Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 20:27:29 +0000 From: Daniela <dgw@liwest.at> To: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> Cc: Dave Vollenweider <metaridley@mchsi.com> Subject: Re: When Unix Stops Being Fun Message-ID: <200410052027.29821.dgw@liwest.at> In-Reply-To: <20041005085744.GB1837@orion.daedalusnetworks.priv> References: <20041002225028.05205e9a.metaridley@mchsi.com> <200410042154.52088.dgw@liwest.at> <20041005085744.GB1837@orion.daedalusnetworks.priv>
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On Tuesday 05 October 2004 08:57, Giorgos Keramidas wrote: > On 2004-10-04 21:54, Daniela <dgw@liwest.at> wrote: > > I developed a few rules and techniques for keeping the interest: > > > > 1. Avoid doing the same thing over and over again. > > 2. Do bigger projects as well as some playful experimenting. > > 3. Don't use closed-source (or commercial) software. I don't know how you > > react to it, but the "closed" look and feel really puts me off. > > 4. If it's running well, don't interrupt it. Unless you feel you're > > hitting the wall, don't take a break while solving a complex problem. 5. > > Keep one style for one session. If you're into multiple things that have > > to do with computers, don't mix them up. Especially don't mix high-level > > and low-level activities. For example, don't do Javascript programming > > (or webdesign in general), complex image editing or maybe even 3D > > modelling on the console with a CLI. On the other hand, don't do ASM > > programming in a graphical IDE, use vi instead. If you do the dirtiest > > lowest-level hacks, you may be well advised to even use TECO, or some > > other editor which is really hard to use. > > I can almost agree with what's written above, except for one minor but > important detail. If you can use an editor that suits your needs both in > console and GUI environment, both for assembly, Perl, Python, Java, C, C++ > and whatever else you find yourself writing, an editor that can easily be > adopted to editing plain text email messages, theses in LaTeX, or even to > browse the source code of an operating system... why would you want to > torture yourself with a strange, difficult to use editor? I'm really glad that I never got in touch with Slowlaris. IMHO there's just nothing like vi on FreeBSD, the best editor running on the best OS. Well, I already said that these are NOT rules for increased productivity. If emacs works well for you, then use it. If your interest is not fading, then you're already doing everything the right way. But for some people, including me, programming can quickly become work rather than fun. The above rules always helped to keep me interested. A little torture can be fun too. *g* Of course, I don't always do that. But when I feel that I like watching TV more than playing with ASM, I quickly switch to the monochrome terminal emulator, deactivate the mouse, emulate the destructive hardware cursor, pull out a primitive hexeditor (or TECO) and enter raw x86 opcodes. When I'm in a particularly bad mood, I might also pull out the Commodore64 emulator. On the other hand, I can also create beautiful and complex 3D scenes in a full-blown GUI with really high-level features, which is also fun.
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