HACKER Q&A
📣 zerojames

Computing Side Project Ideas?


This year, I have been striving toward one of my long-term goals: to build a programming language. This has been a great way to exercise my technical muscles.

I wonder what other "computing"-type side project ideas are out there in which one would refine their programming skills (as opposed to interest-based projects like an app to do X or projects with monetization potential).

Examples off the top of my head:

    - Make a programming language
    - Build a database or query language
    - Build a kernel module
    - Implement a protocol (TCP, HTTP, UDP)
    - Write code in a functional language
    - Implement Git
What other ideas fall into this category?

  👤 zerojames Accepted Answer ✓
Some more ideas in the "programming languages" category:

    - Build a package manager
    - Create a linter
    - Build a static code analyzer / function call graph generation tool
👤 TrustPatches
I always thought it would be cool to build an entire toy “stack”. Maybe start with a language, DB, and web server. You could start out simple, for example building a language that transpiles to JS, and overtime replace parts with lower level implementations
👤 markus_zhang
An accurate emulator of a physical (not fantasy) 8-bit console is non trivial.

Actually, I think it's more interesting to focus on one and dig deeper.

👤 Kamek404
Have you ever thought about combining coding and social networking? You might want to explore websites like http://val.town/, which hosts a Reddit-style community where users can share web components. Since coding can be a solitary pursuit, adding a social element could be a fascinating concept.
👤 sircastor
For my senior project in University I wrote an NES game. It was a wild departure from modern programming languages and techniques. I learned a lot of about efficiencies and program design. If you’ve never done anything in Assembly, I recommend it. It’s worth seeing what life is like “down there”