I can't stress enough how important that statement is. I learned to code by refactoring and revising my old ideas. When I learned a new tech stack, a new library, a new pattern or a new methodology, I ended up refactoring old projects with the new mindset.
I always jokingly say that every codebase looks like crap after 2 months, because it is true. You see your own mistakes after what you've learned _through implementing it_.
Good engineers and architects know how to break down a large problem into small enough portions to be able to guesstimate whether it's possible. Then they build little prototypes for those unknown unknowns to come back with a better estimation. And those small prototypes / portions are something like a knowledge library, where you gain confidence over time when you solved and successfully implemented those already.
Bad engineers on the other hand always chase the new hype, instead of learning from their own mistakes they just rebuild the same crap all over again, assuming it will be better by using fancy new libraries. Unsuccessfully.
This is the way to do it, good work and great that you posted this. The first release of my 40 million download app was held together by proverbial ducktape - yet the lessons learned from actually releasing it got me to come up with much better updates: https://willem.com/en/2018-02-21_updating-snake-97/
I look back at the beginning of the PC era, which I hated.
We had modern multi-user and multi-tasking operating systems. We had decent high-level languages.
But the PC era started with DOS, a single-user operating system. And basic, which was so unsophisticated.
But looking back later I realized that the unsophisticated operating system and the unsophisticated language... they let normal people do things. You didn't need to understand semaphores or event-driven programming to make simple single-user programs.
And I kind of see people stuck in this distracting learning environment with too many moving parts, I think back.
i am almost the exact same but its more like 20 years for me. its not like i can't code, but i have never built anything. i have used python for my grad studies so i have some level of comfort with it and can do data related tasks to some degree in it. but i have never built anything.
there is this huge like "potential well" that becomes almost impossible to leap over.
Consistency is key. I need it too. With 1000 things pulling me this way and that, I get the most done when I just open my IDE and do it. It's so hard though. I feel like an agoraphobic trying to leave the house. What's the big deal? Just open the IDE and start doing stuff... but it's almost physically painful to even think about... I gotta get help.
> You learn by breaking, not by watching.
I can't stress enough how important that statement is. I learned to code by refactoring and revising my old ideas. When I learned a new tech stack, a new library, a new pattern or a new methodology, I ended up refactoring old projects with the new mindset.
I always jokingly say that every codebase looks like crap after 2 months, because it is true. You see your own mistakes after what you've learned _through implementing it_.
Good engineers and architects know how to break down a large problem into small enough portions to be able to guesstimate whether it's possible. Then they build little prototypes for those unknown unknowns to come back with a better estimation. And those small prototypes / portions are something like a knowledge library, where you gain confidence over time when you solved and successfully implemented those already.
Bad engineers on the other hand always chase the new hype, instead of learning from their own mistakes they just rebuild the same crap all over again, assuming it will be better by using fancy new libraries. Unsuccessfully.
This is the way to do it, good work and great that you posted this. The first release of my 40 million download app was held together by proverbial ducktape - yet the lessons learned from actually releasing it got me to come up with much better updates: https://willem.com/en/2018-02-21_updating-snake-97/
I look back at the beginning of the PC era, which I hated.
We had modern multi-user and multi-tasking operating systems. We had decent high-level languages.
But the PC era started with DOS, a single-user operating system. And basic, which was so unsophisticated.
But looking back later I realized that the unsophisticated operating system and the unsophisticated language... they let normal people do things. You didn't need to understand semaphores or event-driven programming to make simple single-user programs.
And I kind of see people stuck in this distracting learning environment with too many moving parts, I think back.
i am almost the exact same but its more like 20 years for me. its not like i can't code, but i have never built anything. i have used python for my grad studies so i have some level of comfort with it and can do data related tasks to some degree in it. but i have never built anything.
there is this huge like "potential well" that becomes almost impossible to leap over.
Consistency is key. I need it too. With 1000 things pulling me this way and that, I get the most done when I just open my IDE and do it. It's so hard though. I feel like an agoraphobic trying to leave the house. What's the big deal? Just open the IDE and start doing stuff... but it's almost physically painful to even think about... I gotta get help.
I assume you have heard don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good?
I’m guilty of same thing, wanting to learn something completely before putting it to use, and thus never starting the real work.
This is the best HackerNews content in a while.
No LLMs, no Cursor, no false promises of AGI, just some musings about coding.