macOS Programming Ideas / Challenges

[Nitrex88]

Hi, i've been programming on a mac for about a year now, using a variety of tools such as xcode, applescript, etc... I have knowledge in C++, objective-C, java, and my preferred programming environment is Cocoa in Xcode 3. Lately i've been programming less because i find myself at a loss of ideas for new projects. I am not looking to make an advanced app to distribute commercially, i just like to sit around and program for fun in my spare time. I am looking for a website or something that has programming ideas or daily/weekly programming challenges, so i can strengthen my skills and test my knowledge. If anyone knows of such a site / book, or has any ideas of their own for me, i would much appreciate it. I can handle beginner and middle difficulty tasks but am open to harder challenges also. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Doctor Q]

How 'bout writing yourself some Dashboard widgets?

That won't require your higher-level programming skills, but if you haven't done it before, you'll learn yet another technology to use when it's the best tool for the job.

 

[Nitrex88]

Dashcode was actually one of the most exciting things for me with the release of leopard. I have already made many of my own widget, one of which you can download at widget world here...

http://www.widgetworld.nl/free/stuff/5809-wallpaper-changer.html

This is a simple widget i made to change your desktop background but it is really useful. Thanks for the advice anyway and provide feedback on the widget if you download it.

I also made a tutorial on dashcode for some of my friends which can be viewed on youtube here...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uollCnVzHvU

 

[Catfish_Man]

Write a boggle game along the lines of a non-web version of http://weboggle.shackworks.com/. It's not trivial to do efficiently.

My approach used a trie. The dictionary for it (made by removing all the multi-word entries from one I found on the system, I forget where) is at http://dscoder.com/dict.txt

Figuring out the algorithm for determining whether a given set of characters is valid for a given puzzle and dictionary is left as an exercise for the reader(s), as I didn't get around to writing that part

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

This is a classic problem for a relatively new programmer who is looking for a bit of a challenge:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life

EDIT: If the basis of the game is too simple, implement it using a MVC design pattern and build several different viewers (command line, GUI, etc.) for the same model/controller.

 

[toddburch]

I have an idea - you can write this for me...

I need a windowed progress bar that I can call from Ruby:

- Ruby runs and counts the items needed to be processed
- Ruby displays popup with a progress of zero and some text describing the process
- Ruby iterates and updates the progressbar as it goes
- Ruby tells the progressbar to go away
- Ruby finishes.

Todd

 

[hhas]

Todd: take a look at Pashua, iHook, why's Shoes, RubyCocoa. Some or all of those should do what you want.

 

[toddburch]

Todd: take a look at Pashua, iHook, why's Shoes, RubyCocoa. Some or all of those should do what you want.

I would be REALLY interested in getting into RubyCocoa. From your prior posts, it seems you might have played a part in it's formation. Yes? No?
I was looking (am right now looking) into a C++ / Carbon approach to the progressbar.

(sorry to hijack...)

 

[Cromulent]

This is a classic problem for a relatively new programmer who is looking for a bit of a challenge:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life

EDIT: If the basis of the game is too simple, implement it using a MVC design pattern and build several different viewers (command line, GUI, etc.) for the same model/controller.

Thats a great suggestion and one which I am in the process of doing.

 

[hhas]

I would be REALLY interested in getting into RubyCocoa. From your prior posts, it seems you might have played a part in it's formation.

Nope, not me, although you should definitely give it a go. I wrote appscript, which is a Python/Ruby/ObjC-Apple event bridge (also worth a whirl if you do any AppleScript-ish stuff).

Anyway, /OT, and we now return you to your scheduled programming...

 

[SC68Cal]

From the CACM August 1984 by Ken Thompson.

In college before video games we would amuse ourselves by posing programming exercises. One of the favourites was to write the shortest self-reproducing program. Since this is an exercise divorced from reality the usual vehicle was FORTRAN. Actually FORTRAN was the language of choice for the same reason that three legged races are popular.

More precisely stated - the problem is to write a source program that when compiled and executed will produce as output an exact copy of its source. If you have never done this I urge you to try it on your own. The discovery of how to do it is a revelation that far surpasses any benefit obtained by being told how to do it. The part about 'shortest' was just an incentive to demonstrate skill and determine a winner.