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I quit my job to work on my programming language

jank-lang.org

11–20 of 35 posts

Re: I quit my job to work on my programming language

#11
post #3

From another independent language developer, good luck to you. I know this may not feel constructive but I'm going to say it anyway: the name of the language is a huge turnoff for me. I try to avoid janky things and use the word as a pejorative. It isn't that different to me than naming the language crap.

Ever heard of a program named "git"? It is a British slang

Re: I quit my job to work on my programming language

#12
post #3

From another independent language developer, good luck to you. I know this may not feel constructive but I'm going to say it anyway: the name of the language is a huge turnoff for me. I try to avoid janky things and use the word as a pejorative. It isn't that different to me than naming the language crap.

Yeah. Jank sounds like Junk. OP should consider changing it into some short form like J.

Re: I quit my job to work on my programming language

#13

Giving up part time with benefits? Why? Surely those 15-20 hours per week don’t make a significant difference.

In some ways, it allows me to speed up, since I can focus my full work week on jank. In other ways, it allows me to slow down (to not burn out), since I can stop working nights and through the weekends on jank.

Previously, Mon->Wed nights and all of Thur->Sun would be for jank dev, since I felt like I didn't have enough time. Now I can focus a more normal Mon->Fri and more easily have space on the weekends to unwind and rejuvenate.

What could you do with 15-20 hours per week? A lot, I reckon'.

Re: I quit my job to work on my programming language

#14
post #3

From another independent language developer, good luck to you. I know this may not feel constructive but I'm going to say it anyway: the name of the language is a huge turnoff for me. I try to avoid janky things and use the word as a pejorative. It isn't that different to me than naming the language crap.

Yeah. Jank sounds like Junk. OP should consider changing it into some short form like J.

J is my name though!

Re: I quit my job to work on my programming language

#15
I rewrote jank several times, during these eight years, with a different design each time, trying to find something which felt right. I wanted something

I'll be blunt here, I see it as just a proloned phase. You wanted something, we all wanted that something at some point. You're not the only one who sees problems and thinks "it could be done differently, if", that's why you gather auditory. You'll end up realizing that no language can replace all these years, and that the amount of real useful work that could be done in that time with boring tools is mind-boggling compared to what will ever come out of this optimistically. Every new real job brings some new insight into what could make it less job-y and more fun. These problems never end and most solutions do not fit together. Feeling that something is not right and it could be done more is just part of the job. If you truly believe in it and have a reasonable source of financial stability, godspeed. But I think you might be living an illusion that almost every programming enthusiast had at some point.

Re: I quit my job to work on my programming language

#16
post #3

From another independent language developer, good luck to you. I know this may not feel constructive but I'm going to say it anyway: the name of the language is a huge turnoff for me. I try to avoid janky things and use the word as a pejorative. It isn't that different to me than naming the language crap.

Like CockroachDB? Such names are memorable--you've already memorized it.

Re: I quit my job to work on my programming language

#18
post #3

From another independent language developer, good luck to you. I know this may not feel constructive but I'm going to say it anyway: the name of the language is a huge turnoff for me. I try to avoid janky things and use the word as a pejorative. It isn't that different to me than naming the language crap.

Like CockroachDB? Such names are memorable--you've already memorized it.

Cockroaches may be gross, but they have the property that they can survive almost anything -- which is of course what you want from a distributed, fault-tolerant database.

As far as I know, "jank" only has negative connotations, and a quick glance at the website did not provide an alternate interpretation of the name.

Also, if the author is looking for sponsors, some companies might be reluctant to be a proud sponsor of jank.

Re: I quit my job to work on my programming language

#19

I love it. Send it! Are you going to build an engine in Jank after you release the language? I think you could do some really interesting things with server-side multiplayer in a clojure-y way.

I likely will, since I like building engines! It's not something I aim to productize though. Also, the more immediate win will be getting jank into Unity and Unreal.

Re: I quit my job to work on my programming language

#20
post #15

I rewrote jank several times, during these eight years, with a different design each time, trying to find something which felt right. I wanted something I'll be blunt here, I see it as just a proloned phase. You wanted something , we all wanted that something at some point. You're not the only one who sees problems and thinks "it could be done differently, if", that's why you gather auditory. You'll end up realizing…

Thanks for taking the time to write all of your thoughts on this. Have a good one!
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