Ask HN: Famous Programmers' Editor Choices? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Famous Programmers' Editor Choices?

17 points_acme17 comments

Dennis Ritchie used and Russ Cox and Rob Pike use acme.

Ken Thompson, Bjarne Stroustrup, Doug McIllroy, Tom Duff and Brian Kernighan use sam.

What editors do other famous programmers use? Do other famous programmers also use mouse-based editors like sam and acme? What other editors are used by famous programmers?

Why do so many Hacker News readers have such an aversion to using the mouse when editing if these luminaries of computing have all moved on to mouse-based editors?

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> Why do so many Hacker News readers have such an aversion to using the mouse when editing if these luminaries of computing have all moved on to mouse-based editors?

Because most of the HN readers (those who are programmers, anyway) are down-in-the-trenches programmers, and as such, they choose whatever editor/environment makes it the easiest to edit source code. If it is Vim, it is Vim then. If it is Emacs, Emacs it is. Nano, Elvis, ed, Sublime Text, LibreOffice Writer, Inkscape, Gimp -- whatever helps to write. It's the code that is published on SvnHub or whatever, after all, not the environment's settings.

Totally agree. Hacker News readers like to promote their favorite, but I think most of us are ultimately pragmatists. For example, Vim is a personal favorite, but I've been using Microsoft Office's built-in VBA editor for most of my recent programming because it fits the problem I'm trying to solve best.

A lot of famous programmers, or programmers in general, use whatever tool was most comfortable for them at the time they were getting established, and many stick with it from habit/familiarity/power user features.

So use what you like best.

Using the same brushes as Leonardo da Vinci will not make you a better painter.

But knowing the reasoning behind using certain thickness/brands of brushes might make you learn a thing or two and apply them to yourself. This is the same reason people share workflows.

However that still will not make you a great painter.

> Why do so many Hacker News readers have such an aversion to using the mouse when editing if these luminaries of computing have all moved on to mouse-based editors?

What someone else uses doesn't enter into my decision of editor to use. I also tend to work on systems remotely. Using a mouse is generally not an option. There's a flow that I like about not needing to switch back and forth between two input devices when I'm doing something.

The one you are most comfortable with.

Sometimes you don't have a choice and have to use what your employer has. I used edit.com and Notepad before for C editors and they had no highlight of syntax or not.

Really hard to beat Visual Studio languages though.

Here's a few of them that use Emacs: http://wenshanren.org/?p=418

Bjarne uses Notepad++. Another interesting thing, these Unix hackers, Bjarne, Dennis Ritchie, eventually have switched to Windows for everyday tasks.

All roads lead to Emacs

Linus Torvalds used/uses micro-emacs.

(off topic, he used/uses Pine/alpine for email).

Think about the cognitive load of using just keyboard all the time VS using mouse and keyboard alternatively.

Who cares what those people use? Use the tool that's right for you.

Everyone who has looked at the website usesthis.com? Use the tool that's right for you, but that doesn't mean it's not interesting (at least to many) what experts use, whether we're discussing software, golf clubs or tennis racquets.

Well, you may not be aware of what is best for you...

Two words: Emacs. Vi.

Boom.

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