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New MacBook Pro Is Not a Laptop for Developers Anymore

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Re: New MacBook Pro Is Not a Laptop for Developers Anymore

#631

Post by lambda »

rhapsodic wrote: post #479
lucisferre wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I nearly exclusively use VIm and any other editor I use has a VIm mode plugin installed. I pretty much can't work productively in anything else. I can tell you that I haven't used Esc in ages. I have Caps Lock mapped to Ctrl (as it is a vastly more useful a key than Esc and Caps Lock is a much better position for it and is just as an extraneous as Esc is). I use Ctrl-C or Ctrl-[ to exit insert mode and it works just…

Esc is, by and large a useless key I'm not a Mac User, but I use THE ESC key extensively to cancel out of dialogs.

Command-period on macOS.

Re: New MacBook Pro Is Not a Laptop for Developers Anymore

#633

Post by christiansmith »

Lack of physical escape key with vi is not a problem for me. An old trick is to remap caps lock (never used) to Ctrl (constantly used), which is easier to reach from "asdfhjkl" hand positioning. Then Ctrl-C is mapped to escape, and I never have to reach up to the fn row from the home row. Makes working with vi a bit more seamless and this lack of fn row is a moot point. So maybe we have to change few key bindings for ancient but still useful software. Really not a deal killer.

Re: New MacBook Pro Is Not a Laptop for Developers Anymore

#634

Post by lambda »

arxpoetica wrote: post #529
lucisferre wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I nearly exclusively use VIm and any other editor I use has a VIm mode plugin installed. I pretty much can't work productively in anything else. I can tell you that I haven't used Esc in ages. I have Caps Lock mapped to Ctrl (as it is a vastly more useful a key than Esc and Caps Lock is a much better position for it and is just as an extraneous as Esc is). I use Ctrl-C or Ctrl-[ to exit insert mode and it works just…

Not even a developer key: `escape` is a very convenient UI mechanism for getting out of something modal or otherwise overlayed and open.

Command-period is the native Mac way to do it, though ESC works as well.

Re: New MacBook Pro Is Not a Laptop for Developers Anymore

#635

Post by Veen »

rbanffy wrote: post #461
bisby wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a vim user, esc is pretty important. I would say the author clearly knows very little computer specs: "The MacBook Pro had options with 2.4 gigahertz dual-core processors back in 2010. Anything new in 2016? Not really, well… nope." Because a 2010 2.4ghz dual core is identical to a 2016 2.4 ghz dual core.... I thought we got over comparing processors purely by their clock speed a long time ago. (I will agree that t…

> As a vim user, esc is pretty important. I am pretty sure that when you open a terminal, esc and function keys will be up there. It'll not be a mechanical key, but I'm sure it'll still work.

I wonder if any of the people watched the demo. They showcased Terminal, and there was an escape key on the touch bar. They also specifically said pressing the "fn"'key would show function keys on the touch bar, which is exactly what you have to do on current Apple keyboards to use the function keys.

It seems like a non-issue to me unless people simply don't like the touch bar not being physical keys, which is fine, because they can just get the other Pro without it.

Re: New MacBook Pro Is Not a Laptop for Developers Anymore

#636

Post by TACIXAT »

agentultra wrote: post #310
TACIXAT wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really feel most Linux distros were made for developers and development. Whenever I try to do things on Windows and OSX I get insanely frustrated with the amount of friction. It's nice to have an OS that trusts you and lets you make mistakes.

I had that problem with Linux where I wanted to be able to seamlessly use my Wacom pad with a decent graphics editing suite... oops no, it's terrible. Mainly because the environment for these tools is proprietary and there aren't enough graphics people in the Linux market to support it as a platform. So... mac it still is. Windows is looking better these days.

When was this? Wacom drivers come built into Ubuntu now. I use my tablet with MyPaint. I agree that the graphics suites could be better, but it works for my not-so-artistic pursuits.

Re: New MacBook Pro Is Not a Laptop for Developers Anymore

#637

Post by overgard »

ericjang wrote: post #37

I dislike this post intensely. The opinion comes across as uncharitable, as the author probably has not used this Macbook Pro yet. How can you (alexeysemeney) be so sure? I consider myself a developer, and I almost never use the Fn and ESC keys on my Mac. Everybody uses the computer differently, but I'm pretty sure this is not a deal-breaker for most. One could also argue that the touch bar might lead to innovative d…

Developer here. Dealbreaker for me. All my tools heavily use function keys and escape. If I had no other options I'd just deal with it, but Apple is competing with themselves: since they didn't bother to upgrade the actual performance, I have no incentive to move from my current macbook. And when I do, I'll probably just buy a different brand if they don't release a laptop that's actually useful for me.

Re: New MacBook Pro Is Not a Laptop for Developers Anymore

#638

Post by PascLeRasc »

ericjang wrote: post #37

I dislike this post intensely. The opinion comes across as uncharitable, as the author probably has not used this Macbook Pro yet. How can you (alexeysemeney) be so sure? I consider myself a developer, and I almost never use the Fn and ESC keys on my Mac. Everybody uses the computer differently, but I'm pretty sure this is not a deal-breaker for most. One could also argue that the touch bar might lead to innovative d…

I use the F keys a lot in Matlab, but I'd guess that Matlab users are just as much a minority of developers that developers are of Mac users, so I can see why it's not a big deal to Apple. Maybe Mathworks will add some of the functionality to the touch bar anyway.

Re: New MacBook Pro Is Not a Laptop for Developers Anymore

#640

Post by PolCPP »

jaxondu wrote: post #237
dvcrn wrote: post #115

To be honest, the only thing that's causing me to say it's not a "developer machine" is the keyboard. It features the same butterfly switches that the 12" MacBook has and my good are they horrible. I seriously can't imagine writing long sessions of code with this mushy keyboard. I don't get it. With the new touch bar and stereo speakers they WANT us to use the MacBook as is, without external keyboard and then they gi…

The new MacBook Pro uses version 2 of the butterfly keyboard. Not the same one as 12" MacBook. Verdict is still out how much is the improvement.

The onsite reviewer from the verge says its pretty much the same. Maybe a lil more travel but they feel the same.

So i guess that version 2 thing is just pure marketing to avoid people raging

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