I'm between personal projects right now. I don't have any ideas for interesting applications or libraries to write, so I've been doing a lot of thinking. I've come to the conclusion that when starting a new project, there's simply too much room for choice. I don't think I'm alone in feeling this way, but I'm convinced that it's not a problem most developers experience.
There's only one reason anyone starts a new project: to solve a problem. The average developer doesn't need to look much further than their known solution domain to start their new project. They have one language and some libraries that they're comfortable with and they forge the solution using them, not pausing to think about whether the tools are the right fit for the solution.
Thinking about whether the tools are right for the job is something that more senior developers tend consider. They tend to think about their craft in way different from other developers. Through experience they've developed a spidey-sense about how well tools and solutions work together, and when that spidey-sense starts tingling they can look back one their experience to find a set of tools that will work well for the solution, or at least something that they know will work.
The problem I think I'm running into is that, while I think I've developed that spidey-sense, I'm not satisfied with any of the tools I have for something so personal as a project to call my own. Sure, I can look at my experience and pull out some tools to get the job done, but I also want to enjoy the experience. So what's a guy to do when he's unhappy with all of the tools he has? Start learning how to use some new ones.
When I speak of tools I don't mean just frameworks and libraries, languages are tools too. They define what you can do and how you can do it. None of the languages I know feel right for me. They're all too constricting, or inconsistent, or too new, or too complicated etc. As for frameworks and libraries: there's just too many of them, and most of them have the same afflictions. Supposing that I do find a language and framework that I like there's always nagging question of where the holes are. Usually these tools were written for a specific need. Once that need was addressed they didn't develop it further, and therefore there will be things that I want to do that either just aren't possible or are only possible with herculean efforts. Neither of these is what I would consider a good time.
Unfortunately, near as I can tell I have 2 choices. Either go with the status quo or blindly forge ahead into the unknown with tools and languages that I don't know. The former while boring is less frustrating. I know I'll be able to accomplish whatever I want to accomplish. I may not have the best time doing it, and I probably won't learn much of anything. But at least I'll have produced what I set out to produce. The latter offers no guarantees. I might succeed in accomplishing what I set out to do, or I might not. I might enjoy the experience, or I might not. At least with the latter I'll learn something new, which definitely counts for something.
So where do I go from here? While waiting for an idea to pop into my head I've started going through the Ruby Koans. After that I'll have to take a look at Scala. Maybe inspiration will strike, maybe it won't. But at least I'll have a deeper pool of knowledge to pull from when inspiration does strike.
