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

124 points akktor | 2 comments | 09 Jun 25 12:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.406s | 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!

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joshdavham ◴[10 Jun 25 19:32 UTC] No.44240513[source]▶
Python packages written in low-level languages like C/C++ and Rust.

There are currently so many cool open source projects in the python ecosystem that involve writing python packages in low-level languages. But unfortunately, I've barely written any low-level code since university, so these projects are effectively out of reach for me at the moment.

However, I do plan on learning Rust sometime later this year and there are number of smaller projects that I plan on working on!

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1. jononor ◴[11 Jun 25 08:26 UTC] No.44245391[source]▶
pybind11 is your friend. Focus on small self-contained functions first. For numerical functions you can then take it mostly our of a book. See if you can speed up some simple and common operation within your problem domain of interest.
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2. joshdavham ◴[11 Jun 25 17:53 UTC] No.44250087[source]▶
Sounds like solid advice. Thanks!