Software Engineering Stack Exchange
Software Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [personal-projects]

For questions about projects that you are working on on your own, usually not work-related.

For questions about projects that you are working on on your own, usually not work-related.

53 questions
386
votes
29 answers

I don't program in my spare time. Does that make me a bad developer?

A lot of blogs and advice on the web seem to suggest that in order to become a great developer, doing just your day job is not enough. For example, you should contribute to open source projects in your spare time, write smartphone apps, etc. In fact…
not-my-real-name
  • 171
  • 3
  • 3
  • 4
188
votes
21 answers

A large part of my code has a major design flaw. Finish it off or fix it now?

I am a high school student working on a C# project with a friend of mine with about the same skill level as me. So far, we have written roughly 3,000 lines of code and 250 lines of test code in a span of 100 commits. Due to school, I put off the…
oldmud0
  • 1,573
  • 2
  • 10
  • 9
59
votes
17 answers

What programming problems are best solved by using pointers?

Well, I basically understand how to use pointers, but not how best to use them in order to do better programming. What are good projects or problems to resolve involving the use of pointers so I can understand them better?
dsocolobsky
  • 963
  • 9
  • 15
50
votes
12 answers

Releasing an open source project without getting embarrassed

I've been working by myself on a fairly large open source project for quite a while and it's nearing the point where I'd like to release it. However, I'm self-taught and I don't really know anyone who could adequately review my project. A few years…
Hopeful
  • 511
  • 4
  • 5
45
votes
20 answers

How do you track bugs in your personal projects?

I'm trying to decide if I need to reassess my defect-tracking process for my home-grown projects. For the last several years, I really just track defects using TODO tags in the code, and keeping track of them in a specific view (I use Eclipse,…
bedwyr
  • 2,202
  • 1
  • 18
  • 21
42
votes
14 answers

How important is it to finish projects?

I'm a student (yet to go to uni) and I've been programming for about 5 years now. Over that time, I've flitted around from language to language, from API to API, and project to project. I've tried setting myself on one thing, but I lose interest. My…
PrettyPrincessKitty FS
  • 959
  • 6
  • 10
37
votes
8 answers

Fear of releasing a hobby project - how to overcome?

I don't know if this question is strictly related to software development, but still I'll give it a try: Like a lot of programmers, I love to work on hobby projects. Sometimes, seemingly good ideas turn out to be not so good, so I drop the project.…
Oliver Weiler
  • 2,448
  • 19
  • 28
32
votes
16 answers

Do you have your own 'misc utils' library? What part are you most proud of?

I know that many of us maintain our own little personal library with tools and utilities that we use often. I've had mine since I was 16 years old so it has grown to quite a considerable size. Some of the stuff I've written has since been added to…
Nobody
  • 2,613
  • 1
  • 22
  • 25
32
votes
7 answers

TDD and Version Control

I am currently learning about TDD and trying to put it into practice in my personal projects. I have also used version control extensively on many of these projects. I am interested in the interplay of these two tools in a typical work flow,…
Code-Guru
  • 2,419
  • 3
  • 16
  • 17
29
votes
9 answers

What's your view on using other people's code?

As per this question: I decided to implement the BitTorrent spec to make my own client/tracker. Now, I was going through the spec, I was about 70% done implementing the BEncoding when I found a link to an implementation of BEncoding in C# written by…
Steven Evers
  • 28,200
  • 10
  • 75
  • 159
27
votes
14 answers

Motivating yourself to actually write the code after you've designed something

Does it happen only to me or is this familiar to you too? It's like this: You have to create something; a module, a feature, an entire application... whatever. It is something interesting that you have never done before, it is challenging. So you…
user7197
21
votes
7 answers

What would be a good first functional programming project?

What would be a good first functional programming project? I am looking to finish with a bang on my bachelor project and I want to finish it with a functional programming project. We didn't study it in school but we are encouraged to try to learn…
Meme
  • 313
  • 1
  • 2
  • 4
15
votes
4 answers

The best method to get personal projects done

I have numerous personal projects I've begun and never seem to finish because I get sidetracked with other ideas. I was wondering what the best method to get personal projects done is? Any tricks or tips to it? The problem is I get a spurt of…
Oscar Godson
  • 829
  • 1
  • 7
  • 12
14
votes
10 answers

How can I motivate management to allow freelance work?

I'm a developer at a small company. Sometimes I'm offered extra cash for freelance work from previous employers or on odd jobs that I could do after hours without encroaching on my full time job in any way. Unfortunately my manager has explicitly…
user13739
  • 149
  • 4
12
votes
4 answers

When it comes to hosting your personal throw-away projects, does one service and project structure stand out?

I'm looking at Google Code, SourceForge, BitBucket, and GitHub, since they seem to be the big players. Now, I haven't broken down all of the features that they provide yet, but I'm really looking for a place to put various code that I write (my…
Thomas Owens
  • 79,623
  • 18
  • 192
  • 283
1
2 3 4