An ode to houseplant programming (2025)

2 days ago

Houseplant programming refers to creating tiny, personal software solutions tailored to individual needs, without the need for mass dissemination or production readiness.
Unlike production code, houseplant programming embraces imperfections, with 'It works on my machine' being a valid and sufficient criterion.
Projects under houseplant programming are likened to houseplants—cherished, propagated among friends, but not universally adaptable or maintained beyond personal use.
The concept encourages sharing and documenting personal projects without the pressure of making them reusable or polished for others.
Bouquet programming is introduced as a subset of houseplant programming, referring to one-off code written for specific, non-recurring tasks, requiring no maintenance.
The article advocates for valuing personal projects for what they are, challenging the perfectionism and capitalism-driven norms in software development.

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