Day 180: Finished | Hacker News Reader

Day 180: Finished

blog.jenniferdewalt.com

362 pointswallflower89 comments

Very inspiring. I think this reinforces the idea that regular practice every day (even if it's short practice) is often better than longer sessions done intermittently or spaced apart more widely (like once a week).

Here's another example of the "daily practice" approach from a different domain. A self-taught designer callled Mike Winkelmann has been posting his "everydays" on his website. From his site's description:

"Originally I started out drawing and did that everyday for a year. Then I decided I'd like to learn a 3D animation package so I did a render using Cinema 4D every day for two years. Then I did some photography and also Adobe Illustrator for a bit..."

http://www.beeple-crap.com/everydays.php

Edit: Just to add, another great post on the idea of practicing everyday from a motion graphics designer. I think it's applicable to any field:

http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2013/01/one-a-day/

I don't think short practice does anything for you when it comes to something like coding.

I can't see anyone benefiting from less than a couple of hours of coding

Sure you can. Answer a hard stackoverflow question in your favorite field, Voila, you learn something, or need to connect the dots.

From my own struggle to learn something each day I can tell you that - at least for me - what you said is wrong. There are many "workflows" I tried and am still using, but generally speaking even 15 minutes is enough to gain something valuable. For example, when reading a technical book 15 minutes is enough to read a descriptions of a (sub)problem and to understand high-level concepts used in it's solution (if it's not, you're reading wrong book). I then go to work and think about the details of the solution during the lunch break and commute. Another 15-30 minutes in the evening is enough to check what I thought up with a book and realize where my thinking was incorrect. Then the next day I can code up whatever I was reading about in an hour max, but frequently less (if not, then I was reading wrong book - that is one which I was not prepared to read yet). Then in the next days I can deepen my understanding with 30-45 minutes sessions, and at the end of the week I have the problem internalized and I can move on.

That being said, when I'm not under extreme time constraints, I'm using other approaches. For example, for a whole week I'm reading and gathering bits of information I will need to build something. I have a large file, where I paste links, paragraphs of text from articles and write tiny little snippets of code, either mine or borrowed from somewhere. All this takes an hour or a little more each day (but it's nice that it can be divided into pieces). Then over the weekend I try to make this amorphous mass of data into understanding, in one or a few coding sessions.

There are other ways to make the best use of what little time we get, too. They'd better be, because otherwise we'd be royally screwed as working programmers :)

When you have a full time job and a family there is no other option. My progress is slow and painful. By the time I've found my place in documentation/text, found where I was stuck and then searched solution to a problem, I'm lucky if I get a few lines down. I'm miles ahead if where I was, and thousands of miles from where I want to be. If I had several more hours in a day it would be great. I trade sleep for code time occasionally, but if I do it too often health or job suffer.

Adding another thread that reinforces regular practice.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=870

I agree with you, but keep in mind that Jennifer has mentioned that she spent 8-10 hours per day on this project.

Where did she find the time? Is she a student? Was every one of these projects done on a consecutive day--including weekends? (I'm unfamiliar with this project.)

Regardless, kudos to her--this is a great way to learn.

Some background to this project: http://blog.jenniferdewalt.com/post/56319597560/im-learning-...

(HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6097155)

Lesson from Day 180: 99% of user generated content sucks.

I think that value might be a bit optimistic.

http://i.imgur.com/zYsc6oa.jpg

"You should really rate limit this thing"

You mean day 179?

Now the next challenge 1 website in 180 days.

Maybe she'll take a job where that will be exactly what she'll get to do!

The entire journey is very inspiring. I wonder what she will do now that it's done? You could take this idea and run with it into other niches, like music or photography projects.

Or if you're really ambitious (also: independently wealthy), try a new niche each day. Must have been draining coming up with a new toy-size web project to do daily...

This is by far the most interesting aspect of her journey. What was her process for coming up with 180 unique ideas over 180 days? It's like there's some secret wellspring of creativity she happened to stumble across.

When I think about what she's accomplished here, I get stuck in a mental loop like, "How the heck did she think of 180 projects, each able to be completed by a non-veteran developer within a single 8-hour work session, and then unfailingly complete them all?"

Congrats, Jennifer!

The secret is that there is no secret. The more time you spend on generating ideas, the better you will be at it-- just like any other skill.

"Before I started the project I freaked out and wrote down a list of every idea I could think of. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to run out of ideas but I usually get inspired by what I've been working on."

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6097456

Wow. Kudos!

a good friend of mine had done a similar photo project a few years ago: 100 days of kissing (http://www.flickr.com/photos/29413748@N00/sets/7215762279459...). He was capturing a "kiss a day" with his girlfriend in front of a different London landmark for 100 consecutive days :)

So, he was learning to kiss? the 180 web project was about learning.

I don't know about you, but I'm sure that there could be some benefit from practicing something like that with diligence.

Full list of the 180 websites on the main page: http://jenniferdewalt.com/

Cool experiment, lots of discipline and lots of creativity. I poo-pooed the experiment in the past as the author described no programming experience prior, which I disputed. But irregardless, this is pretty awesome in my opinion, especially because the project was continued to completion, and that in itself is a 0.5% thing.

Inspiring effort.

Congrats, Jennifer! Now that you're done with 180 websites in 180 days, what's next in life?

Around the world 360 days!

Cool project, and really cool on her actually sticking it out and producing a site a day for 180 days straight.

I am curious about her status/background. Is she in high school, college, out of school? Working a basic or full-time professional job? If she has a full-time job doing something else, it's a hell of a commitment to do something like this on an ongoing basis. I'm not sure how you could work 8+ hours a day, then come home and work on a project like this every day for 6 months straight. Even giving up more sleep than you should and any attempt to have a social life, it'd be tough to pull off.

It's a little different if this is the only thing she has going on right now. Not that it isn't still a great achievement - if I was in a position to do so, I'd be interested in hiring somebody with the intelligence, independence, and drive to complete a project like this with no definite payoff at the end. It may even be better that she can maintain a reasonable work-life balance on a long-term project and not burn out.

I'm working on my own project outside of work, but I sure couldn't spend 8-ish hours on it every day over the course of 6 months while still working at my normal job.

She doesn't have a job, according to her blog.

Thanks for the kind words!

Making a website a day takes a lot of time. I've been working on this project full-time and on average worked for 10 hours a day including weekends. I'm looking forward to getting my social life back!

I think the question is, how were you able to afford to take so much time to do that?

Everyone agrees that your effort is admirable; it's a matter of understanding how you even had that kind of time to spend in the first place.

Congratulations! This must have taken an incredible amount of personal discipline to accomplish. I can't even bring myself to floss for 180 consecutive days!

In fairness, flossing is a lot harder than making web sites... :)

I agree :)

This is awe inspiring.

Programming is a hand-on activity, and the best way to learn programming is by doing it every day, in every way, till you can do it in your sleep.

The site is inspiring. Unfortunately the "rate limit this" and other stupid comments are annoying. The internet is 12 year olds, I guess... whaddaya expect

I was involved in a company that hosted and rented servers for video games. It grew really big, but shut down solely on the basis of, "these 12 year olds are going to drive us insane."

+1 to say it out loud that "Programming is a hands-on activity". Imagine the inspiration she could be to countless people who, for various reasons, are afraid to even begin programming/continue after the initial(failed) efforts.

As a side note, I have on countless nights been coding in my sleep. Sometimes I'll wake up realizing there is a bug in yesterday's code or having gained some insight on a new concept. Other times I wake up and wonder why I was trying to code an app to cook me ramen noodles.

Massive congratulations to her.

I'm about to start on a similar project myself, and seeing Jennifer complete her 6-month journey is both encouraging and quite a high bar to beat!

Congrats Jennifer! I am quite impressed by the dedication you showed. Good luck in your future efforts!

... "Paul Graham is gay"? http://i.imgur.com/UTk9DlM.png

Sounds like an old case of the unmoderated user input.

I've actually seen this kind of thing on a company page beforehand. There's really no excuse in that environment.

the page takes user input & displays it in the background for the next visitor.

Ah! Oops. Thanks.

I was really taken aback by the "Paul Graham is Gay" in the background. Seems like that line is in poor taste unless there's some inside joke, which is not mean-spirited, that I don't know about.

Other than that, great work. I admire the author's dedication and her ability to create so many great apps on such a tight deadline.

Oh, sorry, this was a silly comment. I just realized that the background displays user input.

So some people in the HN community are sophomoric, not the author, which makes more sense. :p

That wasn't her, it's users on the website typing stuff into the 'Say Something' text box and hitting 'Send.'

> Paul Graham is Gay

anyone can type in the box to add text

How can you assume it was NOT her? Well no one knows for sure whether it WAS her or not, and it's highly likely that it was NOT her, but it's still possible that it WAS her. Just saying.

That's just more anecdotal evidence supporting John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad theory

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

Paul Graham is gay -- is not derogatory unless you think being gay is wrong; it's simply factually inaccurate. Like saying, "Harry Potter is in Ravenclaw." Which is offensive if you have a prejudice against Ravenclaws.

>Like saying, "Harry Potter is in Ravenclaw."

Well actually... In a certain really good HP fanfiction, Harry Potter is in fact a Ravenclaw.

http://hpmor.com

I just want to second that this book is great. Ignore any negative inclination you feel because it's called fan fiction. It's fanfiction the way John Gardner's Grendel is Beowulf fanfiction.

You read my mind. I was thinking of HPMOR when I wrote the comment.

I assume you are aware that when someone claims that someone else is homosexual, when that isn't actually true, 90%+ of the time it is meant as a derogatory statement, and should be interpreted as such regardless of the listener's gender politics. Unless you actually believe that all the children in online video games using this same terminology aren't actually malicious, just factually inaccurate. In which case I have a bridge to sell you.

Of course the GP knows that, and he is rejecting the use as an insult and substituting the idea that someone attempting that is saying something nonsensical; "wow this water sure is dry". I think it's awesome.

To me it just sounds like someone being needlessly difficult and nit-picky, which we have plenty of on this site without pretending that connotation doesn't exist.

Yes, it can be seen as nit-picky, but I don't think the person is pretending the connotation doesn't exist. Maybe they're just trying to start the long process of de-teething that connotation so that in maybe 50 years saying someone is gay might actually mean, once again, that they are extremely happy.

It's a next to impossible task, like the people who would like to reclaim the swastika back to its original peaceful meaning, but it's great to try.

It seems to me that it is more important to speak out against the use of “gay” as an insult and to denounce those who do so as homophobic.

I wasn't trying to be nit-picky, as nekopa discerned. I am aware of the derogatory connotation and choosing to dismiss the homophobic person by treating them like an ignorant child. I've rarely seen argument ever convince someone they're wrong; Instead, I do not legitimize their bigotry and save myself valuable time.

Like a person using a racial slur -- they immediately demonstrate the quality of their character.

That's an interesting argument. It reminds me of Louis C.K.'s routine about how "no words are bad, but they become bad because people start using them to hurt other people."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcja4WFFzDw

It's exciting to think we can take words like "gay," which are used in some contexts to hurt people, and strip away their negative connotations.

Having said that, I don't see any evidence to suggest that the commenter was trying to innovate on the term. He or she should have written, "PAUL GRAHAM IS GAY, WHICH ISN'T TRUE, BUT IF IT WERE TRUE, IT WOULDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH HIS CHARACTER OR VALUE AS A PERSON."

But then again, I guess if you're writing in all caps, you must be very angry and in a hurry. Probably didn't have time to deal with nuances.

I didn't write the original comment on the site. I was just commenting on the response to it. In two separate discussions of the use of "gay," people brought up the Louis CK clip. He's also one of my favourite comics and it tickled me that disparate people had the exact same line of reasoning.

Cool! Where does the "Say something! > Send" field go when I click send?

EDIT: Nevermind, it looks like the confetti dots were previously words, and displayed unfiltered user input from the form. Always hilarious, always dangerous, this thing with the unmoderated user input.

An important day 180 lesson :)

Amazing and inspiring... how did you find the time to do this? Were you employed?

The lack of rate limiting on the chat box didn't take long to cause things to descend into chaos: http://i.imgur.com/IhaqMR3.png

Hope more newcomers will learn from you and make such goals. Not just in the field of Web Development, but also other fields. Thanks for always sticking to your goal. Good Luck !

Why the heck is it raining bacon?

Everything on the page is 'awesome'.

Falling words are user-generated.

that's pretty impressive. usually a web idea takes more than a day to execute, not including the learning part.

great job, jennifer. you basically put yourself through an intense bootcamp. the amount of technologies you had to learn is inspiring and you've really taught yourself how to learn a new concept/technology quickly.

did you track your hours?

what's next? build a course. get it on kickstarter. start freelancing. contact me. i'll hire you. :)

on a side note, i cannot believe some of things others have said. it's sad. what's worse, is the lack of moderation. don't let a few naysayers ruin what you've accomplished.

congrats again. cheers!

Coulda probably done all that in a weekend.

Just kidding, great job! What's next? I'm sure you've already received a handful of job offers.

Congrats, Jennifer. You inspire me!

This is really awesome, some of these are really well thought out and executed.

The difficult thing in writing web sites or apps isn't writing them, or writing a lot of them, it's is writing a polished, successful, end product people love. So I think having a goal to write a certain number is self defeating.

Practice is never self defeating.

congrats! I remember seeing your first post and sticking with it. start day 181 by rewarding yourself - you earned it!

stop flooding her server you assholes.

Is the site down?

Congrats!

A web page with photo of bacon and sushi? Congrats I guess.

Here I posted that into the site submit box for you. You're welcome.

PS stop being a goddam grouch

Do you not understand what she is trying to do? This is not an MVP, a tech demo, being entered in design competitions, meant to conform to any specs or requirement... it is to learn.

Why does it matter if the images is of bacon and sushi? The way you interact with images do not depend upon their content.

type this into the browsers console: setInterval(function () { $.post('/node/hello_world/message', { message: 'lol' }); }, 1);

You do know that this results in a DoS attack?

I guess what happens to this page is separate lesson in its own rights.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com