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

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

#81

Post by wrp »

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.

"Most important tool" depends on what you mean by "important". For TFA, it means the environment where most of the thinking is done. So it's a legitimate claim. If you want to restrict "important" to the most critical link in the development chain, I suppose you would have to choose the compiler.

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

#82

Post by johnisgood »

planb wrote: post #40
zwnow wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a few years of my career now I never had to use a debugger or CI. Console debugging is good enough usually. On version control I agree.

I don't know you or your work. But I know (senior) developers that don't use a debugger and I've often noticed that when fixing a bug, they don't build a full mental model of what really goes wrong and often just fix the symptoms. Think "that shouldn't be null, we need a null check here" instead of "why is this value null? we should check here, but also make sure the caller works correctly."

You can have that kind of thinking or mental model with and without debuggers though. I do not see how it is relevant to debuggers.

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

#83

Post by kstenerud »

Most comments are focusing on the physical pen and paper aspect of this post, but are missing the underlying principle:

The author uses pen and paper because when they sit down at a computer they end up shifting to "function mode" where they're implementing rather than designing.

That's it.

The important takeaway is to make sure you don't fall into the trap of implementing when you should be designing. How you maintain that balance is up to you.

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

#84

Post by johnisgood »

2b3a51 wrote: post #75
WalterBright wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to get the most out of a physics lecture, leave the laptop at home. Instead, bring a spiral notebook and some colored pens. Write everything down the prof writes on the blackboard. It's remarkable how much of the lecture you'll remember. And when you read your handwritten notes, you'll remember the lecture that went with it.

Suggestion: Write on the right hand page and leave the left page blank (that's the back of the page if you fold the pages over). Then go over the notes later and summarise or add details on those left hand pages. I used to do the colour pen/highlighting then. Worked for me half a century ago. No data format problems or need for legacy hardware either.

But I am left-handed!

Jokes aside, I often used to take notes only on the left side because of it, and sometimes the right side, except upside down.

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

#85

Post by wrp »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #2

I don't understand the pen/physical notebook thing. It's slow to write, insanely slow to search what you've written, almost impossible to copy or share.

Division on this topic reminds me of the division between those who prefer light vs heavy development tools. Some enjoy mastering and wielding powerful tools, but others see them as a distraction.

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

#86

Post by [deleted] »

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'…

[deleted]

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

#87

Post by Eavolution »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #2

I don't understand the pen/physical notebook thing. It's slow to write, insanely slow to search what you've written, almost impossible to copy or share.

I like it when trying to work things out/design things as I can easily scribble down quick drawings to keep myself right. This is much easier with a pencil and paper than trying to do it on a computer to me.

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

#88

Post by johnisgood »

gofreddygo wrote: post #68
MrGilbert wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think an analog note taking device (woah!) requires more discipline than a digital one. In the digital world, you can always re-arrange your chaos at almost no cost, whereas you are screwed in the analog world. I'm curious: How do you organize your notes? If you mind to share.

First there's a work notebook and a personal one. both are semi structured, but work one has more structure. first page is always for index, split vertically and you get roughly 80 entries with about 3-4 words each. one for each page that i number as i go writing through the book. index usually has just pointers to days when i get interesting ideas. each right page is for 1 week that i label up top. a small margin is…

What do you do when you make a mistake? Do you use an eraser instead of backspace? That is my major problem with notebooks.

I type much faster on a keyboard, I can read it even a month from now while I can't do that with my own handwriting, and when I make a mistake, I can quickly and easily correct it.

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

#89

Post by n2h4 »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #11

I like writing much better,[1] and after a fair share of Moleskin, Field Notes, and a long streak with Muji, I’m now blown away by Midori. I have already gotten a few, and I’m going to get a lot more. The tactile ‘scratch’ of the fountain pen on the Midori Paper is so soothing, it makes me feel like I’m a poet even when I’m writing down the most mundane idea that I just had. :-) https://brajeshwar.com/2025/notes/

wow, what a website. got totally immersed in your backstory. last time i had such fun was with https://meyerweb.com/

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

#90

Post by HelloNurse »

zwnow wrote: post #7
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.

In a few years of my career now I never had to use a debugger or CI. Console debugging is good enough usually. On version control I agree.

There are different categories of tools.

You can design a house on paper, but you need e.g. mallets and wheelbarrows to build it; you can design software with "tools for thought", more or less computerized, but you need the automation offered by CI, version control etc. to handle the more concrete aspects properly.

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