Accomplishment and self-satisfaction
I recently achieved a measure of satisfaction from coding a small change to SciTE, an open-source programmer's text editor. I was trying to correct the way it autoindents Python code, which is an unexpected deficiency for this editor to have since its author is a prominent member of the Python development community and presumably writes a lot of Python code.
Anyway, I did try posting my questions and comments to the mailing list first, and the author didn't seem too keen on doing anything about this, so I tried my hand at it myself. (Actually, I brought up Python and Java indentation, and he did decide the Java thing was worth looking into, not because it's more important but because it only involves adding a Java-specific configuration file and no modification to the editor itself.)
It was a little daunting at first-the program is written in C++, which I only have a passing familiarity with. I also didn't have a C++ compiler at the time, so I had to do a bit of research and a bit of downloading on that front. But now I have SciTE indenting Python correctly (well, correctly enough for me).
It was hard for me to keep from grinning as I shared my fix with a coworker (who helped me get a C++ compiler and who is fairly receptive to my Python and SciTE evangelizing). The time that I spent working on this, and researching C++ compilers, and following links to other geeky subjects during said research, was really fun. During the whole time, I actually didn't feel the usual pull of Blizzard (primarily Warcraft III tower defenses).
Clearly, this kind of thing falls under the category of Acceptable Diversions (like reading or cleaning) but I have the problem that I usually don't have programming projects which are small and easy enough that I don't get discouraged, yet also interesting or practical or rewarding enough to keep my attention.
Anyway, I did try posting my questions and comments to the mailing list first, and the author didn't seem too keen on doing anything about this, so I tried my hand at it myself. (Actually, I brought up Python and Java indentation, and he did decide the Java thing was worth looking into, not because it's more important but because it only involves adding a Java-specific configuration file and no modification to the editor itself.)
It was a little daunting at first-the program is written in C++, which I only have a passing familiarity with. I also didn't have a C++ compiler at the time, so I had to do a bit of research and a bit of downloading on that front. But now I have SciTE indenting Python correctly (well, correctly enough for me).
It was hard for me to keep from grinning as I shared my fix with a coworker (who helped me get a C++ compiler and who is fairly receptive to my Python and SciTE evangelizing). The time that I spent working on this, and researching C++ compilers, and following links to other geeky subjects during said research, was really fun. During the whole time, I actually didn't feel the usual pull of Blizzard (primarily Warcraft III tower defenses).
Clearly, this kind of thing falls under the category of Acceptable Diversions (like reading or cleaning) but I have the problem that I usually don't have programming projects which are small and easy enough that I don't get discouraged, yet also interesting or practical or rewarding enough to keep my attention.