Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Metaprogrammer

codersnotes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 164 posts

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#61

Post by splatcollision »

livarot wrote: post #39
sagischwarz wrote: post #31

This effect is observable not only in the programming community, but in many others. Best example would be photography, where people spend much more time discussing their equipment and the newest lenses instead of going out and actually take pictures. I had to experience this for myself when searching for new hobbies. With most of them, I spent most time with the meta, e.g., which fountain pen to use for my writing o…

Audiophiles - probably the most prominent example of them all.

"Listeningphiles" "Observingphiles" good point

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#62

Post by erelde »

tempodox wrote: post #41
w0utert wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to that, I fail to see the relation between people who like to talk about programming through whatever medium ('metaprogrammers') and people who like to have decent tools to work with. Literally every developer I have ever met wants to have a decent computer, multiple screens, fast internet, and access to the proper software tools required to work efficiently. It strikes me as an incredibly stupid argumen…

Maybe I'm not a decent programmer but I definitely don't want multiple screens. I would perceive such a set-up as unergonomic and creating too many distractions. Nothing against the rest, though.

That's your workflow. Some prefer two monitors. I prefer to have two computers and two screens instead of two monitors and one computer.

(double the keyboards)

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#63

Post by bloat »

berntb wrote: post #37
dasmoth wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a real, live, META key?

I don't think I've even seen that key since I was a student... "Das Keyboard" have that? Should order. (Just got the best feel I could find in the stores. I paid 70 Euros, maybe not cheap but fram from extreme. I only play a snob on internet. :-) )

The Happy Hacking Keyboard has a meta key. Not cheap though...

http://www.google.com/images?q=Happy+Hacking+Keyboard

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#64

Post by koder2016 »

LeonM wrote: post #54
sguav wrote: post #29

> Gotta have that 40" monitor, it's essential, can't work without it And I was thinking I ought to be content with my 27"

I used to be that guy that proclaimed I could not work if I did not have 2 monitors of at least 21 inches in size... But, 2 * 21" (FHD LCD) became 2 * 24" (FHD IPS), which I upgraded to 2 * 27 (Apple 2560 * 1440), which I now consider to replace by 2 * 42" (4K). Have I became 10x more productive by it? No. Can I work without them? Sure. Do I enjoy working on those huge screens? Hell yes! And since screens are not tha…

"...I spend 10+ hours a day in my office..." - I agree that there should be an upside to a statistically shorter lifespan.

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#65

Post by koder2016 »

Nursie wrote: post #56
V-2 wrote: post #34

"If they don't have the shiniest Apple MacBook then they can't work. Never mind that their job involves typing letters into a text file, something you could have done on CP/M back in '78" I don't want an Apple at all, but I do want a beefy machine because my job doesn't only involve typing text you see - for instance I also need to build the result of all that typing, and if it takes ages, guess what, the time I wast…

Building on your own desktop? That seems rather archaic. Well-connected and integrated access to a massive multicore build machine seems a little more modern. As time goes on (16 years as a dev now) I find myself a lot less concerned about this stuff.

I guess using some of my 8 logical cores for background static analysis is archaic now?

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#66

Post by caseymarquis »

tempodox wrote: post #41
w0utert wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to that, I fail to see the relation between people who like to talk about programming through whatever medium ('metaprogrammers') and people who like to have decent tools to work with. Literally every developer I have ever met wants to have a decent computer, multiple screens, fast internet, and access to the proper software tools required to work efficiently. It strikes me as an incredibly stupid argumen…

Maybe I'm not a decent programmer but I definitely don't want multiple screens. I would perceive such a set-up as unergonomic and creating too many distractions. Nothing against the rest, though.

Probably has more to do with preference and what you're working with. In Web programming having a debugger, the rendered page and your code all up is really nice. I actually have 3 monitors for this.

Doing other stuff you can have stackoverflow, your code, and a gui for version control.

Doesn't hurt to have the extra real estate for command lines, file explorers, email, a crm, remote support sessions, etc.

I think I need more monitors...

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#69

Post by draw_down »

Some people I've worked with switch between vim, emacs, Sublime and back again, for weeks at a clip, and can rattle off the finer points of each. To each their own, I suppose.

And those damn clacky keyboards of course. Not a real programmer if you don't have one of those.

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#70

Post by JustSomeNobody »

sagischwarz wrote: post #31

This effect is observable not only in the programming community, but in many others. Best example would be photography, where people spend much more time discussing their equipment and the newest lenses instead of going out and actually take pictures. I had to experience this for myself when searching for new hobbies. With most of them, I spent most time with the meta, e.g., which fountain pen to use for my writing o…

I've often said it like this: "There are those who want to be something (a writer) and those who want to have been something." They want to be able to look back and say they were something but sure didn't want to put in the time to actually do it.
Post reply on HN