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Comment by danbruc | Hacker News Reader

Why would you want to write code on a tablet? What happened to »the right tools for the job«?

This comment is a bummer. The righteousness of a tool is very subjective, and I think we learn a lot from experimenting and pushing platforms past knee-jerk limits to see what happens.

Also, see my answer in a neighbouring comment.

I think, ultimately, it relates to how you approach code. Coding on the iPad is a kind of relaxation/holiday thing for me, but coding on the MBA is more of a working-at-my-desk thing.

That probably doesn't make much sense to other people, but there's a fair few that agree, e.g. http://yieldthought.com/post/31857050698/ipad-linode-1-year-...

After reading the linked article I am a bit puzzled. I am absolutely unable to imagine how you can work with a codebase of 1.000.000+ lines using an iPad and Vim. 1.000.000 lines. That is on the order of 50 developers spitting out code for 5 years.

The largest projects I have worked on are an order of magnitude smaller and even for this size I am unable to imagine how you could replace working on a solution with 50 projects in Visual Studio with just using Vim.

Not to mention coordinating 10, 20 or 50 developers if everybody is sitting under different trees. At least for me given my experience in developing software this makes absolutely no sense.

He answers this in the section titled "Why I Created Binary" on the web page.

Thanks gjritter.

danbruc - there are instances where an iPad is more convenient than a laptop. Also, this is more than just a text editor for the iPad. The cloud development part plays an important role.

Yes, I read that. What I was up to is how painful this makes development. Even developing on a laptop is utterly painful - single small screen, no mouse, no real keyboard. It is probably nice to look at the sea while developing but it is not productive.

Your comment demonstrates the subjectiveness of the "right tool". I personally have no problem coding on a laptop, and even find myself more productive with the MBP's trackpad than a mouse. While I don't like working on the iPad, I can imagine somebody having as different an opinion on that as between your opinion on laptops and mine.

> Even developing on a laptop is utterly painful - single small screen, no mouse, no real keyboard. It is probably nice to look at the sea while developing but it is not productive.

I think what you meant to say was "but I'm not productive this way." Clearly many developers are more than productive without a big screen/multiple screens, mice, and external keyboards. And as someone who has been shipping for several years with nothing but a 13" screen, I'm definitely one of them.

In fact I'd argue the ability for me to be totally mobile and work from wherever I want, whenever I want, makes me _more_ productive than being tethered to a monolithic workstation. There's a lot more "oh hey, that code I wrote last night kinda sucks, let me fix it before I hop in the shower" and a lot less "oh I should probably get around to fixing that thing when I get to my workstation."

Why are you judging someone else's productivity methods?

Good developers write apps to scratch their own itches, and this seems to be a laudable example, whether it scratches your itch or not.

If you see a craftsman trying to drive a screw into a board using a hammer wouldn't you wonder why he doesn't just use screwdriver?

Sure... but a laptop is exactly the right tool for the kind of stuff I work on at present. Don't need multiple screens or fancy mice. Do need something I can easily carry. As and when I need more, I'll get it.

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