Project Code Grasp Update: The Art of Learning

One of the joys of any project is learning something new.  For me, in fact, that is the drive behind most projects; my brain feeds on problem solving and projects give me the opportunity to figure things out.  Perhaps this is why I have never been able to transfer my appreciation of creating things to cooking.  I'm sure many would argue that it's all about problem solving, or learning new techniques, but for me, it relies too heavily on following standard practices with a limited number of options.  I'd much rather spend an hour trying to figure out how to bring my Twitter feed in to a Drupal block on this site's sidebar (note: not an abstract example) than putting the same amount of time into preparing a meal where my only really challenge or learning opportunity comes when it's time to season.  Technique improvement has definite limitations in its ability to inspire me.

What does this have to do with anything?  I bring this up to say that I am struggling with Project Code Grasp.  Over the past week or so, I have put far more time, energy, and thought into Project Here.  This is worth noting, considering that NO ONE LOOKS AT THIS SITE.  I was originally planning on creating this site to be a sort of repository for things I'm working on, an easy way to share updates with the few friends or family members who might be interested in what I'm working on.  But it by no means was meant to be a dominant project in my life.  I have actually not told anyone about the site, so spending time on it should beg a number of questions.  Yet, this morning, the first thing I did (and more importantly, the first thing I wanted to do) was work on configuring summary breaks in Drupal.  Even now, I sat down to work on my Code Grasp learning, and instead find myself writing a project update.

What I'm learning about myself is that I am drawn to those projects that I can produce immediate results.  There is always a desire to learn more, to push the envelope, but for me that usually means an incremental step from something that was already productive.  This website has gotten my attention lately because I already basically know what I'm doing.  Learning how to add a new feature is a challenge, a problem to solve, but once I've solved it, I've got something to show for it.  What is killing me about Code Grasp is that the project is so abstract.  I am learning in the short term for the long term hope of being able to produce something.  But with nothing being produced now, it is difficult to get excited about it.

This has been the death of previous hobbies for me (robotics died the day I fried an electric meter on the most basic of test setups).  I am confident that when/if I have the knowledge to write an iPhone app (I have 4 queued up in my mind), the projects of writing them will occupy my daydreams and problem-solving walks.  But getting there is proving to be a challenge.  I must sacrifice my habits of product gratification in order to open up a whole new world of projects.  And that means a lot of sitting at my desk, going through a book, and writing programs that 1/3 to 1/4.  There's nothing to share, and very little to be proud of.  If Code Grasp ends up being successful, and I hope that it is, not only will it open up a whole new realm of potential projects, but it will be one of the few examples of a project I was able to pull off that saved most of the reward for the very end.