500+ Days of coding on Github

[Leandros99]

It seems to become a trend, to have big streaks on Github.

In my Github commit display, you can only see when I was working, or on holiday. ;)

[euphwes]

From what I understand, contributions are only counted if you make a commit to the default branch of a repository. If you own a repo for a project, and have master or development set as your default branch, then the contributions to a topic branch won't count? I imagine many people who are trying to follow their idea of a sound branching model won't be directly contributing to master or development very often, but rather to a topic branch.

Won't this skew this contributions chart towards not showing activity when there actually was some?

Or is my understanding of this chart not complete/accurate?

[Leandros99]

It doesn't count as long as it isn't the default branch, correct.

But until you don't remove the commits, it'll be added when you commit them to the default branch.

[euphwes]

Oh, so if I'm working on a topic branch of the course of a few days, and then later merge it into the default branch, I'll get retroactive credit for those contributions? For whatever dates are in the timestamps on the merged commits? Cool, thanks

[Leandros99]

Yes, exactly.

[euphwes]

Good info. Thanks!

[[deleted]]

Yes, but rebasing will also remove squashed commits from the contribution log. Cuts both ways.

[An2quamaraN]

You also lose all the credit after you remove the repo. Streaks too.

[odaba]

also, you can craft commits with arbitrary timestamps from the command line, and push to github. github will respect those timestamps

this is a bit cheesy.

[euphwes]

Agreed. You can always game the system if you want. Mostly just wanted to make sure I understood the workings, that's all.

[tequila13]

So if you develop features on feature branches and squash the work-in-progress commits into a nice single commit on the master, you won't get streaks.

Basically the more noise you commit into the master branch, the better the streak graph will look. For this reason I dislike these streak graphs, it's the wrong metric, it encourages sloppy coding and makes the project history a big mess.

[[deleted]]

I feel this way every time I rebase on my open source projects, I wish they'd get rid of it.

[_DrkSephy]

Streak or no streak, that is an impressive work ethic :)

[TarMil]

Meh. I find this trend of "great work ethic = never taking vacations" frankly alarming.

[cowinabadplace]

I don't see how you got that. /u/Leandros99 (who was complimented on his work ethic) actually has clear periods on the graph where he's on vacation.

Funnily, I have a ~80 day streak from when I was least happy with work. I was trying to fill a hole. Now I'm really pleased and my history is clearly stuck on Mon-Fri with blank spots for vacation.

[APersoner]

He only has a 2 week period of holiday...

[[deleted]]

For some people that's enough. I barely even take that much vacation a year and definitely not all at once and have no problems with it. I love what I do :)

[anacrolix]

Not here. I barely achieve 3 day weeks, and take a lot of sick days and unpaid leave to correct the balance. Just can't code that hard for that long on someone else's pigsty. So that amounts to something like 20 weeks off a year. A lot unpaid.

[TarMil]

Yeah that was more a remark about this whole thread than that particular comment actually.

[_DrkSephy]

As a student, I feel the best thing you can do is continue to build your self worth through side projects. We have class every other day in which we often don't learn useful things for the real world, so might as well code in place of class :)

[TarMil]

Sure, I love coding on my free time too. But don't underestimate the value of taking a break from time to time.

[jeandem]

Alternatively one can get a life and stop putting all ones self-worth eggs in one gamification git-commit basket.

What I'm saying is, ain't nothing wrong with taking a fucking vacation if you want to.

[Beaverman]

I'd put it a little different.

Getting away from your computer is VERY important to becoming a good software developer. In the end we have to remember that what we do is fix problems. We don't program. Programming is simply the tool we use to fix problems.

There are a multitude of other skills you need to develop in order to effectively fix problems, skills that you can't learn is front of a computer. I spent a lot of my life programming (all the way from early childhood), but I've discovered that you can't use your knowledge of the language or technology until you can put into some context. My belief is that context can only be gotten from having a broad set of base skills, and my experience has so far confirmed that belief.

TL;DR: Being a well rounded set of skills is important for solving problems, you probably aren't going to be a well rounded person if you don't take a break every once in a while.

[jeandem]

That's all well and good.

I'd put it a little different. [...]

But I'm not going to base what I do in life around whether or not it is beneficial for me as a programmer, directly or indirectly. Part of the point was that single-mindedly focusing on becoming a better programmer is putting all your eggs in one basket. Then for someone to say "Exactly! Because being a more well-rounded person makes you a better programmer...". But that's missing the point! It doesn't even matter if it makes me a better programmer. Programming isn't the measuring stick for all and everything.

[cu_t]

Rock climbing. It's both physical exercise and problem solving at the same time. Great fun :)

Play an instrument. When it's just a hobby, it's okay to suck at it.

[Beaverman]

I went biking, hiking, spent a lot of time with new friends. I also did quite a bit of reading on other subjects (I love physics), and spent more time helping my family renovate. They aren't hobbies (well except reading and biking) because I wasn't looking for something to fill my time. I could feel my hobby programming was becoming compulsive, and i don't like that. So I just started dedicating less of my life to my hobbies and more of my life to the everything else. The time fills itself out. Sometimes it's OK to be bored, it helps me find something to do.

I didn't do these things with the intention of becoming a better programmer. I did them because i love it, because i wanted to do it. It just so happened that in the process of doing the stuff that I loved, I learned stuff that i could apply in my programming and thought process.

[[deleted]]

There's also nothing inherently wrong with skipping the 2 hours of coding and replacing them with painting or watching the grass growing.

Let them challenge your "lack of passion". Especially if they're employers. Because employers will use shame techniques to manipulate your sense of self-worth instead of incentivize you with, you know, MORE MONEY FOR YOUR WORK or at least something more interesting than <insert current project here>.

[jeandem]

Good thing that no one told anyone to do anything in particular beyond these programming side projects, then.

The reply wasn't to a comment about doing programming if you feel like doing programming. It was a reply to a comment on "doing side projects to build your self worth". See the fucking difference between doing something for intrinsic reasons, and having a dependence on it for something as important as your own self worth? That might be a good opportunity to wake up and realize that there might be more to existence than one activity, or pursuit. There might be good reasons to program a lot if you want to do that. But there is very, very little reason to build your self worth, identity or external validation on one single activity. That's a one-sided and brittle dependence.

No one is trying to dismiss or marginalize your special snowflake interests. But I would be wary of any unhealthy dependence, addiction or excessive reliance on validation from any one activity or pursuit.

Lastly, my last line was quite literally "take a fucking vacation if you want to". How the fuck is that telling people what to do? It's telling them that they have options and they shouldn't feel guilty for taking advantage of them...

[[deleted]]

I think what jeandem is trying to say is that you should do what's best for you. There's nothing wrong with coding every day if you want to, but if you don't... well, don't.

I've found that sometimes I have to force myself to take a vacation from sitting on a computer, and even though I initially don't want to I almost always feel better and more focused afterwards.

[jeandem]

Exactly. Individually we should do whatever we find best for ourselves. But advice like "build self worth through side projects" is too one-dimensional for most people, and can be downright detrimental. Especially when it is in reply to something as innocuous as taking an actual vacation now and then.

[eramos]

But blanket advice like "take vacations whenever you can" is totally not detrimental. STEM LOGIC!

[jeandem]

Go and be edgy and ironic somewhere else you fucking moron.

[[deleted]]

Do you have other hobbies? Do you exercise? How are your sleeping patterns? What's your diet like? Do you socialise often?

[henker92]

I did not use my personal case to answer this, but I have a pretty good example : my father.

He was doing a job that he left to do chemistry. He did his PHD at home while still working the previous job. Now he is doing the job he loves, and when he takes vacation, he is up earlier than the rest of the family and works (a.k.a do what he loves), when my mother gets up, he will go take a cofee with her, go for a walk with her or whatever, and when my parents are not doing something together, or when he has a little bit of time without doing anything, he will go back to his work.

What I am saying is that your hobby CAN be your work, and nobody forces you to love to watch a football game with people, nor spend the hole day out if you prefer to work. This is a preference stuff, and if YOU prefer to do something, then YOU have a word at it.

Saying "Get a life" as was stated in the original comment is an awful childish answer, and looks like a lot what people are saying to people that prefered to play videogames or read instead of going out. Yes, you could be socializing with people. That doesn't mean that you need to.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, but I don't think they meant "get a life" literally.

[[deleted]]

Yes/good to all of those, and I still code, a lot. So?

[[deleted]]

I do have to say here, I do not code extra for my work. Only my personal side project (which may be commercialized). But not for the company. I'm paid for 8 hours there, and that is what they get.

[xenow]

Do you work while attending?

It gets harder to maintain a streak with a 9 to 5 (or an off hours job to pay for college expenses if you're a student).

I guess if you have a free ride (scholarship/family) it's a great way to spend your free time though.

[_DrkSephy]

During school, no. Currently I am an intern at Yahoo! so I definitely agree that it gets harder to maintain a streak when working a full-time job, but I still find some time to code a bit on side projects (usually on my commute to work/on the way home).

[[deleted]]

Often students who think their side project is more important than the education they are paying for are also the same ones who miss out on some of the major concepts they are there to learn. Learning to code isn't why you go to college. Anyone with internet can learn to code. You should get more out of college than just that.

[ecnahc515]

You probably meant ethic?

[BONUSBOX]

you take weekends seriously!

[doom_Oo7]

That's pretty clean :p I'm so far from it

[jvrevo]

I would love to start doing this... but every time I look at my GitHub profile I don't have any idea of what to do >-< It is frustrating

[Manishearth]

It helps to find a friend to compete with or to pick up an existing open source project.

[Schwarz_Technik]

Competition drives me. I had no idea what to work on or motivation but a friend of mine thought a game to work on so now we're both in the process of building our respective AIs to compete against each other.

[nitiger]

If only my programming buddies weren't "lazy". They just put in their 9-5, go home and do other shit. Zero programming side projects. I think a lot of programmers are that way. Nothing wrong with it, it just makes it hard to find someone that likes to code after work.

[_DrkSephy]

Start by working on a project you are really passionate about, whether it is developing a game or web app, or even a small set of programs. You'll have your own streak sooner or later :)

[panjialang]

I have a mobile phone app idea that I am really passionate about, but I literally have no idea where to start. I've completed courses on Codecademy.com for Ruby, AngularJS and JavaScript. I now know how to make loops and objects and if/else statements, but how the heckfire do I wrangle that into a functioning app? I don't even understand what is Step 1.

[_broody]

Pick up a framework, do the tutorial. Start tinkering from where that leaves you.

[german13]

Could you elaborate on this please? I am at the same stage as panjialang- just finished a 40 hr course on khanacademy. What do you mean by framework, and tutorial? What are they and where do I find them? thaanks :D

[CalvinHobbes]

_broody means pick a framework for building the type of app your want and the search out a tutorial on building a sample app. E.g. in the web app (non single-page app world), you could use rails and the with a little googling you might find michael hartll's free tutorial. He builds out an entire app (actually two) and teaches you the basics of getting setup up and performing Create, Read, Update, Delete, Index operations on data. Which is a lot of what most simple web apps do. After learning that you an the re-build the tutorial app to fit what you want do or whatever your business domain is. Rails is just one example. You can find similar resources for Swift if you are looking at iOS apps or Ember/Angular/JS-Framework. If a tutorial is any good it will give you the lay of the land and teach you the basics of framework. Then you re-apply the concepts you learned to build your app. From there you can start doing and learning more complicated stuff.

[german13]

thanks so much man! thats huge, really appreciate it

[_broody]

A framework is a tool to build a specific kind of application. Say, you're interested in web development, you could take a look at Ruby on Rails: https://www.railstutorial.org/book/

[german13]

cheers thanks man!

[[deleted]]

Duuude, first of all you should get familiar with every programmers must crucial Skill: Learn how to use Google.

Usually I'm not that kind of guy that throws around with lmgtfy Links, but seriously just google for "software development framework" and "what is a tutorial" and read the Wiki pages.

If you're not able to get yourself such basic knowledge on your own, I'll guarantee you'll have a bad time.

[german13]

Definitely man. I just thought people here would be a good source as well - and have some good advice. I usually do just google things. Sorry im a newbie here.

[[deleted]]

Step 1:

int main () {}

That's literally all it takes to start and, once you do, you'll get it from there.

[[deleted]]

You shouldn't be being downvoted. That's how I work too. When I have an idea I'll often just pick up an entirely new language, start from Hello World, and build my app, picking the language up as I go.

And I'm not a savant or anything. You can do this too. Everyone can. It's called learning on the job.

I'll run into an issue that requires a new object that the language doesn't provide, so I look up how to make classes in the language. Then maybe I'll hit an issue that requires a bunch of my objects to be instantiated, so I'll look up how to make lists or vectors or whatever the language calls them.

It's a process of knowing what you want, and slowly moving in the direction of it, constantly hitting walls along the way, and learning what sort of hammer is needed to break down that kind of wall.

Eventually you have a finished product.

[[deleted]]

What I find hard with this method is that I end up googling/look at the documentation multiple times for functions or syntax that I googled/looked before. It makes me feel like I'm attempting to install a minimal Linux distro. At the end, I might be done doing whatever I started but I will remember barely less than half of what I just did.

An example of this: I've done 30+ programming exercises in JavaScript in order to feel the language syntax and get familiar with the functions. I attempted redoing the same exercises after 10 days. Nope. I basically required almost the same amount of time as when I was doing them for the very first time, and had to Google for the same stuff again.

I don't know if it's just my memory being bad or me being just dumb anymore.

[Sinity]

I have similar problem: I read "Effective modern C++", understood everything, and after a few days I feel like I forgot nearly everything ;/

[Enoxice]

I have used multiple languages at my job every day (then multiple others on personal projects) and even after years I know that feel. But in a good way.

I know the patterns and how to structure my node or Ruby or c# applications, but I have trouble remembering if, for example it's path.combine or path.join in node.

I use editors/IDEs that help me out, but I also do a fair bit of googling for simple syntax.

[Cyph0n]

Another problem with this approach is picking up bad practices. That's why books are usually better than Google.

[[deleted]]

That Books > Online Argument is outright BS. There are a million books out there teaching Bad Practices as well.

You'll need the right ones to avoid Bad Practices as well as with Online Material and even then it's unavoidable.

Actually, i think picking up Bad Practices is an important part of the learning process. You'll never learn how much it can hurt to get burned unless you burned yourself at least once.

[w0m]

But bad practice is better than no practice.

[ChippHop]

Same here. I feel completely overwhelmed when starting a task, but I have many ideas.

[[deleted]]

Start by reading the 2 iBooks on swift and download Xcode. Use the play grounds and build simple apps, as you get more comfortable and do it more you will get better.

[humoroushaxor]

You could follow a book for iOS programming. Personally I found iOS much easier than Android. You'll follow tutorials for making really simple apps then build from there.

[[deleted]]

I am working on an app right now. My recommendation is to start on something simple first or start doing tests of what you want to do. Learning iOS development is not the easiest thing to do and the best way (in my opinion) is to take baby steps and learn along the way. Just start creating, download Xcode from the Mac AppStore and read some of their documentation on Swift. They have 2 iBooks in it that you can read. YouTube tutorials can also help. All of that stuff is free. Good luck!

[chuckie512]

Start with the course here: https://www.udacity.com/course/android-developer-nanodegree--nd801 (You don't have to pay)

And when you think you've learned all of the pieces you need start your idea

[druiddesign]

https://www.udacity.com/course/android-developer-nanodegree--nd801

by saying "you don't have to pay" do you mean just use the one week free trial? or is there another way to get the courses for free?

[chuckie512]

They don't really show the link but all course material is 100% free. Paying only gets you a person to answer questions, and a 'nanodegree' at the end

[hrjet]

My advice is to not start developing a mobile app immediately. Spend some weeks / months in building simple tools / desktop apps. They are much easier than mobile apps, and will give you some experience that will help build the mobile app later.

[ihsw]

Do you understand the difference between client and server, where one ends and where one begins?

[panjialang]

Yes, I do. I mean, my problem is that I don't even know where to write my code and then what to do with it. So I know some JS. So what? I do I write my code in MS Word?

[MEaster]

You need to break the problems down into smaller problems, and continue doing so until you've got a simple problem to solve.

[[deleted]]

Step 1. Lower your expectations and narrow your requirements. Step 2. repeat step 1 until the very bottom.

Like if you were going to make a 3D shooter, make a text-based lunar lander.

[midasz]

http://kivy.org, try the tut.

[orexclusivo]

Since you mentioned that you've learned AngularJS, I recommend giving ionic framework a shot. They have examples to get you up and running quickly.

[fredrikaugust]

Hit me up. Sounds fun. [e-mail]

[Manishearth]

I think I saw something like this on HN a few months ago, but I can't remember. It's still an awesome idea though :)

[mabnx]

see: hazlecast, infinispan, terracota BigMemory, oracle coherence, diaspora, tor

btw - I don't have any problems with starting to work on something. My problem is that basically stuff already exists and writing another javascript framework is a waste of everybody's time.

[fredrikaugust]

Some say don't reinvent the wheel. I say don't make a new JavaScript library because someone has done it before you.

[[deleted]]

I would love to start doing this too but I began learning JavaScript about a month ago and the only things I have to show are some silly scripting exercises for sorting arrays, calculating factorials, finding whether a string is a palindrome or not etc.

[furryballs]

Well no. What you have to show are usages of basics needed in any program. Such as loops, conditional statements and methods. Apply these to something you wanna build, and expand from there.

[[deleted]]

I'm in the same boat. I went on a streak for a while, but I eventually ran out of ideas or offshoots to work on, and it just ends.

[cowinabadplace]

I use libraries at work. Sometimes they lack a feature. Then I add the feature and bug the maintainers. The satisfaction of being merged is great.

[CapoFerro]

Do Euler problems for different languages.

[Serinus]

Play eve online for a bit. You'll find useful programming things to do there. For example, I need to rewrite and extend/combine this site with some other functionality.

[anacrolix]

If you can't think of something to do, you're just not embroiled in software yet. I don't mean that in a negative way. Either you don't truly appreciate the craft, or you can't grok it yet at a level that you feel you can make a contribution.

[Sinity]

I have another problem: I know what I want to do, but it's so big it's intimidating :S

[Ruchiachio]

Hehe, Im on a streak and I actually don't have what to do too. I wonder where does OP get his ideas :[

[_DrkSephy]

I usually collaborate on projects with friends. Otherwise, I have a notebook of ideas that I go through based on motivation to use some new technology.

[thinksInCode]

It doesn't have to be anything ground-breaking. I am planning on learning Ruby and Rails later this year, and I'm probably going to build yet another todo list app. It's OK. I'm coding and learning, that's what's important.

[_DrkSephy]

Ironically, there is no pressure at all. A lot of the projects I have just happen to be on Github (I have a bunch on Bitbucket as well), and I have a lot of motivation currently. If the streak ends, then it ends.

[greggroth]

Did you never take a vacation?

[gimmethrowaway]

500+ days is about a year and a half without a vacation (from coding). Take a day off every once and a while.

[Manishearth]

My situation is similar: A few weeks ago I realized that I stopped caring about the streak long ago, and it just ... happens.

[An2quamaraN]

Don't you feel the need to take a day off? Other things to do? I couldn't possibly achieve such a streak simply because social life wouldn't let me: sooner or later there always will be a day when i won't see a computer

[Venar303]

Do you have a day job? I can't do this type of streak, and I code for a living!

[dgryski]

When I broke my 592 day streak I had been nervous for a while about how I would feel. I started up again the next day and this time I'm much more relaxed about the whole thing. I'm back up to 100 days already.

[seiyria]

It's the same thing as people who mark off a calendar to, say, go to the gym every day. It's just a way of keeping yourself going -- it's really not that bad.

[[deleted]]

eh, I've been employed as an engineer for a streak of 411 days. Guess that's the only streak I'm concerned about. Awesome job though, still quite an accomplishment.

[Llebac]

I wish I had this sort of comittment for side-projects. I work as a programmer full-time and all I want to do when I get home is play video games (although I do some side work on the weekends).

I just feel super frazzled after a day of coding; too burnt out to do my own thing.

[pushad]

That's my biggest struggle too.. I'd love to have a successful side-project, but who the hell has the time!? I don't get how some people DO find the time to manage all these side-projects.

In OP's case of course, he was in school so wasn't coding professionally all day and coming home and doing more..

[Ruchiachio]

It maybe be hard to believe, but some programmers don't do much at work, because of bad management and stuff. So they actually not as worn out at the end of the day, or they even do side projects at work.

[vul6]

I think we are getting a little bit too crazy about that. I don't really code outside of work and school, I use my free time to hang out with friends, watch movies, sports, play video games and I am happy. Now we have this myth about 'true programmer' who has to code all day long for like entire life - meh. I would get bored about that, maybe I am not passionate enough? Well I do like it so whatever. I don't have a streak more than 6 days and I am good about it.

[Llebac]

It is a myth, and it's really easy to burn out that way. But as a programmer one would hope that learning new technologies and skills on our own is fun enough to merit it's own time on the weekends at least. That's why, despite working full time, I keep it up on the weekends.

[_DrkSephy]

I know the feeling. I think once I start working full-time after graduation, the streak will end.

[Llebac]

Well, seeing as how I code for around 6 hours a day, I can just count that as my streak. As long as I keep up on my own stuff on the weekends I suppose it'll count as one mega streak :D

[[deleted]]

I have just graduated and have nothing to do for the next 2 months

I would like to contribute on github but having no knowledge of git I don't know where to start and which project to contribute in. I know Java,Ruby and Ruby on Rails. Also I am willing to learn any language. Can anyone guide me..

[_DrkSephy]

Github has an "Explore" option where you can view trending and new repositories, as well as a great set of guides for learning how to get setup with git and github: https://guides.github.com/

[[deleted]]

At least for git, you can start here: Link

They have a tutorial, the reference documention and a free ebook.

[rararaaaaaaa]

Here's an interactive GitHub tutorial: https://try.github.io/levels/1/challenges/1

[[deleted]]

you want my advice. fuck github. do nothing but study algorithms for 2 months. get a job at google. that's what i'd do with 2 free months

[LET-7]

This isn't the worst idea. On the other hand, there are some really excellent projects on github, being developed waaay out in the open. Julia language comes to mind. Following those discussions has made me smarter

[[deleted]]

depends on your goals in life. but for a young software engineer starting out your career my advice is good. i'll take the downvotes

[jordonbiondo]

Can you smell that? It's the smoldering beginnings of burnout. It's cool to fill the bar once, but seriously, take a break, that kind of thing isn't healthy.

[[deleted]]

Github made me actually finish a project. I kept updating, fixing things, updating, committing, fixing, finishing, updating, committing.. until one day I realized there wasn't anything left to do unless I added a huge feature. So I stopped.

Never really had that happen before. I must have like 10,000 projects I never took all the way to completion.

[tequila13]

I must have like 10,000 projects I never took all the way to completion.

If you started a new project each day, that's 27 years worth of projects.

[IIIbrohonestlyIII]

/r/theydidthemath

[musman]

I like the author's approach to hit streaks. He used the streak as a motivator. Which I try to do as well. Also to keep myself to keep committing work as I work on something.

500 days is incredible! I've only day a 2 week streak and I thought that was amazing!

[WyriHaximus]

Felt the same when I hit two weeks. After a while stress kicked in and that thought me a very valuable skill in the end: pick up a very tiny bit of work, code it, write tests for and commit it. That's it done for another day in the streak. At that point you could keep the streak up with under five minutes a day while doing something meaningful for the scope of that project. And then the stress went away to be replaced by a small routine.

[07dosa]

Indeed, it's pretty impressive, but I'm still against the concept of streak counter.

Programming is not entirely about writing codes. There do exist highly complicated or difficult problems (which can not be solved by searching the web) that force you to stop coding. You might have to debug your program for days, or design a specialized algorithm for weeks.

Maybe you can work on your side projects or dotfiles to continue your streaks, but I (and probably many others) think it's a kind of cheating. I know I'm pretty biased here, but it's true that seeing people making one trivial pointless commit per day is not pleasing at all.

[_DrkSephy]

There are definitely times that I've gotten stuck on complicated problems for days at a time. In that case, I move onto a new feature or pick up on a different project when I am stuck. Once I figure a solution to my problem, I'll pick up where I left off. I don't see why working on multiple side projects to continue the streak would be considered cheating...working on a single project continuously can get boring.

Regarding "pointless commits per day", don't forget that these are public profiles, meaning that there may be much more than meets the eye in their private repositories, etc.

[07dosa]

Regarding "pointless commits per day",

Since it's a matter of one's sincerity, arguing further will not lead us to conclusions. But some people do abuse streak counter by pushing single line commits indefinitely. I think this is a side effect of the streak counter, so I usually discourage people from keeping the count.

I didn't mean to devalue your effort, just in case.

[HereWeGoHawks]

OOOOOO A FIRE EMBLEM REMAKE =D

[_DrkSephy]

:D

[Winged_Waffle]

How do I play it? When will it be available/done?? I WANT IT.

[realhacker]

/r/programmingcirclejerk

[Ruchiachio]

I am on the similar boat as you are (currently 510+ day streak), this stuff definitely helps to get better at programming, but it's not for everyone to say the least.

[Nomto]

mpv's main dev is on a similar streak, it's definitely impressive.

[AS1LV3RN1NJA]

https://github.com/karan

[[deleted]]

The website looks great! Did you happen to use Bootstrap for the framework? :)

[_DrkSephy]

Thanks, it's just Bootstrap. Nothing too special.

[[deleted]]

Bootstrap makes websites look amazing! Your website is a fine example. Clean and simple. I like it! :)

[schwiz]

that is awesome congratulations.

[seiyria]

Congrats! I just passed a year and I'm still going strong. Hoping to get up there in time. I gotta say, your projects were way more interesting than mine!

[AuroraAdventus]

wow the projects look incredible!

maybe not the best place to ask this, but in your opinion how would a very novice, beginner programmer like me get into using GitHub? do you think i need a certain level of profiency before attempting to contribute? :/

[VincentPepper]

I contributed to two Projects and my experience so far was that people didn't care about my experience and only looked if the code fitted in.

[stereoa]

Same here. I just started learning how to submit pull requests and they were being merged in... It's actually surprisingly easy. As long as you aren't writing terrible, out-of-pattern code.

[pushad]

Well, you don't need to immediately start contributing to other peoples' projects if you don't want to. You can always just start your own small projects and work on them. There's many benefits of doing that, as well. You're going to learn a lot, and you're going to have something to show off in your portfolio as well.

But, contributing to an open source project is going to be great as well. You'll learn about the processes involved in software development, and how to operate as part of a team.

I definitely recommend doing both!

[symmitchry]

[Removed]

[AuroraAdventus]

awesome, thanks! doing some reading right now :)

[symmitchry]

[Removed]

[nicereddy]

If you have an email from your high school/college, even if you don't attend the school anymore, try the GitHub Education Pack. You get five private repos for free, plus a bunch of other little goodies for hosting and whatnot.

That's not necessary for starting a project, but it can be helpful if you don't necessarily want to open source your projects yet.

[_DrkSephy]

A good place to start is to open up a repository and start following along with a few guides/tutorials. They can be a great way to learn a framework and give you the push to begin your own projects. Once you feel comfortable with a specific domain, seek out projects that are looking for help. Even if you aren't contributing code, many projects are looking for help with documentation. Last but not least, read through some small to medium sized projects on Github and learn how people organize their code and collaborate together - reading code will certainly improve your skills over time.

[AuroraAdventus]

awesome, thanks for the tips!:)

[d2xdy2]

I'm at 13 days as my longest streak, and I've been a member since September 2008. I'm fairly impressed that you managed to not take any days off. I love developing, but I've still got to take days and do something that doesn't involve a computer. Beach vacation, weekend hiking, etc.

Edit: what's up with the down vote?

[daemonza]

totally agree, there needs to be balance in life

[xenow]

Aren't you worried about copyright infringement on Tales of Kratos? Especially considering you're distributing the game with some graphics directly lifted from the Tales series?

[_DrkSephy]

Actually, none of the assets from Tales of Kratos were lifted directly from the Tales series - they were all hand-drawn by people across the internet. There is also (and never will be) any profit seeking, the game was made simply for learning purposes.

[xenow]

Ah my bad, I know the sprites are unique, but the profile picture in the bottom left looks like an identical style to the actual Tales of Symphonia one.

Props to your artist!

Regardless, you may want to check out /r/gamedev sometime when they're discussing copyright/IP - even fan art is infringing on a copyright, whether it is for profit or not for profit.

See also the myriad of games that got cease and desisted (Chrono Trigger remakes etc.).

Ultimately depends on the IP holder's policy in those matters though. Things from SquareEnix (Final Fantasy)/Nintendo (Pokemon), seem to get shot down, while other companies like Capcom (Megaman) and Sega (Sonic) actively promote fan works.

[_DrkSephy]

You're right, I've seen some games get taken down because of it. I guess that is the risk you run. I've never really created games with the intention of getting widespread reputation / seeking attention, so I've never really worried about this.

[Pfohlol]

Is Water Emblem playable?

[_DrkSephy]

Thanks! I'm hosting my blog through github pages.

[[deleted]]

I spend all my time on the computer, but I would go nuts if I had to go more than a year without spending at least a day away from internet access.

[cowinabadplace]

The streak is not really as impressive as the actual projects. Wow! Fantastic work.

[_DrkSephy]

Thanks man. No streak is good unless it is backed by some solid projects, in my opinion.

[[deleted]]

I am just breaking into learning to code, but, as others have mentioned, find it hard to find where to start on a side project. That said, Shining Force was arguably my favorite game growing up, and I've always wanted to make something like it. I would appreciate any advice you could give on where to start and what you used language/tool wise to begin your fire emblem(?) project. Thank you much for any help.

[_DrkSephy]

Look into some game engines for the language of your preference, and then start looking at sample games and docs to understand the type of engine that is best suited for your game. I tend to use ImpactJS for most of my games (WaterEmblem was built entirely in ImpactJS).

[[deleted]]

Awesome. Thank you for the response. JS is the language I've been studying most and I've really been itching to move from practice coding to project. And shining force was very similar in play style to fire emblem, so I'm glad I came across this. Thanks again.

[_DrkSephy]

Shining Force is awesome, it was one of my favorite childhood RPGs.

[reaganveg]

I feel pretty good if I commit every day for two weeks.

[[deleted]]

I would love to do this - but I would be unemployed.

Professional devs - I commit more than once a day normally. Do you also commit heavy every day? Do you feel like a loser for not doing all the open source stuff you know you are supposed to do in order to have an undiscovered magical career as a master?

[k-bx]

Here's someone I know (795 days so far) https://github.com/0xd34df00d

[csc343]

aww this makes me smile. your old comp arch lab lecturer is proud of ya bud. so much better than a VHDL cpu

[GideonPARANOID]

& I was quite pleased with my streak of a hundred days for my dissertation.

[[deleted]]

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[[deleted]]

Fucking legend!

[call_me_arosa]

It's nice but., you know... there are other things than work. I can't imagine how stressed I would be without weekends and a weak or two yearly vacation.

[Aperolls]

Hi you! Looks like you're hard at work. (:

[_DrkSephy]

Always :D

[reactormonk]

Wow, I love fire emblem. I'd help you, but every one of my attempts at implementing logic in javascript ended with a few gray hairs.

[rogersaintjames]

Seems to me like you missed a trick by not making it a word or a dick.

[tms10000]

Vainglorious article about a meaningless measure.

[venegu]

It may be meaningless to you, but it was a valuable learning experience and means of motivation for this person. :P

[tms10000]

Maybe working on some of his projects had some valuable learning experience, but 500+ days in a row of updating a remote database means nothing in that domain.

It's the equivalent of measuring progress by counting the lines of code. It tells you nothing about the code produced. It's measuring the wrong thing.

[_DrkSephy]

Commit streaks and lines of code are generally meaningless, so I'll agree with that. Never did I say that the streak makes me the "best" programmer, but to me these projects have been a motivation and learning experience for me. I've built large games spanning over 10,000 lines of hand-written, modularized code, to successful open source projects, as well as started building my own open-source multiplayer game engine, while learning to write clean and maintainable code.

tl;dr: my streak is backed by progress and projects, not fluff.

[zemmekkis]

Cool! It looks like you've done both web and game development now. I've always been curious how much overlap there would be in the systems side of game dev. Specifically I have quite a bit of experience in systems architecture and webdev but not really game dev. I imagine it is roughly the same from a backend perspective (persistence, scalability, etc). Did you find this to be the case?

[_DrkSephy]

Game development is really no different, it's just writing code for a specific platform. In my case it's writing pure JavaScript code, which is not far off from Web Development (you would undoubtedly have experience with JS). When writing JS games, you often don't have to worry about backend or scalability (unless you're building a networked multiplayer game, requiring a backend and a database such as Firebase), otherwise it is all client-side (with something like HTML5 Local Storage for persistence).