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Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

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Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

#291

Post by CharlieDigital »

cyrialize wrote: post #281
CharlieDigital wrote: post #95

> I have come to understand that there are two kinds of people, those who do things only if it helps them achieve a goal, and those who do things just because. I think in this age of vibe coding where anyone can code anything, the discriminating factor between two developers, at a technical level, just comes down to "good taste" (lots of other more important factors, too, like a good human to work with). And like the…

I absolutely agree. If you look at my github, you might think I don't program all that much. If you look at my ~/Code folder on my PC, you might think I program too much. Tinkering with fun little projects has made me a better programmer and understand my language (Ruby) much better.

I put many of these into GH anyways because who knows when someone else might find it useful.

https://github.com/CharlieDigital?tab=repositories

Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

#292

Post by adastrapa »

sowbug wrote: post #116

In my day, we'd say that as kids we'd take apart all our toys to see how they worked. We didn't necessarily call the end goal "taste"; it was to understand how things work, and to learn which results require which trade-offs.

agreed, tinkering in my experience is either understanding how something works, or fixing something that is broken, or, building something new entirely (and in my mind all of these are hardware based) and usually involves disassembling things into their constituent components, whether or not you're supposed to. I also don't think tinkering is required for taste, I think being exposed to things, exploring things you're interested in, and questioning things is how you develop taste, which is also highly subjective.

Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

#293

Post by carlosjobim »

ehnto wrote: post #203
Brian_K_White wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never enjoyed shitty coffee. I never enjoyed shitty chocolate or chocolate flavored things like cakes. Until I was 30-something I thought I just didn't like coffee or chocolate. Then one day I had actually proper coffee, and I discovered that good coffee isn't just some imperceptably theoretically better version of regular coffee that snobs are basically just faking being sophisticated for show. They are two entire…

Are you from the US by chance? I only ask because specifically for chocolate and coffee, I would consider the US baseline to be exceedingly average, even terrible. Even "okay" chocolate and coffee from other countries better known for food will blow it out of the water. The US does do excellent coffee, and excellent chocolate, but you have to seek it out. In a country like Italy or Australia the default, okay stuff i…

The entire world has awful chocolate, except for Europe. And Europe doesn't even produce cocoa beans. It's ridiculous.

Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

#294

Post by Foobar8568 »

OJFord wrote: post #264
Foobar8568 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coffee in Europe is still a majority of cheap, overoasted blends. Nespresso is barely any better. Same for a majority of local roasters. And people expect this type of taste:(

There's an enormous difference between supermarket crap (or whatever it is that you think Nespresso is barely better than, because that would be the first thing I think of for crap coffee) and 'local roasters', however overly you think they're roasting. I get all mine from Pact, by no means particularly artisan or expensive, and yeah a light roast is not my favourite. But whole beans freshly roasted and ground makes…

These will give you an idea of beans we find in supermarket, several of these brands are considered as local roasters, I can even find Boreal in supermarket, which would be your typical "new wave coffee bar/beans" https://www.galaxus.ch/en/s7/producttype/coffee-beans-183

Given that, Switzerland is a bit special for this matter I believe, but I know that most people will be happy with Nespresso.

I rarely see anyone drinking instant coffee. On that subject, I rather drink some "expensive" instant coffee (yes I have seen single origin instant coffee) than Nespresso or Nescafé.

My point is drinking good coffee is a luxe.

Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

#295

Post by criddell »

jorvi wrote: post #201
stavros wrote: post #74

Decades ago, an old friend told me "I became a coffee expert, I learned everything there is to learn about beans, the ways to prepare them, the chemistry that goes into it, and now I can only enjoy a cup of coffee prepared by the most expensive machines from the most expensive beans. The shit part is that I enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed my shitty supermarket coffee back when I didn't know anything about coffee."…

Yeah, that's a horrible way to enjoy life. By your reasoning, you should subsist on protein blocks and watch paint dry for entertainment. By lowering the bar to the absolute lowest threshold, you'll classify everything as enjoyable. The pareto principle holds strong. Just put 20% of the effort in and you reap 80% of the results.

I get what they are trying to say. Looking for negatives is the problem.

When I was in college I got into beer. I was brewing at home and whenever I went out I was looking for something new and tasting it like I was a beer critic. It was great fun at first, but then the more refined my palate got, the less I found myself being able to find beer I enjoyed. Like if I went to a hockey game, I'd complain about the only choices being Bud and Bud light.

So I decided to look for positives rather than negatives and my enjoyment level went back up again. No matter where I am, I can find a beer that I enjoy. And that means when I'm in the bleachers on a sunny day watching a baseball game, a Bud Light and a hot dog might be absolutely perfect.

Coffee is the same for me. I was in Toronto this summer and went to The Library Specialty Coffee and had the best pour over I think I've ever had. The next morning I was up early and popped out for a Tim Horton's coffee and it was way different, but exactly what I wanted at that time.

IMHO, being a fan is a lot more fun than being a critic.

Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

#296

Post by z500 »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #268
ants_everywhere wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the American chocolate for high volume candy bars is very waxy and not very chocolatey. For example, compare the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to Trader Joe's peanut butter cups [0]. It may be that the Reese's ones used to use better chocolate or it may be that my tastes changed as I grew up. But I used to love them as kids and now they taste off. Similarly for Twix etc. [0] I'm sure other stores sell peanut but…

Most chocolate things, like random chocolate cookies or commercial cake etc, breakfast cereal, irritate the back of my throat in a mild way. Couple that with the foreground taste not being anything special, and it's just enough to make the whole experience just the wrong side of neutral. Not terrible just not good either. All stuff that's made in factories and needs to have shelf life, so I can only imagine it's any…

That would be the butyric acid.

Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

#298

Post by jes5199 »

joshdavham wrote: post #168
jes5199 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used vim for decades and the sensation is that I can hold the code in my hands and manipulate it directly. Other editors feel like I’m wearing thick gloves, can’t move correctly. but it’s like learning to play the piano, it only feels natural after years of practice nowadays I’m faster with Cursor so it doesn’t matter as much

So you use Cursor now? Do you at least still use vim motions there?

no, emulated vim motions annoy me because they’re always slightly wrong, especially for the interesting stuff like multi-line selections. Or, worse, I’ve got stuff in my muscle memory from the `surround.vim` plugin that isn’t emulated. Easier to just open vim in a terminal if I want to do surgery on a file.

Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

#299

Post by MisterTea »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #127
stavros wrote: post #74

Decades ago, an old friend told me "I became a coffee expert, I learned everything there is to learn about beans, the ways to prepare them, the chemistry that goes into it, and now I can only enjoy a cup of coffee prepared by the most expensive machines from the most expensive beans. The shit part is that I enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed my shitty supermarket coffee back when I didn't know anything about coffee."…

I never enjoyed shitty coffee. I never enjoyed shitty chocolate or chocolate flavored things like cakes. Until I was 30-something I thought I just didn't like coffee or chocolate. Then one day I had actually proper coffee, and I discovered that good coffee isn't just some imperceptably theoretically better version of regular coffee that snobs are basically just faking being sophisticated for show. They are two entire…

The point of coffee is caffeine. If coffee didn't have caffeine it would be some boring curiosity tucked away in specialty markets. Same with beer, wine, and spirits; it's the alcohol. This is why people still buy Folgers, Pabst, and Night Train: they get the job done for cheap.

Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste

#300

Post by iosjunkie »

stavros wrote: post #74

Decades ago, an old friend told me "I became a coffee expert, I learned everything there is to learn about beans, the ways to prepare them, the chemistry that goes into it, and now I can only enjoy a cup of coffee prepared by the most expensive machines from the most expensive beans. The shit part is that I enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed my shitty supermarket coffee back when I didn't know anything about coffee."…

tldr ignorance is bliss

No shade! I have found the exact same thing.

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