Planetarion Forums

Structural Integrity · 24 Feb 2003, 20:41

It must be the warm feeling and butterflies in your tummy when you get something going after a long day of stressing and puzzling.

BTW, this is also a "thank you thread" for Pablissimo who gave me a ton of ADO code.

***dances around*** \o/

Not_RIT · 24 Feb 2003, 20:45

It depends what im coding...

If its dull and boring its because I have to code it for college, if its exciting its because I enjoy getting it working

Structural Integrity · 24 Feb 2003, 20:48

**sings out loud to Bohemian Rhapsody**

I love this feeling....

This is also school work, but I still enjoy it when I get it to work. I'm not particulary interrested in database access, but getting it to work is motivating none the less.

queball · 24 Feb 2003, 21:10

What's with all the lifestyle threads here lately?

pablissimo · 24 Feb 2003, 22:28

PHWOARRR

The very best MSDN had to offer =)

Rayden · 26 Feb 2003, 11:48

i code for food

Mong · 26 Feb 2003, 11:57

I code as I need money.

meglamaniac · 26 Feb 2003, 12:13

Originally cos I wanted to find out "how computers worked".
Now it's part of my course.
I still dig out my old Borland TC++ 3.0 projects sometimes and fiddle with them occasionally, although I have to admit back then I had no idea of how to lay out code (or comment it for that matter).

As an example, I was looking through my old graphical installer the other day (like the Install Shield thingies but for DOS, courtesy of the BGI VGA driver) and I hadn't got a clue what was going on.
The damn thing was a main cpp file which just had the basics in with calls to more advanced functions in 3 header files. windows.h has all the (badly thought out) maths and graphics calls for drawing the GUI, gutil.h has miscellaneous graphicy stuff in it like initilizing the driver and stuff, and coreutil.h is a hideous monster containing the code to parse the install scripts and includes to another 2 header files, mouse.h (inline ASM code to get control of the mouse) and error.h which is the error handler.
I had some ****ed-up way of handling the mouse such that each window had a 'button map' and then the position of the mouse and the state of the buttons was checked against it. Bearing in mind I didn't have a clue how to use dynamic arrays or anything at this point, the thing is a horrible sight to behold.
To be perfectly honest, I was amazed I knew what I was doing at the time, never mind looking at it 2 years later...

meglamaniac · 26 Feb 2003, 12:28

Addendum:
If any of you fancy a good laugh I've been nice. You can get it (the compiled program with complete source code) at http://www.megla.net/gidistrib.zip.
I'd be amazed if it will compile for you in any modern compiler though, so this is probably just an opportunity for you to have a look. Half the time it fails in the borland one (yep, it's still instlaled and working) and I have to go hunting in the setup again before I can get it working...

Raging.Retard · 26 Feb 2003, 14:47

For food.

26 Feb 2003, 15:03

Quote:

Originally posted by Structural Integrity
Why do you code?

For food.

Worth noting though that if I couldn't code games for a living, I'd probably be doing something else. I couldn't bear the dull prospect of coding mobile phones or cash registers or bank systems. I'd still be coding games in my spare time, of course

Diz

Mit · 26 Feb 2003, 15:42

why... cos i want to and enjoy it (and i enjoy it when i get the good comments back on my work from others, /me gives an evil look to some of those random ppl from 'the thread')... just wish someone would pay me for it

Gayle29uk · 26 Feb 2003, 15:48

Quote:

Originally posted by Mit
/me gives an evil look to some of those random ppl from 'the thread'

Don't look at me, I was on your side.

djbass · 26 Feb 2003, 15:57

for fun, I like the challenge, and nothing is more satisfying than completing a project and saying "hey cool! I made that". technology facinates me, especially multimedia stuff, which is why I mainly like doing games to try out all the cool new graphics and sound features.

=[DJ Bass]=

tyriel · 26 Feb 2003, 16:42

im learning.

might as well try to produce something useful at the same time.

Flavius · 26 Feb 2003, 17:42

Quote:

Originally posted by tyriel
im learning.

Slidey · 28 Feb 2003, 10:20

cash, cars, house, fun in the sun

erm

cash generally (or to learn something that'll make me cash in the future..). its always a nice feeling when you finish something difficult that you've been working on for a while tho (would be nice if i ever finished *any* project before moving onto the next one!)

The Chip · 1 Mar 2003, 10:21

because it is/was/might/willl be fun. i hope.

Rayden · 3 Mar 2003, 00:33

cause instead of wasting time infront of the computer playing some gay game like Counterstrike i'd rather do something useful.. i hate when these playing freaks call themselves geeks, when all they know is how to link up CS.

Structural Integrity · 3 Mar 2003, 11:55

Quote:

Originally posted by Rayden
cause instead of wasting time infront of the computer playing some gay game like Counterstrike i'd rather do something useful.. i hate when these playing freaks call themselves geeks, when all they know is how to link up CS.

Oh yes, I kinda agree with that, and I often face that very problem at school. They only play games and know how to download crap and use chatboxes, and when you come up with a proggy with more that 30 lines of code for their entertainment, they call you a KUTNURT (c*ntNerd freely translated).
And these kind of people are visiting a computerengineering study. Tssssk...

Finally: "If being a geek means being passionate about something, I pity those who aren't geeks", or something along those lines, as I can't do a copy-paste trick from Gayle's former signature.

Not_RIT · 3 Mar 2003, 12:00

I like the ocasional good game of CS or NS, its a laugh with my clan mates and stuff. I wouldnt go off and play CS/NS if they wernt tho. And dont you just hate those people who insist IRC is utter rubbish?

meglamaniac · 3 Mar 2003, 13:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Structural Integrity
when you come up with a proggy with more that 30 lines of code for their entertainment, they call you a KUTNURT (c*ntNerd freely translated).

They don't appreciate the wondefulness that is pong?

Structural Integrity · 3 Mar 2003, 14:04

Quote:

Originally posted by meglamaniac
They don't appreciate the wondefulness that is pong?

They're jealous cause they can't make Pong

Rit, I can enjoy a good game too at its time, but I primarilly do other things with my comp (ie: look at pron and code)

Not_RIT · 3 Mar 2003, 14:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Structural Integrity
They're jealous cause they can't make Pong

Rit, I can enjoy a good game too at its time, but I primarilly do other things with my comp (ie: look at pron and code)

I use it for IRC, email, a bit of coding when I feel like it and NS

queball · 3 Mar 2003, 14:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Not_RIT
And dont you just hate those people who insist IRC is utter rubbish?

No. Anyone with a sense of right and wrong knows that IRC is wrong.

pablissimo · 3 Mar 2003, 14:59

Quote:

Originally posted by queball
No. Anyone with a sense of right and wrong knows that IRC is wrong.

Elaborate.

Not_RIT · 3 Mar 2003, 16:04

Quote:

Originally posted by queball
No. Anyone with a sense of right and wrong knows that IRC is wrong.

It is better than msn and other chat clients.

queball · 3 Mar 2003, 16:21

Quote:

Originally posted by pablissimo
Elaborate.

Nothing much ever gets done. I can understand why people use IRC to organise PA or CS, or to chat, but for coders it's a big waste of time isn't it. You can communicate over the Internet through e-mail or discussion boards exchanging lots of information and you get plenty of time to think over your replies. IRC is a convinient way to talk to people you already know but that's about it, imo.

A big problem is that you get the "feeling" of doing something useful, feedback that isn't so direct with email or newsgroups. Helping someone with their 500-line Java coursework might boost my ego, but they could usually do it well by themselves, or ask for help on Usenet so the whole world can read the reply. And IRC is utter crap compared to real life pair programming.

If you're desperate for someone to talk to, IRC channels are a rather poor substitute for friends when you take into account how elitist and artifical everything is.

"Avoid IRC, it's a pit from which few escape."

pablissimo · 3 Mar 2003, 16:27

Ah, you made out it was bad in general, I didn't realise there was a context to your hatred =)

Discussion boards are the way to go for coding stuff, if only because people have time to formulate decent replies, but IRC definitely has its uses.

meglamaniac · 3 Mar 2003, 17:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Not_RIT
And dont you just hate those people who insist IRC is utter rubbish?

IRC is for when I have nothing better to do.
'Nothing better to do' being defined as no work to do (or that i feel up to doing), nothing going on with any mates or anything, nothing on TV, and when I've exauhsted every other form of entertainment.
This is why I tend to appear around 1am, when I'm bored but not tired enough to go to bed yet.

:P

Not_RIT · 3 Mar 2003, 18:04

Quote:

Originally posted by meglamaniac
IRC is for when I have nothing better to do.
'Nothing better to do' being defined as no work to do (or that i feel up to doing), nothing going on with any mates or anything, nothing on TV, and when I've exauhsted every other form of entertainment.
This is why I tend to appear around 1am, when I'm bored but not tired enough to go to bed yet.

:P

I quite agree it is distracting, I have for instance said to my self 'Im going to bed in a minute' two hours later im still on IRC....

And it can be hard to get proper work done while on IRC.

5 Mar 2003, 16:37

In one word: Fun

Mostly, making something, working hard to debug it, then seeing it actually work!

King Elessar

Mit · 5 Mar 2003, 17:24

Quote:

Originally posted by Not_RIT
And it can be hard to get proper work done while on IRC.

heh, tell me about it :/

Caesar2 · 5 Mar 2003, 22:52

fun and money

djbass · 11 Mar 2003, 10:40

heh.. I can't win on that front.

I live in a small country town where hobby usually conjures something involving vast amounts of very heavy physical excercise. Mentioning to anyone that you code for a hobby gets the instant response 'pfft.. NERD!'. Finding anyone with any degree of experience in programming languages is nigh on impossible. Even at most of the education facilities not one of the instructers has any knowledge past very basic use of redundant languages like Delphi.

I then jump on IRC in hopes of finding like-minded people (so rarely do I succeed though as like queball said, very few programmers frequent PAIRC I've noticed). However the problem has struck that one can not expend the time to converse on IRC and code at the same moment as both require the mechanics of using the keyboard. Additionally, often talking about mindless dribble has been more appealing than trying to debug a few thousand lines of code so IRC usually wins out and like so many of my projects they go and die in some obscure corner of my HD.

=[DJ Bass]=

Dante Hicks · 11 Mar 2003, 11:29

Quote:

Originally posted by djbass
Additionally, often talking about mindless dribble has been more appealing than trying to debug a few thousand lines of code so IRC usually wins out and like so many of my projects they go and die in some obscure corner of my HD.

That could be said about Forums too though. Ocassionally forums do come up with some good stuff (good links, interesting argument, answer to a query, etc) but most of the time they're an awful time sink. An evening spent debating people who don't even care is probably an evening wasted.

As to the thread question, I'm not a "proper" coder but when I do dabble it's either to try and get some sort of solution to a problem I'm having, or more often to create something.

If I start writing a 500 Page manifesto on how to solve the worlds problems, I will simply give up and delete it come page 127. No matter how much time I spend philosophising I never get anywhere. With coding, I can generally say "After 8 hours work, I'm objectively further than I was yesterday". I can't get that anywhere else.

SYMM · 11 Mar 2003, 11:49

I code because our sadistic lecturers give us an assignment that takes hours and hours to do in shell-script/awk/perl etc. (mine was all perl, but we had the choice) that could have been done in 10 minutes in Excel..I really hope this experience will be useful somewhere down the line

hinch · 11 Mar 2003, 12:38

money

Nodrog · 11 Mar 2003, 14:34

Quote:

Originally posted by hinch
money

bonus points for honesty

hinch · 11 Mar 2003, 16:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Nodrog
bonus points for honesty

it is indeed the only reason i keep doing it as soon as i can make more money else where then i`ll do that

Nodrog · 11 Mar 2003, 21:28

Quote:

Originally posted by hinch
it is indeed the only reason i keep doing it as soon as i can make more money else where then i`ll do that

I thought you were sitting on a massive pile of money which you used to start your own business in the first place?

Or do you just want to earn more?

pablissimo · 11 Mar 2003, 21:31

Having more of anything is most always good.

With notable exceptions such as Royal Variety Performances, Janet Street-Porter TV appearances and fat on obese people.

Jester · 11 Mar 2003, 23:12

I'm too stupid to do anything else.

Jester

W · 12 Mar 2003, 01:56

I'm making the world an extension of my mind.

12 Mar 2003, 13:09

Quote:

Originally posted by Nodrog
I thought you were sitting on a massive pile of money which you used to start your own business in the first place?

Or do you just want to earn more?

i can never have too much i want to buy an ice fortress and attack the world

whoop · 12 Mar 2003, 18:24

I code because its one of the few things that I am

a) very good at.
b) can get paid for.

I'd rather be a hotdog vendor on the beach, bartender or something like that any day.

-whoop