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   Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Saturday, 27-Apr-2024 07:50:28 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

   the world needs more recreational programming.
   like, was this the most optimal or elegant way to code this?

   no, but it was the most fun to write.

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     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Saturday, 27-Apr-2024 09:53:15 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     • Calyo Delphi

     @dragonarchitect yeah that's the kind of feature you used to see a lot more of in games and such back in the day.

     I think Kris Asick of Ancient DOS Games talked about this once, saying some feature feels like it's just there because the programmer thought it would be fun to add.

     Like, is the script complete enough without this? Yeah. Does it really need this? Nope. Did it scratch a fun itch to add it? You bet!

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     Calyo Delphi (dragonarchitect@rubber.social)'s status on Saturday, 27-Apr-2024 09:53:16 JST Calyo Delphi

     in reply to

     @foone I've been kinda doing that with my python dice rolling script, but with the added fun challenge of also being able to provide an optional statistics report including the polynomial generating function that gets all the useful probability stats if --verbose is set.

     It's more meant to be a fun trip into the math of dice probability than being a useful dice rolling script, but I get a useful dice rolling script out of it as a bonus so hey presto.

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     RedstoneLP2 (redstonelp2@mastodon.redstonelp2.com)'s status on Saturday, 27-Apr-2024 12:26:47 JST RedstoneLP2

     in reply to

     @foone "we don't write bugs, just happy unintended features"

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     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Saturday, 27-Apr-2024 12:26:48 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     we need a bob ross of programming

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     narcolepsy and alcoholism :flag: repeated this.
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     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Saturday, 27-Apr-2024 12:26:49 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     we often say that programming is more an art than a science, but we need to treat it like one too.

     Sometimes you need to paint a sunset not because someone paid you to paint a sunset, but because it'd be fun to paint a sunset.

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: repeated this.
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     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Saturday, 27-Apr-2024 12:26:50 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     cause like, yeah, it's good to know how to write optimal code and how to make it elegant and easy to maintain, sure!

     but one thing you have to maintain is your brain. If you're constantly driving your programming brain at maximum speed, maximum awareness of all possible caveats and vulnerabilities, always considering "how will I maintain this code in ten years time?" you're going to burn yourself out.

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     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Saturday, 27-Apr-2024 12:26:50 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     You're associating programming with a high-stress high-attention activity. That's going to make programming something that's categorized in your brain as no fun, never relaxing, never something you do just cause it would be interesting... you're going to start dreading it, even just a little. "oh well, let's get this over with."

     That's not a good way to think about it in the long run.

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.
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     Chris Jolly Holcomb (reverendmoose@mas.to)'s status on Sunday, 28-Apr-2024 03:06:47 JST Chris Jolly Holcomb

     in reply to

     @foone me doing code golf knowing I'm not going to win, so just amusing myself with the inherent whimsy of making a little tiny code block.

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     Chip Butty (otfrom@functional.cafe)'s status on Sunday, 28-Apr-2024 03:06:52 JST Chip Butty

     in reply to

     @foone this is why I chose clojure those years ago. Most fun I had programming since logo and I could actually get things done.

     Guile scheme and fennel are looking like possible new things for me

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     James T Monkey (teamonkey@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 28-Apr-2024 03:06:56 JST James T Monkey

     in reply to

     @foone I miss _why :(

     But I also liked watching interview with Joe Armstrong. He seemed like the friendly uncle of programming languages.

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     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 06:48:58 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     PBS's The Joy Of Programming

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     Tom Ritchford (tomswirly@toot.community)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:26:44 JST Tom Ritchford

     in reply to

     • pippin

     @pippin @foone

     If a typical drawing is made up of 200 strokes, and each stroke has a 98% chance of being "wrong" and spoiling the drawing, then that would mean that 99.99999...% of drawings would be wrong.

     (Nearly all drawings or paintings are built up of a large number of small gestures, and an error in any one of them isn't usually significant.)

     I live with someone who's a trained draftsperson for art: this is a skill only peripherally related to what Bob Ross does.

     clacke likes this.
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     pippin (pippin@floof.org)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:26:46 JST pippin

     in reply to

     • Tom Ritchford
     @TomSwirly @foone And is it possible 98% of the lines an artist sketches are thrown away as they redraw, looking for a more satisfying line? (At least, if I tried to draw something it'd be at least 98%!) 🤷♂️
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     Tom Ritchford (tomswirly@toot.community)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:26:47 JST Tom Ritchford

     in reply to

     • pippin

     @pippin @foone Even in the demo scene, 98% of the accidents are errors that need to be corrected or else nothing will happen (I did write "very few happy accidents", not "no".)

     And hacking on old machines is even more exacting. When people get unexpected results out of old gear, it's the result of a huge amount of systematic, exploratory trial and error, much closer to science than art.

     1/

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     pippin (pippin@floof.org)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:26:49 JST pippin

     in reply to

     • Tom Ritchford
     @TomSwirly @foone They don't have to "not work", but they might well do something different than originally planned, and they don't have to be secure/maintainable/readable etc. Look at the demo scene. Lots of recreational programming, and probably (especially with older hardware I expect) a lot of happy accidents being discovered and taken advantage of.
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     Tom Ritchford (tomswirly@toot.community)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:26:50 JST Tom Ritchford

     in reply to

     • pippin

     @pippin @foone Writing a program that doesn't actually work doesn't seem more frustrational than recreational to me! 😀

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     pippin (pippin@floof.org)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:26:52 JST pippin

     in reply to

     • Tom Ritchford
     @TomSwirly @foone "Drawing is an engineering discipline. You want a drawing that shows exactly what you intended it to. Get the drawing wrong and your building won't stand up or your part won't fit." It can be both things. Technical drawings are certainly a thing, but there absolutely is recreational drawing too.
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     Tom Ritchford (tomswirly@toot.community)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:26:53 JST Tom Ritchford

     in reply to

     @foone Come now.

     Programming is an engineering discipline! There are very few happy little accidents. You want code that does exactly what you intended it to.

     Everyone understandably loves Bob Ross, I do too, but he isn't a good example for programmers, engineers, surgeons, or airplane pilots to follow.

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     dan 💾 (billgoats@bitbang.social)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:26:59 JST dan 💾

     in reply to

     @foone 10 PRINT “THIS!”
     20 GOTO 10

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     myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:26:59 JST myrmepropagandist

     in reply to

     • dan 💾

     @billgoats @foone

     Twas this, that a child saw, that hooked me forever on the code.

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     Bee O'Problem :godot: (beeoproblem@mastodon.gamedev.place)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:27:04 JST Bee O'Problem :godot:

     in reply to

     @foone my favorite IOCCC (obfuscated C code competition) entry is the flight sim that's in the shape of an airplane.

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     Sabogato (they/them) (sabogato@sunbeam.city)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:27:09 JST Sabogato (they/them)

     in reply to

     @foone that's one thing I like about scheme. I doubt I'll ever get paid to write it, so I can just play around. It is also very interactive.

     clacke likes this.
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     Nelson Chu Pavlosky (skyfaller@jawns.club)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:27:14 JST Nelson Chu Pavlosky

     in reply to

     @foone Was this why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby?

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     bob therieau (therieau@mastodon.cloud)'s status on Monday, 29-Apr-2024 15:27:24 JST bob therieau

     in reply to

     @foone I like this a lot. A project every season? You follow along and you're pointed to learning resources on a PBS landing page for the show. This would be nice resource for resource-strapped schools.

     clacke likes this.