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Our text editor is a tool, there’s no fundamental value in a tool vs the other, they do not possess life. They’re tools like a fork is a tool. I wonder what of

by aprdm 6y ago

Our text editor is a tool, there’s no fundamental value in a tool vs the other, they do not possess life. They’re tools like a fork is a tool. I wonder what of the things you use in the day to day you analyze so deeply, your microwave ? The forks you buy? Might be an interesting exercise of thought but for something that I use to make money, I will use the best tool available for the job, thank you very much.

ht_th 6y ago
Maybe not forks for eating. But when I buy a pitchfork, I do care about the source of the handle's wood because I do not want to contribute to deforestation. I also look at the repairability. For example, would any standard handle fit? And can I attach one myself? And the "usability" of the handle, and the fork as a whole, is another factor that is important to me. Often, just from handling them, you do get a good feel if the pitchfork makers actually seem to care about their users and know what they are doing or not.
antonvs 6y ago
> there’s no fundamental value in a tool vs the other > I will use the best tool available for the job The article is pointing out that the way you decide which tool is best depends on values that you have, which is certainly true whether or not you consciously think about or recognize those values. Describe your decision process for selecting the best tool in a given scenario, and the values you use should become clear.
mpalmer 6y ago
You didn't even skim the headline correctly.
db48x 6y ago
My values certainly informed my decision when I last purchased forks. My values are that the design should lean towards minimalism over overt decoration, that they should have appreciable weight, and be likely to last a lifetime. I could have saved a few dollars by getting those really cheap forks you see that are obviously just stamped out of sheets of steel, but cheapness wasn't one of my values. Instead I got forks that have never bent, or rusted, or tarnished, or shown any signs of wear in almost a decade of use. Plus they feel nice in the hand, they look good, and they don't have flowers or birds carved into the handle or any of that nonsense. It was also a nice bonus that I found them at a Target a mile from where I live. I hate shopping, so that satisfied a tertiary value by not making me visit a lot of stores. It's the same with editors. Most people value price above all else, so there's no business in selling editors any more. Back in the day I used a rather nice commercial editor called VEdit. My Dad must have bought it, because at that age I never would have. It had a ton of features, and came with an inch-thick printed manual. I don't recall how extensible or introspectable it was (I was 12 at the time, and didn't care about such things), so probably it wouldn't satisfy my values today. On the other hand, it satisfied (or cultivated) values that I didn't even know at the time that I had. When I discovered VEdit's hex-editor, I started using it on everything. I explored how file names were stored in directory entries. I hex-edited some games to change their messages. I learned quite a lot from those sorts of things, so I'd say that it was money well spent. But you're correct in saying that editors are not alive, and cannot themselves have values. However, the people who develop the editor certainly do have values, and those values affect the choices they make when they write code. If those values are similar to your own values, then the developers of the editor will make similar choices to the ones you would have made if you had been developing the editor. Thus, the editor will fit you well.

by aprdm 6y ago

ht_th 6y ago

Maybe not forks for eating. But when I buy a pitchfork, I do care about the source of the handle's wood because I do not want to contribute to deforestation. I also look at the repairability. For example, would any standard handle fit? And can I attach one myself? And the "usability" of the handle, and the fork as a whole, is another factor that is important to me. Often, just from handling them, you do get a good feel if the pitchfork makers actually seem to care about their users and know what they are doing or not.

antonvs 6y ago

> there’s no fundamental value in a tool vs the other > I will use the best tool available for the job The article is pointing out that the way you decide which tool is best depends on values that you have, which is certainly true whether or not you consciously think about or recognize those values. Describe your decision process for selecting the best tool in a given scenario, and the values you use should become clear.

mpalmer 6y ago

You didn't even skim the headline correctly.

db48x 6y ago

My values certainly informed my decision when I last purchased forks. My values are that the design should lean towards minimalism over overt decoration, that they should have appreciable weight, and be likely to last a lifetime. I could have saved a few dollars by getting those really cheap forks you see that are obviously just stamped out of sheets of steel, but cheapness wasn't one of my values. Instead I got forks that have never bent, or rusted, or tarnished, or shown any signs of wear in almost a decade of use. Plus they feel nice in the hand, they look good, and they don't have flowers or birds carved into the handle or any of that nonsense. It was also a nice bonus that I found them at a Target a mile from where I live. I hate shopping, so that satisfied a tertiary value by not making me visit a lot of stores. It's the same with editors. Most people value price above all else, so there's no business in selling editors any more. Back in the day I used a rather nice commercial editor called VEdit. My Dad must have bought it, because at that age I never would have. It had a ton of features, and came with an inch-thick printed manual. I don't recall how extensible or introspectable it was (I was 12 at the time, and didn't care about such things), so probably it wouldn't satisfy my values today. On the other hand, it satisfied (or cultivated) values that I didn't even know at the time that I had. When I discovered VEdit's hex-editor, I started using it on everything. I explored how file names were stored in directory entries. I hex-edited some games to change their messages. I learned quite a lot from those sorts of things, so I'd say that it was money well spent. But you're correct in saying that editors are not alive, and cannot themselves have values. However, the people who develop the editor certainly do have values, and those values affect the choices they make when they write code. If those values are similar to your own values, then the developers of the editor will make similar choices to the ones you would have made if you had been developing the editor. Thus, the editor will fit you well.