Blog post: https://web.eecs.utk.edu/~azh/blog/makinguselessstuff.html
HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27256867
Reddit discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/njcpxt/why_i_p...
The notion of doing something for which I don't care about github stars or readability or even good programming practices (1000L files!) it's SO FREEING!
Thanks for that article, it has helped me found the joy I had when I was just poking around on the computer, which I've missed now that I'm a "professional"...
When my motivation to do something is money, even if I find whatever I do interesting, I'm only doing it for money. Looking at it differently, if I wouldn't do what I'm doing if I wasn't being paid for it there the motivation is not the activity itself but the result.
Doesn't "careless" and "serious" are opposite to each other? I find that when I'm working on a project that I'm "serious" about the focus/motivation/purpose is not the project but the result. The "serious about it" is usually something outside of the project.
You know, intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation.
On the other side, I'm right now working really hard to be careless an free about a new project that I'm actually serious about, even as I'm working for it to make money, but the only way that I can accomplish that for myself is by approaching the project as an experiment/adventure and after exploring the worst case scenario realizing that even if I lose $x finite amount, I'm fine with that.
It's quite hard for me tho, maybe you have stronger character than I!
You say "haven't quite figured out" - does that imply there are things you wanted to convert but didn't see the path for, or that the question hasn't truly come up?