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Resolutions for programmers

matt.might.net

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Re: Resolutions for programmers

#51

Post by AznHisoka »

I definitely recommend learning about the humanities and other fields outside of technology. For most people, we already know enough about programming, and learning another language or framework is a marginal investment.

But delving into another totally different subject like healthcare, or insurance, or psychology opens you up to a whole set of new problems and ideas. Whereas just learning technology helps you with the implementation side of things, not the high-level problem solving.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#52

Post by crazygringo »

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 in my teens, and can touch-type fluently in it.

But I've found it doesn't provide a lot of speed improvement, and for programming (with all its punctuation) I still use QWERTY. Since programming isn't primarily normal English language text, Dvorak really doesn't help, plus you have to touch-type.

What I use Dvorak for is for proper, sit-down, full-screen writing. I'm not sure it's much faster, but it's far more comfortable to type. QWERTY always "gets in the way" physically a bit when I write, but Dvorak lets my hands basically disappear as a barrier between brain and page. It just makes writing feel effortless.

Also -- Dvorak is useful for English only. When I write in Portuguese, it's not nearly as useful.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#53

Post by AznHisoka »

tomjen3 wrote: post #7
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.

What is it that makes people assuming exercise -> running? It has all the unpleasant effects of exercise + it destroys your knees and you still don't have a sixpack.

I agree... to each his own, but I find running very boring. If you're into the Paleo movement, it's recommended you focus more on slow movement such as walking, hiking, biking as well as full body exercises: squats, pushups, etc. Running for prolonged periods of time regularly can do our bodies more harm, especially if we're unfit in the 1st place. So it's just not a sustainable form of exercise. Better find an activity that's less stressful and more fun.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#54

Post by Splines »

tomjen3 wrote: post #7
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.

What is it that makes people assuming exercise -> running? It has all the unpleasant effects of exercise + it destroys your knees and you still don't have a sixpack.

I'm not a runner, but I do enjoy a brief walk when I'm stuck on something, feel uninspired or just feel like my brain is slogging. The break away from the screen is really welcome.

At the moment I usually walk up, across and down a few floors in my building.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#55

Post by scelerat »

tomjen3 wrote: post #7
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.

What is it that makes people assuming exercise -> running? It has all the unpleasant effects of exercise + it destroys your knees and you still don't have a sixpack.

> it destroys your knees

This is a myth.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/phys-ed-can-running...

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#56

Post by stevejalim »

beagle3 wrote: post #19
tomjen3 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is it that makes people assuming exercise -> running? It has all the unpleasant effects of exercise + it destroys your knees and you still don't have a sixpack.

> It has all the unpleasant effects of exercise That's subjective; I like running outside. It lets me clear my mind like no other form of exercise. (I hate running int he gym, though) > it destroys your knees Only if you do it wrong. Unfortunately, 99.9% of the people do it wrong. I had started to develop some knee pains (only while running) after a healed knee injury. And then I discovered the Vibram Five Fingers, a…

+1 for the Vibram suggestion. I had a similar experience, and running barefoot-style is a world away from hammering along pavements

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#57

Post by AlexandrB »

mhartl wrote: post #41

I have a couple of contrary suggestions with respect to health. 1. Don't follow the conventional wisdom on RSI I struggled with RSI for years, and did all the usual things (warmups, exercises, braces, a Kinesis with modified key layout, etc.) Then, in early 2010, I read (at Aaron Iba's suggestion) The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno. Within a couple of days, I saw remarkable improvement; within a month, I was sym…

> The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno

The central claim of this book (from reading Amazon reviews) seems to be that chronic pain may be caused by mental/emotional distress. To me, this seems like a remarkable claim, and I'm super-skeptical without some kind of evidence.

Out of curiosity, does the author offer any such evidence in the book? Are there other books on the topic?

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#58

Post by Groxx »

hmottestad wrote: post #45
Groxx wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to have wrist pain after particularly-long coding bouts. Then I decided to type like you play piano - hands up, wrists straight, move arms rather than wrists to punch keys in other locations. No pain again. Ever. Only later did I find out that it's the recommended wrist posture. I still cringe a bit when I see people buying keyboards with wrist-rests (and using them), especially "ergonomic" ones - why improve…

hmm..I just tried this and I felt that my wrist were nice and relaxed, but my shoulders were not. Maybe it's just because I'm using a laptop.

You might be sitting too low, and holding your arms up with your shoulders rather than at your elbows. Keeping your shoulders back seems to help too, another of those things that everyone should be doing but few (myself included, the vast majority of the time) actually do.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#59

Post by Groxx »

mahyarm wrote: post #49
Groxx wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to have wrist pain after particularly-long coding bouts. Then I decided to type like you play piano - hands up, wrists straight, move arms rather than wrists to punch keys in other locations. No pain again. Ever. Only later did I find out that it's the recommended wrist posture. I still cringe a bit when I see people buying keyboards with wrist-rests (and using them), especially "ergonomic" ones - why improve…

Whenever I try that position, I quickly feel muscle fatigue in my arms from having them suspended in the air for an extended period of time. I think that is why most people don't type in that position mostly. I might be doing it wrong somehow, but how do you deal with arm fatigue?

A good part of it might be that my upper-arms are essentially straight down, so it's just biceps. Holding your arms out / forward will tire you out, and it's pretty easy to do that in a lot of desks / setups, especially if they're too high. That, and I tend to move around and/or stop and think a lot. In part because I should, in part because otherwise I get stiff. That tendency to not sit still for long has helped in a lot of other ways too, though it makes me hate long drives :|

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#60

Post by MichaelGG »

AlexandrB wrote: post #57
mhartl wrote: post #41

I have a couple of contrary suggestions with respect to health. 1. Don't follow the conventional wisdom on RSI I struggled with RSI for years, and did all the usual things (warmups, exercises, braces, a Kinesis with modified key layout, etc.) Then, in early 2010, I read (at Aaron Iba's suggestion) The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno. Within a couple of days, I saw remarkable improvement; within a month, I was sym…

> The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno The central claim of this book (from reading Amazon reviews) seems to be that chronic pain may be caused by mental/emotional distress. To me, this seems like a remarkable claim, and I'm super-skeptical without some kind of evidence. Out of curiosity, does the author offer any such evidence in the book? Are there other books on the topic?

Exactly. I was so desperate, I would have tried anything. But, I could not finish The Mindbody Prescription. General non-scientific fluff, and a lot of complaining about Freud not being taken seriously these days. No real evidence, although I only got through a few chapters.

However, despite me thinking the book was rubbish and tossing it shortly, my RSI problems disappeared. I guess the suggestion that pain wasn't actually physical in source was enough for the pain to stop.

I've gone from being dominated by RSI problems to not giving it much thought at all.

The placebo effect is real, sometimes even when the patient is aware that it's a placebo.

Note: I don't think the book is correct. There are plenty of phenomenon that we don't understand, and not having a real explanation is not reason to just make one up and assert its correctness without evidence.

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