>, but I think you need a fun problem to solve. Pick a toy app and work on it.I think you've read the op's question too fast and not fully empathized with his situation. He already found a problem when he wrote, "I have a clear idea in mind with some code already in C++ to proof-of-concept it for myself, ..."
The bulk of op's words surrounding that goal is asking about the process of coding being fun. But then we get several (well-meaning) advice to just focus on the end goal being fun rather than the coding process being fun. Yes, that's a valid perspective -- but a lot of people also require the process itself to be fun too.
E.g. Let's say a programmer wants to code a custom music library manager:
- John wants to use Lisp because having a REPL for quick iteration and feedback loop is "more fun".
- Jane would rather use Python because having a bunch of 3rd-party libraries for lots of tasks is "more fun" than coding a lot of boring low-level tasks from scratch.
Advising people to have a sort of zen enlightenment of only caring about the final product and being totally detached from the process is unrealistic for many programmers. It's a perspective that may work for you but for many others, the particular tools do matter in terms of joy.
In the op's case, he wished that there was a tool that was cross-platform, with easy multi-threading, no incidental complexity, etc. (To answer op's question, there isn't such a tool that meets all requirements.)
We often see variations of the lament: "I wish programmers would quit focusing on particular programming languages. They're all Turing Complete. Just pick one and get on with it."
That's true if the product is corporate project. In that case, the employee needs to suck it up and just use whatever (not-so-fun) programming tool to get the job done. But personal projects like the op's question can try to look for alternative coding environments that are more fun to use.
An analogy in woodworking was illustrated by 2 different shows on PBS:
- Norm Abrams (The New Yankee Workshop) used power tools to build his projects.
- Roy Underhill (The Woodwright's Shop) used hand tools to build his projects.
Roy Underhill likes hand tools because power tools are noisy. On the other hand, Norm Abrams uses power tools as they're fast. Neither are wrong. Both can craft a chair but the tools still matter.
A lot of woodworkers can't just detach themselves from the usage of tools and only focus on the final product. The choice and use of particular tools is a core part of the joy.