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Ask HN: What cool skill or project interests you, but feels out of reach?

124 points akktor | 5 comments | 09 Jun 25 12:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.871s | source

This question's for all those cool projects or skills you're secretly fascinated by, but haven't quite jumped into. Maybe you feel like you just don't have the right "brain" for it, or you're not smart enough to figure it out, or even worse, you simply have no clue how or where to even start.

The idea here is to shine a light on these hidden interests and the little (or big!) mental blocks that come with them. If you're already rocking in those specific areas – or you've been there and figured out how to get past similar hurdles – please chime in! Share some helpful resources, dish out general advice, or just give a nudge of encouragement on how to take that intimidating first step.

Let's help each other get unstuck!

1. FlyingSnake ◴[10 Jun 25 19:40 UTC] No.44240604[source]▶
Building a web browser.

I once took a stab at Ladybird browser but had to back out due to the complexity of its build chain. I couldn’t get it run on Xcode/CLion on macOS but would love to give it a try once again.

Does anyone have any tips on getting started again?

replies(2): >>44247125 #>>44247130 #
2. em-bee ◴[11 Jun 25 12:56 UTC] No.44247125[source]▶
if you are not already, stay connected to the ladybird dev community. don't complain to them about the difficulty to build, but keep an eye out for others having the same challenges. see if there are others also trying to build on MacOS and share your experience. perhaps together you can overcome the issues.

the majority of ladybird contributors are probably on linux, so mac support may take some extra effort. consider if you can work with a linux container or VM instead.

i just checked their discord, there is a "build-problems" channel, where you may be able to ask for help.

don't give up. one step at a time. we need more alternative browsers, so i hope you will be able to contribute.

replies(1): >>44247167 #
3. WillAdams ◴[11 Jun 25 12:57 UTC] No.44247130[source]▶
Maybe find the smallest one and read through its code?

Lynx is where I would start, or see:

https://lobobrowser.org/

since it's all in Java and presumably is straight-forward.

4. FlyingSnake ◴[11 Jun 25 13:03 UTC] No.44247167[source]▶
You know what, I’ll give it a shot again tonight. Thanks for the fist bump. Let’s see how far I go.
replies(1): >>44247739 #
5. em-bee ◴[11 Jun 25 14:02 UTC] No.44247739{3}[source]▶
join the discord and share your progress

note that i am not at all involved in ladybird (i only just joined the discord myself), i am just an interested bystander with some experience mentoring FOSS contributors. i would say the same things for any other project someone is interested in