Programming for fun

we have a programming as a career thread but I'm always interested in what people write for their own amusement?

(i know people who are good coders but only ever write work code and I'm always slightly suspicious of that, not sure why)

anyway, my big on and off thing has been an ebook generator that lets me take Project Gutenberg text files, out more recently html files, mark them up in a hopefully trivial way - <chapter></chapter>, and generate epubs from them that are better than their epub downloads (their tocs are shocking! and everything's a bit plain)

I've just rewritten it to use and actual document parser rather than the noddy xml parser I'd thrown together and finally added image support, albeit only full page images atm.

other than that i like mathsy geometry stuff, things that move, are interactive, things that are generally not what i do at work.

https://www.procjam.com/ always looks fun, as does Ludum Dare and the thousands of other jams throughout the year. but I'm never organised enough to do anything at the right time.

(I'm generally finding I've been working later during lockdown and my personal programming has taken a bit of a hit because of it, both timewise and enthusiasm-wise)

Yeah in a similar boat, since lockdown I haven't got into anything - prior I was starting out on Python and loving it, then I just felt bleurgh about everything.

I don't code for work so it's purely hobbiest based. Have started to reread the c++ essentials by Meyers, which are heavy but brilliant.

I’ve been playing with algorithms in Python recently to calculate how a record’s exact key in hz changes if a you play a 45rpm record at 33 and vice versa, and how many % plus or minus to hit an exact note.

The end goal is to enter a database of a handful of records and their rpm, original key and bpm - then have an app suggest matches you wouldn’t immediately think of (eg; turns out record x at the wrong speed -2.5% mixes perfectly with record y).

Not sure I’ll do anything useful with it but it’s good to break out of the endless Power BI / SQL I do for a day job.

If I were more focused I’d convert what I have to Android then try and add BPM counting and a basic piano for entering the key but realistically ADHD will find me other new and shiny things to do by the time I get that far.

still in the fun-coding doldrums.

but i did realise the little web page display thing that i run on an android tablet to show me what's playing on the jukebox, and whose refresh rate option only goes as low as once-per-minute, might respond to a meta-refresh tag. one line added to the noddy node script and now it updates within 10 seconds of the song changing.

Is it a signal of maturity or hubris to be able to push automatic updates upon release? Does the answer to the question depend upon the audience for the update?

To try to answer the question, what if your work and hobbies coincide, you have some leeway in the projects you choose for work, and you need the structure and motivation that work provides? (I don't qualify to ask.)

unrelated question - how do you stop your eyes from hurting after looking at code all day?

Only read well-written code.

Good luck with that!

> unrelated question - how do you stop your eyes from hurting after looking at code all day?

dim or invert colours on your ide.

unrelated question - how do you stop your eyes from hurting after looking at code all day?

― | (Latham Green), Wednesday, November 2, 2022 9:02 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

some time last year i started doing serious eye exercises, and they've helped. i still do the old temple rubs but massaging below the eyes feels incredibly comforting. eyebrows and some forehead rubs are good, too. i haven't really read anything definitive in terms of what works and what doesn't though, so i've just been trying random stuff. also, monitor position, body posture, and neck and head position i find help a lot, weirdly enough

i've only ever coded professionally in dark mode, so i'm not sure if light vs dark mode has any effect, personally

or I guessmake the font size huge and huge monitor

actually did some fun programming for a change. this is a cut down version of something i did for a friend's birthday, hence the candle. done on pico8, written in lua...

left, right, x to jump, watch out for the bats

http://wwe.koogy.clara.co.uk/hlwn

i have some more features to add, more enemy types etc

Nice!

7 days into this year's Advent Of Code where you get two little tasks to write code for everyday, all 14 stars so far

using Ruby, which means i have to look up about 50% of the code i write, and the nature of it is that none of it will be reused so it's as scrappy as all hell but...

https://adventofcode.com/

spent the weekend catching up on the two i'd dropped. and today's was a bitch. but 30/30 so far.

46/50 and counting. the 50th is apparently a freebie if you have the other 49 so three more to do...

(
16b - union of multiple minimum paths
19b - count the (millions of) ways to parse some strings
21b - 25 robots in a chain
)

silently applauding anyone who ventures that far - similar kind of minor awe when you see someone completely destroy a og video arcade game

Literally one of my favorite Christmas traditions. This year I did all 50 points in modern C++. It ruled.

I've been using ruby in an attempt to get better at ruby. i have got better at the kind of scrappy ruby you use to do these puzzles (which, luckily, is the same kind of ruby that i use for component tests). but i have missed strong typing.

and proper 2d arrays

16b done

got the cost of the minimum path quite quickly, but getting the ROUTE of ALL the paths with that value took, well, weeks. adding enough information to each step to remember where it came from, and then more code to use that data. redid it in Processing so i could see it working, ended up saving the final frame and counting the pixels as a check...