Programming For Fun!

Programming, *sigh* who would have thought that we would end up to one of the most in-demand yet frustrating careers today? For me it was never in my plans for my future, I don't even know how to properly use a computer when I started studying Computer Science in the University. All I know was that I could earn a lot of money for being in the IT industry. This was all according to a friend who was studying Information Technology who told me that "Technology is the future and being in the IT industry would surely secure your future" a few years before I enrolled in college.

At first, I didn't really know what to expect until I stumbled upon a ton of things that I couldn't understand. Like, Wow! Computer Science is no joke. I even failed my first Java Programming Language subject! LOL. To cut the story short, I started to like Computer Science. Little by little I started to grasp everything and I was finally been able to write my first game a "SlotMachine" written in Java, my old enemy.

With a combination of basic do while statement and Java's Random class, I was able to create something out of thin air. That's when I realized that this really is the path that I want to walk on in the next years of my life.

What I really love about programming is that it will test your patience, enhance the way you think,  make you better in approaching problems and it's fun. Even though I dropped out in my 3rd year at the university I still pursued the path that I chose.

I started taking jobs for small businesses right after I dropped out of school. I created websites, in-house inventory system, and I even joined a local competition to create a website for one of the largest malls in my country. Although we lost (I have a partner), it was all worth it. We learned, we gained experience and most of all we had fun.

Even though now that I'm busy working as a software engineer for a rapidly growing start-up company, I am still allotting a significant amount of time for recreational programming. It makes me happy and it allows me to explore more of what's out there.

When you want to start creating programs, it doesn't have to be useful all the time. Although it would be great if you're solving an actual problem right? Well for me, I am creating whatever pops up on my head. If I think of something funny and I thought that "Oh this could be a great app. LOL!" then I will write it down and start writing it later when I'm free.

I even spent money for domain names, hosting, and servers for nothing. Why? Coz why not? Right? Like this web application that I created a few weeks ago called  Kitty Ipsum. It's just a web app that generates dummy sentences or paragraphs with a combination of the word "meow" but in different languages.

Pretty useless right? But I had fun doing it!

There's also this one called www.wakeupbilliejoe.com. Yes, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day (I'm a fan BTW).

Nothing very useful in this one as well. It's basically just a count-down timer, but it counts down to when will September end and when September has ended, I am sending the people who signed up an email notification telling them that it's now October. LOL!

Apart from being a tribute to my favorite band, there's nothing more special about this web app. I enjoyed building this, and it's flattering when actual people are signing up. :)

Another one is called Git Superstar. I must say, this one's a bit useful. I came up with this idea when I wanted to count the total stars I have on GitHub. I looked for websites that might offer this feature but I found nothing that fits my liking. Well, maybe I didn't looked hard enough. So with the help of GitHub API's official documentation, I came up with this.

The most recent one that I am building is How many clicks have I done? It's pretty self-explanatory, right? LOL! But I'll explain it anyway, it's a click counter but you can save your progress in the cloud.  Can't wait to start your journey of counting your lifetime clicks? Check it out here. LOL! Tho, by the time of the writing of this post, it's still unfinished. But it will be soon. :)

I believe that the best way of learning something is by doing it, and by doing it over and over is the best way to be very good at it.

Even if your ideas are simple, just do it. You'll never know what you might discover or learn from it. All the experiences, new knowledge and fun is all that should matter. :)

It's something unpredictable but in the end it's right...- Time of your life by Green Day

No matter what you create, no matter how useless or insignificant they may be, in the end, it will always be right as long as you learned from it.

That's all from me. Happy Coding!

P.S.

Here are some honorable mention from some of my old works. Some of them were written when I was still in college.

Thank you for reading.