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“I type fast enough that I have never had much use for snippets in my text editor. Perhaps if I’d used them more effectively, I would not have developed the RSI

“I type fast enough that I have never had much use for snippets in my text editor. Perhaps if I’d used them more effectively, I would not have developed the RSI symptoms that I have!" Often we have discussions about advanced code completion on HN. Many developers feel they don’t need it, or that it gets in their way, for example. Reading stories like this convinces me even more that our editors (tools) need to be smarter. There is so much repetition is coding, it’s hard to believe we can’t do better. This tool is often mentioned: https://tabnine.com/ https://tabnine.com/

busterarm 7y ago
I've been typing just about 4-16 hours a day going on 30 years now without RSI. Fingers crossed.
- melling 7y ago
  Isn’t that sort of like saying, I smoked 2 packs of cigarettes for 30 years, fingers crossed? Some people are more susceptible to problems. This was on HN several years ago. http://www.looknohands.me/ http://www.looknohands.me/ You can be in your 20’s and have a problem.
  - busterarm 7y ago
    I also worked with someone in a remote capacity who insisted on using Dragon Naturally Speaking and his communication on technical topics was unintelligible. It clearly wasn't working, but he insisted and everyone who worked with him suffered for it. And now he's not working in tech anymore and is a field engineer doing repetitive labor with his hands...
  - magicalhippo 7y ago
    I actively try to switch things up, depending on if I feel something is starting to get uncomfortable. If my mouse hand starts to give signals, I'll switch to using keyboard more. Regardless I'll switch seating position and hand orientation throughout the day. So in that respect it's unlike smoking I guess.
keymone 7y ago
We should use better languages. Better understood and integrated with the editor and better at expressing every level of abstraction. coughpretty much any lispcough
- ulisesrmzroche 7y ago
  Or you could take a short break every so often What we really need are better programmers
  - keymone 7y ago
    Tools matter. First ascent of Eiger’s north face took few days and team of 4. Last I heard Ueli Steck did it few years ago solo in less than 2 hours. Maybe he was better but not by that much. His tools were unquestionably better.
    - shrimp_emoji 7y ago
      If better tools also make "worse" programmers (i.e., people saner and happier and uninitiated with the brain death rigors of struggling with awful/no tools), tools also matter more the better they get.
      - keymone 7y ago
        If a tool makes worse programmer, it’s not better I would say.
lunixbochs 7y ago
Deep TabNine looks so good it’s downright spooky: https://tabnine.com/blog/deep https://tabnine.com/blog/deep
- singularity2001 7y ago
  This will result in a whole new class of copy paste bugs. Great anyways
est 7y ago
I found that Kite is comparable with Tabnine, at least with Python. https://kite.com/integrations/kite-vs-tabnine/ https://kite.com/integrations/kite-vs-tabnine/
- Gaelan 7y ago
  Is Kite's behavior still as shady as it used to be?
- lunixbochs 7y ago
  Because this says “single token completion” as the tabnine example gif I’m guessing it isn’t comparing to deep tabnine at all, which is on an entirely different level
- 90litshi99 7y ago
  the memory usage comparison is accurate for tabnine, at least in my case. local-only tab nine wasn't practical. and using a cloud server for an autocomplete seems unnecessary.
short_sells_poo 7y ago
I like the idea of TabNine, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be super well supported :( There are no news on whether it is being actively developed and the current implementation is unusable in a corporate environment because it can't dial home through a proxy so it refuses to activate the license. It's a shame too because it was basically a "shut up and take my money" reaction from me. I'd pay for this product. I'd pay good money for this product.
- tcoff91 7y ago
  It has a completely local option which is the default.
  - short_sells_poo 7y ago
    Yes, but it still needs to talk to it's servers once to unlock the restricted version. It's all nice and dandy that after the one time activation it can function fully locally, but I never get to that point because the pointless "feature" of activation can't get through the corporate proxy. So to recap: 1. There is currently no paid license 2. The free version nevertheless needs to be activated online to unlock the full power (otherwise there are severe limitations) 3. It can't handle proxies, so you can't activate it at all in corporate environments
thrower123 7y ago
I am relatively sure that you could tell that my keyboard is primarily used for coding C# in Visual Studio just by looking at which keys are the most worn and which carry a significant layer of dust on them. The keys that complete an Intellisense selection (space, period, semi-colon, Enter) are nearly ground down to nubs, and the open-paren and open-bracket keys are worn smooth, while the corresponding close keys indicate near complete disuse. Similarly for F5 (Start Debugger) and F10 (Step Over) compared to the rest of the F-keys.

busterarm 7y ago

I've been typing just about 4-16 hours a day going on 30 years now without RSI. Fingers crossed.

melling 7y ago
Isn’t that sort of like saying, I smoked 2 packs of cigarettes for 30 years, fingers crossed? Some people are more susceptible to problems. This was on HN several years ago. http://www.looknohands.me/ http://www.looknohands.me/ You can be in your 20’s and have a problem.
- busterarm 7y ago
  I also worked with someone in a remote capacity who insisted on using Dragon Naturally Speaking and his communication on technical topics was unintelligible. It clearly wasn't working, but he insisted and everyone who worked with him suffered for it. And now he's not working in tech anymore and is a field engineer doing repetitive labor with his hands...
- magicalhippo 7y ago
  I actively try to switch things up, depending on if I feel something is starting to get uncomfortable. If my mouse hand starts to give signals, I'll switch to using keyboard more. Regardless I'll switch seating position and hand orientation throughout the day. So in that respect it's unlike smoking I guess.

keymone 7y ago

We should use better languages. Better understood and integrated with the editor and better at expressing every level of abstraction. coughpretty much any lispcough

ulisesrmzroche 7y ago
Or you could take a short break every so often What we really need are better programmers
- keymone 7y ago
  Tools matter. First ascent of Eiger’s north face took few days and team of 4. Last I heard Ueli Steck did it few years ago solo in less than 2 hours. Maybe he was better but not by that much. His tools were unquestionably better.
  - shrimp_emoji 7y ago
    If better tools also make "worse" programmers (i.e., people saner and happier and uninitiated with the brain death rigors of struggling with awful/no tools), tools also matter more the better they get.
    - keymone 7y ago
      If a tool makes worse programmer, it’s not better I would say.

lunixbochs 7y ago

Deep TabNine looks so good it’s downright spooky: https://tabnine.com/blog/deep https://tabnine.com/blog/deep

singularity2001 7y ago
This will result in a whole new class of copy paste bugs. Great anyways

est 7y ago

I found that Kite is comparable with Tabnine, at least with Python. https://kite.com/integrations/kite-vs-tabnine/ https://kite.com/integrations/kite-vs-tabnine/

Gaelan 7y ago
Is Kite's behavior still as shady as it used to be?
lunixbochs 7y ago
Because this says “single token completion” as the tabnine example gif I’m guessing it isn’t comparing to deep tabnine at all, which is on an entirely different level
90litshi99 7y ago
the memory usage comparison is accurate for tabnine, at least in my case. local-only tab nine wasn't practical. and using a cloud server for an autocomplete seems unnecessary.

short_sells_poo 7y ago

I like the idea of TabNine, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be super well supported :( There are no news on whether it is being actively developed and the current implementation is unusable in a corporate environment because it can't dial home through a proxy so it refuses to activate the license. It's a shame too because it was basically a "shut up and take my money" reaction from me. I'd pay for this product. I'd pay good money for this product.

tcoff91 7y ago
It has a completely local option which is the default.
- short_sells_poo 7y ago
  Yes, but it still needs to talk to it's servers once to unlock the restricted version. It's all nice and dandy that after the one time activation it can function fully locally, but I never get to that point because the pointless "feature" of activation can't get through the corporate proxy. So to recap: 1. There is currently no paid license 2. The free version nevertheless needs to be activated online to unlock the full power (otherwise there are severe limitations) 3. It can't handle proxies, so you can't activate it at all in corporate environments

thrower123 7y ago

I am relatively sure that you could tell that my keyboard is primarily used for coding C# in Visual Studio just by looking at which keys are the most worn and which carry a significant layer of dust on them. The keys that complete an Intellisense selection (space, period, semi-colon, Enter) are nearly ground down to nubs, and the open-paren and open-bracket keys are worn smooth, while the corresponding close keys indicate near complete disuse. Similarly for F5 (Start Debugger) and F10 (Step Over) compared to the rest of the F-keys.