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Forty years of programming

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Re: Forty years of programming

#171

Post by a96 »

xdennis wrote: post #53
xelxebar wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait. You started out by scribbling down programs on a notepad and no computer? That's both adorable and inspiring. Were you working with BASIC? I'm super curious what this was like for you.

I did that too. I thought it was common. I learned programming by reading my older sister's Computer Science manual from high school in preparation for me starting high school (2004, Romania). All school work was on paper so it was a necessity. But it was fun too. In pointless classes like French, there was nothing better to do. It was worthwhile to work on my personal programs on paper and type them out when I got h…

I did that, too. Maybe age 6/7. Didn't get a computer myself until I was maybe 11. I learned from library books and ported and modified the tutorial programs for a class mates computer. Pen and paper, what else was there? It was fun and the logic of it was really interesting, but it didn't go very far with the information and equipment of the day (or following decades). What other people found weird was mostly that I wasn't interested in games which is apparently what home computers were for.

I often wonder what life would have been like if I had got some processor architecture manuals and microcontrollers early on. I've only specialized in embedded systems much later in life and spent my earlier life doing other, somewhat adjacent, things.

Re: Forty years of programming

#172

Post by a96 »

jongjong wrote: post #39
booleandilemma wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I almost always see it as a red flag. When I hear someone irl say it I interpret it as a sort of clout hack. "I've been programming since I was six years old so listen to me when I say we should use mongoDB".

It can be meaningful but it depends on how they've been using that time. If they stayed at one company working on one project on a specific feature for 40 years straight, they may be a world class grandmaster in a very specific area which is only relevant for like 5% of all projects but have narrow experience and be incapable of providing advice on most coding topics that affect 95% of projects.

There's also a critical difference in the causality flow. Time alone will teach nothing but cynicism. But a lot of things take a long time to learn. Age and time is not a useful predictor by itself, but it's often correlative.

Re: Forty years of programming

#173

Post by notthatoldguy »

Well, I doubt that an ergonomy is the reason here. Going gym consistently benefits much more, rather than switch devices. I have never seen healthy programmers over 30 who avoided physical activity. But I saw how people from constant switching of ergonomic devices and clinics visits just in several months were able to forget about most of the pain in wrists and back just by consistent increase in their physical activity and adding some resistant training. Their back CT looks the almost same, but their lives are significantly improved. I work on any devices and sit on various chairs for almost 25 years, and never experienced any significant pains. Just visiting gym and having some massages. In my case the most significant factor that affects back health is stress, but massages is what help to maintain it.

Re: Forty years of programming

#174

Post by lproven »

ryandvm wrote: post #161
packetlost wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm left handed, but I very early on (ie. like around age 5-6) I switched to using my right hand with a mouse. Since getting wrist pain in my right hand, I've purchased a magic trackpad which I keep to the left of my keyboard and I alternate between left w/ touchpad and right w/ mouse. It's worked very well for me!

Same. I'm right-handed, but switch to left-handed mousing when my wrist started hurting. Now I switch back and forth several times per week. Nipped my nascent carpal tunnel in the bud I think. What's interesting is that it's not as hard as it sounds. You basically just reverse your left/right click settings and your brain picks it up very quickly.

Hmmm. I never switch the buttons and TBH I never understood why that option was there. It's no harder to move between 2 (or 3) buttons with my index finger on either hand.

Do some people use different fingers on the different buttons?

Re: Forty years of programming

#175

Post by ftcHn »

MailNerd wrote: post #164

I have found a trackball to be even better than a vertical mouse. Only your thumb moves. Otherwise it's also Ergodox for me. I switched to Colemak at the same time, also have a programming layer ()[]{} etc. In addition I have a layer for cursornavigation and selection, word wise/char wise/start&ens of line/page wise, comparable to vim mode, but using the default shortcuts for Windows and macos (with the help of Karab…

what trackball are you using?

Re: Forty years of programming

#176

Post by MailNerd »

ftcHn wrote: post #175
MailNerd wrote: post #164

I have found a trackball to be even better than a vertical mouse. Only your thumb moves. Otherwise it's also Ergodox for me. I switched to Colemak at the same time, also have a programming layer ()[]{} etc. In addition I have a layer for cursornavigation and selection, word wise/char wise/start&ens of line/page wise, comparable to vim mode, but using the default shortcuts for Windows and macos (with the help of Karab…

what trackball are you using?

Logitech MX Ergo

https://www.logitech.com/en-eu/products/mice/mx-ergo-wireles...

Note that the tilt only has one level (flat and tilted), the animation might make you think otherwise. I use it in tilted mode.

It is highly customizable using the Logitech options software which I am using on both macOS and Windows. For example you can assign actions to all the buttons that are dependent on the running program, and even involve custom key combinations.

The only downside of the trackball is that you have to clean it once in a while, when the pointer appears to be moving very slowly - simply eject the ball by poking a screwdriver into the hole at the bottom of the mouse, clean out the accumulated dust and push the ball back.

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