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Resolutions for programmers

matt.might.net

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Re: Resolutions for programmers

#21

Post by dennisgorelik »

mattmight wrote: post #4
parfe wrote: post #2

Learn Dvorak - I'd warn against bothering with Dvorak. Huge time sink with dubious claims of speed improvements. While a mythical programmer may exist who feels his raw typing speed limits his productivity, I never met that unicorn. While learning you have an increased error rate, run into incompatibility with other programmers and programs (emacs or vim... good luck) and end up needing to defend something no one act…

I learned Dvorak to help with RSI. It worked. I'm fast at Dvorak after 4 years (90 wpm), but not as fast as I was with Qwerty (120 wpm). Dvorak has a pleasant "rolling" finger feel and my wrists never ache, so I've kept it. What fascinated me about learning Dvorak was that I felt like a stroke patient. Suddenly, I could not do something I had been able to do for years. It made me consider the cost of a keystroke. Gre…

Have you tried using ergonomic keyboard to help with RSI?

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#22

Post by silentbicycle »

Jtsummers wrote: post #20
silentbicycle wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no problem using Dvorak with Emacs - in fact, it spreads out a lot of keyboard shortcuts that are otherwise scrunched down it the bottom-left corner. (I can use vim fine with Dvorak, too, but I mostly use Emacs - I'll leave it at that.) And: it's not about typing speed, it's about typing comfort .

I was going to say this. Emacs + Dvorak is very comfortable to use. Vi(m) isn't bad either, but the directions (hjkl) are spread out which used to (and still does as it's not my everyday editor) cause me some difficulty. A particularly nice thing (for me) with Dvorak and Vim is that the `:` is in the lower left, right next to the shift key. I find many sequences easier to type.

About ":", agreed.

The new positions for hjkl actually feel more natural to me (jk are adjacent, on Qwerty's "cv" keys, and hl fit a pointer/pinky right hand rocking motion), but that's a matter of taste I guess. Either way: not a big deal.

In 5-6 years of typing Dvorak, the only thing I've never adjusted to is the non-keypad diagonal movement keys for nethack. I used the numeric keypad with Qwerty too, though.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#23

Post by candre717 »

systemizer wrote: post #18
candre717 wrote: post #15

Tips for completing resolutions, such as these 12: a. Have a plan with dates, milestones and accountability mechanisms b. Start small (Instead of one month using a different OS, how about day and go from there) c. Make it meaningful, Know why you're making a Committment, Be Selective (Have an intrinsic motivation to make a change in your everyday life) d. Stay the course (If you get off track, get back on) edit: form…

If you're in a startup that is up for trying new things, I think having a group of developers working together on these resolutions would be a great idea. Let them take 5-10% of their time during the day to work towards these resolutions. Happy developers == healthy developers == productive developers. Plus, working together with other people always gives you motivation to complete tasks, whether it be working out at…

Systemizer, why do you think that is that working with others helps us achieve our goals?

I have generally believed that, too. But, on second thought, wouldn't having more people complicate planning thus thwarting progress?

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#24

Post by Periodic »

parfe wrote: post #2

Learn Dvorak - I'd warn against bothering with Dvorak. Huge time sink with dubious claims of speed improvements. While a mythical programmer may exist who feels his raw typing speed limits his productivity, I never met that unicorn. While learning you have an increased error rate, run into incompatibility with other programmers and programs (emacs or vim... good luck) and end up needing to defend something no one act…

I'd go as far as to say that typing speed has never really been the rate-limiting factor in programming. That is exactly why Dvorak is easier to switch to for programmers than some other professions. We have the luxury of a profession where even a significant inefficiency in typing isn't a real hinderance.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#25

Post by elviejo »

parfe wrote: post #2

Learn Dvorak - I'd warn against bothering with Dvorak. Huge time sink with dubious claims of speed improvements. While a mythical programmer may exist who feels his raw typing speed limits his productivity, I never met that unicorn. While learning you have an increased error rate, run into incompatibility with other programmers and programs (emacs or vim... good luck) and end up needing to defend something no one act…

I'm an emacs + dvorak user too.

It all started when I saw three colleagues get surgery for Carpal Tunnel. And I started to develop similar pains in my hands and wrist, so after googling and reading a lot I decided to try dvorak. The change was really hard 2 or 3 months but now I can say it is totally worth it my hands and wrist have never hurted me again.

As developers we have very few health risks associated with our profession. We won't get hit by a rock as in construction or rolled over by a car in repair shop. But we still need to be vigilant of:

Obesity Stress RSI Back problems

If we want to keep developing software and walking by the time we are 50 or 65. So we should take preventive measurements. Dvorak is one of those.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#26

Post by enimodas »

parfe wrote: post #2

Learn Dvorak - I'd warn against bothering with Dvorak. Huge time sink with dubious claims of speed improvements. While a mythical programmer may exist who feels his raw typing speed limits his productivity, I never met that unicorn. While learning you have an increased error rate, run into incompatibility with other programmers and programs (emacs or vim... good luck) and end up needing to defend something no one act…

And if you still want to learn an alternative keyboard layout, I recommend colemak. It's more modern, and has some additional upsides [over dvorak]:

-keeps ctrl-zxcaw at the same place

-claims to be easier to learn if you're already fluent in qwerty

perhaps more, here's their site: http://colemak.com/

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#27

Post by jra101 »

maeon3 wrote: post #3

Programmers stuck inside who need fitness ideas get out and meet people. Go to meetup.com, type in your area and type in running, health and fitness. Find a running club where you meet up somewhere and run around a loop, trail, or city area. I found that extremely rewarding. It is a filter to screen out the fraggles from the doozers.

Another sport I would highly recommend is rock climbing. Most cities have an indoor climbing gym and on the whole I've found other climbers to be very friendly and helpful to people just getting started.

There is also this whole puzzle solving aspect to rock climbing that I was unaware of before I started climbing. You can mostly brute force your way through a route if you are strong enough but there is always a more efficient way to do it that uses a fraction of the energy. Figuring out the right way to do a route is very satisfying to my inner nerd.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#28

Post by rmc »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #21
mattmight wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned Dvorak to help with RSI. It worked. I'm fast at Dvorak after 4 years (90 wpm), but not as fast as I was with Qwerty (120 wpm). Dvorak has a pleasant "rolling" finger feel and my wrists never ache, so I've kept it. What fascinated me about learning Dvorak was that I felt like a stroke patient. Suddenly, I could not do something I had been able to do for years. It made me consider the cost of a keystroke. Gre…

Have you tried using ergonomic keyboard to help with RSI?

I got a bount of RSI, and switched to a egonomic keyboard (Microsoft Natural 4000), and it helped immensly.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#29

Post by rmc »

ArbitraryLimits wrote: post #16
mattmight wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned Dvorak to help with RSI. It worked. I'm fast at Dvorak after 4 years (90 wpm), but not as fast as I was with Qwerty (120 wpm). Dvorak has a pleasant "rolling" finger feel and my wrists never ache, so I've kept it. What fascinated me about learning Dvorak was that I felt like a stroke patient. Suddenly, I could not do something I had been able to do for years. It made me consider the cost of a keystroke. Gre…

I know what you mean about the stroke patient thing. I had (still have, actually) RSI-ish problems in my right wrist but not my left, so I started mousing with my left hand and it felt exactly the same. Years later, my day-to-day productivity has fully recovered, but I still can't play mouse-intensive games like Minesweeper without getting confused and clicking the air with my right hand when I meant to use my left.

I switched from right handed mouse to left handed mouse and after about 2 days I was able to use the mouse normally, and am still pretty good at it.
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