Re: Where the inspiration comes from ?

[dthacker]

At work I look for something that has been bugging me. I always can find a repetitive task that needs automating or a problem area that needs monitoring. I usually try to include some new perl techniques to try. This week I built my first hash of arrays!

At home I look for projects that help out organizations I volunteer for, like my soccer club.. I've learned the basics of HTML while doing this site, and now I'm working on more advanced techniques. It's been good for both of us.

If the skill you want to try out is more exotic, then try SourceForge. You may find a project that needs help with the very thing you just read about.

There are a million people out there who "are thinking about building a whatsit." <sp>I encourage you to be one of the people who actually build one, because that will give you the inspiration for the next, and the next. And some day, one of those whatsits you built may be the very thing I need to finish my thingamajig. And that is a beautiful thing!

Dave

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Code On!

[cjf]

If the skill you want to try out is more exotic, then try SourceForge. You may find a project that needs help with the very thing you just read about.

Contributing to an existing open source project is definately a great way to improve your programming skills. Browsing through existing projects can also give you an idea of which areas need more projects started (accounting software), and which don't (php content management systems).

Keep in mind, ever since SourceForge changed its terms of service and privacy statement some people have been encouraging projects to break free from SourceForge.net and to make use of other systems. Just something to consider.