5 ms·

I think so, but prepare for people to come out of the woodwork with all kinds of reasons why their workflow is the _one true way_. Some people like customizing

by kortex 5y ago

I think so, but prepare for people to come out of the woodwork with all kinds of reasons why their workflow is the _one true way_. Some people like customizing the heck out of their editor, getting super deep into metaprogramming and macros. Personally, I don't really have time for that. I want an editor which does 95% of what I want out of the box. For me, that's pycharm, but vscode is really nice as well. It feels lighter than pycharm. You can usually configure all kinds of macros and plugins for IDEs. Like you said, it's a bit of a rabbit hole, but so is emacs lisp.

saurik 5y ago
> Some people like customizing the heck out of their editor, getting super deep into metaprogramming and macros. You will hopefully be programming for decades: I have been programming already for three decades and I expect I will be programming for another two before my mind gives out (if I am lucky, I might get another four). Customize your tools: they are yours, and being able to continue using and improving your workflow over time isn't a distraction if you are in this for the long haul.
- arvinsim 5y ago
  If I work on different environments or desks, customization is the last thing I want. I would rather have sane defaults and start being productive immediately.
  - LeonidasXIV 5y ago
    The same argument could be taken to the absurd by saying you only use notepad or nano because they're likely to be installed already so you can be immediately productive.
    - pizza234 5y ago
      Even if the argument is taken to the absurd, the parent's approach can still be valid; if the user worked on an infinite number of environments (remember, this is the assumption of the parent poster), it'd be overall more productive to use barebone tools with zero learning overhead, rather than spending infinite time with the learning overhead of the infinite environments. The core point is overall productivity; it may still be more productive overall not to know some tools extremely well.
  - varjag 5y ago
    A 20Kb .emacs file isn't that much to carry around.
- alkonaut 5y ago
  > Customize your tools: they are yours, and being able to continue using and improving your workflow over time isn't a distraction if you are in this for the long haul. I have programmed for 20 years professionally (and a few more). I have the exact opposite approach. I don't even learn ketyboard shortcuts, would never customize my environment even a little (like moving a tool window around in an IDE) because it just doesn't stick. The difference in philosophy is probably because I'm a windows dev and I just don't have (or trust) there to be a persistent settings storage. The small papercuts of not customization it is less annoying than the constant re-customization required when it keeps breaking, or you use a different machine. There is no real dotfile system, the user profile directory is a mess and even if it is, applications usually don't bother to maintain their settings and compatibility. So my philosophy has basically become: change nothing, and everything will look your way even on a clean system (and after the next upgrade).
  - spacemanmatt 5y ago
    I don't really believe in 10x programmers but I do believe in 1x programmers, and I do believe that many tool defaults conspire to make everyone a 0.1x programmer. Nothing works that great out of the box.

by kortex 5y ago

saurik 5y ago

> Some people like customizing the heck out of their editor, getting super deep into metaprogramming and macros. You will hopefully be programming for decades: I have been programming already for three decades and I expect I will be programming for another two before my mind gives out (if I am lucky, I might get another four). Customize your tools: they are yours, and being able to continue using and improving your workflow over time isn't a distraction if you are in this for the long haul.

arvinsim 5y ago
If I work on different environments or desks, customization is the last thing I want. I would rather have sane defaults and start being productive immediately.
- LeonidasXIV 5y ago
  The same argument could be taken to the absurd by saying you only use notepad or nano because they're likely to be installed already so you can be immediately productive.
  - pizza234 5y ago
    Even if the argument is taken to the absurd, the parent's approach can still be valid; if the user worked on an infinite number of environments (remember, this is the assumption of the parent poster), it'd be overall more productive to use barebone tools with zero learning overhead, rather than spending infinite time with the learning overhead of the infinite environments. The core point is overall productivity; it may still be more productive overall not to know some tools extremely well.
- varjag 5y ago
  A 20Kb .emacs file isn't that much to carry around.
alkonaut 5y ago
> Customize your tools: they are yours, and being able to continue using and improving your workflow over time isn't a distraction if you are in this for the long haul. I have programmed for 20 years professionally (and a few more). I have the exact opposite approach. I don't even learn ketyboard shortcuts, would never customize my environment even a little (like moving a tool window around in an IDE) because it just doesn't stick. The difference in philosophy is probably because I'm a windows dev and I just don't have (or trust) there to be a persistent settings storage. The small papercuts of not customization it is less annoying than the constant re-customization required when it keeps breaking, or you use a different machine. There is no real dotfile system, the user profile directory is a mess and even if it is, applications usually don't bother to maintain their settings and compatibility. So my philosophy has basically become: change nothing, and everything will look your way even on a clean system (and after the next upgrade).
- spacemanmatt 5y ago
  I don't really believe in 10x programmers but I do believe in 1x programmers, and I do believe that many tool defaults conspire to make everyone a 0.1x programmer. Nothing works that great out of the box.