This is one example of one, yes! IMO creating a parser is a non-trivial project, but the nice thing about it is that you don't necessarily have to build a feature-complete parser to derive any...
...I'm thinking of doing a converter of markdown to HTML to generate a website and host on github as my portfolio.
Is this what a static site generator is
This is one example of one, yes! IMO creating a parser is a non-trivial project, but the nice thing about it is that you don't necessarily have to build a feature-complete parser to derive any value from the exercise. Even a parser with support for a small subset of Markdown syntax would be a really great project.
You might end up with a royal mess of a solution, but if it works, you've accomplished your goal. It doesn't have to be perfect, clean code first time around :) Re-writing and refactoring is something that happens all the time. Turns out you tend to have a lot more expertise and opinions about a given problem after you've solved it.
If you're an ABSOLUTE beginner, it might be biting off a lot, but if you are motivated, I think you could do it. Just be sure to break the problem down into more manageable chunks and solve one part a time :)
This is one example of one, yes! IMO creating a parser is a non-trivial project, but the nice thing about it is that you don't necessarily have to build a feature-complete parser to derive any value from the exercise. Even a parser with support for a small subset of Markdown syntax would be a really great project.
You might end up with a royal mess of a solution, but if it works, you've accomplished your goal. It doesn't have to be perfect, clean code first time around :) Re-writing and refactoring is something that happens all the time. Turns out you tend to have a lot more expertise and opinions about a given problem after you've solved it.
If you're an ABSOLUTE beginner, it might be biting off a lot, but if you are motivated, I think you could do it. Just be sure to break the problem down into more manageable chunks and solve one part a time :)