Build Impossible Programs • Hacker News Board

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#91

Post by IceSentry » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 3:40 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #86

brrt wrote: post #79

I just wanted to share that everything jvns is saying here is true. In 2014, for the Google Summer of Code program, I applied to build a JIT compiler for the MoarVM virtual machine. (It is actually more correct to speak of my work as a JIT backend than a full-fledged compiler - the 'frontend' of the compiler was already under development when I started). At the time, I knew just short of nothing about compilers, let…

My problem sometimes is just getting started. I have a simple little project I'd like to make to manage movie night with my friends. Right now we do it all over email and it's a confusing mess. Since I'm new to the world of web apps (and looking for an excuse to dive in), I needed to learn some background and now I'm firmly gripped by analysis paralysis. I've learned a bit of Go, of Ruby and Rails, Dart, Angular, and…

If you already know java for the backend then just use that. Or if you want to learn something new pick one language. You don't need to learn all of them.

For the client side I would recommend vue, but react is also very popular.

Once you have chosen the backend/frontend technologies then you can start building. If you don't know anything about rest learn how your apecific framework does it. You don't need to learn rhe whole spec. At least not in the beginning.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#92

Post by elorant » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 3:43 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #86

brrt wrote: post #79

I just wanted to share that everything jvns is saying here is true. In 2014, for the Google Summer of Code program, I applied to build a JIT compiler for the MoarVM virtual machine. (It is actually more correct to speak of my work as a JIT backend than a full-fledged compiler - the 'frontend' of the compiler was already under development when I started). At the time, I knew just short of nothing about compilers, let…

My problem sometimes is just getting started. I have a simple little project I'd like to make to manage movie night with my friends. Right now we do it all over email and it's a confusing mess. Since I'm new to the world of web apps (and looking for an excuse to dive in), I needed to learn some background and now I'm firmly gripped by analysis paralysis. I've learned a bit of Go, of Ruby and Rails, Dart, Angular, and…

Ruby on Rails is more than enough for your needs. Pair it with some simple HTML, plain JavaScript (no frameworks whatsover), and a database of your choice and you're good to go. Or you could use plain JSON with no database at all. No cloud either, just host it to a simple shared hosting provider.

Don't be lured by the latest and greatest HN koolaid. Stick to the bare minimum. The more complexity you add to a project the harder would be to maintain.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#93

Post by disqard » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 3:52 PM UTC

elorant wrote: post #92

criddell wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem sometimes is just getting started. I have a simple little project I'd like to make to manage movie night with my friends. Right now we do it all over email and it's a confusing mess. Since I'm new to the world of web apps (and looking for an excuse to dive in), I needed to learn some background and now I'm firmly gripped by analysis paralysis. I've learned a bit of Go, of Ruby and Rails, Dart, Angular, and…

Ruby on Rails is more than enough for your needs. Pair it with some simple HTML, plain JavaScript (no frameworks whatsover), and a database of your choice and you're good to go. Or you could use plain JSON with no database at all. No cloud either, just host it to a simple shared hosting provider. Don't be lured by the latest and greatest HN koolaid. Stick to the bare minimum. The more complexity you add to a project…

GP, I hope you heed this person's advice.

To make a food analogy, if you're trying to learn how to cook, you don't need the latest kitchen gadgets.

Just ingredients, pots/pans, and a reliable, controllable source of heat are enough.

Adding extra pieces (especially when you're getting started) is only going to make your learning curve steeper.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#94

Post by hinkley » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 4:11 PM UTC

amirouche wrote: post #65

afroisalreadyin wrote: post #28

This is so inspiring, thanks a lot. It's great to see that there are now resources going into supporting OSS developers that require only an idea and pedigree, and not a finished product and a business plan.

At last someone speak up about that very subject "doing impossible things" without being negative about the fact the community (of haters) forbids that behavior. Innovation is NIH somewhat, somehow and that is a Good Thing.

I don’t want to work for a company that only bolts together off the shelf components, although talking to me a few times you might get the idea that this is precisely what I want.

I hate working at a place where people are so busy being clever that they reinvent everything. You steal from the younger devs an opportunity to learn, and you externalize the cost of your poor documentation and interface consistency onto your coworkers instead of spreading it out over the entire industry. This is NIH.

What you should do is pick a segment of your problem space that has mediocre tools and make something much better. The 80/20 Rule seems to work quite well here, when I see it applied, which is not often enough.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#95

Post by konamicode » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 4:20 PM UTC

brrt wrote: post #79

I just wanted to share that everything jvns is saying here is true. In 2014, for the Google Summer of Code program, I applied to build a JIT compiler for the MoarVM virtual machine. (It is actually more correct to speak of my work as a JIT backend than a full-fledged compiler - the 'frontend' of the compiler was already under development when I started). At the time, I knew just short of nothing about compilers, let…

This can work well if you are in an environment like the Google Summer of Code program. It's much harder to do this if you don't have a mentor or two who would be able to spot your mistakes and guide you in the right direction. For many engineers out there they would not have the same set up. Someday I would love to help out somebody with something ambitious but I feel like I need to learn a ton before I am in that position.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#96

Post by Serow225 » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 4:39 PM UTC

elorant wrote: post #92

criddell wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem sometimes is just getting started. I have a simple little project I'd like to make to manage movie night with my friends. Right now we do it all over email and it's a confusing mess. Since I'm new to the world of web apps (and looking for an excuse to dive in), I needed to learn some background and now I'm firmly gripped by analysis paralysis. I've learned a bit of Go, of Ruby and Rails, Dart, Angular, and…

Ruby on Rails is more than enough for your needs. Pair it with some simple HTML, plain JavaScript (no frameworks whatsover), and a database of your choice and you're good to go. Or you could use plain JSON with no database at all. No cloud either, just host it to a simple shared hosting provider. Don't be lured by the latest and greatest HN koolaid. Stick to the bare minimum. The more complexity you add to a project…

Would Heroku be an OK path for the OP, to remove some of the barriers to entry?

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#97

Post by criddell » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 4:39 PM UTC

elorant wrote: post #92

criddell wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem sometimes is just getting started. I have a simple little project I'd like to make to manage movie night with my friends. Right now we do it all over email and it's a confusing mess. Since I'm new to the world of web apps (and looking for an excuse to dive in), I needed to learn some background and now I'm firmly gripped by analysis paralysis. I've learned a bit of Go, of Ruby and Rails, Dart, Angular, and…

Ruby on Rails is more than enough for your needs. Pair it with some simple HTML, plain JavaScript (no frameworks whatsover), and a database of your choice and you're good to go. Or you could use plain JSON with no database at all. No cloud either, just host it to a simple shared hosting provider. Don't be lured by the latest and greatest HN koolaid. Stick to the bare minimum. The more complexity you add to a project…

Is Ruby on Rails really a candidate for bare minimum? Part of the reason I backed off was the enormity of Rails. Part of why I'm doing this is to understand what's going on under the covers and Rails feels like it has a broader and more opaque cover than most other options.

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#98

Post by criddell » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 4:41 PM UTC

arcbyte wrote: post #90

criddell wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem sometimes is just getting started. I have a simple little project I'd like to make to manage movie night with my friends. Right now we do it all over email and it's a confusing mess. Since I'm new to the world of web apps (and looking for an excuse to dive in), I needed to learn some background and now I'm firmly gripped by analysis paralysis. I've learned a bit of Go, of Ruby and Rails, Dart, Angular, and…

Not sure exactly all the requirements, but it sounds fairly simple. Use AWS S3 or Azure Blob to store and retrieve a static webpage and json "database" and wrote the whole thing in JavaScript and html

I like working with Python. Do you think Google's Cloud Platform should be considered?

I really just need to stop considering...

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#99

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 4:46 PM UTC

konamicode wrote: post #95

brrt wrote: post #79

I just wanted to share that everything jvns is saying here is true. In 2014, for the Google Summer of Code program, I applied to build a JIT compiler for the MoarVM virtual machine. (It is actually more correct to speak of my work as a JIT backend than a full-fledged compiler - the 'frontend' of the compiler was already under development when I started). At the time, I knew just short of nothing about compilers, let…

This can work well if you are in an environment like the Google Summer of Code program. It's much harder to do this if you don't have a mentor or two who would be able to spot your mistakes and guide you in the right direction. For many engineers out there they would not have the same set up. Someday I would love to help out somebody with something ambitious but I feel like I need to learn a ton before I am in that p…

[deleted]

Re: Build Impossible Programs

#100

Post by criddell » Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 4:47 PM UTC

sdenton4 wrote: post #88

criddell wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem sometimes is just getting started. I have a simple little project I'd like to make to manage movie night with my friends. Right now we do it all over email and it's a confusing mess. Since I'm new to the world of web apps (and looking for an excuse to dive in), I needed to learn some background and now I'm firmly gripped by analysis paralysis. I've learned a bit of Go, of Ruby and Rails, Dart, Angular, and…

It's worthwhile to think about what the minimum viable product might be... I had a similar problem with a book club, which we solved with a google drive spreadsheet (collecting ranked votes) and an ipython/ jupyter notebook (performing the run off).

You know, I never thought about scripting and Google Docs...