Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#401

Post by detaro » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:05 PM UTC

scubbo wrote: post #106

d0m wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another contrarian opinion, but as much as configuring and tweaking conf files are fun, it's still faster in the long run to be highly efficient on a new system as fast as possible. It's also convenient to use standard tools to be effective on someone's else computer. For instance, it's much better if you can be productive by changing 2-3 keys in macOS settings instead of being forced to use a fancy keyboard layout a…

Respectfully, I've never understood this viewpoint. If the configuration options are importable from some external repository (as the vast majority of dotfiles are), "as fast as possible" simply becomes "how quickly can I install git (or my VCS of choice) and pull down my configuration options?" For keyboards and other physical hardware, sure, you can't remap on the fly. But I'd wager the the vast majority of product…

As always, it depends on what you do. On your machines, sure. On customer machines, no, quickly installing a VCS and pulling some repository is often not an option.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#402

Post by insomniacity » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:08 PM UTC

d0m wrote: post #11

Contrarian opinion, but often doing things manually rather than automated will save you time. Writing/debugging a script is fun, but more often than not it would have been faster to do things the dumb way. If a task is risky or repetitive daily, then sure, but often developers confuse "writing a script because too lazy to manually do the work" vs "get the task done as fast as possible".

Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1205/

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#403

Post by Scarblac » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:18 PM UTC

Often you want to fix something quickly but run into a stupid problem -- you don't have the right data locally, or the wrong version of something, or an unrelated thing is broken, or something is undocumented and the person who knows isn't immediately available.

Thus you feel deflated, the energy is gone, and finally you move to something else.

Instead, fix that stupid thing, once and for all. Get to the bottom of it, automate all the future times it would happen again, don't just hit it but hit it out of the park.

Not always, because you won't do anything else, but often.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#404

Post by Scarblac » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:21 PM UTC

Joeri wrote: post #360

The things I've benefited from most are not tools but practices. - Question the work Always be questioning whether the thing you're doing really needs to be done. Is there a way to not do it? Is there a way to do something better instead? - Park downhill Before putting a project or incomplete task away, make notes of what the next thing was that you were going to work on. This lets you bypass that 10 minute orientati…

Also: don't question the work.

Sometimes it's already a compromise between too many people who questioned it, and nobody wants to discuss it any more. Sometimes the questioning is more work than actually doing it. Sometimes you get a reputation of only being in the way.

Make sure the work has been questioned thoroughly, but that doesn't necessarily mean by you.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#405

Post by zests » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:21 PM UTC

jikciraz wrote: post #376

Joeri wrote: post #360

The things I've benefited from most are not tools but practices. - Question the work Always be questioning whether the thing you're doing really needs to be done. Is there a way to not do it? Is there a way to do something better instead? - Park downhill Before putting a project or incomplete task away, make notes of what the next thing was that you were going to work on. This lets you bypass that 10 minute orientati…

Regarding the todo list, I find that having a text-format todo list for the current day can provide structure and sense of accomplishment (especially at the end of the day). After completing a task I would put a checkmark emoji in front of it. Such a list can also bring me back on track after a lunch or a mentally-demanding task. If I know that I won't be able to do a certain task today, I put it in advance for the n…

This is the use case for why I started using org mode.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#406

Post by Aachen » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:30 PM UTC

temporallobe wrote: post #257

1. Learn a good plain text editor really well. Learn the shortcuts. Learn how to navigate text (skipping words, end/home, etc.) 2. Start using REPLs - saves a huge amount of time when trying to figure out small quips of logic. REPLs are extremely useful whether you’re an artist expert or a beginner. 3. Learn how to setup and use debugging tools. These are often a PIA to get properly working, but you’ll thank yourself…

The four line documentation might help format long posts: https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#407

Post by vharish » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:31 PM UTC

If you are using vim, you should definitely try using cvim or similar for chrome. You’ll most probably stop using mouse when in browser.

If it’s about tools, I would suggest trying out i3 and emacs. I’ve used vim+tmux for a couple of years. Slowly I’ve migrated to Emacs. Somehow, I like it a little more than vim. I still heavily use tmux.

For tmux, having a startup script with pre configured windows and panes can be helpful as well.

Having a dual monitor setup can also be very productive.

I personally try to avoid using mouse. Most of my hacks are targeted to achieve this.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#408

Post by Aachen » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:36 PM UTC

sriram_malhar wrote: post #237

I keep two diaries, both MS Word documents. In one, I write summaries of what I read about -- papers, blog posts, books, and articles that interest me, along with the google search term, authors, URL, quotable quotes etc. In the other, I put together a free-form running log of projects I am working on, along with feature ideas, benchmark results (and the parameters used to get it),etc. Why MS Word, you ask? I am ordi…

Any reason you emphasize MS Word instead of a word processor in general? The "Why MS Word" doesn't mention anything specific to MS I think.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#409

Post by gandutraveler » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:37 PM UTC

Don't over-optimize. I work for a large tech company and I see many developers make the mistake to over design/architect solutions prematurely, setup meetings with colleagues to discuss how the solution could be leveraged by others etc.. But 80% of the work that we do is pretty straightforward and simple Google search will give you the answers. So just timebox few hours and come up with a hacky solution(proof of concept) that works. More often than not this solution is pretty close to what you want and you've not wasted companies time.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

#410

Post by davidbanham » Sat, May 09, 2020, 12:39 PM UTC

xeroalt wrote: post #125

growlist wrote: post #37

Learn to touch-type properly. I'm not a shit hot typist or anything, but it does make hours on a keyboard more pleasant. And (hate me) I do judge other devs on it. If someone can't be bothered to invest a few tens of hours on such a key productivity enhancement then what does that say?

What's the value add of touch typing? I tried it for a bit, but it seemed like a waste. I can consistently do ~90-100 WPM on https://www.livechat.com/typing-speed-test/#/ with very few mistakes just typing with 3 fingers on my left hand and 2 on my right. Feels like input speed is one of the least important parts of coding. Did one test for this comment. https://imgur.com/a/GISaU6n

Good technique helps prevent injury. Rheumatoid arthritis and carpal tunnel are no fun. Adding “it’s going to hurt” to the list of reasons not to sit down and knock out that feature really isn’t helpful to your productivity.

I ended up tracing my pain to lazy technique in my right hand. Sorted that out and I’ve been pain free for years. It was _no fun _ before I figured it out.