Developing for Fun

Developing for fun - talk presented at Codeconnexx 2013

Transcript

2. whoami • Brazilian PHP / Web Developer living in Amsterdam • Works with independent projects • Contacts • Twitter: @erikaheidi • Blog: erikaheidi.com 2
3. define:fun fun [/fʌn/] noun. enjoyment, amusement, or light-hearted pleasure. Synonyms: entertainment, amusement, excitement, gratification [...] 3
5. Fun and the Learning Process (...) when we scrub joy and comfort from the classroom, we distance our students from effective information processing and long-term memory storage. Instead of taking pleasure from learning, students become bored, anxious, and a n y t h i n g b u t e n g a g e d. Judy Willis, The Neuroscience of Joyful Education “ 5
6. The Fun Theory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw 6
7. Fun promotes engagement
8. Fun makes learning easier
11. Programming for Fun • No pressure, no boss • You can experiment • Best way for learning new tools • Its YOUR idea 11
12. Lucky you, programmer! • You have all the tools you need • Not a designer? Try ThemesForest • Not a programmer? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 12
14. A few thoughts on creativity • programming is a very creative activity, if you didn't notice yet • human beings are creative by nature • creative thinking first, evaluation later • most of the ideas we have are based on something else and that's ok. do it different! 14
15. From the Concept to the Project • Ideas have a timing • When you have a clearer idea of what you want, start project design • Take it seriously! • Stay open to new technologies - best opportunity to learn • Think about monetizing possibilities - it might change your model 15
17. Open Source Fun
19. Fabgit • a fabulous and open source git output wrapper • a phar package using whatthejeff/fab • when I received my first pull request ever =) 19
22. Placephant • an open source placeholder featuring elephpants • Using Silex and Flint • got spread quickly before I even tweet about it • all the cool geeks are using! =P 22
24. Twitter Fun
26. Great Zoltar • Open source twitter bot application (a fortune-teller) • Using Cilex, the cli framework by @mvriel • A reason: plain and simple funny fun (and I loved BIG, the movie) 26
29. TweetAuditor • A free monitoring service for Twitter • Something I built for myself • Amazing repercussion • No resources to keep it running the way it was built • Refactoring is planned, but the service model must change 29
30. Image Fun
32. FotoMontagens • Easy photo editing / photo montage tools • Using GD and Imagemagick • For the brazilian masses! • Successfully monetized with Google Adsense • Refactoring is ongoing 32
34. When to use Quick and Dirty The problem with quick and dirty is that the dirty remains long after the quick has been forgotten. - Steve C McConnell 34
35. Plan ahead for reuse • think in reusable components • progressive development • open sourcing the components is good 35
36. Advertisement • yes, it works! • but you need to focus on bigger audiences • and you need to keep engaging the public and working hard! 36
39. Programmers who don’t code in their spare time for fun will never become as good as those that do. 20 controversial programming opinions “ 39
40. Questions?
41. Thanks! ;) https://joind.in/9611 41