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Comment by weakeyesforit | Hacker News Reader

At my age the main problem is that I read a lot in a computer screen and my eyes get tired. Recently I read in the last weak several books for learning Erlang and Elixir and one for refreshing ruby. Last month I learned java by doing several projects with netbeans. Initially I programmwd only with gedit and googling stack overflow. I was programming feom six pm to five am to help my son with a java project. Honestly helping him is not doing any good but not helping is not any better. Were my eyes and health stronger I think I could learng anything in little time. I learned the hard way failing one and again. You couldn't believe that I stumpled with all the walls before continuing along, bit what don't kill you make you stronger. Get ready for the next battle, we will win.

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Have you tried flux? https://justgetflux.com/

It helps me with the eye strain. Also I am starting to find myself returning to good ole paperback books for reading. Try printing out some code bases when ever you start getting more advanced you can actually learn a lot from studying code.

I'm always preaching the holy word of flux to everyone I meet. Even family members who don't code :-)

flux is awesome. i can't use it during the day though, because it puts me to sleep! it works too well.

Or redhshift for Linux.

They make "computer glasses" that are supposed to help reduce eye strain associated with computer use. I don't personally use them so I can't say if they work, but it's probably worth it for you to look into them.

Computer glasses work great for me. I'm mildly myopic, but at 58 found I could no longer focus on desktop screens ~2 feet away. So I got computer eyeglasses (my normal prescription divided in half). They've made a huge difference. Everything's clear again. However my more myopic sister could never make hers work, so YMMV.

I'm generally OK with spec swapping, but I'm tempted to replace my primary glasses with bifocal/trifocal/progressives which in theory should end the swapping. I'm just not so sure I'd like tilting my head in order to change focus. :-/

I'm not sure computer glasses and the glasses you got are the same.

IIRC, computer glasses have a yellowish-amber tint to them, and possibly some coatings.

Like you, I got single vision glasses for computer use, but they don't have the tinting/coatings that computer glasses do.

I run a pair of 4K 27" monitors at 100% scaling (people who see my setup think I'm crazy), but I had my optometrist get me set up for a reading distance of 21" to 27" -- the closest and furthest points of my monitors -- for my glasses. My single vision prescription includes distance + adjustment for presbyopia, so it's great.

Have you tried plain old reading glasses? They made a world of difference for me. Your vision can be 20/20 and you still can't see things well close enough to read (that's my own case).

I second this. One can also get prescription reading glasses, which in my opinion, is a better choice.

That's the way to go. They're just prescription glasses which are optimized for the working distance of a computer screen (or whatever your workplace happens to be).

You measure your working distance at your desk, take the number with you to the optometrist, and they'll dial-in a prescription that works best for that distance.

Anti-glare coating helps too.

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