I’m not even going to sugarcoat it, I deleted my class project by accident.
My Simple Budget Tracker in C++… gone.
At first, it was just frustration. But instead of trying to recover it, I decided to rebuild the whole thing from scratch in one day.
And that changed everything.
The first time I built it, I was just trying to make it work.
This time, I actually understood what I was doing.
No copy/paste.
No guessing.
No “this works, don’t touch it.”
Just logic.
Rebuilding forced me to think through:
<ul>
<li>how I structured my data</li>
<li>how input flows through the program</li>
<li>where my original code was messy or unnecessary</li>
</ul>
What surprised me the most was how much cleaner the second version was. Less code, better flow, and way more confidence behind it.
Losing the project sucked.
Rebuilding it made me better.
I still have a long way to go with it, but if you want to check it out and provide me some thoughts I would be grateful for the feedback.
<a href="https://budgettracker.johnliter.blog/auth/login.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://budgettracker.johnliter.blog/auth/login.php</a>
Real question:
Have you ever rebuilt something from scratch and realized you didn’t actually understand it the first time?

John Liter

A developer accidentally deleted their C++ class project (a budget tracker) and chose to rebuild it from scratch in one day rather than recover it. The experience led to a cleaner, better-understood second version, with improved data structure, input flow, and code clarity. The post reflects on how rebuilding from memory forces genuine understanding over copy-paste coding.

I accidentally deleted my C++ project… so I rebuilt it in a day

Right now I’m working on a program that makes .txt files of what you write in the app it’s going well but while changing the file I managed to delete it I am planing on rebuilding it. Shit happens……

These experiences are amazing for learning to program better. They suck, yes. But I’m glad you are now a better programmer with a clearer understanding of your project. A big part of writing simple/elegant code is knowing when an architecture is not the best or when it could be improved.