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I program on the subway

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111–120 of 213 posts

Re: I program on the subway

#111

I wrote nearly all of https://apps.apple.com/us/app/two-birds-one-stone/id15396463... on a train without internet. It was about a half hour journey, and I found that in such a short amount of time, I would set a small goal and work in a very distraction free way to achieve it. It was very good for doing small things, but sometimes doing larger things (like big refactors) is a bit more difficult. On occasion, I would…

30 minutes can be plenty of time for implementing a feature. If you got your priorities straight.

Re: I program on the subway

#112
post #17

Here is a description of the daily commute by Michael Milken, 1980s junk bond king, as told in "Predator's Ball" by Connie Bruck: At 5:30am each weekday in the early 1970s, a bus pulled up to a stop in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and a young man lugging a bag that bulged with papers mounted its steps. He was making the two-hour commute to New York City, where he worked at the investment­ banking firm of Drexel Firestone…

This is dedication.

Unfortunately I can't program on a bus, I get motion sickness. Subway works very well though! It insulates me from most distractions. The only problem is that the longest subway commute I ever had was about 45 minutes; solid 2 hours would allow for so much more! :)

Re: I program on the subway

#113
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 a Japan resident... whenever I'm outside of Japan, friends have to remind me to not "leave my laptop out like that" nor hold wads of visible cash or keep my smartphone on the table.

Cafes... I'll go to the bathroom or whatever and just leave my stuff all out on the table, meanwhile with my high-end bicycle parked unlocked and out-of-view outside.

It, of course, isn't like this EVERYWHERE in Japan, but many many places.

Re: I program on the subway

#114

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…

what else has comprehensive off-line docs these days?

Re: I program on the subway

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on where and when you are. Some hyped up dude is fixated on the next fix and lacks the executive function to discriminate. The more professional thieves are more discriminating.

I agree that it’s just a matter of when it’s stolen, not if it’s going to be stolen. The article suggests the laptop is about $300, and he uses it about 1hr/day. If the laptop is stolen less than once a year he spends less than $1/hr for coding on the go, which I would consider a fair deal.

By “when” I mean time of day. If you’re heading somewhere in Brooklyn after 7pm, that’s different than heading to the city at 7am.

Re: I program on the subway

#117

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…

what else has comprehensive off-line docs these days?

https://zealdocs.org/ is surprisingly decent.

Re: I program on the subway

#119
post #54

I recently bought a GPD MicroPC 2, a 7” laptop with a real keyboard. It runs Linux just fine, and it has been a fun experience of having a “real” computer with me much more often than I otherwise would. My version of programming on the subway has been programming on a park bench—it fits in a jacket pocket, or even the back pocket of some of my pants. The keyboard is tiny but easy enough to use with thumbs, or, with s…

> GPD MicroPC 2, a 7” laptop with a real keyboard

Is it actually decent for typing on? I'm perennially tempted, but I'm somewhat skeptical of a small keyboard vs touch typing.

Re: I program on the subway

#120
post #45

Many years ago, before mobile internet was reasonable and before wireless internet was available, and before even electrical outlets were something which could be counted on to be present on trains, I took a 6 hour train ride. I had no laptop. I printed out, on paper, the entire source code of the project I was working on, and brought a red pen. I read through the whole thing, from start to finish. Many subtle bug fi…

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