11 ms·

Paul Graham : uses this.

127 points by skbohra123 16y ago

kingsidharth 16y ago
This whole thing was more like - let's build a random profile. Nothing that I didn't already know. Interviews are supposed to give a reflection of a person, their thinking process or get an insider scoop. Nothing here. EDIT: Sorry people, just saw that interview aimed to know the tools he used to get things done. So my bad!
- skbohra123 16y ago
  The site is about interviewing people asking them what tools they use. I think that is achieved in this.
  - saurik 16y ago
    I agree: the site accomplished its only stated goal. As someone who was approached by usesthis to be on their site (just last week: I have not said "no" yet) I can say that the guy who runs it specifically seems to have not cared much about how to optimize for generating insight into the /why/ behind what people are using. Personally, however, I found that quite disappointing. :( Reading through the list of people and what they had to say I'm thinking, "man, I wonder if that was a random choice, or something that person spent a lot of time thinking about". Maybe I'm weird, but just knowing that someone who's work I admire has a Compaq Concerto isn't interesting if I don't understand the tradeoffs that went into its purchase. Another complaint I have is that the site attempts what I believe to be a strong and artificial separation between hardware and software, and even requires a fixed ordering: hardware first, software second. In my experience, software and hardware are really two different physical manifestations of the same underlying concepts (maybe I've spent way too much time on projects that involved writing software to accomplish the same goal as a previous generation's fixed function hardware), and end up having dependency relationships that criss-cross the supposed boundary. As an example, many people interviewed on the site mentioned that they own a MacBook only because they were recently doing a lot of iPhone development and needed to use Apple's iOS SDK. However, it led to awkward phrasing to do that in the hardware section (before they had a chance to go more in depth into the software later), so the comment is stilted at the top and then short changed later (as it was already mentioned earlier). It is also quite common, however, for people to first look at physical device properties like form factor, screen size, or input subsystem, leading them to make decisions that sound like "once I decided I had to have a netbook, I started evaluating whether to run Debian or Windows 7: either would be fine as I really only needed to run Chrome and a terminal". I therefore look at this website as a giant list of missed opportunities to learn something really interesting and important about a number of really awesome people, and while I again agree: the site accomplished its stated goal, I think it is appropriate to judge a site on whether the underlying concept was appropriate in addition to whether they succeeded at their implementation.
    - qjz 16y ago
      Judging by the wide range of profiles, I'd say the format is flexible enough to address all of your concerns without changing a thing. Some of the featured users focus only on what they use to get work done, while others come off as proud technohoarders. Some choose to be explicit about their philosophy, while others let the setup speak for itself. I don't really favor one approach over the other, but I always find the choice of what to include or not include fascinating. In any case, it's one of the few sites where I read every article, so I think they're doing something right.
      - saurik 16y ago
        Can you please provide more detail? I provided an explicit issue--"hardware first, software second"--along with and a specific very common example (iOS SDK) and how I felt that ordering choice (inflexible: I checked with the site's editor) limited the ability for many people to be able to explain that "why" in an effective manner. I would hope you'd be able to show me some counter examples, or show me how I'm simply missing some obvious reinterpretation that would allow me to look past this bug. The specific hardware and software I use to do my work is something I have spent a lot of explicit time thinking about, both alone and with the people I work with (we have spent so much time bickering over what the absolute best keyboard in the world is it would sicken many people), and I simply do not see a way to make these stories insightful or compelling with the constraint of explicitly discussing hardware first and software second. :( A final comment: I did not say that they aren't doing anything right. I stated quite explicitly that I "personally" felt there were other interesting goals that were being left aside, and I will say that apparently some other people agree with me or we would not have seen the couple comments in this thread that led me to decide to post something to expand on the thought. Please do not assume that people expressing their personal opinions about something implies that that they believe that thing has no value to anyone.
- qjz 16y ago
  Nothing superfluous here. He's a minimalist.
  - mhd 16y ago
    Depending on your usage, a terminal isn't necessarily minimalistic, apart from the visual side. I've known a lot of people who live in Excel, who could be deemed more minimalistic than a lot of Unix users, using umpteen command-line utilities, a few ad-hoc programming and expression languages… (Not saying that pg does it that way. For all I know, he might just use vi and mzscheme after all)
  - thedeuce 16y ago
    minimalists don't use macs bud
- zmmz 16y ago
  Agreed, out of all the usesthis interviews that have been put up, I believe this is the shortest and least interesting. The good ones include historical context and explanation of the setup decisions, this is just a list.
paolomaffei 16y ago
Paul Graham has a screen smaller then mine and uses two software I didn't know existed which I will now check out, that's everything vaguely "interesting" I found in this.
- phob 16y ago
  Thank you for commenting on this article.
  - paolomaffei 16y ago
    I don't understand. Am I not supposed to say that I found this article pointless and everyone is upvoting it just because it has "Paul Graham" in the title? Sometimes HN really surprises me.
    - steveklabnik 16y ago
      Generally, you'd get upvoted for saying a bit more than "this article sucked." Then again, I didn't downvote you, so...
jacobolus 16y ago
> I'd like it if the Air was about half the size. [...] > I'd like it if the HD display was bigger and much lighter and didn't have such a massive octopus of cables attached to it. Looks like Apple agreed. The more recent Apple displays are bigger and have mostly eliminated the “octopus of cables” (when LightPeak hits this should even further improve), and the new Air is substantially smaller.
- zackattack 16y ago
  I'm thinking about getting a new Macbook Air, but I'm concerned about his desire for unlimited fast CPU: the new Airs have pointedly lacking CPU resources.
  - slyn 16y ago
    Potentially relevant: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4000/apples-11inch-upgraded-macbook-air-review-do-16ghz-and-4gb-make-a-difference http://www.anandtech.com/show/4000/apples-11inch-upgraded-ma...
skbohra123 16y ago
One common thing in all usesthis.com interviews is, no one uses Windows OS as their main operating system and Mac is used most. Only person I found using Windows is Mitch Altman so far.
- augustl 16y ago
  Another Windows sighting! http://jakob.nielsen.usesthis.com/ http://jakob.nielsen.usesthis.com/
  - unwantedLetters 16y ago
    http://jason.rohrer.usesthis.com/ http://jason.rohrer.usesthis.com/ Another windows sighting. And the most fascinating of the interviews I've read.
    - rkwz 16y ago
      What would be your dream setup? Dream setup? This is it! Incredible!
    - pivo 16y ago
      > On the other partition, I installed Ubuntu 7.04 (aka Feisty Fawn), which is my main development OS, and what I boot into almost every day. So he uses Windows and Mac OS for platform-specific builds, but Linux day-to-day.
      - unwantedLetters 16y ago
        Ah, true. I was posting it more as just a simple sighting of Windows, and because Jason's setup is pretty incredible.
    - elblanco 16y ago
      I know this isn't a popular POV, but I've always thought that developers should work on last gen hardware. Getting good performance out of last gen hardware ensures great performance for the typical user. (okay, let's be reasonable, the build machine should be stupid fast so nobody is sitting around for half a day while the repository builds).
wyclif 16y ago
I use the usual Unix utilities (vi for editing). Not vim? Not MacVim? You ssh to a server and use vanilla vi?
- tvon 16y ago
  I think it's usually safe to assume that when people say 'vi' they mean 'vim'.
  - pyre 16y ago
    On most systems for the past while 'vi' is just a link to/copy of vim in compatibility mode.
    - pak 16y ago
      A B D D C assorted curses <esc> :q! $ echo "alias vi=vim" >> ~/.bashrc
  - yesimahuman 16y ago
    A pet-peeve of mine. I don't want new vim users trying "vi" and having an awful experience ("how do I undo more than once??"), assuming it's not an alias for vim.
- yatsyk 16y ago
  I've also noticed this. Other thing no mention on any source control system.
  - bmj 16y ago
    I read the lack of mentioning source control this way: it is just assumed that they use some sort of version control system, and for many of them, they are content to use whatever is used in their working environment.
maxklein 16y ago
Pretty standard setup he uses. The most informative usesthis I've seen is with Marco Arment: http://marco.arment.usesthis.com/ http://marco.arment.usesthis.com/
- KeithMajhor 16y ago
  Wow! you're right, that's awesome. When I got done reading the "What hardware are you using?" section I laughed at the heading of the "What would be your dream setup?" section.
mapleoin 16y ago
Which site is he managing with Yahoo Store?
- tomhoward 16y ago
  http://paulgraham.com/ http://paulgraham.com/
  - mapleoin 16y ago
    Oh, I thought he was talking about an actual store. I suppose this explains the believe it or not part.
    - meelash 16y ago
      I was thinking the believe it or not was on account of who invented the Yahoo store?
vgurgov 16y ago
I also enjoyed this interview with _why http://why.usesthis.com/ http://why.usesthis.com/
antipaganda 16y ago
What the hell? American McGee has large eyes like a classic angel: http://american.mcgee.usesthis.com/ http://american.mcgee.usesthis.com/ edit: Look, I'm not dissing the man. His eyes are angelically beautiful. I must admit, probably not an insight into what tools he uses, but I just hadn't noticed before.
bengl3rt 16y ago
Why can't I create my own usesthis page? Who decides who's important or interesting enough to get "interviewed"?
- kyro 16y ago
  So create one.
- chrislloyd 16y ago
  Wanting to make your own Uses This page is like asking "Why don't they let anybody publish an article in the New Yorker?" It is curated content. However, there is nothing stopping you from publishing your own version on your own site. Or bribing with @waferbaby with yummy vegan treats.
  - sudont 16y ago
    "yummy vegan treats." Oxymoron, fellow weekend warrior. Butter must be included. However, it is not an element in the periodic table of deliciousness--because it is so fundamental it is the up-quark of baking.
- britta 16y ago
  Check out the Setup's "Community" page, linked from the top: http://usesthis.com/community/ http://usesthis.com/community/ - it includes a list of links to people who have answered the questions on their own blogs.
- waferbaby 16y ago
  You can! Take the format and post it on your own site, and I'll link to it on the community page (http://usesthis.com/community/ http://usesthis.com/community/). Easy.
known 16y ago
http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com/ http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com/ should be interesting.
- docgnome 16y ago
  A bit. I admire his principles of using free software only no mater what.
  - RexRollman 16y ago
    Agreed. I appreciate Stallman's efforts even though I do not always see eye to eye with him.
samratjp 16y ago
You know you've made it when you're on the list of most of these alpha geeks. Dropbox, i.e.
- natep 16y ago
  pg funded Dropbox (and probably all of the non-Google software he mentions, except Yahoo Store, which he wrote), fyi
  - samratjp 16y ago
    Why, of course he did - not on the first time around though :-)
jmonegro 16y ago
"I don't know why Apple won't make something in between the Air and an iPhone." Well that would be the iPad. This is from 2009, I wonder what pg thinks of the iPad regarding this quote. Really makes you notice how fast things change in a year nowadays.
thinkMoveBe 16y ago
In these interviews I rarely come across a piece of software or hardward that isn't accessible from an economic standpoint. Almost always run of the mill stuff. A nice reminder to a guy like me that can get caught up in gear/books/sites, etc. It's not the gear it's 'that' and 'how' you use it. I just finished reading "Coders at Work". An I 'used' this would make an interesting site as well. Especially if there were pics of some of those old machines. I borrowed a unix book from a friend and he had been using an old punchcard as a bookmark. Neat little find.

127 points by skbohra123 16y ago

This whole thing was more like - let's build a random profile. Nothing that I didn't already know. Interviews are supposed to give a reflection of a person, their thinking process or get an insider scoop. Nothing here. EDIT: Sorry people, just saw that interview aimed to know the tools he used to get things done. So my bad!

skbohra123 16y ago
The site is about interviewing people asking them what tools they use. I think that is achieved in this.
- saurik 16y ago
  I agree: the site accomplished its only stated goal. As someone who was approached by usesthis to be on their site (just last week: I have not said "no" yet) I can say that the guy who runs it specifically seems to have not cared much about how to optimize for generating insight into the /why/ behind what people are using. Personally, however, I found that quite disappointing. :( Reading through the list of people and what they had to say I'm thinking, "man, I wonder if that was a random choice, or something that person spent a lot of time thinking about". Maybe I'm weird, but just knowing that someone who's work I admire has a Compaq Concerto isn't interesting if I don't understand the tradeoffs that went into its purchase. Another complaint I have is that the site attempts what I believe to be a strong and artificial separation between hardware and software, and even requires a fixed ordering: hardware first, software second. In my experience, software and hardware are really two different physical manifestations of the same underlying concepts (maybe I've spent way too much time on projects that involved writing software to accomplish the same goal as a previous generation's fixed function hardware), and end up having dependency relationships that criss-cross the supposed boundary. As an example, many people interviewed on the site mentioned that they own a MacBook only because they were recently doing a lot of iPhone development and needed to use Apple's iOS SDK. However, it led to awkward phrasing to do that in the hardware section (before they had a chance to go more in depth into the software later), so the comment is stilted at the top and then short changed later (as it was already mentioned earlier). It is also quite common, however, for people to first look at physical device properties like form factor, screen size, or input subsystem, leading them to make decisions that sound like "once I decided I had to have a netbook, I started evaluating whether to run Debian or Windows 7: either would be fine as I really only needed to run Chrome and a terminal". I therefore look at this website as a giant list of missed opportunities to learn something really interesting and important about a number of really awesome people, and while I again agree: the site accomplished its stated goal, I think it is appropriate to judge a site on whether the underlying concept was appropriate in addition to whether they succeeded at their implementation.
  - qjz 16y ago
    Judging by the wide range of profiles, I'd say the format is flexible enough to address all of your concerns without changing a thing. Some of the featured users focus only on what they use to get work done, while others come off as proud technohoarders. Some choose to be explicit about their philosophy, while others let the setup speak for itself. I don't really favor one approach over the other, but I always find the choice of what to include or not include fascinating. In any case, it's one of the few sites where I read every article, so I think they're doing something right.
    - saurik 16y ago
      Can you please provide more detail? I provided an explicit issue--"hardware first, software second"--along with and a specific very common example (iOS SDK) and how I felt that ordering choice (inflexible: I checked with the site's editor) limited the ability for many people to be able to explain that "why" in an effective manner. I would hope you'd be able to show me some counter examples, or show me how I'm simply missing some obvious reinterpretation that would allow me to look past this bug. The specific hardware and software I use to do my work is something I have spent a lot of explicit time thinking about, both alone and with the people I work with (we have spent so much time bickering over what the absolute best keyboard in the world is it would sicken many people), and I simply do not see a way to make these stories insightful or compelling with the constraint of explicitly discussing hardware first and software second. :( A final comment: I did not say that they aren't doing anything right. I stated quite explicitly that I "personally" felt there were other interesting goals that were being left aside, and I will say that apparently some other people agree with me or we would not have seen the couple comments in this thread that led me to decide to post something to expand on the thought. Please do not assume that people expressing their personal opinions about something implies that that they believe that thing has no value to anyone.
qjz 16y ago
Nothing superfluous here. He's a minimalist.
- mhd 16y ago
  Depending on your usage, a terminal isn't necessarily minimalistic, apart from the visual side. I've known a lot of people who live in Excel, who could be deemed more minimalistic than a lot of Unix users, using umpteen command-line utilities, a few ad-hoc programming and expression languages… (Not saying that pg does it that way. For all I know, he might just use vi and mzscheme after all)
- thedeuce 16y ago
  minimalists don't use macs bud
zmmz 16y ago
Agreed, out of all the usesthis interviews that have been put up, I believe this is the shortest and least interesting. The good ones include historical context and explanation of the setup decisions, this is just a list.

paolomaffei 16y ago

Paul Graham has a screen smaller then mine and uses two software I didn't know existed which I will now check out, that's everything vaguely "interesting" I found in this.

phob 16y ago
Thank you for commenting on this article.
- paolomaffei 16y ago
  I don't understand. Am I not supposed to say that I found this article pointless and everyone is upvoting it just because it has "Paul Graham" in the title? Sometimes HN really surprises me.
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    Generally, you'd get upvoted for saying a bit more than "this article sucked." Then again, I didn't downvote you, so...

jacobolus 16y ago

> I'd like it if the Air was about half the size. [...] > I'd like it if the HD display was bigger and much lighter and didn't have such a massive octopus of cables attached to it. Looks like Apple agreed. The more recent Apple displays are bigger and have mostly eliminated the “octopus of cables” (when LightPeak hits this should even further improve), and the new Air is substantially smaller.

zackattack 16y ago
I'm thinking about getting a new Macbook Air, but I'm concerned about his desire for unlimited fast CPU: the new Airs have pointedly lacking CPU resources.
- slyn 16y ago
  Potentially relevant: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4000/apples-11inch-upgraded-macbook-air-review-do-16ghz-and-4gb-make-a-difference http://www.anandtech.com/show/4000/apples-11inch-upgraded-ma...

skbohra123 16y ago

One common thing in all usesthis.com interviews is, no one uses Windows OS as their main operating system and Mac is used most. Only person I found using Windows is Mitch Altman so far.

augustl 16y ago
Another Windows sighting! http://jakob.nielsen.usesthis.com/ http://jakob.nielsen.usesthis.com/
- unwantedLetters 16y ago
  http://jason.rohrer.usesthis.com/ http://jason.rohrer.usesthis.com/ Another windows sighting. And the most fascinating of the interviews I've read.
  - rkwz 16y ago
    What would be your dream setup? Dream setup? This is it! Incredible!
  - pivo 16y ago
    > On the other partition, I installed Ubuntu 7.04 (aka Feisty Fawn), which is my main development OS, and what I boot into almost every day. So he uses Windows and Mac OS for platform-specific builds, but Linux day-to-day.
    - unwantedLetters 16y ago
      Ah, true. I was posting it more as just a simple sighting of Windows, and because Jason's setup is pretty incredible.
  - elblanco 16y ago
    I know this isn't a popular POV, but I've always thought that developers should work on last gen hardware. Getting good performance out of last gen hardware ensures great performance for the typical user. (okay, let's be reasonable, the build machine should be stupid fast so nobody is sitting around for half a day while the repository builds).

wyclif 16y ago

I use the usual Unix utilities (vi for editing). Not vim? Not MacVim? You ssh to a server and use vanilla vi?

tvon 16y ago
I think it's usually safe to assume that when people say 'vi' they mean 'vim'.
- pyre 16y ago
  On most systems for the past while 'vi' is just a link to/copy of vim in compatibility mode.
  - pak 16y ago
    A B D D C assorted curses <esc> :q! $ echo "alias vi=vim" >> ~/.bashrc
- yesimahuman 16y ago
  A pet-peeve of mine. I don't want new vim users trying "vi" and having an awful experience ("how do I undo more than once??"), assuming it's not an alias for vim.
yatsyk 16y ago
I've also noticed this. Other thing no mention on any source control system.
- bmj 16y ago
  I read the lack of mentioning source control this way: it is just assumed that they use some sort of version control system, and for many of them, they are content to use whatever is used in their working environment.

maxklein 16y ago

Pretty standard setup he uses. The most informative usesthis I've seen is with Marco Arment: http://marco.arment.usesthis.com/ http://marco.arment.usesthis.com/

KeithMajhor 16y ago
Wow! you're right, that's awesome. When I got done reading the "What hardware are you using?" section I laughed at the heading of the "What would be your dream setup?" section.

mapleoin 16y ago

Which site is he managing with Yahoo Store?

tomhoward 16y ago
http://paulgraham.com/ http://paulgraham.com/
- mapleoin 16y ago
  Oh, I thought he was talking about an actual store. I suppose this explains the believe it or not part.
  - meelash 16y ago
    I was thinking the believe it or not was on account of who invented the Yahoo store?

vgurgov 16y ago

I also enjoyed this interview with _why http://why.usesthis.com/ http://why.usesthis.com/

antipaganda 16y ago

What the hell? American McGee has large eyes like a classic angel: http://american.mcgee.usesthis.com/ http://american.mcgee.usesthis.com/ edit: Look, I'm not dissing the man. His eyes are angelically beautiful. I must admit, probably not an insight into what tools he uses, but I just hadn't noticed before.

bengl3rt 16y ago

Why can't I create my own usesthis page? Who decides who's important or interesting enough to get "interviewed"?

kyro 16y ago
So create one.
chrislloyd 16y ago
Wanting to make your own Uses This page is like asking "Why don't they let anybody publish an article in the New Yorker?" It is curated content. However, there is nothing stopping you from publishing your own version on your own site. Or bribing with @waferbaby with yummy vegan treats.
- sudont 16y ago
  "yummy vegan treats." Oxymoron, fellow weekend warrior. Butter must be included. However, it is not an element in the periodic table of deliciousness--because it is so fundamental it is the up-quark of baking.
britta 16y ago
Check out the Setup's "Community" page, linked from the top: http://usesthis.com/community/ http://usesthis.com/community/ - it includes a list of links to people who have answered the questions on their own blogs.
waferbaby 16y ago
You can! Take the format and post it on your own site, and I'll link to it on the community page (http://usesthis.com/community/ http://usesthis.com/community/). Easy.

known 16y ago

http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com/ http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com/ should be interesting.

docgnome 16y ago
A bit. I admire his principles of using free software only no mater what.
- RexRollman 16y ago
  Agreed. I appreciate Stallman's efforts even though I do not always see eye to eye with him.

samratjp 16y ago

You know you've made it when you're on the list of most of these alpha geeks. Dropbox, i.e.

natep 16y ago
pg funded Dropbox (and probably all of the non-Google software he mentions, except Yahoo Store, which he wrote), fyi
- samratjp 16y ago
  Why, of course he did - not on the first time around though :-)

jmonegro 16y ago

"I don't know why Apple won't make something in between the Air and an iPhone." Well that would be the iPad. This is from 2009, I wonder what pg thinks of the iPad regarding this quote. Really makes you notice how fast things change in a year nowadays.

thinkMoveBe 16y ago

In these interviews I rarely come across a piece of software or hardward that isn't accessible from an economic standpoint. Almost always run of the mill stuff. A nice reminder to a guy like me that can get caught up in gear/books/sites, etc. It's not the gear it's 'that' and 'how' you use it. I just finished reading "Coders at Work". An I 'used' this would make an interesting site as well. Especially if there were pics of some of those old machines. I borrowed a unix book from a friend and he had been using an old punchcard as a bookmark. Neat little find.