Newbie looking for easy starter project

  • Thread starter Thread starter thomasJamo
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thomasJamo

I am looking for a small project that I might use to practice
designing an application. I'd like it to be something not completely
trivial, but something that could easily be managed by a single
developer. I don't much care for games or graphics. I have been
brainstorming for a long time about this, but I keep drawing a blank.
Any suggestions from an experienced developer who has a great starter
project idea would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
ThomasJamo
 
I am looking for a small project that I might use to practice
designing an application.  I'd like it to be something not completely
trivial, but something that could easily be managed by a single
developer.  I don't much care for games or graphics.  I have been
brainstorming for a long time about this, but I keep drawing a blank.
Any suggestions from an experienced developer who has a great starter
project idea would be greatly appreciated.  [...]
Click to expand...

Any good ideas an experienced developer might have for you is for a
program that's already been implemented.  And if you're going to write a
program that's already been written, just pick up a tutorial book with
project ideas and work through it.  :)

On the other hand, surely you have moments during your day when you feel
like your time could be better spent writing a program to do the thing
you're doing than to actually do the thing your doing.  That's where a
large number of my project ideas come from, and I've got more ideas for
programs than time to write them.

In other words, you're likely to have better results, and discover
project ideas that are more compelling to you personally, if you look to
your own needs for ideas, than to ask for them from others.  Even for
someone just starting to learn programming, there are relatively simple
things a computer can do for you and which you can write a program for.

Pete
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply, Pete.

My second biggest problem is that when I DO decide to start working on
a project, at some point I become overwhelmed with trying to decide
the best way to approach a certain problem. Of course, there are
infinite ways to implement any particular design. Will making these
decisions become easier with experience? I hope so because I find
myself stressing out about which class should have which
responsibility and so forth. Is this a common problem for newbies?
Am I just overthinking things?

tja
 
thomasJamo said:
I am looking for a small project that I might use to practice
designing an application. I'd like it to be something not completely
trivial, but something that could easily be managed by a single
developer. I don't much care for games or graphics. I have been
brainstorming for a long time about this, but I keep drawing a blank.
Any suggestions from an experienced developer who has a great starter
project idea would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
ThomasJamo
Click to expand...

Peter's advice is good(as always) to find something that interests you and
go in that direction.
But given that you posted the above, you've tried that and still don't have
a compelling desire.
I'm not experienced, a beginner like you, but it's fun to learn and I've
been making little apps
for myself that simplify or automate things i'd be doing by hand either in
AutoCad or excel or
in just managing my own code files etc...
Now that i'm no longer working in AutoCad (laid off) it's harder to justify
spending time on that, which is
sad cause it was fun.

currently I'm getting ready to see if I can figure out how to access stock
ticker information via the web
in the simplest format I envision a ui with a textbox and button.
user would enter ticker symbol in text box and hit button.
the app would then go (where?) on the net and get the current price for that
stock.(how?)
the app would enter that price in a database somehow for historical
tracking,
and show the daily/weekly/monthly/yearly fluctuations in some kind of
chart(s) on another ui element.
The user could enter values like buy target or sell target and some kind of
alerting/alarm function
would notify user when those price points occurred
I've recently been guided toward learning the model/view/presenter/service
pattern as the structual
underpinnings of an app, so that would give a basic architecture.

for me this provides several learning challenges for using c#
how to find the data on the web
how to extract/read the data from the web into a variable
how to setup/read/write to/from simple database (sqlite?)
how to create/display a chart
how to set up an automatic alerting system that watches for target points
and informs user of same

i'm sure there are apps out there that do similar things but the fun is in
the doing and learning
don't know if any of that is of interest to you or jogs other ideas in your
brain?
good luck in your endeavors
mark
 
My second biggest problem is that when I DO decide to start
working on a project, at some point I become overwhelmed
with trying to decide the best way to approach a certain problem.
Click to expand...

That's what we're here for. Once you have something concrete in mind, take a
shot at it. When you get stuck, ask. Try to ask about something specific
versus general, if possible. See mp's reply. He broke his stock ticker
concept down into lots of processes. It would be much better to tackle a
specific process (How do I access data over the Web) as opposed to some
big-picture question (How do I build a stock ticker app).
 
I am looking for a small project that I might use to practice
designing an application. I'd like it to be something not completely
trivial, but something that could easily be managed by a single
developer. I don't much care for games or graphics. I have been
brainstorming for a long time about this, but I keep drawing a blank.
Any suggestions from an experienced developer who has a great starter
project idea would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

The classic app is a little app to keep track of
CD's/films/books/whatever.

Depending on level you can do:
- console app with flat file storage
- Win Forms GUI app with database storage
- SL app communicating to a web service

Arne
 
I am looking for a small project that I might use to practice
designing an application.  I'd like it to be something not completely
trivial, but something that could easily be managed by a single
developer.  I don't much care for games or graphics.  I have been
brainstorming for a long time about this, but I keep drawing a blank.
Any suggestions from an experienced developer who has a great starter
project idea would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
ThomasJamo
Click to expand...

I don't quite know what to say, you guys. I am sincerely moved at how
willing you guys are to help a newbie out. All of your advice is
great and I will use all of it. I am absolutely positive that you
will be hearing from me in the future. I just wish I could do
something to return the favor.

I am going to start working on a project immediately and I'm sure that
I will be asking so many questions that you will all regret
encouraging me to press on. ;)

Seriously though, guys, I can't thank you enough.

tja
 
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