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The magic for me was never in the end result, but in knowing how to do.

I think it is a sign of the times that a lot of people think there isn't fun or magic in programming anymore.

With the internet there's always know-it-alls going "why should I use your programming language instead of Python?" when you show people an experiment. Or maybe you build an internal app that solves a problem at work and there's 20 people saying "why didn't you just use Notion".

But even before that... I remember building a primitive text-to-voice synthesizer in the 90s and showing some friends, and they just said it was crap because they saw something on TV that was better. Of course mine was just a toy, but I remember even as a kid wondering why they were comparing the accomplishments of a 15 year old with IBM... On the other hand, I made some internet forums back then and on-line people people loved it.

So maybe ask yourself who's doing the yawning. Is it other people vicariously basking in someone else's glory? Or is it yourself not enjoying the journey.

EDIT: That actually reminds of magic. Some people say that magic tricks shouldn't be revealed. Well, I will admit that I yawn at magic and magicians, but I enjoy knowing how the tricks are performed.



There's a difference between magic performed for others and magic performed for yourself.

When you perform magic for other people it should be on par with if not better than what they've seen before.

When you perform for yourself... Anything goes. You set your own bar.


I believe it depends if you're showing it to hackers/creators or to the peanut gallery.

The second group really won't care about how it's made or what can be learned, and won't care about sharing the experience... Which is fine, but makes their opinion absolutely useless, unless your product is targeting them.


Hacking for the sake of hacking is a fine purpose!




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