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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

#781

Post by mladen5 »

accatyyc wrote: post #714
polyfractal wrote: post #680

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really just a war of opinions now, but the F1 keys are indispensable to me. My fingers rest on the hotkeys for "step into", "step over", "run to breakpoint" and I can keep my eyes glued to the watch list, inspecting the variables at each step. Some times you want to quickly step into functions, other times step over, and it's just really handy to have it mapped to keys. I'm not even a power emacs user or some…

But what if your IDE simply adds the debugger buttons to the touch strip instead? They could even have the correct icons and update state as you debug. Seems even better to me.

Main point for touch strip is changing icons/state. But that's absurd because not even my mother blind types. This is clearly another fancy thing that removes functionality.

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

#782

Post by gurkendoktor »

dump121 wrote: post #709
gurkendoktor wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using function keys as shortcuts is already a terrible idea on macOS because these are used to control the screen brightness, volume, play/pause etc. The TouchBar might actually make it easier for new users to realise what the Fn key does.

either you don't use macbook or not interested enough to look for how to change that behavior. It is a single flag in preferences that allow you to use the keys as function keys and screen brightness etc. with 'fn' key.

I know, but that doesn't make the F keys a good choice for cross-platform app developers. Nobody would release a web browser on macOS where F5 is the only way to reload the page - not before and not after the TouchBar.

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

#783

Post by bartvk »

gurkendoktor wrote: post #466
Spartan-S63 wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a fellow Vim user, I don't use the escape key anymore. It's awkward to hit and I rebind it to "jj" (or more recently "jk"). It's unergonomic to reach for the escape key where it customarily is. If it were where Caps Lock is, it would make much more sense. That said, I don't like rotating my hand or remove my fingers from the home row. It's really a non-issue because you can rebind keys so easily, it's not even fun…

> If it were where Caps Lock is, it would make much more sense. macOS Sierra allows you to rebind Caps to the Esc key, which seems like a good compromise to me. As a non-vim user, I just wish I could bind Caps to other keys as well :(

Have a look at Karabiner-Elements. The author recently open sourced it and kept up his brisk development pace. Every year he updates I'm lockstep with macOS releases and every year, I donate. Amazing project.

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

#784

Post by hashhar »

mst wrote: post #656
biot wrote: post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about the same editor? From a 1996 vi man page [0]: There are commands that switch you into input mode. There is only one key that takes you out of input mode, and that is the key. (Key names are written using less-than and greater-than signs, e.g. means the ``escape'' key, usually labeled ``esc'' on your terminal's keyboard.) If you're ever confused as to which mode you're in, keep entering the key u…

Ctrl-[ == Esc. I'm a happy user of http://ex-vi.sf.net/ and can confirm that, since it's the exact same key code, it works -fine-.

That's only true for a terminal. Programs built on electron don't behave the same way with vim emulation plugins.

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

#785

Post by soyiuz »

BlackjackCF wrote: post #494
soyiuz wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also recommend Lenovo Thinkpads, which are quite popular with Linux folks. The X and T in particular give a lot of bang for your buck. I am also eying Thinkpad 13 as a great beater machine replacement for my aging x230.

Are Lenovos still a good go-to? I've just seen them fall apart pretty quickly amongst my friends. Just wondering if the build quality has gotten better...

Not all Lenovos. Stick to the mature strains like Thinkpad X2xx and T4xx. They are built like tanks.

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

#786

Post by bsenftner »

MollyR wrote: post #402
bsenftner wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm testing out a strange setup that is working surprisingly well: I have a beefy desktop: 64GB RAM and 32 cores. Then I carry an Intel Compute Stick, portable laptop and mouse with me. I just plug into any HDMI monitor to do basic work, or RDP/TeamViewer into my desktop for real work. Surprising how well this is working...

Ive been wondering about doing something similar with a compute stick and a nexdock http://nexdock.com/

Those look really nice. I just might try them too. :)

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

#787

Post by scentoni »

gurkendoktor wrote: post #499
jobigoud wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize I don't know the first thing about MacBook keyboards. Are you saying they don't have Page up, Page down, Home and End? Maybe a Windows thing but I use Function keys everyday, F3 for incremental search, F5, F9, F10, F11 for debugging. Not having these keys would be handicapping.

Home/end are not really necessary on a Mac, where you can use cmd+arrow keys instead (left=start of line, right=end of line, up=start of document, down=end of document). The function keys are also not commonly used by apps because the system maps them to brightness control, volume, play/pause etc. by default and you need to use the Fn key to produce the actual function key keystrokes. The convention for incremental s…

fn+Backspace = forward delete

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

#788

Post by [deleted] »

hellofunk wrote: post #627
alexeysemeney wrote: post #606

folks, thanks for all your comments, didn't expect that. The main issue with the keys appears when you have a full-size keyboard and a laptop with a different set of major keys. And there is one more thing — tactile feedback.

In your experience getting actual work done with the new touch bar, what was your personal feedback on how it felt not to have the tactile feedback?

[deleted]

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

#790

Post by erikb »

mikeash wrote: post #665
erikb wrote: post #657

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Techies don't say it's useless for everybody, though. They say it's useless for techies. And that should be a statement they are allowed to make.

I disagree. "Techies" is a huge group and it's ridiculous to think you can speak for all of them, especially when your argument comes down to function keys. As I said, I'm a member of that group and I don't use them. This person is saying that the new MacBook Pro is not for me. What makes it OK for them to speak for me?

See it this way. On one side you have a group this person cares about. On the other side there is this person, you, he doesn't care about. Maybe he just doesn't count you as part of the group as he says "we techies"? Then he's not speaking for you, right?

It's not so political correct, but that is how we techies are. Get used to it if you want to deal with us.

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