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Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

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Re: Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

#81

Post by merepro »

fatalerrorx3 wrote: post #72
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #26

Giving up video games in my 20s. If I hadn't done that, I'd still be stuck in front of a game somewhere. Those things will eat your life.

I only gave up video games because my favorite game got shut down...Tanarus - anyone ever heard of this game? It was run by Sony Online Entertainment during the last years of it's existence but it was put out by Verant Interactive in the mid 90's...probably one of the most addictive "FPS" tank games of it's day...was fun as hell

I played a bit of Tanarus but never excelled at it. I was however much better at Infantry, and kept up with the game from when I was in 3rd grade up until early college

Re: Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

#82

Post by fjordan »

donnfelker wrote: post #67

Life: Going Paleo (not 100% strict but maybe 80%) and focusing on everything that alters my mood and testing it to see if removing it makes a difference (alcohol, caffeine, excess sugar, etc) Programming: focusing on building a business with software and not getting so anal about every line of code. Learning to be lean in all ways possible really helped here.

This is very interesting. I have been able to tell that so many foods, not just alcohol, caffeine, and sugar are able to impact my mind and mood. Specifically, I am referring to different amounts and types of fat as well as the effects of different foods based on the glycemic index spectrum.

What effects have you noticed?

Re: Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

#84

Post by fatalerrorx3 »

merepro wrote: post #81
fatalerrorx3 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only gave up video games because my favorite game got shut down...Tanarus - anyone ever heard of this game? It was run by Sony Online Entertainment during the last years of it's existence but it was put out by Verant Interactive in the mid 90's...probably one of the most addictive "FPS" tank games of it's day...was fun as hell

I played a bit of Tanarus but never excelled at it. I was however much better at Infantry, and kept up with the game from when I was in 3rd grade up until early college

I got really good at it lol..it did have a steep learning curve though, I remember when I was in 5th and 6th grade, it was literally my life, I sucked so bad when I first started so I would play from the time I got home from school until I went to bed every day for over a year...my summer was spent playing all day...and I ended up getting really good at it, and it was at that time that the player counts started going down by the time I got to highschool...was a fun game while it lasted though

Re: Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

#85

Post by ajdecon »

Realizing that being happy was more important than achieving an arbitrary goal (a PhD) that was (a) making me miserable, and (b) didn't matter to anyone but me. Getting past that mental block was basically necessary for a lot of amazing things that have happened since, both in work and life.

Re: Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

#86

Post by swah »

anujkk wrote: post #23
swah wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to do that but could never actually achieve it.

I have an exactly opposite problem. I always want to work in a new language/tool. Once I learn the language/tool I lose interest in it unless the work I am doing is challenging in itself.

True, that also happens to me. The grass is always greener even as I move from my house to my neighbours, and back.

Re: Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

#88

Post by nsm »

jeremiep wrote: post #31

Life: dropped the TV subscription, stopped reading newspapers and generally disconnected myself from the mainstream world. Thinking outside the box becomes natural then. Programming: Teaching myself Lisp and Emacs, dropping Agile methodologies, ditching OOP for functional, writing my code as if I'm replaceable and the next guy needs to pick up where I left without any trouble. The last point actually gives me more va…

Not questioning your choice, I disconnected myself from the mainstream world once as well. But now I'm starting to think that our tendency to do this (specifically stop reading newspapers) may be leading to a disconnect from participating in the community. Which leads to a lot of decisions being made against the interests of the community due to people not participating in local governance issues. This combined with the fact that governments don't particularly attract attention to issues [1] is leading to serious problems in society. Also, aren't you worried about being trapped in a filter bubble [2] by sticking to your own world? Looking for your thoughts.

[1] http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_meslin_the_antidote_to_apathy.... [2] http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bu...

Re: Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

#89

Post by noinput »

Life: work for and achieve Eagle Scout as a kid. Not only did it keep me focused, I got to spend every weekend with my father who unfortunately passed away early.

Code: listened to The Dip from Seth Godin and followed his advice. Dropping everything I wasn't the best at and focusing on just what I was.

Re: Ask HN: what was the best life/programming choice you ever made?

#90

Post by quotemstr »

jrajav wrote: post #61
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #26

Giving up video games in my 20s. If I hadn't done that, I'd still be stuck in front of a game somewhere. Those things will eat your life.

I would probably be thinking the same thing right now if all I knew about was mindless, addictive games like World of Warcraft, League of Legends, or Call of Duty. I fully agree that pouring hundreds of hours into games like that will "eat your life" and give very little back for the small fix of short-term enjoyment. I've seen it happen to friends. However, there are several ways to enjoy video games these days that…

I don't know whether you'd classify enjoying Interactive Fiction as "gaming", but if you did, it'd definitely fall under the "indie" label. The community[1] is quite vibrant, and the games (which are no longer commercially viable, of course) are even better and more literary than they were during the commercial heyday of the genre. If you haven't touched a text adventure in a while (or haven't experienced one ever), play "Slouching Toward Bedlam"[2].

The interactive fiction community has also produced one of the strangest useful programming languages of all time, Inform 7[3].

[1] http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page

[2] http://playthisthing.com/slouching-towards-bedlam

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inform#Example_game_2

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