Comment by BiteCode_dev | Hacker News Reader

Comment by BiteCode_dev | Hacker News Reader

Context switching burns people out and geeks don't notice how much they force themselves into too much of it.

E.G: I have a friend that went full nerd on his coding setup. Dvorak keyboard, Full Arch Linux with tiling windows manager. Everything in the terminal, all dev through vim. If it's not a religion, it's at least a lifestyle.

He is very happy with it: the keyboard is so ergonomic, he barely has to move the hand of it. Every task can be controlled out of a few key strokes

Except he didn't notice how much of a burden he put on himself.

Even for very simple tasks I see him struggling because of all the context switching.

If you have to copy/paste something from your web browser to your editor, it may require you to select with a mouse, and ctrl+c, then alt-tab a bit, click on the IDE tab and ctrl+v. Not instant, but this procedure is the same for everything, so it doesn't take much brain to do it.

For him, it's a whole guacamole, because there is a special shortcut to get to the browser, another one to get to the text, then copy/paste, then go to vim with another shortcut, select the proper buffer, paste with a yet another shortcut and make sure he uses the proper mode. Since Dvorak is a different layout than his phone keyboard or his client keyboards, the shortcuts don't perfectly rely on muscle memory.

Every simple task in his setup like that: it requires a lot of effort.

And his whole life outside of the computer is like that too, because he has very high moral standards, so he lives a constrained life in society that is optimized for a totally different life style. However he never cuts himself a slack.

Multiply that by a hundred times a day, a hundred days a year.

He burnt out.

And he has no idea why: all the reasons he gave me were external factor, blaming other people a lot.

But it was not.

He killed himself with a thousand paper cuts, chasing an ideal he theorized in his head but could not only never reached, but could not even assess the real cost on his life.

> For him, it's a whole guacamole, because there is a special shortcut to get to the browser, another one to get to the text, then copy/paste, then go to vim with another shortcut, select the proper buffer, paste with a yet another shortcut and make sure he uses the proper mode. Since Dvorak is a different layout than his phone keyboard or his client keyboards, the shortcuts don't perfectly rely on muscle memory.

I think you are over-estimating the effort. Most experienced Vim users not even think about motions when they use them, it's just the muscle memory.

This is what he says.

Nevertheless, I can see how much effort it costs him every time I see him performs those tasks. Because I can see him pause to think of the sequence of the things he needs to do to achieve the result for some very basic stuff.

If you have to constantly think about how to use your pen instead of what you are writing about, it's a problem.

But it's an invisible problem if you are attached to your tools, you will never notice it. It's not possible, your tools are so great, they save you time, they make you more efficient, they are most comfortable.

At this stage it's part of his identity.

I can't say for you, as I don't know your particular situation.

But that's definitely the case for him and for several vim + tiling users that I know.

They spent years investing in this.

They will never say anything but good things about it.

But they wills start working on a project, and spend 30 minute fixing something before they can even start on the task. Then every single step requires planning for the basic moves.

If you look at how they work, the tools are taking a toll, inch by inch.

> But that's definitely the case for him and for several vim + tiling users that I know. > Then every single step requires planning for the basic moves.

I think you are imagining things, because that makes you feel better. None of this is true for experienced vim users. It's true for novices, but that's the nature of learning. I know you won't believe me, but I don't really care.

> They will never say anything but good things about it.

That's not true either, as every tool has pros and cons, and every vim/tmux/i3/arch/linux user is aware of that.

Look at YT/Twitch for any good Vim user, like Primeagen or TJ Devries, or basically any Vim-related conference talks and you will see that your understanding is flawed.

I don't need to imagine anything. I can see him in action.

> Dvorak keyboard, Full Arch Linux with tiling windows manager. Everything in the terminal, all dev through vim

I'm a little confused, because most of these things sound like a great way to reduce context switching / extra keystokes.

I imagine if you're not familiar with this setup, coming from another world, them yes a learning curve will be needed, and that might last for years. I think that'd be just as true with any radically different setup than you're used to.

Meh. I've made my own layout and have been using Linux and Vim for the last 15 years or so. The context switching is barely noticeable and I think you're vastly overestimating the effort this kind of setup demands of you once you get comfortable. It all feels so natural to me.

What's much worse is switching between different types of tasks, like answering emails to coding to helping co-workers to having to jump on a call.

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