[efitz]

Lately i have been wondering about the weird projects that people make- the “I built a web application framework in brainfuck” or “I built a text based bitmap image editor” or “I loaded an LLM on a Speak’n’Spell” kind of projects (I made up all of those but see similar on HN every day).

I understand passion projects and the article hints that might be the reason, but I just don’t understand why people would spend such enormous amounts of effort on such weird projects.

[tmpX7dMeXU]

Because they find it fun? Interesting? I don’t understand how the opposite can be true. “Everything is a product” is a terrible mindset that too many people exhibit, especially those new to tech.

[MrVandemar]

> I understand passion projects and the article hints that might be the reason, but I just don’t understand why people would spend such enormous amounts of effort on such weird projects.

There's a great side-effect to these quirky projects. There's a Christian/Bible story called The Unmoved Rock. Essentially God tells some guy to go push against a huge boulder and he damn well near kills himself trying to move it over and over. After a while he complains and God points out that he never asked him to move the rock, just to push it, and now the guy is totally ripped and strong as an ox.

Essentially, however useless or niche these things are, you yourself grow with the making and crafting of them. You exercise and develop your creative thinking, and your problem solving skills.

[NateEag]

> There's a Christian/Bible story called The Unmoved Rock.

Where did you learn this story?

I'm curious, because it's a cute little anecdote/illustration, but I'm fairly confident it's not in the Protestant Bible, having read that several times.

[MrVandemar]

No idea where I learned that story. I'm an athiest so it was something that bubbled up out of the broader culture that stuck, rather than a result of specific study. A bit like the footprints-in-the-sand story I guess.

It's called "The Unmoved Rock", and available on-line.

[saberience]

Why do people play videogames? It takes up a ton of time and has no profitable output? Answer: they find it fun.

Why are you judging people doing something they enjoy? You don’t have any hobbies that aren’t all economically profitable?

[matkoniecz]

1) they do it as a hobby (and often it may be more productive than watching soccer or playing computer games or binge drinking)

2) they do this to explore/test technology XYZ

3) they are so talented and experienced that it does not require enormous amount of time

4) for promotion, bragging rights

5) some combination of above

[sentimentscan]

I thought that this is something that wasn't done before (analysing google comments with ChatGPT) and that would be amazing. https://sentimentscanner.com Simple as that and market will verify.

Also it is nice to develop 5-10 times quicker then in scrum/jira ticket driven development. I couldn't believe that in Saturday I can do more then 1-2 weeks in my job. I of course understand that this doesn't scale to team, but yeah it is nice to feel that you can write good code so fast as a rockstar developer

[matonias]

Fun and fun stimulates life!

[barrysteve]

I would make an web app in brainfuck just for bragging rights.

Not quite as good as Rollercoaster Tycoon in Assembly.. but close.

[skeeter2020]

“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young

[spfzero]

It's fun for them and they don't have the expectation that it will make money. And probably it doesn't, and that's fine, move on to the next thing. But once in a while, maybe it resonates with a greater need.

[fuzzfactor]

>Products seem to be made for users, but I think this might be an illusion; they are more like a medium for self-expression.

>You can’t be devoid of emotion and expect users to experience emotion after using it.

IOW, art.