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Comment by grandalf | Hacker News Reader

I have been coding on a tiny netbook (with emacs in full screen mode) for the past few months and I LOVE it.

I now think that needing more than a 9" monitor is a code smell.

About two years ago, I was in a programming class with a friend who regularly uses a netbook. Whenever I tried to help him track down a bug or modify a piece of code, I always complain about the puny keyboard. For some reason, I always inadvertently punch the wrong key, or punch many keys at once, or otherwise do something stupid. It was a nightmare to use, and I was either forced to do one-finger typing (and even that screwed up) or dictate the code for him to type.

So, my question is: How do you program on a tiny netbook for months on emacs with such a small keyboard?

Moreover, the text size on his computer was comparably tiny. For me, a netbook screen cannot comfortably accommodate two heads, while preserving a decent amount of code on the screen. My head usually obscures the entire screen and he'll have to remind me not to look so closely.

My second question is: How do you deal with text size without sacrificing the amount of code on the screen?

They keyboard is 95% of full size. I think people get psyched out by small keyboards but that after a few hours on it your hands naturally adjust (perhaps practice going between keyboards helps)...

I don't use a particularly small font. I find that emacs works great -- switching between buffers, toggling between marks, bookmarks, etc., is extremely easy, and some chords are easier to type b/c of the keyboard design.

I have the font size set to 10pt which seems to be about the right size. I would probably use that size even on a larger monitor. Subpixel rendering and the LED backlight on this netbook (plus a nice emacs color theme) makes the text read very easily.

For documentation, I just open it in a web browser and switch with alt-tab or ctrl-tab (within the browser).

I switched to a netbook with emacs to see whether I could get by programming on it a couple weeks ago. I've been using nothing but 1920x1200 screens (even on my laptops) for 10 years.

The secret for me (along with knowing the keys for managing bookmarks and multiple buffers well) is abusing virtual desktops. With 6 or 9 virtual desktops, running emacs in one, documentation in one, web browser in one, IRC in one, terminal in one, etc. it's a breeze for me. It's like using a tiling window manager. I don't think I'm any less productive thanks to the screen size than I usually am.

I will say that I'm glad I'm not writing a more verbose language like C++, C# or Java (not an insult, I like C#) -- I can see how it could be much more painful than it is with Clojure and Scheme, which are relatively concise and encourage a little-independent-pieces-of-code sort of functional programming.

Thanks for the reply!

I guess I was a bit one-sided on my keyboard judgment. However, could you elaborate on your emacs chording remark? How exactly is it easier? (I'm not an emacs user)

This may be a bit off-topic, but I've heard stories about people suffering from eye strain due to bright LED lights and/or smaller font sizes. Have you ever suffered from eye strain due to extended use? How does coding on a netbook feel if you use it for an extended period?

Lastly, I'm concerned about performance issues. I've heard that netbooks are notoriously slow, which implies slowing down the coding process? Is that true for you? Does it allow for virtual desktops and is it fast (enough)?

Emacs is designed to be used 100% by keyboard... one way it has evolved is to support chords (holding down multiple keys then pressing another)... This keyboard is flat and the keys do not have big "trenches" between them, which makes it easy to hold down (for example) shift and ctrl at once.

I have not experienced eye strain from the display brightness, though a few times I have temporarily made the font larger (I find that sometimes I just feel like using a 12pt font to write code)...

The netbook is somewhat slow (about 70% the speed of my regular laptop for things like running a test suite, etc. I have actually enjoyed this and taken the extra time to take a few deep breaths and practice mindfulness :) I know it sounds weird but it's easy to get caught up in the rush to write more code -- to the point where even a very fast laptop will feel mind-numbingly slow at times... I know this one is a bit slower, and by accepting that and enjoying the occasional moment of patient waiting I have come to enjoy some of those previously annoying slowdowns...

> I now think that needing more than a 9" monitor is a code smell.

I agree with this for most simple coding tasks, but when profiling, debugging and looking at documentation I think that more screen real estate is necessary.

I guess that depends on whether you like having windows tiled or if you just like to use one window at a time. I generally prefer full screen with one thing going on at a time, and I can switch to a different one instantly by hitting alt-tab.

My problem is my hands start to hurt after typing on a netbook for any length of time. I usually use synergy to share a keyboard and mouse with my desktop and laptop, and honestly do more of my development on my mac laptop then my pc desktop. My laptop's keyboard is adequate but the trackpad is not. Switching between the trackpad and keyboard leads to pain.

My main problem is finding a quality split keyboard that has function keys without special functions and doesn't feel like I'm typing on a sheet of rubber.

I've noticed that the biggest problem for my hands, wrists, etc., is using a trackpad or mouse. The more my hands just stay on the keyboard the better they feel.

One nice thing about typing on the netbook is that the front part (in front of the keyboard where your palms tend to rest) is very short and this prevents me from the bad habit of resting my wrists... since the netbook is light it also prevents the bad habit of exerting downward wrist pressure to keep the laptop balanced.

I think it's good to do whatever works,... I was skeptical that I'd like the netbook, but I haven't used my full size laptop in months.

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