Author Topic: Just How Many Programs Have You Written and Never Released? (Read 12931 times)

Renegade · « **on:** January 10, 2011, 09:02 AM »

I've written more than I could possibly hope to count. Custom web log analytic software, text utilities, web scraping software, a Flickr uploader... More than I care to list.

It's a thing though. I need to do a task, so I write a program to do it.

Anyone else?

f0dder · « **Reply #1 on:** January 10, 2011, 09:04 AM »

Yup.

Most of the stuff I've programmed has never been released, as it's small tools designed for pretty specific tasks - and lots of code snippets done mostly to play around with APIs/algorithms/whatever for the sake of doing just that.

Eóin · « **Reply #2 on:** January 10, 2011, 09:16 AM »

I tend to stop working on programs before they are fit to be released. It's not that I abandon them, but it's just that often a program will reach the stage where it's good enough for my purposes and I don't feel like I personally would benefit from the additional work needed to make it releasable.

I'm kind of that way now with a new utility. I could easily hardcode my specific use case now and be done with it. Or I could add a UI to make it more generally useful, but at the cost of a tonne of extra work.

I'm not sure if that's the type of thing you're talking about?

Renegade · « **Reply #3 on:** January 10, 2011, 09:21 AM »

I tend to stop working on programs before they are fit to be released. It's not that I abandon them, but it's just that often a program will reach the stage where it's good enough for my purposes and I don't feel like I personally would benefit from the additional work needed to make it releasable.

I'm kind of that way now with a new utility. I could easily hardcode my specific use case now and be done with it. Or I could add a UI to make it more generally useful, but at the cost of a tonne of extra work.

I'm not sure if that's the type of thing you're talking about?
-Eóin (January 10, 2011, 09:16 AM)

Nope. That's exactly what I mean. I do hard coding for things too. One of the reasons that things don't get released. Need a change? Edit the code. Compile. Run. Good enough for what I need.

Even for TINY little things, the cost to make it release quality is immense, and often more than the actual software itself.

timns · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2011, 09:31 AM »

Boy, this thread sounds familiar. I guess I'm the same - lots of little thingies that are hopelessly specific, but solved some little requirement at the time.

...and, yes, a lot of false starts on projects that one day I hope to really do properly.

skwire · « **Reply #5 on:** January 10, 2011, 09:38 AM »

Literally, hundreds of apps, snippets, bits and bobs for myself, friends and co-workers. Plus, I've written many apps/tools for my wife that I've never released.

app103 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 10, 2011, 10:39 AM »

I have more half finished and barely started projects than I can count...much more than I could ever hope to release. I often think by designing a GUI in my IDE, with the hopes of filling in the code that makes it all work, later. Being a visual person, that's kind of where it all starts for me.

timns · « **Reply #7 on:** January 10, 2011, 10:51 AM »

All these ideas and prototypes... probably some real gold in there.

So! If anyone has anything they are thinking of starting, and posts it in the forum, I'll look in my 'code cupboard' and see if there's something that will help.

Java, C++, C#, Delphi.

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #8 on:** January 10, 2011, 12:05 PM »

I've probably got 4GB of abandoned projects, codebits and snippets form things I'd played with it the interest of self education. I use them for parts to speed up new projects to avoid having to do the same research over.

mouser · « **Reply #9 on:** January 10, 2011, 12:41 PM »

It's really amazing how much extra work is required to get a program that you wrote for yourself, or as a prototype, into a state where it is suitable for release to the public.

I probably have a dozen such apps -- some small, some large, most of which i've thought of finishing up and polishing off and releasing but just can't get the energy to do. Now in fairness most of these are incomplete and just not worth finishing. But some are fully functional and just are too specialized and hard to use, such that releasing them would just cause frustration from people who tried to use them

kip · « **Reply #10 on:** January 10, 2011, 04:37 PM »

C'mon guys, why are we talking about things like costs and extra work. The fun is making it work, then seeing others get some benefit / pleasure / use out of something you have created. Trust me, the best reward and the biggest kick is getting a nice thank you email when you have made a difference for someone you've never met, that and looking at the number of downloads when things start getting noticed, think at the moment I'm up to just over quarter of a million downloads worldwide.

Deozaan · « **Reply #11 on:** January 10, 2011, 04:58 PM »

I have a lot of unfinished projects that I've abandoned without admitting it. (Though I guess I just admitted it.)

Most of them weren't even finished enough for me to use and enjoy, so I don't think they count.

superboyac · « **Reply #12 on:** January 10, 2011, 05:00 PM »

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #13 on:** January 10, 2011, 05:14 PM »

Trust me, the best reward and the biggest kick is getting a nice thank you email when you have made a difference for someone you've never met, that and looking at the number of downloads when things start getting noticed, think at the moment I'm up to just over quarter of a million downloads worldwide.
-kip (January 10, 2011, 04:37 PM)

While I both understand and agree, I think mouser covered it best by saying:

Now in fairness most of these are incomplete and just not worth finishing. But some are fully functional and just are too specialized and hard to use, such that releasing them would just cause frustration from people who tried to use them
-mouser (January 10, 2011, 12:41 PM)

...And he's right. Many of the bit I have are completely unfinished test code projects that I decided to play with to better ubderstand how the Window IU is put together/works. Others are just way to specific to be useful to anyone else, have zero documentation, or are just to dangerous to turn people loose with.

fenixproductions · « **Reply #14 on:** January 10, 2011, 05:19 PM »

I think some of us can share same situations:
- dozen applications written for some strange purposes* - used once and forgotten,
- few projects to illustrate ideas for other applications - because using Photoshop is too lame

- good projects which got old after stable versions,
- projects started but never truly finished due to the lack of faith or time,
- projects started, abandoned and rewritten** only to be forgotten after all.

*) Like "one page only" comic viewer or grep wannabe.
**) Made in rush for which going back is not possible because of being afraid of spaghetti code.

skwire · « **Reply #15 on:** January 10, 2011, 05:24 PM »

It's really amazing how much extra work is required to get a program that you wrote for yourself, or as a prototype, into a state where it is suitable for release to the public.

I probably have a dozen such apps -- some small, some large, most of which i've thought of finishing up and polishing off and releasing but just can't get the energy to do. Now in fairness most of these are incomplete and just not worth finishing. But some are fully functional and just are too specialized and hard to use, such that releasing them would just cause frustration from people who tried to use them
-mouser (January 10, 2011, 12:41 PM)

Agreed. I have lots of apps/widgets/scripts that are perfectly functional but so inelegant, and/or rough-around-the-edges, that I would be ashamed to release them. Other stuff I've written for personal use I wouldn't trust past my own computer.

CodeTRUCKER · « **Reply #16 on:** January 10, 2011, 06:58 PM »

Just One...

"Trucker's Log Watch"

Just How Many Programs Have You Written and Never Released?

... but it is on my 2011 New Year's Resolutions List.

It's next to my resolution to not wait until the last minute to work on my NANY 2012 app.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #17 on:** January 10, 2011, 07:57 PM »

More than I can count. In the early days of PC's writing one's own stuff was almost the only way to get software.

barney · « **Reply #18 on:** January 12, 2011, 08:52 PM »

Hm-m-m,

Once again, I've been shown to be somewhat less than unique

. I remember writing DOS 3.x (I think) bits to make life easier, but they'd never have been suitable for publication. Still have over a hundred (100) VB bits, mostly 3.0 and 5.0 snippets that were produced for specific local needs, most of which were never compiled, none of which would ever be suitable for publication

.

I'd bet that there's been three (3) to five (5) times as much effort and time involved in such pursuits as was ever devoted to the stuff that was published $:-\$ .

40hz · « **Reply #19 on:** January 12, 2011, 09:12 PM »

Several.

I like to think the world is a better place for them not being out there.

kyrathaba · « **Reply #20 on:** January 13, 2011, 01:35 PM »

I can count on one hand the number of apps I've released to the public, and probably 2/3 of them shouldn't have been

mouser · « **Reply #21 on:** January 13, 2011, 02:03 PM »

that's being a bit hard on yourself i think

Ath · « **Reply #22 on:** January 13, 2011, 02:19 PM »

Well, after being in this business for over 25 years, I've got my share of good apps, crap apps, abandoned stuff, trials, and the likes.
At first it always is hard to get going on a new idea (or even have a new idea

), but if it starts being a working 'thing', it's getting more and more satisfying. It's also harder and harder to focus my mind on the daily job, and not be distracted with 'that idea in the back of my mind that needs some fix or improvement...'

And when it finally is doing what it should do and it's (fairly) presentable, and the momentum or the original motivation of writing that thingy isn't gone, then eventually it will be presented to the audience... if any.

Guess that, like most of us experienced, about 10 percent of what turns into a project of some kind is actually released or used, and the rest is just what it has always been: collateral damage (mostly because of the diskspace it takes)
But then, most likely, there are some gems, hidden in the debris

kyrathaba · « **Reply #23 on:** January 13, 2011, 03:26 PM »

that's being a bit hard on yourself i think

Probably. But I'm a perfectionist. I'm never quite satisfied with the current state of an application I've authored.

kyrathaba · « **Reply #24 on:** January 13, 2011, 03:29 PM »

But then, most likely, there are some gems, hidden in the debris

One of those gems, I'm discovering as I finally have reached what I'd call an intermediate skill level in my programming, is that I'm consolidating useful chunks of code into my own private namespaces for re-use. Quite handy.