|
At work I tend to develop my own, in my role as the DSJB(*). The packaged solutions to most problems are either poor fits or too expensive in terms of money, learning curve, or both. I've developed our own automated backups (our build servers essentially mirror each other), product build process, and so on. The backups are the simplest, mainly batch files and RoboCopy. The build process is a Windows service written in C#. It extracts source from source control, compiles as necessary, builds installer(s), creates installation media images, and creates an archive ISO of the entire build.
(*) Departmental Sh!t-Job Boy
I'm a lot more inclined to use an available app for things at home. A few times I've started on a project at home to do a simple thing, and it got out of hand  .
Software Zen: delete this;
|
|
|
|
|
Sometimes yes, it's good to write something very tailored to your own needs; but it's also a great way to learn a specific technology in depth, with no risk of writing cr@p that'll end up on a client system. Occasionally it turns out that what you've created is genuinely useful not just to you but to others as well, and can end up as a second income stream.
Some of my side projects/utilities over the years have included:
- a TCP-based message tool to send messages over the local network only, via a Systray popup (later enhanced and sold to one client)
- a forum summary email parser that could reconstruct forum threads for local browsing / searching
- the above included a utility to read MS OutlookExpress .DBX files - later made this a standalone tool and sold several hundred licenses
- a little systray icon that showed minute-by-minute earnings based on hourly rate; a motivator when working on any deadly dull client job
- a little JScript tool that converts hourly / daily / weekly / annual rates/salaries, incl. working weeks; very useful when talking to agents when discussing rates and they use some weird basis and you need to know instantly if it's any good...
- an MS-Access [spit] based tool to record and track contract vacancy applications, with instant lookup / cross reference by agent / agency / client / role - again perfect when on phone to agent so you can identify which vacancy is which, and which ones need chasing up
- a webform interface to a little DLL that encapsulates an interface to the UK Companies House webservice - useful for checking out company directorships and links, following a thread of connections
Plus I guess you could include libraries that have developed over the course of many projects, such as error / performance logging modules etc.
|
|
|
|
|
I wrote a script that sends my network's public IP to a AWS server via a web request, and I setup a subdomain that links back to that IP so I don't have to pay for DDNS or anything like that.
|
|
|
|
|
I go mostly with existing things but build an own tool every now and then, mostly for the reason that existing tools can be feature monsters instead of doing one thing quickly and simply.
|
|
|
|
|
|
"North Korea was the state that we believe was involved in this worldwide attack on our systems," he told BBC radio. Keyword "believe"; wikileaks is pointing to the NSA, with even Microsoft[^] being furious about that fact. Now Britt is pissed that the sold weapons were actually used.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
|
|
|
|
|
Eddy Vluggen wrote: Keyword "believe"; wikileaks is pointing to the NSA, with even Microsoft[^] being furious about that fact
Huh?
As phrased it suggests that you are proposing that the NSA was the one doing the attacking.
The MS article is pointing out that the vulnerability used in the attack came from the NSA, not that the NSA did it.
|
|
|
|
|
jschell wrote: The MS article is pointing out that the vulnerability used in the attack came from the NSA, not that the NSA did it.
Built by the NSA.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
|
|
|
|
|
i want to believe...
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
|
|
|
|
|
Soap Box please 
Bruno
|
|
|
|
|
Why? I don't my young sister seeing this.
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
|
|
|
|
|
Ok, sorry. I was not Aware that political discussions are welcome in the Lounge.
I will leran from day to day 
|
|
|
|
|
What is "political" about the WannaCry attack?
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
|
|
|
|
|
"Born in the NSA" sung to the tune "Born in the USA"...
|
|
|
|
|
Just found one by chance and wondered if and why those were discontinued?
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't. — Lyall Watson
|
|
|
|
|
Probably to stop people trying to solve them by posting them in QA.
|
|
|
|
|
lol - they were really doing that?
|
|
|
|
|
|
All challenges have been solved. There is nothing new under the sun to learn. 
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
modified 27-Oct-17 15:13pm.
|
|
|
|
|
Could you imagine what the world would be like, if everyone on earth did not repeat the same mistake twice? I can't.
|
|
|
|
|
Experience: Recognizing a mistake the second time you make it.
Arguing with a woman is like reading the Software License Agreement. In the end, you ignore everything and click "I agree".
Anonymous
|
|
|
|
|
Might still be a good experience, compelling enough to give it a third go 
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
|
|
|
|
|
Only twice ?
«While I complain of being able to see only a shadow of the past, I may be insensitive to reality as it is now, since I'm not at a stage of development where I'm capable of seeing it. A few hundred years later another traveler despairing as myself, may mourn the disappearance of what I may have seen, but failed to see.» Claude Levi-Strauss (Tristes Tropiques, 1955)
|
|
|
|
|
No. But then again, I get caught trying to imagine a world without hypotheticals!
|
|
|
|
|
Daily challenge: Fix more bugs than I create. 
The coding challenges will resume on Monday! Enjoy your weekend! 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
modified 27-Oct-17 17:26pm.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
