[zck]

I, too, was doing Project Euler problems for a while, but eventually I realized that with the same amount of work I could be making things I actually want to use. My Project Euler solutions were conceptually on a shelf, sitting unused. It didn't feel too good.

On the other hand, on Sunday I wrote a simple mode to upload code to an Arduino from inside Emacs (https://bitbucket.org/zck/zarduino.el). Now that's fun.

[mattnedrich]

I do agree that projects are the most fun when you're building something useful that you want to use. I sometimes fall into the trap of convincing myself that what I'm building isn't very good though, or that is already exists.

[spynxic]

I have had similar experiences with my personal projects. I fall into thinking that if they aren't on par with the "state-of-the-art" way of doing things then they aren't worth deep effort/thought.. but I've come to realize that even sub-optimal approaches to a problem can lead to major shifts in perspective and ultimate change the way one considers their approach to a solution.

This also applies to problems which: "already exists" and/or are considered "very hard or near impossible"

P.S. If nothing more, (re-)implementing a solution will always provide a better understanding of the problem at hand.