It's of some interest to me that, despite programming for something like 5-6 years, I don't have a lot to show for it. Lots of half-attempts that have invariably been forgotten, and the occasional "good" app, but on the whole, it's really quite slim. Looking through other techie websites, one is bound to see a huge list of projects - not necessarily useful programs, but at least in some way interesting, or at the very least complicated. I doubt 95% of these people will have spent more years on it than I have - rather, I'll wager that 95% of them have spent how many years they have been programming on actually learning new things and putting them to practise. I seem to be perpetually stuck in a rut, not learning new concepts, but at the same time not struggling with small-medium size projects.

The point about not struggling is a little important, because it means that ultimately my final product is not really a marvel of software design, but is largely functional. Since I don't struggle to do it, I don't find the incentive to really buckle down and think it through.

My list of achievements? Hmm, let's see:

• A driving test simulator - horribly designed, but my first "real" program


• A tetris clone - not very well designed, but my first "complicated" program (relative to stuff like "Hello world", not shortest paths on dicyclic graph programs)


• A Pacman clone - a bit better designed, but a little incomplete - still, largely the "breakthrough" program, from newbie to mediocrity


• A shepherding simulator - perhaps my best program to date!


• A Magic database program - AKA how not to program!


• My music catalogue program I just finished - perhaps my second best program


• The one I just did, the webpage update checker - trivial, but it does something..

So there ya have it folks. 6 years, 7 "real" programs. I feel so small.

It's really terrible to be an experienced but mediocre programmer.