Lack of imagination

[Rui]

Hello. Do you ever feel you want to code something but you just can't get any ideas or find that project that really motivates you?

[Capitain]

Nope, never. Sorry about your luck.

[AUsername]

Hello. Do you ever feel you want to code something but you just can't get any ideas or find that project that really motivates you?

All. The. Time.

When it comes to games that is. OS dev is pretty straight forward for me.

[Firestryke31]

I think the biggest reason I get stuck on a project is not because I don't know what to do, but because there's a step that I really don't want to do, i.e. for OS writing I have had all kinds of ideas, but I couldn't really do anything with them because getting a good bootloader working on FAT32 is such a PITA. At least now that I got my new hard drive and have space for Linux I can get over the "Bootloader but can't write to FS or FS but no bootloader" problem.

[NickJohnson]

Hello. Do you ever feel you want to code something but you just can't get any ideas or find that project that really motivates you?

OSdev is a pretty reasonable cure for that - creating a whole OS from the ground up is a large enough task that you won't get bored for years.

[Coty]

Hello. Do you ever feel you want to code something but you just can't get any ideas or find that project that really motivates you?

Yes... except for an OS dev... Not bad though, atleast I don't run out of ideas for it

[AndrewAPrice]

Hello. Do you ever feel you want to code something but you just can't get any ideas or find that project that really motivates you?

I have the opposite problem. Too much motivation, not enough time!

[gravaera]

Hello. Do you ever feel you want to code something but you just can't get any ideas or find that project that really motivates you?

I have the opposite problem. Too much motivation, not enough time!

I'll just leave a QFT here.

[pcmattman]

Too much motivation, not enough time!

When I have time, I lack motivation. When I don't have time, I have a rush of motivation. It's awfully frustrating

Do you ever feel you want to code something but you just can't get any ideas or find that project that really motivates you?

When you reach the point on a project where all the coding you need to do is bugfixing and stuff like that, it's easy to lose motivation, which makes debugging impossible. In times like these it's often nice to find motivation by succeeding in some other project (say, doing Project Euler problems) and then going back to your main project with that new-found motivation.

Your mileage may vary

[earlz]

Too much motivation, not enough time!

When I have time, I lack motivation. When I don't have time, I have a rush of motivation. It's awfully frustrating

same here! I often get ideas for projects in 2 at a time, and my projects I dream up are huge enough to take me a year to get a prototype going, so its very bad and probably why I can't finish anything.

Also, I find there are things that just kill my project when I realize the solution is immensely complex or impossible. Reason EPBP-C died: trying to find the perfect makefile that worked with BSD and GNU(and from there it gets worse, like me realizing it won't be any faster and what not). Reason AlloyOS died: I got involved with a time destroyer which overtook my mind for a month (a girl), but I was stuck at the point where I was going to have to port or create a custom C library which is very complex..

I also tend to get stuck starting a project and then discovering a design flaw and try to work out the flaw and suddenly I'm bored of the problem and start a new project..


I'm really hoping that doesn't happen with a rewrite of a program for my job(it's a two person company so just me and my boss working on it) so hopefully money can help to motivate me

[pcmattman]

Reason EPBP-C died: trying to find the perfect makefile that worked with BSD and GNU(and from there it gets worse, like me realizing it won't be any faster and what not)

Proper build systems rather than Make are more portable and extensible

but I was stuck at the point where I was going to have to port or create a custom C library which is very complex..

Newlib is actually quite simple to port. It's the applications that're more complex

I also tend to get stuck starting a project and then discovering a design flaw and try to work out the flaw and suddenly I'm bored of the problem and start a new project..

That's why everyone suggests design first: you can find those flaws before you jump into the project, and figure out workarounds that don't involve rewriting existing code . IMHO, proper design fills the gaps in those times when you lose imagination.

Also, please don't take this as a personal attack. I'm just pointing out things that may benefit other people who read this thread.

[nekros]

My problem is having so many ideas that it's next to impossible to keep my attention on one, coupled with ADD and OCD. It's a nightmare.

[AndrewAPrice]

That's why everyone suggests design first: you can find those flaws before you jump into the project, and figure out workarounds that don't involve rewriting existing code . IMHO, proper design fills the gaps in those times when you lose imagination.

I agree and I've always stressed that. With a proper design document laid out you should never be starting or mid-way through a project and be wondering "what's next?"

And set yourself deadlines - say you have a bug to fix or some tedious task to do - promise yourself that no matter how late you'll stay up you WILL get this done (well maybe if it ends up too big of a task, but don't use that as an excuse). You'll feel much better the next day because it WILL be done, rather than dreading it and spend weeks/months putting it off and end up cancelling the project because you're too lazy.

If you can't follow a project through to the end, do you really want to be a programmer?