hobby

When should you release a hobby project publicly?

In regards to hobby projects, at what point do you consider it to be mature enough to release the first version to the general public? Do you wait until you have all of the features implemented, or do you release it once you have solid functionality and keep working on it? Also, what are some of the differences between releasing a hobby...

How do you plan small work or hobby projects?

What tips to people have for getting hobby/home projects done? What tools do you use for designing & planning code? (Pen and paper, software, both?) Do you use software to plan and track your project? How do you choose libraries to use (e.g. to make yourself productive)? Are there any good books/sites on planning small projects? How do...

How do you make yourself productive doing hobby projects?

When you are working on hobby projects at home, how do you make yourself productive? Is it planning and self discipline? Do you make notes etc? Creating the right environment? Music? Silence? Good desk? PC set up? Taking the phone off the hook?! If you have a couple of hours and you want to get stuff done, what do you do to make the ...

How to start programming microcontroller?

I have developped software in C++, Java, PHP, .Net and now I am interesting to learn to program material thing. I would like to program system that could interact with IR, LCD and to be able to resuse old printer motor to use it, etc. My problem is where to start? I have searched the web and have found an open source board called Arduin...

How does one get started writing applications that interact with x10 protocol?

As a hobby I'm looking into home automation. My understanding is that there are a couple open protocols out there and the most popular seems to be x10. I'm wondering if anyone with experience writing code against x10 devices could comment on how they got started, what languages they used and any other relevant information. ...

Do you have a hobby development project?

Do you have your own hobby development project, that you like to work on your own? If "yes", could you please tell a bit more about it (links are welcome)? What kind of project is it? Did it help you professionally? How? Is it open-source? Do other people use it? If "no" - Do you want to start one? PS: This question came up after t...

Best way to find open-source project partners for non-software tasks

Many of us probably have interesting hobby/free-time software project ideas that could benefit from non-software experience that we might not have ourselves, like art, graphic design, music, and so on. How do you find project partners that have artistic skills to augment a software project? These people probably aren't visiting SourceF...

How much time in a week do you spend on your hobby project ?

No matter how hard I try, I can't spend more than 4 hours a week given all the other commitments. ...

Simple but powerful programming language for a hobby software project

Long time back, I used to do some home projects in Basic. It was fun and I could get things done without reading tons of documentation (or whatever documentation was available at that time). I guess it is the not the same anymore. Nowadays, programming languages comes with a heavy baggage of framework, environment setup etc. Even for w...

Juggle between programming jobs and hobby project ? How to do it ?

If you are a professional programmer and you have programming project for hobby or fun, how do you keep up your brain long enough? how do you manage your brain and time so that you can still work on your programming project at your weekdays/weekend spare time ? I work as programmer by day, I always want to build software for hobby,curre...

Is anyone using SunSPOTs or another sensor/controller platform?

I'm curious how many people out there (well, on StackOverflow at least) have played with Sun's SunSPOT technology. SunSPOTs are wireless sensor devices that can also control robotic platforms, like the Systronix TrackBot. Fortunately, there's an easy-to-use Java API for programming them. I'm interested in whether: You're playing wit...

Should I continue work on my hobby project?

I've been working on the Axial project for a while now. It converts MSIL to Javascript with tight integration with ASP.NET. You add a control that looks something like <axial:Script runat="server" MethodName="Foo" /> and the codebehind says public void Foo() { lblTest.Text = "Foo"; } and there would be a javascript function on your page...

Best sources for graphical assets for the hobbyist programmer?

This should be closed as an exact duplicate of this quesion. For those of us who develop software or websites in our spare time with little or no budget, what are your best resources for icons and other graphics? Do you have good sources that have free or Creative Commons licenses? Or do you create your own? ...

How to manage hobby project database?

What would be the best way to manage the databases of hobby projects? Requirements: It should be as easy as possible. If it is hard, the project will stall. It should provide easy way to get testing copy to avoid doing development in production. It should provide reliable way to upgrade the production database schema to new version. I...

Do you use nightly builds for hobby projects?

As probably 99% of the Stackers here I have quite a few Hobby projects running simultaneously, and I try to keep them under source control and get them to the point of the one-step build/test. But I've only rarely taken my hobby projects to the Nightly Build and Continuos Integration stages, because well I don't work on the projects ever...

Coders-Block... What is a good way to find ideas for projects?

I want to develop something at home but I cannot think of anything at all. I do not want to write anything that has been written before... What is a good way to find ideas for projects? ...

Where can I see others' upcoming hobby or business projects?

I would like to see what other programmers are up to. Can anyone post some lists which contain upcoming projects (for example: http://www.techcrunch50.com/)? Or if you are working on something then feel free to list it here. ...

Best way to keep a large number of hobby projects alive; open sourcing?

Because my time is limited I can usually only focus on one or two of my hobby projects, while the others sit there wasting away. I am looking for a solution that would allow me to divide my time better. is open sourcing where I take the role of guiding the project realistic, or are there better solutions? In my case, one project has a ...

Are there any Solo/Hobby Programmer Methodologies?

I am a solo freelancer / hobby coder (as in code for fun). I'm really just looking for books that would apply to someone in this situation. Edit: The kinds of things would be Agile, XP, RAD, and things of that nature. None of these seem to apply to a single developer working on his own. I wonder if there is a methodology or design proc...

The shortest program that prints its own source code in C#.

I need (preferrably the shortest) program that prints its own source code in C#. I will post it here when I finish it, but if you already have a link your help will be greatly appreciated. I have come with a solution, but then have found it here. Cuddos to Joey Westcott ...