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Comment by keiferski | Hacker News Reader

Often I realized I really couldn’t have done [the languishing projects] without the tools and ideas (and infrastructure) I now have.

I find this idea of building your own infrastructure to accomplish goals super interesting, especially because already-made software never quite does exactly what you want. Wolfram actually wrote more about that here: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-prod...

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I imagine that anyone who is serious about anything will end up building/designing some of their own tools. Maybe a custom pedal (or pedal board) for a guitarist, a custom printer for a 3D-printing diehard, or simply designing the tools needed to perform experiments as a scientist. With software, it's a lot easier, especially over long periods of time. I still use a backup script I wrote 20 years ago, for example.

Edit: not to say that the backup script is somehow special, but rather that it being software means that it can last a lifetime with minimal upkeep, unlike the tools made by toolmakers of old.

Building your own tools to do things is excellent and a potential trap. My brief tangent into language implementation is now a decade deep and I don't clearly remember what I was trying to build in the first place. YMMV.

From the URL I thought it was one of those posts about graphs of activity (“quantified self”) that I’ve seen before from him, but I’m glad I took a look.

Seeing him taking a walk along the coast with shorts, goofy hat, tablet on hand, made me feel sympathy for him. Most of the things he describes doing at home and traveling are things I’ve either done or would have done if I had the means.

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