September 15th, 2024

Coding Just for Fun

The article encourages programmers to code for enjoyment, emphasizing creativity and personal projects. It highlights open source contributions during Hacktoberfest as a way to engage with the community.

Read original articleLink Icon
Coding Just for Fun

The article encourages programmers to engage in coding purely for enjoyment, free from the constraints of deadlines, expectations, and performance metrics. It emphasizes the importance of creativity and curiosity in programming, suggesting that individuals take time to work on personal projects, experiments, or even fun games. The piece highlights that coding should not solely be viewed as a job but as a means to bring ideas to life. It also mentions the opportunity to contribute to open source projects, particularly during Hacktoberfest, where programmers can participate by making small fixes, adding features, or improving documentation. The overall message is to rediscover the joy of coding without the pressures of professional obligations.

- Coding for fun can enhance creativity and inspiration.

- Personal projects and experiments can provide a refreshing break from routine.

- Open source contributions are a valuable way to engage with the programming community.

- Hacktoberfest offers a structured opportunity for programmers to contribute to open source.

- Programming is a creative outlet, not just a career.

Link Icon 1 comments
By @flysand7 - 4 months
Ah.. this reminds me of the couple weeks when I just finished my university and was a little bit lost about what I wanted to do with my life. I'd lost my motivation for programming, as years of university forced me to suppress my motivation due to it being too distracting for my studying. So... I just played video games in whatever free time I had after job.

One weekend I decided to make a simple rhythm game, just like "osu!". To not care about performance, to not care about code cleanliness. I called it "recreational programming", just like recreational drugs. It's just me and the problem at hand. After making a simple "Hello, World" application in Odin and Raylib I got to working. Used a music from another video game, mapped it in osu and then transcribed the rhythm into my game's hardcoded beatmap format. Then added some hitsounds I found on some site with free drum samples.

I published what I've done over those two days on github and you can look at some of my ugly "I don't care" code.

https://github.com/flysand7/rhythm-game/blob/main/main.odin

I gotta say though, this project might have saved me from another depressive episode. I don't think I will continue working on my game until I decide what I want this game to be beyond a broken taiko simulator. But regardless, I moved on and picked up some of my old projects I didn't have time to work on during university.