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Resolutions for programmers

matt.might.net

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Re: Resolutions for programmers

#121

Post by mikeklaas »

AlexandrB wrote: post #57
mhartl wrote: post #41

I have a couple of contrary suggestions with respect to health. 1. Don't follow the conventional wisdom on RSI I struggled with RSI for years, and did all the usual things (warmups, exercises, braces, a Kinesis with modified key layout, etc.) Then, in early 2010, I read (at Aaron Iba's suggestion) The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno. Within a couple of days, I saw remarkable improvement; within a month, I was sym…

> The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno The central claim of this book (from reading Amazon reviews) seems to be that chronic pain may be caused by mental/emotional distress. To me, this seems like a remarkable claim, and I'm super-skeptical without some kind of evidence. Out of curiosity, does the author offer any such evidence in the book? Are there other books on the topic?

Sarno's book is a… difficult read for a person inclined to think rationally.

I recommend reading the entire contents of conquerrsi.com (gone, but still accessible on archive.org), thinking about that while your read sarno.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#122

Post by slowpoke »

jwallaceparker wrote: post #109

+1 for trying the vegan diet If you do this, please go to restaurants and request a vegan meal. The environmental benefits of the vegan diet are well-documented. The best way to enact change is to get restaurants to start listing vegan options.

I do not believe that Veganism is healthy at all. Vegetarianism with a correct diet (and only then) can be, but the human body isn't fit for a vegan diet in the long run. I respect your choice if you do it, but at large it's just not reasonable.

Oh, and something slightly offtopic: if you have children, do not raise them with a vegetarian or even vegan diet. That should be classified and punishable as child abuse.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#123

Post by silentbicycle »

thebrokencube wrote: post #105
silentbicycle wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About ":", agreed. The new positions for hjkl actually feel more natural to me (jk are adjacent, on Qwerty's "cv" keys, and hl fit a pointer/pinky right hand rocking motion), but that's a matter of taste I guess. Either way: not a big deal. In 5-6 years of typing Dvorak, the only thing I've never adjusted to is the non-keypad diagonal movement keys for nethack. I used the numeric keypad with Qwerty too, though.

> The new positions for hjkl actually feel _more_ natural to me I completely agree with this sentiment. Everyone I know who uses dvorak+vim has a lot of remaps (so it matches the qwerty stuff) but to be honest, I don't find it necessary, and I really like jk being just there as those are the directional ones I use most (for moving left/right I use stuff like w, b, etc.)

Aside from searching, I tend to move by word, too. The position of those on Dvorak is analogous to the jk position. Hadn't noticed that.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#124

Post by saraid216 »

feralchimp wrote: post #46

Most "list" posts suck; this one was awesome. My only quibble: "Argue against something you believe" is not a special, part-time exercise. It should be a tightly-integrated element of your ongoing mindset, even in 'damn the torpedoes' dev mode.

Have you ever tried arguing against this quibble of yours?

I don't mean to sound snarky; that just feels like the best way to express my reaction to your statement. I don't disagree with the sentiment; I just don't think you have any idea what you're talking about.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#125

Post by nileshk »

mhartl wrote: post #41

I have a couple of contrary suggestions with respect to health. 1. Don't follow the conventional wisdom on RSI I struggled with RSI for years, and did all the usual things (warmups, exercises, braces, a Kinesis with modified key layout, etc.) Then, in early 2010, I read (at Aaron Iba's suggestion) The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno. Within a couple of days, I saw remarkable improvement; within a month, I was sym…

I also conquered "RSI" by reading Dr John Sarno's book (after trying everything else I could for over a year and a half). This was back in 2002 and I haven't problems since (11 years); and the problem went away in a matter of weeks. Now I type on a keyboard all day long, play guitar, bass guitar, drums, and sometimes keyboards without worrying about taking breaks or ergonomics. I do have an ergonomic computer setup (keyboard tray), but it's mainly just for comfort and speed.

I do think what Sarno writes is what is really going on in most cases of "RSI" and other types of chronic pain. It makes complete logical sense to me and makes sense of everything I experienced, even going back before I had the wrist pain (occasional unexplained back pain, neck pain, etc that would last for weeks - which I no longer have now).

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#126

Post by mattstreet »

tomjen3 wrote: post #7
maeon3 wrote: post #3

Programmers stuck inside who need fitness ideas get out and meet people. Go to meetup.com, type in your area and type in running, health and fitness. Find a running club where you meet up somewhere and run around a loop, trail, or city area. I found that extremely rewarding. It is a filter to screen out the fraggles from the doozers.

What is it that makes people assuming exercise -> running? It has all the unpleasant effects of exercise + it destroys your knees and you still don't have a sixpack.

There is plenty of evidence that running is good for your knees as long as you aren't making an injury worse.

Also the only way to have a six pack is have low body fat, one of the many ways to achieve that is through running.

I don't think one should assume exercise means running but your points against running are wrong as well.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#127

Post by gtani »

jackfoxy wrote: post #113
gtani wrote: post #72

languages: I'm going to give F# under mono another try, in the spirit of other langauges suggested (haskell, ocaml, racket)

I would really like to hear progress reports on that one. Does F# Mono now correctly implement tail recursion? The most recent release notes suggest it does.

are you talking crash or leak? the one ticket was fixed pretty fast

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=693905

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#128

Post by nileshk »

MichaelGG wrote: post #60
AlexandrB wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Mindbody Prescription by John Sarno The central claim of this book (from reading Amazon reviews) seems to be that chronic pain may be caused by mental/emotional distress. To me, this seems like a remarkable claim, and I'm super-skeptical without some kind of evidence. Out of curiosity, does the author offer any such evidence in the book? Are there other books on the topic?

Exactly. I was so desperate, I would have tried anything. But, I could not finish The Mindbody Prescription . General non-scientific fluff, and a lot of complaining about Freud not being taken seriously these days. No real evidence, although I only got through a few chapters. However, despite me thinking the book was rubbish and tossing it shortly, my RSI problems disappeared. I guess the suggestion that pain wasn't…

> The placebo effect is real, sometimes even when the patient is aware that it's a placebo.

I actually think Sarno explains quite well why the placebo effect works in many cases. It works because the pain is caused by psychological issues to begin with, so when you receive a placebo, your mind knows to make it go away and shift to a different problem. He actually calls it a "nocebo" because it doesn't actually make it go away. For example, you may have back pain, do some kind of therapy to address it (whether it is chiropractic adjustments, massage, medication, cortisone injections, or even surgery); it goes away, but then a week later you start having wrist pain, and the cycle continues (maybe with the back pain coming back) until you address the underlying repressed emotions.

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#129

Post by barrkel »

guelo wrote: post #101
barrkel wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Woah, that's some massive hyperbole there; learning Dvorak does not risk your ability to earn a living in this industry.

I think he was just referring to the productivity hit during the learning curve.

Yes, because while you're learning one style, you completely forget the other style and are left unable to type fluently.

(I'm still able to type in both.)

Re: Resolutions for programmers

#130

Post by spiffytech »

tjoff wrote: post #82
jerf wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the one reason to learn Dvorak; it naturally causes you to touch type, because there's no sane reason to have your hands wander around the keyboard; all the keys you use are on the home row. QWERTY affords hand wandering and hunt & peck. If you want to "learn to touch type" it's probably more effective to "learn Dvorak" and let the touch typing take care of itself. I'm not sure about the virtues of paying the…

I can't be the only one that very often have my left hand on the (left part of the) keyboard and the right on the mouse doing a lot of shortcuts while navigating the GUI. Such as ctrl+z, ctrl+c, ctrl+v, ctrl+w, ctrl+t, ctrl+n, ctrl+s that requires two hands on dvorak ("especially" on an ergonomic keyboard) - or at least requires the right hand (=> you can't use the mouse) or you have to reposition the left hand (not…

There is a way to configure your Mac (with the program Ukulele, I think) to activate a QWERTY layout when you hold the Ctrl or Alt keys, thus preserving your one-handed shortcuts. Custom keymaps on Linux and Windows could probably accomplish the same thing.
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