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Ask HN: How to rediscover the joy of programming?

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Re: Ask HN: How to rediscover the joy of programming?

#241

Post by amedvednikov »

ryanolsonx wrote: post #238
doctor_eval wrote: post #235

I could really go on about this at length but my advice is: - keep things simple. Avoid complexity at all costs. - keep it fast - fast to compile, fast to run, fast to change - if you don’t Like something, change it. I stopped using frameworks, stopped using heavyweight runtimes, switched to a language that built and ran faster, and kicked out everything I didn’t like. I can now focus on the actual problems I’m tryin…

I really like your comment. > switched to a language that built and ran faster Which one did you switch to?

Go, probably.

Re: Ask HN: How to rediscover the joy of programming?

#242

Post by toddh »

People who turn a passion into a side hustle often report losing their passion, so I can only imagine what turning a love into a 20 year career would feel like. The hedonic treadmill that is life cannot be defeated, but it can be out gamed by changing things up—completely. Change careers, go into a new area, take a long break so dopamine hits will actually land again, or just reconcile yourself to that part of your life having passed and find a new love.

Re: Ask HN: How to rediscover the joy of programming?

#243

Post by smt88 »

cutler wrote: post #174
smt88 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A lot of this is a direct result of feeling that one always needs to be on the bleeding edge, which is both unnecessary and also a recipe for wasting time on fads. It's also because the JS ecosystem is absolutely massive -- too massive. Instead of consolidating around a good package, people create a new one. You end up with a small number of contributors (often one) per library, and being on the bleeding edge is th…

Javascript's biggest problem is its lack of a standard library. Hence the ridiculous churn of trivial libraries such as leftpad.

Lack of standard library doesn't account for web framework churn, though. Momentarily seemed like we had coalesced around Vue and React, and here comes Svelte, among others. It's incessant.

Re: Ask HN: How to rediscover the joy of programming?

#244

Post by reinvanim »

jamil7 wrote: post #166
tomg wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone considering leaving the web development industry after 12 years: JavaScript is a never ending grind. Callbacks, then Bluebird, then Promises, then a sync await. a new testing framework every six months. a new web framework every couple of years. aimless, massive changes to the language (classes in a prototyped language? Why not). JavaScript then coffeescript then three versions of typescript. too many UI l…

Well said, I was close to 8 years in web development and jumped ship a little over a year ago. Working in javascript development felt like a hamster wheel but maybe I just needed something different.

Might I ask where you work now and how you jumped ship?

Re: Ask HN: How to rediscover the joy of programming?

#245

Post by reinvanim »

tomg wrote: post #42
tfleming wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was it about JavaScript that wanted you to leave programming? I'm just curious.

As someone considering leaving the web development industry after 12 years: JavaScript is a never ending grind. Callbacks, then Bluebird, then Promises, then a sync await. a new testing framework every six months. a new web framework every couple of years. aimless, massive changes to the language (classes in a prototyped language? Why not). JavaScript then coffeescript then three versions of typescript. too many UI l…

I felt exactly the same thing the last few weeks but I have no idea what to do with it. Not sure how I would approach transitioning to another role really.

Re: Ask HN: How to rediscover the joy of programming?

#246

Post by smoyer »

I've been developing software for over 40 years now (35 years professionally) and I still love the idea that I can create something from nothing. I always have a couple hobby projects that I can spend a few minutes on ... things that stretch my skills or that involve a subject of interest outside my day job. I also make the software I write for work more fun by treating it link a craft ... if you see art in what you're doing, even mundane programming can be fun. Curiously, altering software to make it testable and writing the tests is one of my soft spots.

Re: Ask HN: How to rediscover the joy of programming?

#249

Post by djhaskin987 »

beders wrote: post #18

I had the same issue. Then I went back to the roots: Lisp And learned Clojure. You will feel like you know nothing. You will feel handicapped. You will be confused. Then, one day, you will understand what simplicity means and how Clojure's design embraces that more than in any other language I know. By then you will have embraced the flying-by-your-pants-exploratory style of programming at the REPL. And don't want to…

And then you get so good at clojure that repl is "just another style" and it's not much different from Python in terms of effort or thought. After all, Python has a repl too, they just call it a shell.

I have gotten burned out of my personal clojure projects same as anything.

It's just a language people. Whether speaking Japanese or English, it's just a language. Yes culture is a part of it, but it doesn't imbue the speaker with some sort of superpower. Yes other languages are fun, but both get the job done. English has the word "love", Japanese has "yugen" but both peoples seem to get by just fine.

Re: Ask HN: How to rediscover the joy of programming?

#250

Post by Syntaf »

doctor_eval wrote: post #235

I could really go on about this at length but my advice is: - keep things simple. Avoid complexity at all costs. - keep it fast - fast to compile, fast to run, fast to change - if you don’t Like something, change it. I stopped using frameworks, stopped using heavyweight runtimes, switched to a language that built and ran faster, and kicked out everything I didn’t like. I can now focus on the actual problems I’m tryin…

I went the opposite route and moved to a language that, while not the most performant, championed the idea of developer happiness (Ruby).

> if you don’t Like something, change it.

This is also super important, and a good point make. Don't ever choose a technology for the sake of looking good; choose something you enjoy working with.

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