Personal programming

[btiffin]

Two part question;

Do you write software for personal use?

If yes, how and why? By that I mean; do you pull out gcc, make and friends? (Using a compiled language). Do you pull out VB or other IDE builder tool? Or do you script? Python, perl, Ch, Ruby, bash etc. Or of course a combination, but I'm mostly curious about primary modus operandi for personal use programs. Expand on the whys and hows if you'd like. (Do you care about interface? Do you build like it might be shared someday? Bob Loblaw).

Thanks in advance and Cheers

[md]

I do, surprisingly usually using php since it has the best string functions of the languages I am familiar with. As soon as I learn perl and python this semester I'll probably use them.

[r691175002]

I do occasionally if a free alternative is not readily available but it generally takes too much time to make anything worthwhile.
When I do I generally use Java. Most of them are quick command line programs that I inevitably lose or delete.

[rdrake]

btiffin @ Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:07 pm wrote:

Do you write software for personal use?

I try to when I can. Usually it's more to learn about a specific technology than anything else, and not often for a particular task I find the current software for lacking.

btiffin @ Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:07 pm wrote:

If yes, how and why? By that I mean; do you pull out gcc, make and friends? (Using a compiled language). Do you pull out VB or other IDE builder tool? Or do you script? Python, perl, Ch, Ruby, bash etc. Or of course a combination, but I'm mostly curious about primary modus operandi for personal use programs. Expand on the whys and hows if you'd like. (Do you care about interface? Do you build like it might be shared someday? Bob Loblaw).

Lately mostly Visual Studio 2008 using C#. With the new extensions in C# 3.0 I really like the language. I used to do a lot of Ruby and I still enjoy playing around with it when I get time.

I've also lately been playing around with Silverlight (which has quite the potential). LINQ is another technology I've been reading up on a bit lately; also neat.

Interfaces to me are very important. If a user does not understand your interface they will give up on your software no matter how great it is. Sadly many programmers fail to recognize this and half-ass the UI. Why? They could be using horrible tools (like Swing), not be even remotely artistic, or just plain lazy, who knows?

[wtd]

r691175002 @ Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:45 am wrote:

I do occasionally if a free alternative is not readily available but it generally takes too much time to make anything worthwhile.
When I do I generally use Java. Most of them are quick command line programs that I inevitably lose or delete.

Java is way too much boilerplate for that.

[Tony]

I use Ruby's IRB shell all the time. Any sort of data processing is done there (extracting data from large texts, working with various lists, etc.)

[wtd]

Simple prompt or standard prompt, Tony?

[Tony]

standard, but that's because I haven't realized there was the other one. Is there a way to make "simple" be the default choice?

[wtd]

~/bin/irb

code:

#!/bin/sh ruby_prefix=/usr ${ruby_prefix}/bin/irb --prompt simple $*

[Dragan]

I do, I use c# because it is very simply to make windows application

[btiffin]

Thanks again everyone. This really is a great board for getting at the pulse.

And so you know my answers; Lots of personal scripts, REBOL mainly but I'll pull out the Icon compiler when awk can't handle pulling apart a file for me. Usually these apps are small; task tracking, todo lists, time keeping, invoice generators or like r691175002 said, one-offs that just accumulate until lost.

When they are personal apps, I pay no heed to bugs (that don't trigger data loss) or completeness of the interface. I might give it a REBOL Title: and Date: header, but that's about it. For community efforts I'll spend the hours to make an app robust, readable and all that jazz. But for my own stuff, I can suffer hacky crap. I write most of these to learn. save time or stay organized. Once I think others might like it, the professional comes out. And I might make it a GUI then. I prefer CLI.

By the way, for interactive Ruby you can use an init file

code:

$ cat ~/.irbrc require 'irb/completion' IRB.conf[:PROMPT_MODE] = :SIMPLE

instead of overpathing irb.

wtd @ Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:19 am wrote:

~/bin/irb

code:

#!/bin/sh ruby_prefix=/usr ${ruby_prefix}/bin/irb --prompt simple $*

[wtd]

Oh, but what fun is that?

[btiffin]

wtd @ Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:26 am wrote:

Oh, but what fun is that?

So true. And we all know it takes 9 skinnings to defeat most cats.

[md]

you're doing it wrong. If you skin the cat in peices you can harvest WAY more then 9 skins worth

I actually DO write some C++ code to do things for me... but usually things that are beyond the normal "translate this data" level. Like interfacing with a GPS unit that speaks a strange binary version of NMEA-0183.

[michaelp]

I don't usually, but I have made something for my personal use. For studying for my tests.