Since I got my new job, I’ve had the opportunity to explore new development concepts and finally get a bit up to speed on some of the new technologies available. With the new version of Visual Studio being released in one week, I’m holding off downloading the free version, so I can get the latest one and learn on it.
But my biggest issue at the moment is trying to come up with some idea for an application (web or desktop) that I can develop as my “playground” for learning the new stuff. I really don’t like just fooling around in code with no direction or goal. So I’m trying to come up with something I can develop. And of course, everything I come up with has already been created, so I feel like why am I re-inventing the wheel on that.
That’s part of the reason, I never developed an app on my own in the 10 years that I’ve been programming. Yes, I know there are plenty of apps that do the same thing, which each one having their own pros and cons, so it’s no big deal to develop something that’s already been done, but since I don’t consider myself a pro (although it’s what I do for a living, I know, I’m weird), I don’t feel like I can create something that’s better than what already exists.
A long time ago I regularly used an app on my Mac called Books. It was a great little app to keep track of your library, and my initial thought was I could do something similar to keep track of books I’ve read on my laptop (which is Windows). But then I thought, hmm, I could just use Excel, since the info I want to record is just basic stuff (title, author and month/year completed). Then I thought about a feed reader, but I use Google Reader and I like that I can access my subscribed feeds wherever I am and it’s already tied to my email account, etc. So that was out. Then I was thinking of redoing my daughter’s gallery site using Silverlight and the Flickr API, but that might be a bit more than I want to take on, especially since we haven’t been using Flickr for her pictures in a while (most family is on Facebook, so we just use that).
I’m running out of ideas, but I really want some sort of goal in mind when I start learning. My plan isn’t coming together very well at the moment.
life insurance
mamaLove is the personal site of Rayne Bair. Happily married since 2001 and proud mama of one adorable little girl. This site details a journey through motherhood and trying to find myself apart from being mommy. 
