4 ms·

As other have mentioned, his focus on input devices is a misguided. If I lost a month of programming work, and only had a copy on paper, I would in most cases b

As other have mentioned, his focus on input devices is a misguided. If I lost a month of programming work, and only had a copy on paper, I would in most cases be able to type it in less than a day. My limitation is in logical reasoning, not in typing. This is actually quite similar for music. A musician can't perform 40 hours a week, the process of playing is only a small part of being a musician. Unlike programmers, musicians typically only get paid for the time time they are performing, while programmers get paid for the time spent at work. This means that programmers really have a much better deal than musicians in general. The advantage for musicians is that they also get recognition as individuals for their work, while the employers take most of that for programmers. That said, musicians can do the same deal if they choose to work as studio musicians or member of a symphonic orchestra or similar. Then they lose autonomy, but get more predictable pay.

DennisP 12y ago
> My limitation is in logical reasoning, not in typing. I thought the same thing until I learned Vim. If it were just typing, that'd be different. But editing is the real point. Being able to make changes almost as fast as I think them up has revolutionized my ability to get work done. It's not just that it speeds me up, it keeps me in flow, so I just get it done instead of getting bored and frustrated.
- alephnil 12y ago
  I know vim, but I don't think that change much. In fact, if I lost a month of work and did not have any printouts or even notes, I would in most cases be able to redo it in 2-3 days, and unlikely no more than a week. The reason is that I remember most of the decisions I made along the way, and don't have to spend time on making the right decisions about the code and architecture, since they were already made, and I would spend less time reading documentation and looking up how the problem can be solved in general. What I describe is at least true when you solve relatively complex problems, and is a relative experienced programmer that take most high level decisions about the code yourself. If you have a very junior position, where most decisions are made for you by others, and you work in programming languages and framework that require a lot of boilerplate, then what I said will be less true. Then using the right editor may matter at least a bit. Even in that case I doubt it is a major factor. On the other hand, using the right programming languages, libraries and tools may boost you productivity quite a lot, and have much larger impact than typing speed or input method.
  - DennisP 12y ago
    Well I'm pretty experienced, nobody else is making decisions for me, and at least sometimes I do fairly complex stuff, but it still helps me a lot. I spend that time thinking, and then I can get it done without getting bored by the tedium and switching away to surf reddit. Or I think as I type and make wholesale changes as I go, because why not, it's easy. YMMV.
analog31 12y ago
Ah, that's an interesting point. The definition of "professional" is debated, even among musicians, but the view that I adhere to is that "professional" describes the studio musician or symphony player. That may be self serving, as I fall into that category as a so called "side man." I get a call, show up, play, go home, seldom with the same band twice in a row. My name is seldom on the program. If the bandleader introduces me, it's to create a social atmosphere with the audience, not because anybody actually cares. My doctor and plumber are professionals. They receive no recognition, and I don't even remember their names. If a musician wants name recognition, then they would call themselves an "artist" and put up with all of the risks involved. "Artist" and "professional" involve different skills too. For me to do "side man" work requires fairly extensive classical training and skills such as sight-reading, even though I play jazz. Many "artists" never develop those skills. Perhaps the route for those who want to be "artists" in programming is academia or as a technical founder of a startup.

DennisP 12y ago

> My limitation is in logical reasoning, not in typing. I thought the same thing until I learned Vim. If it were just typing, that'd be different. But editing is the real point. Being able to make changes almost as fast as I think them up has revolutionized my ability to get work done. It's not just that it speeds me up, it keeps me in flow, so I just get it done instead of getting bored and frustrated.

alephnil 12y ago
I know vim, but I don't think that change much. In fact, if I lost a month of work and did not have any printouts or even notes, I would in most cases be able to redo it in 2-3 days, and unlikely no more than a week. The reason is that I remember most of the decisions I made along the way, and don't have to spend time on making the right decisions about the code and architecture, since they were already made, and I would spend less time reading documentation and looking up how the problem can be solved in general. What I describe is at least true when you solve relatively complex problems, and is a relative experienced programmer that take most high level decisions about the code yourself. If you have a very junior position, where most decisions are made for you by others, and you work in programming languages and framework that require a lot of boilerplate, then what I said will be less true. Then using the right editor may matter at least a bit. Even in that case I doubt it is a major factor. On the other hand, using the right programming languages, libraries and tools may boost you productivity quite a lot, and have much larger impact than typing speed or input method.
- DennisP 12y ago
  Well I'm pretty experienced, nobody else is making decisions for me, and at least sometimes I do fairly complex stuff, but it still helps me a lot. I spend that time thinking, and then I can get it done without getting bored by the tedium and switching away to surf reddit. Or I think as I type and make wholesale changes as I go, because why not, it's easy. YMMV.

analog31 12y ago

Ah, that's an interesting point. The definition of "professional" is debated, even among musicians, but the view that I adhere to is that "professional" describes the studio musician or symphony player. That may be self serving, as I fall into that category as a so called "side man." I get a call, show up, play, go home, seldom with the same band twice in a row. My name is seldom on the program. If the bandleader introduces me, it's to create a social atmosphere with the audience, not because anybody actually cares. My doctor and plumber are professionals. They receive no recognition, and I don't even remember their names. If a musician wants name recognition, then they would call themselves an "artist" and put up with all of the risks involved. "Artist" and "professional" involve different skills too. For me to do "side man" work requires fairly extensive classical training and skills such as sight-reading, even though I play jazz. Many "artists" never develop those skills. Perhaps the route for those who want to be "artists" in programming is academia or as a technical founder of a startup.