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Ask: How do you apply “programmer’s” efficiency in everyday life things?

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Re: Ask: How do you apply “programmer’s” efficiency in everyday life things?

#31

Post by [deleted] »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #22
Rjevski wrote: post #7

Don't have much to say about how to do things, but I'd say try to reduce the number of things to do, so the little you still have to do won't be a big deal. For example, I only communicate with companies/suppliers via email/phone (and change suppliers if they can't accommodate that). This means any physical mail that arrives must be spam, and goes in the trash without even being opened - anything I care about would i…

I wouldn't call using Ubereats and hiring cleaners to be increasing efficiency, but rather outsourcing your work. Throwaway plates and forks are also terrible inefficient from an environmental point of view. Also, don't you find it less enjoyable to eat with plastic tableware? What I've found works best for me is to minimise the number of plates and forks you have in the house. If you only have one plate, you just wa…

[deleted]

Re: Ask: How do you apply “programmer’s” efficiency in everyday life things?

#32

Post by jolmg »

taberiand wrote: post #14
simonpantzare wrote: post #3

Hard to measure but I believe I think more about how things might fail than other family members.

I've seen similar - Them: "You're too pessimistic" vs. Me: "You haven't thought this all the way through". There's a balance to be struck though, because often worrying too much about things that don't happen or saying "I told you so" when they do only really serves to annoy people.

There is indeed a balance, because opportunities tend to have time limits. Thinking things through for too long to arrive at a sure and optimal way of doing something might mean failing to take the opportunity you had to do it at all.

Re: Ask: How do you apply “programmer’s” efficiency in everyday life things?

#33

Post by Rjevski »

asah wrote: post #26
Rjevski wrote: post #7

Don't have much to say about how to do things, but I'd say try to reduce the number of things to do, so the little you still have to do won't be a big deal. For example, I only communicate with companies/suppliers via email/phone (and change suppliers if they can't accommodate that). This means any physical mail that arrives must be spam, and goes in the trash without even being opened - anything I care about would i…

Why not go all the way, and live on Soylent?

Never tried that, and personally I still do enjoy the taste of "conventional" food, just not the experience of cooking it nor dealing with the mess afterwards.

Re: Ask: How do you apply “programmer’s” efficiency in everyday life things?

#34

Post by Rjevski »

jolmg wrote: post #25
Rjevski wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plates are paper so the environmental impact should be relatively low. I agree that the plastic forks are still a problem but haven't really found a solution. I do wonder though, would never having to wash dishes offset the impact of disposable cutlery? Edit: never mind, see below. Apparently paper still has a ton of impact as far as manufacturing it goes (it's not just renewable trees, there are chemicals involved).

Offset the impact on the environment? I don't think so. How is it harmful to the environment if you wash dishes?

Well you use water. My question was whether paper plates (which I - wrongly - assumed were pretty much free from an environment point of view) had a lower impact than purifying & transporting water (and the maintenance of pipes/etc) needed to wash conventional cutlery.

Re: Ask: How do you apply “programmer’s” efficiency in everyday life things?

#35

Post by wskinner »

flukus wrote: post #28
wskinner wrote: post #12

I store physical items in my home in an LRU cache. Items I use all the the time are close to the places where I use them. Less frequently used items are stored further from the place they are used, for example in a closet or the garage. This clashes badly with my roommate, also a programmer, who strongly prefers to store items by category. He will put all the kitchen gadgets on a shelf by the kitchen even if those ga…

I've always done this but I always find my cache being polluted because I didn't estimate the frequency of use correctly. Regular purges are important otherwise it ends up as a fragmented mess. A good alternative is how I handle my clothes, many would call it a pile but my clothes are stored as a few LIFO stacks, one for work, one for weekends, one for underwear, etc. For work the shirts are all the same so it's just…

I handle my clothes as a combination of LRU cache in each drawer for clean clothes and min heap for dirty. Ish. I agree with you that most people probably do something like this as well. It’s not rocket science, just computer science.

Re: Ask: How do you apply “programmer’s” efficiency in everyday life things?

#36

Post by taurath »

Moving is pretty easy. Everything is staged in a priority queue, all boxes are “databased” by room -> type. Also since I’m lazy, it’s pretty good easy to classify things that are wasting time, though a good distraction is definitely sometimes worth it.

Re: Ask: How do you apply “programmer’s” efficiency in everyday life things?

#37

Post by hak8or »

Rjevski wrote: post #7

Don't have much to say about how to do things, but I'd say try to reduce the number of things to do, so the little you still have to do won't be a big deal. For example, I only communicate with companies/suppliers via email/phone (and change suppliers if they can't accommodate that). This means any physical mail that arrives must be spam, and goes in the trash without even being opened - anything I care about would i…

This will bite you in the ass in the future. If you are in the USA, some entities who you should defneitly pay attention to do initial communication only through mail.

For example, if the IRS wants something for you they will never call you first. Heck, they defneitly won't send you an email first. Instead, they send you a letter.

If you are in the process of identity theft, you will want to keep a close eye on your mail to verify there aren't any letters about an account you just opened.

Re: Ask: How do you apply “programmer’s” efficiency in everyday life things?

#40

Post by Rjevski »

hak8or wrote: post #37
Rjevski wrote: post #7

Don't have much to say about how to do things, but I'd say try to reduce the number of things to do, so the little you still have to do won't be a big deal. For example, I only communicate with companies/suppliers via email/phone (and change suppliers if they can't accommodate that). This means any physical mail that arrives must be spam, and goes in the trash without even being opened - anything I care about would i…

This will bite you in the ass in the future. If you are in the USA, some entities who you should defneitly pay attention to do initial communication only through mail. For example, if the IRS wants something for you they will never call you first. Heck, they defneitly won't send you an email first. Instead, they send you a letter. If you are in the process of identity theft, you will want to keep a close eye on your…

Yep, I imagined it would be a problem in the US. I am in the UK though, where you pretty much don't have to do anything as far as taxes go when you're a simple employee, and if you do have to deal with the taxman, you can do pretty much everything online and get email notifications.

However, wouldn't important letters (like urgent communication from the IRS or similar government agency) that could have consequences if unread be sent as registered letters (where at least in the UK and France the mailman personally hands it to you and asks for a signature)?

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