[swsieber]

Indeed. Mostly, it just takes time and getting familiar with whatever idea you're tackling.

I love to throw out crazy ideas. Most of them get filtered away, but I've gotten to prototype some initially unapproachable stuff:

* Generate a dsl for interacting with web pages in ui tests from the frontend framework templates

* Write a test recorder that lets you step through the browser state

* Write a Jenkins plugin to track who's probably broken what test

* Write a VSCode plugin to add run buttons to CodeceptJS tests

* Write a git hook that maintains two way synchronization of a folder between two separate git repositories (by rewriting & copying commits).

My co-workers see me do crazy stuff, but in actuality, it's not that hard. I would say that VMs are definitely harder than what I've done, but I think the concept is the same: the unfamiliar seems unapproachable.

[criddell]

I find DSLs and FSMs are the most satisfying things to develop. Getting a DSL right is like a magic turbo button and a FSM with the right states and transitions can help clarify really ugly problems.