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The Metaprogrammer

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Re: The Metaprogrammer

#111

Post by protomyth »

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…

>> "To insult a new hire by providing only a single 4:3 monitor? I can't work like this."

> I can work like this, but I prefer two monitors. How much does a monitor cost anyway? Having two displays is much more convenient.

I now prefer a LG 21:9 34". They are fairly cheap, have a good quality screen for long viewing, and the extra width is a real help. I wouldn't buy the thunderbolt version as it really doesn't do the thunderbolt properly.

I think any programmer or manager bitching about developers chairs or screens is a sadist and doesn't really get we have to live with this stuff and it affects our health.

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#112

Post by dasmoth »

gbog wrote: post #101
Nursie wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Building, editing, testing, all of that is better done remotely with ssh and gnu screen or similar.

Why?

Not all software is designed to run on servers.

In some cases, building locally will give a quicker response cycle.

Editing locally is almost always a better user experience. Especially if your servers aren't in the same building.

And plenty of other reasons (travel, flexibility, ...)

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#113

Post by wtbob »

> I've seen artists who demand the luxurious corner office, with the luxurious view, and then put paper over the windows to stop the light coming in. I've seen companies buy MacBook laptops for every employee, even though they're never taken away from the desks.

Well, the artist probably has a Mac laptop, with the horrible glossy screen, which basically requires that there be no light in the room …

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#114

Post by Avshalom »

ciroduran wrote: post #74

Whatever happened to "hardware is cheap, programmers are expensive"? https://blog.codinghorror.com/hardware-is-cheap-programmers-...

Depending on how you consider that phrase:

A) victim of it's own success. Computing hardware is cheap, 10k desks + masseuses + on site food service + all the other perks that are constantly individually compared against "well it's only % of your programmers salary" all started adding up

B) phones made people remember that the user's hardware matters more than the developers build farm.

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#115

Post by falcolas »

gbog wrote: post #101
Nursie wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Building, editing, testing, all of that is better done remotely with ssh and gnu screen or similar.

I personally disagree. That requires that you use vim or emacs, which is not feasable (or even desirable) for many programmers. It also requires a stable and low latency network connection; something which is not always available.

Anecdotally, I had to work this way once for an employer. It worked rather well, but our "development" machines were on-premises, and when they went down, everybody was down. I was also extremely limited in what I could download and run, since the machine was shared with other developers. Not very productive.

Though, I did get really good with Vim, so I am thankful for that.

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#116

Post by pjc50 »

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…

The single 4:3 monitor is rather like the famous Van Halen rider about "no brown M&Ms": it's an opportunity to red-flag the employer.

Monitors are cheap, at most one or two developer-days of salary. If you can't get a monitor, what happens when you need to buy some more specific piece of equipment?

A previous employer had an extremely liberal policy on letting us just buy anything that cost Previously I've had to do a PO for a box of M5 bolts. That's the morale-draining opposite, especially if you have to sit around wasting several orders of magnitude more than the cost for the paperwork to be done.

(Aerospace people excepted where it's actually required)

Oh, and it is too noisy to concentrate in this open plan office without headphones.

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#118

Post by wtbob »

gbog wrote: post #101
Nursie wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Building, editing, testing, all of that is better done remotely with ssh and gnu screen or similar.

> Building, editing, testing, all of that is better done remotely with ssh and gnu screen or similar.

Why? I have a full command line suite running on my laptop, because I'm running Linux. Why would I log in elsewhere, when I can run stuff locally?

Re: The Metaprogrammer

#119

Post by pjc50 »

gbog wrote: post #101
Nursie wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Building, editing, testing, all of that is better done remotely with ssh and gnu screen or similar.

Depends what you're building. Most of my previous embedded work was done on my desk due to needing the proprietary tools to link to the device.
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