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As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

hamatti.org

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Re: As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

#201

Post by DoingIsLearning »

brettgriffin wrote: post #187
Hamatti wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here. Last time my blog caught attention in HN, I was told I'm "living in a fantasy" and this time it's "pure romanticism". The tools you shared are of course important and I enjoy having them a lot. Wouldn't want to work as a developer without version control or debuggers, for sure. Those are tools that if I lost them, it surely would slow me down and be annoying. I do truly consider notebook more important to me…

> Those are tools that if I lost them, it surely would slow me down and be annoying. Yes, but the post above is pointing out that you would be significantly slower without an IDE, compiler or debugger than you would be without a pen/paper. In fact, I don't think you would be a professional programmer if you didn't have them. Saying you like a notebook and pen while designing and writing software is very different tha…

> you would be significantly slower without an IDE, compiler or debugger than you would be without a pen/paper.

Slower at creating what? With just great tooling there is still a real risk of creating the wrong thing just very fast.

OP's point is that it is a thinking tool more so than a creating tool.

Re: As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

#202

Post by tomjakubowski »

brettgriffin wrote: post #187
Hamatti wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here. Last time my blog caught attention in HN, I was told I'm "living in a fantasy" and this time it's "pure romanticism". The tools you shared are of course important and I enjoy having them a lot. Wouldn't want to work as a developer without version control or debuggers, for sure. Those are tools that if I lost them, it surely would slow me down and be annoying. I do truly consider notebook more important to me…

> Those are tools that if I lost them, it surely would slow me down and be annoying. Yes, but the post above is pointing out that you would be significantly slower without an IDE, compiler or debugger than you would be without a pen/paper. In fact, I don't think you would be a professional programmer if you didn't have them. Saying you like a notebook and pen while designing and writing software is very different tha…

> significantly slower without an IDE, compiler or debugger … In fact, I don't think you would be a professional programmer if you didn't have them.

This is a strange take. Programmers were around before any of those tools were. And today, even many professional programmers do their work without using any of them: they use text editors, they write interpreted languages, and they use printf()-debugging or other techniques.

Re: As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

#203

Post by ednite »

hinkley wrote: post #192
ednite wrote: post #118

Great discussion. In my opinion, the real takeaway isn’t about notebooks vs. digital tools, it’s about what shifts your mental gears. Every time we switch modes, it forces our brain to pay attention differently. That fresh context can boost focus, creativity, even recall. For example, I recently stopped coding all the time and picked up a new hobby at night, writing. That simple change gave my brain a reset and actua…

I wonder how many developers today were forced to take an introductory drafting class. I know a lot of us played with Lego. The problem of describing a 3 dimensional object in two dimensions requires extra projections to describe the thing. A 3d object in 2 dimensions takes three drawings to mostly describe. If the object is more complex than three dimensions, you need to look at it from a lot more angles.

Wow, decades in this field and it finally took your comment to connect my childhood LEGO obsession with coding. Simple enough, but it never actually crossed my mind. The funny thing is, I’ve always linked my love for storytelling to LEGO building, but not coding. Thanks for the insight, that just snapped into place.

Re: As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

#204

Post by hinkley »

ednite wrote: post #203
hinkley wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how many developers today were forced to take an introductory drafting class. I know a lot of us played with Lego. The problem of describing a 3 dimensional object in two dimensions requires extra projections to describe the thing. A 3d object in 2 dimensions takes three drawings to mostly describe. If the object is more complex than three dimensions, you need to look at it from a lot more angles.

Wow, decades in this field and it finally took your comment to connect my childhood LEGO obsession with coding. Simple enough, but it never actually crossed my mind. The funny thing is, I’ve always linked my love for storytelling to LEGO building, but not coding. Thanks for the insight, that just snapped into place.

Did I love Lego because I was like this, or am I like this because I loved Lego?

That'll bake your noodle for a good long while :)

Re: As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

#206

Post by voilavilla »

The bell-curve meme popular on reddit showing both extremes using the same solution, while the "average" cries, is dead on.

OP is on the right path: think before you code.

One of the neat things about being in the last few years of my career (started in 1988) is how the tools change. I'm a senior principal software architect at a large-ish company. And I don't write a single line of code. I write everything in Visio, Word, and PowerPoint (and sometimes PlantUML). As you move up the abstraction ladder the tools become simpler. I define architectures that will deploy into 10-year lifespan applications (think military, medical, and automotive tier-1), and the code that implements it--or even the language used--has absolutely zero impact on the architecture. Mostly C and C++ (went through an Ada period, too), and some of it might even be implemented in Rust over the next few years as it matures into the automotive world, but when you're high enough up, the implementation is irrelevant.

What matters are the building blocks, the apis, and most importantly, the encapsulation because that has an impact on the silicon, security, manufacturing, and test. Stuff that can be drawn and explained in a few slides, and not the code itself. (Of course, my lovely boxes have to be able to withstand upstream discoveries of flaws in the architecture, but that's the fun part!)

Re: As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

#207

Post by codyb »

xutopia wrote: post #179

For me it's taking a walk.

Basically any... autopilot behavior for me is going to turn into some insight at some point or another (although it's good to be in the present too! Now I try to think in Spanish which forces me to be present cause it's such a slow process for me still lol, but actually super useful I've found for continuing to flesh out those neural pathways is to just sit and talk to myself outloud in Spanish about whatever I'm doing all day)

Also love writing things on paper. I love using different pens, and write in different styles sometimes (cursive, block, normal, whatever). I just take quick throwaway notes on paper or I'll sometimes sit down and outline things for an hour over a few sheets just to put organization to some large task which I'll translate into something for consumption by others later. Almost always throw these away. Sometimes I work through a notepad, sometimes it's a little notebook, sometimes it's printer paper... getting away from the screen for a bit is lovely.

And I set up a notes section on my computer which I can pop open with a quick X in ViM which has a directory structure giving me spaces for recurring meetings, architecture work, or notes on whatever initiatives I'm trying to push through. I index file names with 01-, 02- etc and if I have a section that branches out I'll just add another index so 01A-, 01B-, etc...

Having everything in ViM with a tmux conf setup that scaffolds out a ton of different spaces I've set up mnemonic keyboard shortcuts to navigate to is really helpful in reducing the overload of having Slack, IDEs, browsers, notepads, music, etc etc etc all open at once (since on a good day I just have Slack, Outlook, iTerm, Firefox and maybe Figma or Music open at most points). I'm also quick to wipe away tabs in the browser...

Next up I'm diving into Figma so I can turn these ideas into beautiful diagrams and even mock interfaces my partners can ingest visually for easier understanding of complex spaces

Finally, and I'm thankful I can afford to do this, but I turn all notification sounds off, Slack'll bounce once from the hidden dock...

It's great, distraction free, tailored to my needs, a fair amount of variety, and some really nice productive times.

Re: As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

#208

Post by ednite »

hinkley wrote: post #204
ednite wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, decades in this field and it finally took your comment to connect my childhood LEGO obsession with coding. Simple enough, but it never actually crossed my mind. The funny thing is, I’ve always linked my love for storytelling to LEGO building, but not coding. Thanks for the insight, that just snapped into place.

Did I love Lego because I was like this, or am I like this because I loved Lego? That'll bake your noodle for a good long while :)

Whoa…

Re: As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

#209

Post by exe34 »

atrettel wrote: post #173
sky2224 wrote: post #25

Some of the most intelligent people I've ever met in math, physics, and computer science don't even use a notebook. They use printer paper and pen. When they're done, they throw the paper away. I have seldom found personal notes from far in the past to be useful. If there's something worth noting down, then it goes into documentation, so others can stumble upon whatever quirk I've come across in the future. If there'…

I've used printer paper myself in different jobs in science. I personally don't like it but I have done it when it was the only paper available. Budgets in scientific organizations are often very tight, so often nothing else is provided, and many times you do not have the direct authority to order anything yourself. My point is that I'd view this behavior more as a consequence of the circumstances many scientists fin…

What kind of paper do you prefer?

Re: As a developer, my most important tools are a pen and a notebook

#210

Post by dustbunny »

Taking detailed notes in meetings, and keeping a record of what I'm doing/thinking about has allowed me to drastically shorten the "context switching time" between meetings and days. And having those notes is vital every once in a while, ie: X person said Y thing on Z date. Or It took me X days to do this thing, etc... doing this is a great way to be "management material" if that's what you wanna do. Because you are visibly very organized.

I literally just write down everything important in meetings because it keeps me focused and I enjoy the act of hand writing.

And then I keep notes in a giant endless .md file of what my goals are for the day. It's like 10 lines per day max.

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