8 ms·

Having more monitors doesn't make me more productive, it makes me lazier. If I have the possibility to show a lot of lines of code, then I don't feel the necess

by d-lisp 3y ago

Having more monitors doesn't make me more productive, it makes me lazier. If I have the possibility to show a lot of lines of code, then I don't feel the necessity of caring a lot about the way my source is structured, the way my code is written and the way elements of the source are grouped. Sometimes when I code on a 13" screen, I feel like I am more naturally inclined to write better, easily maintainable code (all subjectivity apart, I am pretty sure that better code exists objectively, not just in our cyber-tales; not just in clean code articles). I feel like less screen implies more brain, and that more brain means the source is second nature; and because you have to compensate the lack of vision with internalization, you can projectile-find-file eyes closed and never break out of focus like when you do when you have four screen, nerdtree, lsp-symbols floating around, multiple ide panes open and having to touch your mouse just for the sake of clicking all around your squared kilometer of screen space. That's of course an exaggeration; still I feel well more productive with small screen space exactly like I felt when I traded my mouse for a generalized vim and spacemacs-like keymap : awkward at first but cheap and effective in the end.

leptons 3y ago
Sure, I can do work with only one screen, but it absolutely takes longer and is more grinding than having enough screen real estate to have the important stuff up front and center at all times. > Sometimes when I code on a 13" screen, I feel like I am more naturally inclined to write better, easily maintainable code I'm not sure what to call this - an unnecessary superstition? Self flagellation? I've never needed a constraint like this to write better, easily maintainable code. YMMV, I guess? I'll set up as many monitors as I can fit on my desk. I've had up to 9 before which was equivalent to approximately an 83" curved screen. Currently I have three 32" 4k monitors in portrait which are equivalent to one big 55" 6k screen (6480 x 3840). It does help with my productivity, a lot. Having only one screen means switching between many windows constantly, it's inefficient and a real pain when I need 8 or more windows open for different things - front end code, back end code, front end debug window, back end debug window, several different browser applications for testing, dozens of Google results and API document pages, terminal(s), and more. Nothing beats having all the important stuff visible at the same time. I have a laptop. It has 2 screens. I'd add a third screen but it would get in the way of the TV when I'm on the couch in the evenings.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  >Nothing beats having all the important stuff visible at the same time. But those aren't visible at the same time since you can't fit your whole 9 monitors in your field of view and focus on them at the same time. You can only focus and work only on a monitor at a time, and so you need to constantly switch monitors, meaning the monitors you aren't looking at each moment are basically a redundant waste. I don't judge, whatever floats your boat. But I managed to replace multi monitor setups with virtual desktops and shortcuts. Way cheaper and more space efficient, and more ergonomic since I don't need to keep my neck at an angle all the time to the monitors on the side, but always to the one and only in the middle.
  - Nevermark 3y ago
    Really? You can’t set up more than one monitor in your field of view? Or turn your head and track faster than you can jump back and forth between several overlapping windows? That’s also bit like saying you don’t need a monitor bigger than your fovea, because you can only read in your fovea. Eye movement, head movement, and internal tracking a good part of a sphere of awareness around ourselves are what our visual system - physical and mental - were designed to be extremely fast at.
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      >Really? You can’t set up more than one monitor in your field of view? & Just because we can see movement on the outer ends of our field of view to see predators, doesn't mean I can also comfortably stare at code via the side of my eyes. Filed of focus != field of view. Yeah, I can see nearly 180 degrees, but I can only comfortably focus for work on what's in the center of my FoV.
      - leptons 3y ago
        >can also comfortably stare at code via the side of my eyes. This is not what I suggested. I never suggested coding in your peripheral vision, and to suggest it is just trolling. I have long-running tasks in windows open around and I need to know when they update. Peripheral vision works extremely well for this, but having the window submerged under the code I'm working on behind dozens of other windows, I would never see it. then I'm forced to have my code at half the width of a tiny screen so I can see the long-running task progress in another half of a tiny screen? No Thank You. I'll take multiple screens all day long for the complex development work I do. But sure, go ahead and invent whatever you want out of what I said to win a pointless internet argument, I don't care. I just won't be replying anymore.
brokencode 3y ago
Must be nice to be primarily concerned with writing code. Personally, most of the time I need to be working in multiple windows at once, such as debugging in one window, performing actions in the program in another window, and often referring to a description of an issue from QA in another window. There’s no better way to handle all of this than to have multiple large monitors from my experience.
- d-lisp 3y ago
  Shortcuts, tiling window manager and virtual desktops solves this. I noticed that I live in my IDE and then from time to time need to travel for a few seconds to something else, 95% -5%

by d-lisp 3y ago

leptons 3y ago

Sure, I can do work with only one screen, but it absolutely takes longer and is more grinding than having enough screen real estate to have the important stuff up front and center at all times. > Sometimes when I code on a 13" screen, I feel like I am more naturally inclined to write better, easily maintainable code I'm not sure what to call this - an unnecessary superstition? Self flagellation? I've never needed a constraint like this to write better, easily maintainable code. YMMV, I guess? I'll set up as many monitors as I can fit on my desk. I've had up to 9 before which was equivalent to approximately an 83" curved screen. Currently I have three 32" 4k monitors in portrait which are equivalent to one big 55" 6k screen (6480 x 3840). It does help with my productivity, a lot. Having only one screen means switching between many windows constantly, it's inefficient and a real pain when I need 8 or more windows open for different things - front end code, back end code, front end debug window, back end debug window, several different browser applications for testing, dozens of Google results and API document pages, terminal(s), and more. Nothing beats having all the important stuff visible at the same time. I have a laptop. It has 2 screens. I'd add a third screen but it would get in the way of the TV when I'm on the couch in the evenings.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>Nothing beats having all the important stuff visible at the same time. But those aren't visible at the same time since you can't fit your whole 9 monitors in your field of view and focus on them at the same time. You can only focus and work only on a monitor at a time, and so you need to constantly switch monitors, meaning the monitors you aren't looking at each moment are basically a redundant waste. I don't judge, whatever floats your boat. But I managed to replace multi monitor setups with virtual desktops and shortcuts. Way cheaper and more space efficient, and more ergonomic since I don't need to keep my neck at an angle all the time to the monitors on the side, but always to the one and only in the middle.
- Nevermark 3y ago
  Really? You can’t set up more than one monitor in your field of view? Or turn your head and track faster than you can jump back and forth between several overlapping windows? That’s also bit like saying you don’t need a monitor bigger than your fovea, because you can only read in your fovea. Eye movement, head movement, and internal tracking a good part of a sphere of awareness around ourselves are what our visual system - physical and mental - were designed to be extremely fast at.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    >Really? You can’t set up more than one monitor in your field of view? & Just because we can see movement on the outer ends of our field of view to see predators, doesn't mean I can also comfortably stare at code via the side of my eyes. Filed of focus != field of view. Yeah, I can see nearly 180 degrees, but I can only comfortably focus for work on what's in the center of my FoV.
    - leptons 3y ago
      >can also comfortably stare at code via the side of my eyes. This is not what I suggested. I never suggested coding in your peripheral vision, and to suggest it is just trolling. I have long-running tasks in windows open around and I need to know when they update. Peripheral vision works extremely well for this, but having the window submerged under the code I'm working on behind dozens of other windows, I would never see it. then I'm forced to have my code at half the width of a tiny screen so I can see the long-running task progress in another half of a tiny screen? No Thank You. I'll take multiple screens all day long for the complex development work I do. But sure, go ahead and invent whatever you want out of what I said to win a pointless internet argument, I don't care. I just won't be replying anymore.

brokencode 3y ago

Must be nice to be primarily concerned with writing code. Personally, most of the time I need to be working in multiple windows at once, such as debugging in one window, performing actions in the program in another window, and often referring to a description of an issue from QA in another window. There’s no better way to handle all of this than to have multiple large monitors from my experience.

d-lisp 3y ago
Shortcuts, tiling window manager and virtual desktops solves this. I noticed that I live in my IDE and then from time to time need to travel for a few seconds to something else, 95% -5%