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I program on the subway

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Re: I program on the subway

#121

Post by rlue »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #110
rlue wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very curious what other tripods you’ve found suitable for this purpose. At my own workstation, I use a pair of adhesive dashboard mounts, which allows me to achieve some pretty extreme tenting (see https://www.reddit.com/r/ErgoMechKeyboards/comments/1p1q5xz/ ), but while out and about, I worry that such light boards would get jostled around on a desk/table if tented as hard as I usually do.

I use two of these: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B077JX7GBL?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_d... it lets me tent at nearly 90 deg which is great. And it is also good for reclining on my LC4, where I use two Perriand berger stools as armrests and a Levo laptop stand. For something sturdier I use Ulanzi super clamps with extensions. The Glove80 (which is fantastic, as a 15 year Kinesis Aadvantage user prior) also has a tripod mount…

Very informative, thanks

Re: I program on the subway

#122

Post by neilv »

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…

Something a bit like that is part of how I got the Lisp Hacker merit badge.

I wanted a Lisp to be my new platform language for rapid systems research. And I had to spend most of each day on my laptop, from cafes and parks around town, with very little Internet access.

So I got all the docs locally, and I kludged up Emacs as a power-efficient "IDE" (including avoiding having to run a bloated Web browser), to help keep the hard drive spun down and CPU slowed.

Then I simply did a lot of programming, without distractions like open plan offices and pointless meetings. Even though I might be sitting against a tree in a busy park, and then have to move to a noisy cafe to recharge battery. Still so much less distracting and less stressful than an open plan office.

Re: I program on the subway

#123

Post by wredcoll »

sponnath wrote: post #103
druskacik wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Reading is usually more passive than coding. I'm often never sleepy if I'm actively coding something late at night but reading a book (no matter how engaging) or watching a tv show can very easily make me sleepy. That said, everyone's brains work very differently.

This is just so weird. In general coding won't let me fall asleep but a book 100% will never let me sleep until I finish.

I also find the idea of "forcing" yourself to read rather peculiar, but we're all different people. I wonder if there's genuinely something different in how the brain reacts.

Re: I program on the subway

#124

Post by MaysonL »

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.

I wore out the elbows of quite a few shirts lying on my side in bed reading. This was during the time I would go to the local science fiction bookstore every Saturday and buy three or four books, ocassionally finishing them by Monday.

Re: I program on the subway

#125

Post by ak217 »

When I used to ride Caltrain to/from work, I would often have an uninterrupted stretch of 45+ minutes in a cozy single seat (I would always take an upper deck seat in the "gallery" car) to either doze off or use this time to focus on something. I would get so much done on those days if I managed to avoid the sun blasting too much sunlight on my screen/seat. This commuter rail experience is probably familiar to many of us, but it's specific to commuter rail - being a passenger on a subway or in a car/bus is too chaotic or bumpy to do this.

More generally, I find that switching up your surroundings is absolutely vital for your brain's ability to focus on hard tasks. I will hit a wall if I try to work multiple 10+ hour days sitting in one spot, but a comfortable spot in a different coffee shop or lounge can totally trick my brain into powering through.

Re: I program on the subway

#126

Post by acjohnson55 »

hollerith wrote: post #100
prattmic wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. Cell service has, at the same time, become ubiquitous in subway tunnels. Not in New York, unfortunately. All of the stations have cell service, and one tunnel (14th Street L train tunnel under the East River), but everywhere else has no service between stations. It’s an annoying limitation that most cities seem to have fixed by now.

If I rode there I'd consider that a feature, not a limitation.

No one talks on phones anymore anyway. But having data would be nice.

Re: I program on the subway

#127

Post by dghost-dev »

teddyh wrote: 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…

That’s actually pretty cool!

Re: I program on the subway

#129

Post by WD-42 »

sammy2255 wrote: post #128

I don't understand how this is possible. I've heard the New York Subway system is riddled with antisocial behaviour, homeless, drunks, people pissing everywhere, etc.

People say the same thing about BART but it’s not bad at all. Turns out people on the internet aren’t reliable.

Re: I program on the subway

#130

Post by fragmede »

wwweston wrote: post #114
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…

what else has comprehensive off-line docs these days?

https://devdocs.io/
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