 songs. I got particularly lucky in that it came with the field repair guide, which has a solid wiring diagram and sequence that I can more or less recreate in code. My goal is to do the least amount of destruction to it that I can so I could some day replace the broken parts (ironically, the central computer) and have it restored. It being "Computer Controlled" was one of the most appealing aspects to me - there's a light up panel that reads that on the outside.

It's an AMI Rowe R-88 if you'd like to see it.

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#88

Post by philliphaydon »

bob1029 wrote: post #39
philliphaydon wrote: post #16

C#/.NET is cross platform. I find it more fun than doing things like php or node. But I also don’t follow the whole “everything needs an interface” crap, or the insane level of abstractions people seem to implement. I’m sorry learning rust tho. Like it a lot.

I'm using C#/.NET7 for a side project. I use .NET6 at work. For me, the language itself has no bearing on fun. Having something that "just works" in most areas without having to antagonize over 3rd party dependencies allows me to have fun. I'm sure if I was as familiar with Java or something I'd probably use it for my fun projects instead. If you want the language itself to be an amusement, then I don't think C# is f…

I find alot of difficult to solve problems fun with C#, but C# doesn't get in my way so when I work on personal projects, its fun because of what I'm building, not so much the language.

I suggested C# mainly it lets me focus on what I'm building. Node I feel like I'm thinking "is there a package for that" "how to use the package" "this doesn't work the way you would think it does"...

If that makes sense...

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#89

Post by undershirt »

bobleeswagger wrote: post #71

Nothing in life worth doing is easy.

Somehow, your comment has convinced me to just learn native development. Cross-platform work feels like an absolute slog, with or without portable code. I guess I’ll find out which one is less tolerable.

Re: Ask HN: I just want to have fun programming again

#90

Post by prewett »

If you want UI, there currently is no good solution. In my opinion, AppKit/UIKit is the only well-designed UI with any currency at the moment, but as you point out, it is not cross platform. If you're okay with using Dart, Flutter might be an option. Qt is well-designed, but last I worked with it they were embracing JavaScript, and why would you want JavaScript if you're using a C++ library? C++ is too philosophically opposed to JS. But Qt just feels slightly foreign on a Mac, anyway. GTK is in C, which is not really how I want to use an object-oriented design, plus its cross-platform feels buggy. And HTML is just simply not designed for user interface; writing a UI in HTML + JavaScript is basically equivalent to writing an app in MS Word macros. Plus, it's hard to take the NPM ecosystem seriously when you're old-skool enough to think that left-pad is the equivalent of fizz-buzz and putting it in a package should not even cross one's mind, let alone actually using said package.

I'm writing a cross-platform UI library (C++, but I hope to add Swift, Python, and maybe Rust bindings), because I'm in the same boat: https://github.com/eightbrains/uitk. It is usable, but still under development, and while the .h files are fairly heavily documented, there are no examples yet.

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