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Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

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Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#131

Post by x0x0 »

swalsh wrote: post #31

Learning Python! I've been a C#/Windows developer for years. I then switched to Ruby, which for some reason inevitably means you switch to a shiny mac, and then your work paradigm changes revolving around the command line. One day a quick task came up, and I decided to hack it out. The only library I could find was a python library, so that's what I used... and it was so quick to get something. 10 lines later my bori…

My breaking point came almost a decade ago, but it was a similar story. I tried ruby out of frustration, and in a single afternoon as a brand new ruby developer replaced a week's worth of date parsing code written in c++. Easy integrations of regex, a repl, nice text parsing, etc. I've never looked back. The only downside is the rest of the world discovered ruby and python so I can no longer just be a 10x developer by not using windows/c++/mfc.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#133

Post by disantlor »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #122

How about stopped doing? There was a weekend where I had spent close to 20 hours playing World of Warcraft to farm materials and reagents for the epic engineering mount. After I had finished it, and spent the requisite time showing it off in-game, I looked around and realized that all of thrill of lifelong learning and making things in the "real" world has been subsumed when all my spare time was consumed in a virtua…

hah I had the same experience with the same game and basically haven't played a video game again in like 6 years. Once they perfect VR though...

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#134

Post by raverbashing »

carlesfe wrote: post #44

Exercise, though others have said that. Personally, I'd say that the thing that changed my life for the best has been Not Giving Tech Support. When I was a teenager I was kinda miserable because some people abused me for tech support. You know, it's nice to give favors, but at some point you're fed up of reinstalling every computer in your block every 6 months. People stop you on the streets and the first thing they…

I think I prefer unclogging people's toilets than providing technical support to your average Windows user. Pay is probably better as well

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#135

Post by davelnewton »

antisthenes wrote: post #108
davelnewton wrote: post #101

Why are people listing random things they've done instead of what the moment was that led to whatever random thing is listed? Ugh. Edit I've asked a few people to describe their moments instead of just listing what the change was. YMMV, but for me, these are far far more interesting than random lists of things. I may have mis-interpreted the OP's intent, but it sure seems a lot more compelling when you know the catal…

My grandfather passed away. It inspired me to take more control of my life and to start enjoying things I was afraid of. I didn't realize I should have been using him as a a role model until he passed away, but when it happened, it was very powerful. It is also the first death of a relative I've had to deal with in my life.

That is a moment. Thanks for sharing.

Death often has that effect, for sure--it's painful, but can be inspirational at the same time.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#136

Post by elmigranto »

chollida1 wrote: post #126

3 things for me: 1) Meditation, I used to think it was something hippies did. I now think its worth 10 IQ points. I honestly can't recommend it enough. 2) Sleep, I'm getting close to 40 and the last 2 times I pulled all nighters I ended up deleting pretty much all the code I wrote from 11pm onward. 3) Occasional Fasts. I normally fast from 6pm until noon the next day but I now do one 3 day fast each month. I think th…

> Occasional Fasts

There was a white paper on /r/science about how decreasing amount of sugar one consumes, lowers chances of developing some kinds of cancer (can't find an exact link, something along the lines "less sugar starves cancer"). Pretty interesting, thanks s for sharing!

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#137

Post by davelnewton »

nailer wrote: post #110
davelnewton wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So... describe the moment.

Not OP, but for me it was purchasing a laptop where every single component had Open Source, in-mainline kernel modules, significantly losing out on performance, and then STILL compositing didn't work on an external monitor. That was 8 years ago, really enjoyed using Macs since. Now Apple quality is going down, and powershell is getting really good, slowly moving to Windows.

That's a moment I think a lot of us can relate to.

I love Linux/Linux-like OSes. I also like stuff working without having to tinker with it--not that I dislike tinkering (it's great fun) but time is more of a factor now than it used to be.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#138

Post by raverbashing »

kzisme wrote: post #71
cableshaft wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Python is so great for getting small tasks done in less than 30 lines of code that would take 5-10 times as much code in most other languages. I wish I had learned it earlier too. Still my favorite language to code without an IDE (C# is pretty great as long as you're in Visual Studio).

I wish visual studio wasn't a requirement sometimes for writing C# - although it makes make it a decent experience.

Well, it isn't. But you need to have autocomplete for a better experience.

There's Xamarin and other IDEs as well (I'm sure there's an Eclipse plugin but I wouldn't go there)

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#139

Post by smt88 »

kzisme wrote: post #45
smt88 wrote: post #3

Functional programming Sleeping 8 hours a night, even when behind on work

I've been struggling with the sleep as well.

Research sleep hygiene, for starters.

Set yourself a "no screens" curfew every night. After that time, don't touch anything with a screen (or anything else that causes stress and mental stimulation). I set mine about 2 hours before I go to sleep.

I use that time to clean, cook for the next day, read, and walk my dog. I often think about increasing it to 3 hours, since it boosts my quality of life so much.

Re: Ask HN: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment?

#140

Post by Tenoke »

chollida1 wrote: post #126

3 things for me: 1) Meditation, I used to think it was something hippies did. I now think its worth 10 IQ points. I honestly can't recommend it enough. 2) Sleep, I'm getting close to 40 and the last 2 times I pulled all nighters I ended up deleting pretty much all the code I wrote from 11pm onward. 3) Occasional Fasts. I normally fast from 6pm until noon the next day but I now do one 3 day fast each month. I think th…

>1) Meditation, I used to think it was something hippies did. I now think its worth 10 IQ points. I honestly can't recommend it enough.

I wish this was true && that there was well compiled evidence that could convince me that this is the case.

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