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I program on the subway

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Re: I program on the subway

#71

Post by ms-fellag »

schoen wrote: post #44
komali2 wrote: post #22

> they would have to do it at a station, where they could immediately get off the train. I think, though, that this would be risky, given that subway stops generally have a lot of people getting on/off the train in the first place. I've seen a phone jacking in this exact scenario and nobody moved to stop the guy running. Nobody on the train can help cause the doors have closed, and nobody on the platform has any idea…

I wonder what you could usefully do with a Kensington lock on the train. I bought one for use in cafés although I haven't used it most of the time. You could attach it to something bulkier or something that you could put under the seat, maybe. I don't remember if New York subway seats have an exposed bar underneath that you could lock it to. I'm sure locking it to the vertical poles in the center of the car would be…

Wear it like a belt while attaching it to the laptop (If you don't mind looking a bit ridiculous).

Although I'd highly recommend putting some cloth around it, or fitting it through the belt loops of jeans/trousers to soften the inevitable 'yank' when it comes.

Re: I program on the subway

#72

Post by don-code »

Doing connected work from the subway has gotten much, much easier in the last few years. I attribute that to three things:

1. Cell service has become low-latency. This is very different from "fast", which it has also become! When I started working from the train (on HSPA+), pings in the hundreds of milliseconds were the norm. My first step was usually to SSH to a remote machine, and let just the text lag on me. Nowadays, I can run a Web browser locally without issue.

2. Cell service has, at the same time, become ubiquitous in subway tunnels. When I started, there were some areas that dropped down to EDGE (unusable), and some areas that had no service at all. Now, there is exactly one place on the Boston transit system - Back Bay Station - where I lose cell service.

3. Noise cancelling tech has gotten better. It's not just about noise cancelling headphones: both of my laptops (a 2024 MBP and a ThinkPad P14s) have microphones that can filter out screeching wheels and noisy teenagers quite well. That means I can take meetings without making them miserable for the people on the other end.

These, honestly, are a huge game-changer for me. The ability to take a 30 minute meeting while commuting, where otherwise I would've had to get in early or stay late at work, actually does wonders for my ability to have a life outside of work.

Re: I program on the subway

#73

Post by afavour »

komali2 wrote: post #22

> they would have to do it at a station, where they could immediately get off the train. I think, though, that this would be risky, given that subway stops generally have a lot of people getting on/off the train in the first place. I've seen a phone jacking in this exact scenario and nobody moved to stop the guy running. Nobody on the train can help cause the doors have closed, and nobody on the platform has any idea…

I also code on the subway from time to time and this does occur to me. But there are locations in an NYC subway car you can sit that would make it very difficult for someone to grab your laptop and exit the train before the doors close. It's still a risk but it's not uncommon to see people with all kinds of valuable items (e.g. shopping bags from premium fashion stores) out in the open on the subway.

Crazy to think back to 2007 when iPhone users were advised to buy black earphones so the white ones wouldn't give them away as targets for theft. How far we've come/how commoditized our electronics have become.

Re: I program on the subway

#74

Post by ibejoeb »

komali2 wrote: post #22

> they would have to do it at a station, where they could immediately get off the train. I think, though, that this would be risky, given that subway stops generally have a lot of people getting on/off the train in the first place. I've seen a phone jacking in this exact scenario and nobody moved to stop the guy running. Nobody on the train can help cause the doors have closed, and nobody on the platform has any idea…

I'm not worried about the laptop. Pretty much everyone knows that any valuable laptop is a tracking device anyway.

You should be worried about getting actually robbed, or even being attacked for no reason, while you're not paying attention.

Also, yes, nobody's going to help you. Some of it is because of general unawareness, as you point out. Then, it's difficult to know who's the aggressor. Even if that's all crystal clear, you're almost certainly going to deal with months or years of legal hell if you intervene. Successful interventions often lead to prosecutions.

Re: I program on the subway

#75

Post by systems »

ziofill wrote: post #11

When I was living in Paris I had a 20 min ride from home to work each day. I picked up the habit to read during those 40 total minutes and I was going through books like I had never been able to, because while 40 min is not a lot, it’s about 150h per year. One easily underestimates the power of consistency.

how can you read in 20 minutes, for me 20 minutes is only good enough to stare out the windows and ... zip zip 20 minutes are gone

i need a couple of hours to do any technical reading

20 minutes, maybe, maybe .. good enough if i am reading fiction or something

Re: I program on the subway

#76

Post by allkushdiet »

I used to do this as I commuted on the train between school and my hometown in the early 2010s. As a way to learn and pass the time.

No access to internet so mostly hacking from memory. I could use man pages for C, but Haskell was a bit more tricky.

Sometimes I’d just end up sketching things out on paper, but eventually I could complete entire modules without looking anything up. Was always a bummer to be stuck on something that I knew could be answered online in mere seconds. Good times.

Re: I program on the subway

#77

Post by bookofjoe »

hopelite wrote: post #31
trinix912 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but a laptop is much more of a hassle to quickly grab and run with than a phone. What also helps is having one that's full of stickers or overall looks fairly (ab)used. A pristine MacBook is going to be much more of a target than a random ThinkPad with a sticker, greasy keyboard and 20 scratches.

There’s probably no market for it, but it might be interesting to make a MacBook case/cover and/or stickers that make it look old, cracked, scratched, and dirty. It would be interesting to see if that would deter a thief.

https://nuroco.com/products/mosiso-laptop-pu-case-for-new-ma...

Re: I program on the subway

#78

Post by bbkane »

bitmasher9 wrote: post #32
ziofill wrote: post #11

When I was living in Paris I had a 20 min ride from home to work each day. I picked up the habit to read during those 40 total minutes and I was going through books like I had never been able to, because while 40 min is not a lot, it’s about 150h per year. One easily underestimates the power of consistency.

I read many books a year by reading for 20-30 minutes per night before sleeping. A habit with multiple benefits (winding down and reading or commuting and reading) is very powerful for getting the most value out of your time.

Until the book gets really good and you have to keep reading past your bedtime to learn what happens (or maybe that's just me)

Re: I program on the subway

#79

Post by scubbo »

systems wrote: post #75
ziofill wrote: post #11

When I was living in Paris I had a 20 min ride from home to work each day. I picked up the habit to read during those 40 total minutes and I was going through books like I had never been able to, because while 40 min is not a lot, it’s about 150h per year. One easily underestimates the power of consistency.

how can you read in 20 minutes, for me 20 minutes is only good enough to stare out the windows and ... zip zip 20 minutes are gone i need a couple of hours to do any technical reading 20 minutes, maybe, maybe .. good enough if i am reading fiction or something

> how can you read in 20 minutes

> good enough if i am reading fiction or something

Looks like you got there in the end.

Re: I program on the subway

#80

Post by prinny_ »

ziofill wrote: post #11

When I was living in Paris I had a 20 min ride from home to work each day. I picked up the habit to read during those 40 total minutes and I was going through books like I had never been able to, because while 40 min is not a lot, it’s about 150h per year. One easily underestimates the power of consistency.

I also used to read my commute but stopped it after I finished "for whom the bell tolls". I was so moved that I ended up crying in the bus and I would have liked to experience that feeling in the privacy of my home rather in the morning bus with 9 hours still on the clock.
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