a hobbyist's dilemma

[Alex Martelli]

John Salerno <johnjsal at NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> Now that I've learned much of Python, I'm sort of stuck with what to do
> with it. I'm not a professional programmer, so I don't really have a use
> for Python now. But I really want to come up with some neat uses for it
> (for fun, and so I don't just start forgetting it right after I learned it).

Instead of hacking away on your own, I suggest you look around
sourceforge and other such repositories of open-source programs: find
out what projects are written in Python and may be looking for helpers,
prioritize them in terms of your interests, and email the admins of the
top one offering to help -- if they politely decline, try the second
one, and so forth.  The best and most fun programming is that done in
teams; also, participating in an open-souce effort gives you extra
motivation to keep at it when the going gets hard (if the going never
gets hard then you're not tackling problems that are interesting
enough!-) -- as you know you're helping others, not just putzing around,
you'll feel that extra push towards sticking with the task!


Alex