Nice article by Robb Owen addressing the challenge of parting with a side project when it’s no longer needed.
My hard drive contains numerous small tools that remain reminiscent of side projects, though many are utilized frequently for specific purposes (such as BetaSeries or VDM). Over time, some of these tools become increasingly less relevant.
Two of them:
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Monipay is a small project I created to assist our users in easily locating their IP address without the need to visit websites saturated with advertisements just to access this basic information.
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Unixtime is a sophisticated tool for converting dates to UNIX timestamps and vice versa. I have rebuilt it several times, with the most recent redesign occurring just a few months ago.
I can’t remember why I used to require the IP addresses of our users so much for the first task, but that’s no longer necessary now that we collect them on site. The second task has been substituted with certain Keyboard Maestro macros and Raycast apps.
The most intriguing aspect is that Robb was developing a side project to assist him in learning Latvian noun endings. Through the act of coding it, he was able to grasp the concept within a few days, rendering the side project unnecessary.
It turns out that, in devising and coding all of the logic needed to test the various noun endings, I had passively learned the rules needed to form them.
This is very interesting. It makes me wonder if using this method could be an effective way for me to learn new languages. Perhaps it could be a new side project for me.