This actually got posted in ~tech in January, but it was from @hn and I don't think anyone clicked through to read it. That's a shame. I thought about throwing this in there or ~devs or someplace similar, but honestly, it's about so much more than just code.

This is a piece by the author Robin Sloan, a fantastic writer of fiction, but also someone who's been coding on and off for years, but never at a professional level.

And he decided to make a chat app just for his family. Four people. No plans to expand it to ever be useful for anyone else.

The requirements there are drastically different, and I love the analogy he comes up with:

The exhortation “learn to code” has its foundations in market value. “Learn to code” is suggested as a way up, a way out. “Learn to code” offers economic leverage, professional transformation. “Learn to code” goes on your resume.

But let’s substitute a different phrase: “learn to cook”. People don’t only learn to cook so they can become chefs. Some do! But many more people learn to cook so they can eat better, or more affordably. Because they want to carry on a tradition. Sometimes they learn because they’re bored! Or even because they enjoy spending time with the person who’s teaching them.

But the whole thing's worth reading. Just a delightful little piece on the differences between creating something for your family or for the world as a whole.