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Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

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Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#81

Post by curioussavage »

0x445442 wrote: post #69
fao_ wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. Command input component similar to browser omni bars or Emacs M-X interface which parses command input and delegates to service. You might find what you're looking for in dmenu: https://tools.suckless.org/dmenu/

Yeah, so dmenu might potentially cover the command input bit but AFAIK it's really just like Enso, QuickSilver, Launchy etc. What I'm thinking of doesn't really index executables per say but allows for the registration of commands. What I'm thinking of is limited in scope to "commands" that are registered with the component. Maybe dmenu can be bent to this use case; thanks for the link.

I found a really cool project that makes a sublime style command menu for any gtk app https://github.com/p-e-w/plotinus. Still need to try it but it sounds awesome

Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#82

Post by tomsmeding »

mbrock wrote: post #13
tomsmeding wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I find that language mode regexps so often get confused that they're more annoying than convenient. For what language modes do you have that experience? I haven't used emacs myself much, but in other editors, most syntax highlighting descriptions are pretty good. The only exception to this rule is highlighting Haskell, which is apparently a monstrous challenge that no-one can even do remotely well.

It's really, really hard to make a completely correct mode based on regexes—just consider the challenge of writing a regex that correctly highlights the syntax of regex itself, which you need for JavaScript, Ruby, and lots of other languages. Heredocs in shell, metaprogramming tricks in Ruby, reader extensions in Lisp, nested quotes, etc etc etc—I might be weird, but I feel like I run into these edge cases a lot, whe…

I completely agree that highlighting code with regexps is almost useless, but if emacs is not capable of doing more than that (or its language modes usually do not do more than that), I think that emacs is at fault here, not syntax highlighting.

In sublime text, for example, the syntax definitions are basically stack machines (if I'm not mistaken), and can therefore parse any context-free grammar. This is clearly powerful enough to handle all the edge cases you mention.

Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#83

Post by mbrock »

tomsmeding wrote: post #82
mbrock wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really, really hard to make a completely correct mode based on regexes—just consider the challenge of writing a regex that correctly highlights the syntax of regex itself, which you need for JavaScript, Ruby, and lots of other languages. Heredocs in shell, metaprogramming tricks in Ruby, reader extensions in Lisp, nested quotes, etc etc etc—I might be weird, but I feel like I run into these edge cases a lot, whe…

I completely agree that highlighting code with regexps is almost useless, but if emacs is not capable of doing more than that (or its language modes usually do not do more than that), I think that emacs is at fault here, not syntax highlighting. In sublime text, for example, the syntax definitions are basically stack machines (if I'm not mistaken), and can therefore parse any context-free grammar. This is clearly pow…

Well, that's cool.

Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#84

Post by KajMagnus »

b0rsuk wrote: post #65

I like various discussion forums and talking to people online (often on IRC - when I'm programming). I like exchange of ideas, even arguing - as long as it remains respectful. I consider message boards / forums bloated and clunky. I miss usenet and threaded discussion. Disqus technically does that, but it takes what, 20 seconds to load ? And after recent acquisition it's only going to get worse. I think threaded disc…

Maybe Talkyard is a bit different? It's new forum software, threaded, inspired by Hacker News: https://www.talkyard.io. (I'm developing it)

With improvements over HN: https://www.talkyard.io/-32/how-hacker-news-can-be-improved-...

Hmm I think threaded discussions, make the more sense, the more people join the discussion. If 999 people talk about something, they're going to split up into smaller groups, each group talking about a sub topic = thread. And everything laid out in a flat way = a huge mess. But if just 5 people talk about something — then they can stay focused on the same thing all of them. Flat = more ok.

Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#85

Post by flukus »

cellover wrote: post #15

i3wm has been a huge productivity boost for me as a development machine at home for the following reasons: - no distractions - minimalism, most navigation on the keyboard - easy to setup a startup script that preloads your default screens / workspaces / apps setup - easy to map your workspaces in your mind From machine boot to coding: 30 seconds. https://twitter.com/Phonosheet/status/952179820447911936

I finally got around to trying i3 a few weeks ago and I wish I'd done it a lot sooner. I installed it on my fairly crap dell laptop that can barely run windows 10 (windows in unusable on spinning disks) and it flies, everything is instant, alt+enter and the new terminal is just there, alt+d and the searchable program menu appears (windows could take several seconds to a minute), alt+3 and I'm on different virtual screen. The only time I find myself waiting for anything at all is a new browser window or the funky lock screen installed but I'm pretty sure both of those are solvable.

The interface is fantastic, it's the first WM I've used (apart from maybe tmux or vim) that actually manages my windows well. In hindsight the desktop metaphor is such and obviously dead end that we've wasted for too much time on. It will take some retraining, but even things like tabs in the web browser no longer feel necessary, the WM can handle this and give a consistent global interface. MS is kind of heading in this direction too: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/28/16709190/microsoft-windo... .

I started off with the manjaro distro (https://manjaro.org/category/community-editions/i3/), it's got a fair bit of bling that you won't get by default elsewhere but the performance is great.

Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#86

Post by 0x445442 »

curioussavage wrote: post #81
0x445442 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, so dmenu might potentially cover the command input bit but AFAIK it's really just like Enso, QuickSilver, Launchy etc. What I'm thinking of doesn't really index executables per say but allows for the registration of commands. What I'm thinking of is limited in scope to "commands" that are registered with the component. Maybe dmenu can be bent to this use case; thanks for the link.

I found a really cool project that makes a sublime style command menu for any gtk app https://github.com/p-e-w/plotinus . Still need to try it but it sounds awesome

That's cool... It seems KDE's KRunner is pretty extendable as well. (https://techbase.kde.org/Development/Tutorials/Plasma4/Abstr...)

Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#87

Post by romwell »

munificent wrote: post #39

Does anyone else remember the WinAmp era of music software? There was a time when basically every app for playing music on your computer lived inside a little floating window that you carried with you to all of the other apps you were using at the time. That really did help me think of my music player as a tool and not a place. Though the little scrolling text could be distracting sometimes, I do occasionally find my…

Well, I've never had a single reason for abandoning WinAmp for playing music that lives on my hard drive - so yes, I do remember.

WinAmp is a tool, and it still works. If you aren't using it, perhaps you actually want a place instead of a tool?

Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#88

Post by zeckalpha »

0x445442 wrote: post #69
fao_ wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. Command input component similar to browser omni bars or Emacs M-X interface which parses command input and delegates to service. You might find what you're looking for in dmenu: https://tools.suckless.org/dmenu/

Yeah, so dmenu might potentially cover the command input bit but AFAIK it's really just like Enso, QuickSilver, Launchy etc. What I'm thinking of doesn't really index executables per say but allows for the registration of commands. What I'm thinking of is limited in scope to "commands" that are registered with the component. Maybe dmenu can be bent to this use case; thanks for the link.

What are executables on your PATH but registered commands?

Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#89

Post by PascLeRasc »

b0rsuk wrote: post #59
swozey wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm saving for an E-ink device, it's too bead the technology stagnated because of tablets and smartphones. While I'm one who thinks there's always room for improvement, I've owned about 5-6 various Kindles and if you're interested in having hundreds of books on one portable device you should just grab one. I've got the 1st (I believe) Paperwhite and it's all I need. I've looked at the newer Paperwhite and the Oasis…

It's more matter of lack of money than "waiting for the right one". I would prefer a colorful screen so I can comfortably read programming books too, but there are workarounds, like typeface trickery described in the article. Also, I would prefer a device that isn't from Amazon. They're probably all "made in China" anyway so any of them can be bugged, I guess...

Learn a little about electrical engineering and you can take off your tinfoil hat about everything being "bugged"

Re: Digital Minimalism for the Working Hacker

#90

Post by RealityVoid »

KajMagnus wrote: post #84
b0rsuk wrote: post #65

I like various discussion forums and talking to people online (often on IRC - when I'm programming). I like exchange of ideas, even arguing - as long as it remains respectful. I consider message boards / forums bloated and clunky. I miss usenet and threaded discussion. Disqus technically does that, but it takes what, 20 seconds to load ? And after recent acquisition it's only going to get worse. I think threaded disc…

Maybe Talkyard is a bit different? It's new forum software, threaded, inspired by Hacker News: https://www.talkyard.io . (I'm developing it) With improvements over HN: https://www.talkyard.io/-32/how-hacker-news-can-be-improved-... Hmm I think threaded discussions, make the more sense, the more people join the discussion. If 999 people talk about something, they're going to split up into smaller groups, each group ta…

I think that is a pretty cool project there. I like it but I don't know, do you get many people using it? I think there are quite a bit of forum platforms out there.
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