Hi all,<p>I've been trying to come up with some kind of personal project for myself to do but quite honestly I'm hitting a wall - kind of like writer's block. I'm a 3rd year CS student so I have some programming experience, but nothing of the "make something from start to finish" kind. I've made small games in 24/48-hour competitions, and small things like a Boggle-solver or Tic-Tac-Toe to get comfortable in a new language, but I'm trying to think of something that's not a game nor a tiny project and that's harder. I know it's a big gap in my education and I want to cover it (I'm excited at the thought of developing something bigger, just having trouble thinking of what).<p>So, how do you choose what you code on your free time? Do you come up with your own projects? Do you contribute to open-source? Do you just make lots of small things? Or do you not have time for that sort of thing because you're working 24/7? (=P)
Not really answering the question, but for quick fixes;<p>A friend of mine recently implemented an Enigma machine (i.e. for coding WWII messages - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine</a>) which he enjoyed and said was a great challenge.<p>Alternatively I've recently done Spotify's coding puzzles (<a href="http://www.spotify.com/us/jobs/tech/" rel="nofollow">http://www.spotify.com/us/jobs/tech/</a>) - who knows, you could even get a job out of it!
Here is how I do it:<p>1. Find a pen.
2. Find a paper or notebook.
3. Sit down for 5 minutes.
4. Write whatever idea comes to my mind in those 5 minutes.
5. Review ideas.
6. Pick the one I like best.
7. Design it.
8. Code it.
9. Test it.
10. Ship it.<p>Rinse and Repeat.
All software couldn't possibly work perfectly for you....? So fix a problem you have or one you think you will have soon. Alternatively, go have a chat with a prof or business person or whoever and ask them what problems they would like solved.