Suggestions for a fun programming project

Question

I know that different people enjoy different types of projects. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

I was hoping for something in C. Something fun and interesting (but not too advanced :-))

Answer 1

Fun is usually quite personal. What do you enjoy and focus on a project in that area. When I learnt I loved games so I wrote games. You can either start your own project or search of sourceforge or codeplex or github etc for like minded people. That way you can learn (faster?) from others.

Answer 2

http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HomePage

Answer 3

Program a simulation of a Fredkin Gate in OpenSceneGraph. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but just don't have the time.

Answer 4

As noted, it depends on what you like and how much you know, but it also depends on the type of language you are learning. Languages designed for unlimited recursion are great for solving logic puzzles, crossword puzzle programs, etc. Without recursion, these get tedious.

Figure out which aspect of programming you want to exercise: graphics, database, UI, algorithms, etc. If you have a sport or other hobby that you participate it, that can be a help. I wrote a sailboat race scoring program in just about every language I ever learned. My son favored graphics of the Mandelbrot set.

Small database programs can be useful for just about anything from recipes to Boy Scout merit badges to collections (of whatever you like to collect). I'm thinking of writing a program for baseball statistics.

Answer 5

If math is fun to you, work through Project Euler. It is language independent and (at least for the problems I've done) there are solutions posted in several languages.