Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

hamatti.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 302 posts

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

#231

Post by rubicon33 »

acuozzo wrote: post #141
rubicon33 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This 100%. I was going to write something similar. In my entire 15 years in software engineering, the amount of times I've reached for a notebook pales in comparison to the amount of times I've relied on version control or a debugger. Has a notebook or a whiteboard been handy at times? Of course. But the rubber meets the road behind the IDE, and the tooling there is the story of the day.

> the amount of times I've reached for a notebook pales in comparison What kind of code do you work on? I find notebooks useful all the time, but I write in C for embedded systems, so a lot of what I do involves setting up data structures, memory layout, etc.

I do/done a little bit of everything. Backend Java, mobile ObjC (iOS) and Java (Android). Spent 2 years as a firmware dev on NRF platform so very familiar with spending time on data structures and byte alignment. I’ve also spend 4 years doing TS/JS back in the early Angular days.

Everyone’s different I guess, but for me I’ve never really reached much for a notebook. I just start writing code, refactor as needed, and rely on tooling from debugger/IDE/devtools when and where applicable.

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

#232

Post by jahsome »

dalmo3 wrote: post #219
cleak wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book Smarter Faster Better introduced me to the concept of disfluency - the idea that extra friction such as awkward fonts, new environments, different tools, etc will pull you out of autopilot mode and force you to think in new ways. I haven’t seen references to it elsewhere, but it’s changed how I approach problems and learning the last 9 years. Switching to a notebook is one great way I use to trigger this as…

Interesting. For me it's the opposite, e.g. just changing keyboard layouts between pc and mac breaks my brain hard, and I feel useless.

I experience similar and I think of discomfort tolerance like a muscle. The more I (am forced to) use it, the less strain I experience when using it.

I am naturally prone to optimizing friction away--autistic engineer--but have come to realize regularly putting myself in uncomfortable positions professionally and personally works for me as a form of exposure therapy.

Nowadays, in the event I'm thrust into such an unfamiliar situation against my will, I'm still functional.

An enormously valuable knock on effect was coming to the realization the things I enjoy most in life are those which have been a surprise, and I would have simply avoided weren't I being intentional in pushing my own boundaries.

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

#233

Post by bookofjoe »

ednite wrote: post #158
cleak wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book Smarter Faster Better introduced me to the concept of disfluency - the idea that extra friction such as awkward fonts, new environments, different tools, etc will pull you out of autopilot mode and force you to think in new ways. I haven’t seen references to it elsewhere, but it’s changed how I approach problems and learning the last 9 years. Switching to a notebook is one great way I use to trigger this as…

Thanks for sharing. I just added Smarter Faster Better to my reading list, along with Annie Murphy Paul’s The Extended Mind. Both seem to explore how breaking out of autopilot can unlock better thinking, which is exactly what I’ve been noticing in my own routines.

Great book: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Day-Course-Thinking-Edward-Bono/...

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

#234

Post by godshatter »

ironman1478 wrote: post #161
js4ever wrote: post #5

Calling a notebook the “most important tool” for a dev is pure romanticism. Useful for some, sure, but let's not pretend it outweighs a debugger, version control, or CI. This isn't craftsmanship cosplay, it's software engineering.

It's not romanticism and it's very important for me too. I spend a lot of my time drawing out what I'm trying to do before I actually try to do it. I tend to work on greenfield embedded projects though for context. Coding and debugging is hard to get good at and are obviously important, but you still need to figure what to actually build and those tools won't get you there. For me, I use a pen and paper to actually f…

When trying to figure out what to code or how to solve a problem, pen and paper is too "concrete" for me for some reason. If I'm waiting for inspiration I would rather just go for a walk or pace back and forth or just stare at something (monitor, wall, whatever) and think it through. When I write something down (or especially when I type it into a document) it becomes too set in stone for me, and if I do it too much I get way too "close" to it to see the solution.

Pen and paper is more helpful when I'm trying to see how the solution I came up with fits into the code, at least for me. I can't visualize at all, so even basic things about how data flows will be helpful if I write them down. The more concrete I'm getting, the more I use pen and paper or text documents. Otherwise it's just give myself time to work through the code as I know it, thinking of things and discarding them quickly, and waiting for inspiration to strike.

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

#235

Post by roskelld »

I find that using ways to step away from code help think things through in ways to overcome roadblocks. One recent trick I've found is rubber duck my issue into ChatGPT, which I used to do in a notepad (either digital or physical), the added advantage of ChatGPT is I can hit Enter once I'm done with my thoughts and get a response, which might have a solution in it.

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

#236

Post by brettgriffin »

reaperducer wrote: post #227
brettgriffin wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are examples, the exactness is not what is important here. Choosing something that is not connected to electricity, an OS, or the internet to be a software developer's _most important_ tool is, in fact, the strange position here.

Choosing something that is not connected to electricity, an OS, or the internet to be a software developer's _most important_ tool is, in fact, the strange position here. Like a human brain? I'd say that is the programmer's most important tool, and it is not connected to electricity, an OS, or the internet.

As much as I hate that answer I think it is better than a pen and and a notebook.

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

#238

Post by yokoprime »

js4ever wrote: post #5

Calling a notebook the “most important tool” for a dev is pure romanticism. Useful for some, sure, but let's not pretend it outweighs a debugger, version control, or CI. This isn't craftsmanship cosplay, it's software engineering.

CI or VCS is worth diddely squat if you dont organise your thoughts

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

#239

Post by yokoprime »

dwringer wrote: post #122
js4ever wrote: post #5

Calling a notebook the “most important tool” for a dev is pure romanticism. Useful for some, sure, but let's not pretend it outweighs a debugger, version control, or CI. This isn't craftsmanship cosplay, it's software engineering.

This feels like saying "when building a house, obviously a hammer is more important than the blueprints. This isn't art class, it's construction"

yes! my thoughts exacly. its the arrogance of a junior engineer
Post reply on HN