• @0x4E4F@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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    11 months ago

    Yeah, I’ve seen the type… had a colleague in uni like that. And it’s not like he’s gonna need it for something else, but why spend an hour making them when he could spend 5 hours making the script to generate them in 1 second.

    If this is how true programmers think, I’m sorry, I’m not a true programmer then 🤷.

    • @Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1611 months ago

      I meant it as a joke, but the way I see it is as a “fast” and fun exercise where their’s no pressure and the only judge is yourself. It’s more about coding something for the fun of it.

      • @0x4E4F@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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        11 months ago

        I understand the logic, but this really seems like a complete waste of time. I’d rather spend that time coding something really useful than coding that.

    • @TheInsane42@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      When you have to do something once, do it manually, when you need to do it more often, script/code it.

      Oh, and coding is much more fun then manual labour.

      • @0x4E4F@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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        11 months ago

        Depends for who… I also enjoy welding and woodworking. It’s not always about the end product, it’s about the journey.

        And 12 times is not that much. I mean, it’s not like I’m gonna make another one next year.

    • @Slotos@feddit.nl
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      611 months ago

      That’s how engineers think in their free time.

      When the specific goal is something I can do manually, and it’s not pressing, I would rather spend time learning how to make a tool to do it. I might not need the tool ever, I do use the knowledge picked up on those forays every day.

      • @0x4E4F@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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        211 months ago

        Aha… so that’s why my wife says “why you gotta always complicate things” 😂.

        Not regarding coding in particular, I’m an electronics and telecommunications engineer, I do code a little though (here and there 😋), but regarding every day things, like maybe make something that will ease my life, yeah sure, I do that. But it has to be something I use frequently enough, otherwise, no I don’t see the point in spending the time and the energy to actually do it.

        • @Slotos@feddit.nl
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          411 months ago

          Different disciplines - different thresholds. But yeah, that’s exactly it.

          With software engineering, the unknown space is vast, yet the tools are great. So it’s very easy to start tinkering and get lost in the process.

          • @0x4E4F@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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            11 months ago

            Yeah, I know what you mean. A colleague of mine in uni that studied software engineering had this take on it: “I don’t have to invest anything but time in what I’m doing, so making mistakes or doing something for the heck of it is justified. On the other hand you (me) invest not only time, but also money in a project that might come out to be not really practical to be used in the real world.”

            He has a point to be honest. Plus, with real hardware projects it’s not like you can get “lost” in the design process and be like “u, I can do this, and add this, and maybe this” cuz that costs extra money and time, plus a schematic and PCB redesign, etc. So, yeah, I do agree that it’s easier to tinker and get lost in code.

    • Goku
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      111 months ago

      I’ve been guilty of this… I justify it in my head by saying:

      it took me 5 hours to automate a 1-hr manual task, but hey, with this practice maybe next time I’ll get it done in 4 hours, then 3, and so on until I can do it in less time than the manual task would take.