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I program on the subway

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Re: I program on the subway

#81

Post by DANmode »

btrettel wrote: post #65
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…

Here's my experience with (attempted) theft on a train: I once was on a MARC train at DC Union Station. Some train cars have electrical sockets, so I plugged in a bike light I had since I'd be taking a bike for the last part of the trip. The train hadn't left the station yet. I was standing near the seat with the socket. Some unassuming looking guy was walking through the train car, like probably 100 did before him,…

He didn’t expect you to confront him before he was gone.

Re: I program on the subway

#82

Post by mncharity »

> I've had good conversations with strangers

Laptops sometimes have stickers. For a time, I instead had a transparent slip cover, to vary the sticker set, user-test alternatives, and throttle conversations. Science education topics (Boston/Cambridge subway). Anti-patriarchy stickers drew proto-MAGAs. Some backpacks now have low-res screens built into the back, suggesting new possibilities.

One Laptop Per Child, at its peak, generated fun continuous crowd conversations.

> a pair of glasses with a screen inside of them

I've no idea what current tech is like, but I use to proselytize aphysical UIs, where a small head motion results in larger screen motion, to reduce neck swiveling.[1]

> weirder

Laptop harness walking desks are a thing. And one can do hand and head tracking[2] (I had that setup at a meetup where the swag was little stick-on privacy shutters for laptop webcams :). Boston/Cambridge is perhaps culturally a best case for such games - I've not tried them in NYC... hmm.

> but something very complex, [...] instead sketch out a diagram on a piece of paper [...] keep a small notebook in my bag

Same. I've tried swapping in an iPad, but it hasn't stuck.

[1] silly old demo, 5k on a bus: https://x.com/mncharity/status/1225091755667853318 [2] https://imgur.com/a/keyboard-cam-Z1VipaL

Re: I program on the subway

#83

Post by isaacdl »

don-code wrote: post #72

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. Nowad…

> The ability to take a 30 minute meeting

At the small cost of making everyone around you miserable.

Re: I program on the subway

#84

Post by incanus77 »

About 20 years ago, I landed my first real, high-impact job at an upstart consulting agency in Washington DC that came from the ashes of the Howard Dean campaign. Unfortunately, I had also just signed a lease on an apartment in the town I lived in, a two hour drive from downtown DC.

I spent the first year at that job commuting into DC 2-3 days/week, which involved about an hour drive, then an hour regional commuter train, then some Metro transfer and walking — then back again in the evening. I spent that train time offline (as it was 2004) learning the Apple Cocoa frameworks, as in another twist of fate, the company was entirely Apple laptop-based, which was fairly rare for 2004, and I built tools for the team and myself. The focus possible because I was offline, with comprehensive docs, was pretty intense and was a huge part of many aspects of my career to follow.

Re: I program on the subway

#85

Post by j_bum »

incanus77 wrote: post #84

About 20 years ago, I landed my first real, high-impact job at an upstart consulting agency in Washington DC that came from the ashes of the Howard Dean campaign. Unfortunately, I had also just signed a lease on an apartment in the town I lived in, a two hour drive from downtown DC. I spent the first year at that job commuting into DC 2-3 days/week, which involved about an hour drive, then an hour regional commuter t…

Sounds like an incredible period. Do you miss it at all?

I’ve had phases of my life where I was lucky to have periods of absolute and undisturbed focus (grad school, summers during college, etc.). It’s easy to forget how valuable that type of focus time is until it goes away!

Re: I program on the subway

#86

Post by druskacik »

bbkane wrote: post #78
bitmasher9 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

It's not just you, I hear this often, but I am always suprised people can read for so long in bed. No matter how interesting a book is, I can rarely read more than 20-30 minutes before the urge to fall asleep becomes too strong.

But I can sometimes code until like 4AM. Weird.

Re: I program on the subway

#87

Post by mrb »

"On the subway, I'm missing a lot of my normal setup [...] I don't even have an internet connection"

There is no cellular data in the NYC subway? I had to look it up online and apparently there is but coverage is quite patchy. That's very surprising to learn, NYC being one of the most developped and richest cities in the world. By comparison, and from my experience, the Parisian metro has excellent coverage.

Re: I program on the subway

#88

Post by 93n »

I decided to cut an hour out of my in-the-office time recently, figuring that I'm sitting on the bus for any hour anyway, so I might as well use that time to knock some work out instead. Tethering is pretty good other than a predictable problem spot or two.

Much better experience than working on a plane. I've done a handful of cross-US flights this year on Alaska Airlines, and trying to do anything network-related on those flights was torture. Super spotty, high latencies, constant timeouts; very frustrating.

Re: I program on the subway

#89

Post by anonzzzies »

I program and did program anywhere; unlike OP, I thrive in (human) noise: if it's quiet, I cannot focus, so working at home with multi monitor setups etc works against me (music doesn't help: not random enough and I cannot talk to people when I feel the need). I prefer subways, busses, airplanes, lounges, coffeeshops, pubs etc. Offices strangely do not work as I already know those people so I get bored and creativity plummets. My setup now is the best I had ever: a rugged android tablet with week-long battery, running termux with full desktop linux (not rooted) which can run all I want. I run several llms offline on it as well to fix the workflow when I don't have my nice foldable full keyboard out (if no space). I can run everything in our framework, online and offline; when I come back online, I just sync (code AND data) and voila.

Re: I program on the subway

#90

Post by alexchantavy »

mrb wrote: post #87

"On the subway, I'm missing a lot of my normal setup [...] I don't even have an internet connection " There is no cellular data in the NYC subway? I had to look it up online and apparently there is but coverage is quite patchy. That's very surprising to learn, NYC being one of the most developped and richest cities in the world. By comparison, and from my experience, the Parisian metro has excellent coverage.

Haa don’t get me started about BART. Though maybe that’s just me problem not having Verizon.
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