How do you find interesting problems to solve? [closed]

Answer 1

Another source of "inspiration" for bits of software to develop (or just have an explore of how the technology works) is those "Why does it not cope with that?" or "It should work with that!" moments. I've had a few of those moments with things like code generation from XSD's.

Another source are those "There must be a more elegant way to do that!" moments. Simple little things like the C# "if(x is typea) do_a else if(x is type_b) bo_b else ....". Start me thinking about better ways to do things.

Another source, which some have mentioned before, is the "Could I write a system to do that?" moment (or the rhetorical question). I know programmers who have tinkered with an ISAM system for year, tweaking here and there just because the like playing with it. No idea of even finishing the project, just playing with different ideas and implementations.

Answer 2

I don't go looking for problems, in code or otherwise. Instead I keep my eyes open as much as possible so that I don't miss inspiration for simpler solutions to old problems :)

Sometimes I just watch people be people .. or a cockroach going about its daily activities.

Often times, if you do that, you'll encounter new problems to solve. Don't try to think of complex problems, doing so typically leads to complex solutions. Every thought you think trains your brain, you are as much what you eat as you are what you think.

Answer 3

Every time I see something being done over and over again I see an opportunity to create some piece of reusable code. It was that with my DAL, and many other pieces of projects I worked on.

Answer 4

Project Euler

Answer 5

You could try coding a solution to a real problem a friend or family member has on a computer. This could be a particularly good way to practice coding if you're creating the solution for someone who's relativly inexperienced with computers - those kind of people will ask you questions that another coder never would. These real-world questions about your solution might be things like, "Why does this come up in a black window with all this writing?" - in reference to a script running from a DOS command prompt. When you get hit with questions like that, you need to have a firm grasp on your own understanding of the language, and must be able to respond in layman's terms in order to be able to answer them.

I'm in the process of learning perl at the moment and I'm using it to design an property management system for a family member who runs an apartment complex.

By building something for someone who's close to you and expecting you to finish it, you might find yourself more motivated to write the entire solution instead of stopping halfway.

Answer 6

Find some 'problem' in your own life that you can solve with programming. While it's easier said than done, I'll give you an example. I received one of those calendars with a word jumble on it for every day of the year (real). I like word puzzles and such (passion) and at the time I had been wanting a project to dive into python with. So I created a simple commandline script to solve the jumbles with a sqlite backend, and I've been doing quite a bit with python ever since. The project is as finished as I want it to be, I still add on things to it and continue to improve and add to it, but it served its purpose as a starter project for me. So I really think the trick is to find something that you can work at that is easily and directly connected to your everyday life.