programming peeps.

codeheads:

is it me, or do you have to back off and write your code on paper sometimes? what is it about the screen that make me not able to think straight? is it just me? because, when i start to get a little lost, i have to step back and code in pseudo on paper.

is it the eyestrain giving me a headache? i'm not sure. i turned in my old monitor for a ginchy LCD TV, which is far more tolerable, but i still get this weirdness.

i never did this in college, which leads me to 2 theories:
1. In college, i couldnt code my way out of a paper bag� (josh can attest to this) and had terrible practices and i really SHOULD have been backing away and organizing my thoughts on paper.
or
2. In college, i coded on a black background with white/color syntax highlighted (highlit?) text (yay VIM!) and now i code in scary .NET studio and the white background is killing me.

i was going to post this to my lj but i think there are more coders here than on my flist :P

so my question is, besides the obvious (that i'm using .NET stuido, but keep in mind that i HAVE to), what coding environment works best for you? what are your habits, your quirks, your methods, your practices? my desk is covered in flowcharts and little post-its and scrap papers that say things like "initiate proxy x - x.ProfileName = name, x.RoundRobin = rr" and whatnot. :P

it's all about eclipse. I program almost exclusively in java now, so eclipse is perfect for that. for perl and C/C++ I just use vi and save and compile.

I guess I don't really do anything really interesting or unusual, but I tend to visualise completed programs in my head before I write anything. both in terms of what the code would look like and what the output would look like. So if monitor strain happens I can just close my eyes and think about my code. :)

I never write out code by hand, though. Actually, I never write anything down at all. It's been pretty effective so far.

Like Lawrence, I'm also using eclipse here. Though I'm using doing LISP as well for school... so that's vi/vim/gvim/what have you.

I like to organize my thoughts on paper before I begin coding, especially if I'm going into something complex. I'm not afraid to make a UML diagram or two.

vim is good. :compile is your friend.

I'm sure .NET Studio would let you customize the color environment.

I always use black background for coding. Syntax highlighting, too. I used to use emacs and vim together for years, but since 2001 I've been using vim exclusively, mostly because I always code on remote machines.

hmm, yeah it probably does, i was just wondering if anyone knew anything about the white background and if it's what's messing with my brain. o.O

.NET Studio does have the color syntax highlighting, though, and i would surely go insane if it didnt. :P

i've also been totally spoiled with spacebar/tab completion, and the little popups when you put a . after any object or object type,�it comes up with all the properties/methods of that object/type.

Yeah, I'd be into the tab completion too if I ever did any OO stuff anymore. :)

hee, so spoiled:

and as you can see, i changed it to white-on-black. but i've been black-on-white for almost 3 years now, so it's kind of throwing me off a bit - see if i can get used to it :P

I'm not a professional programmer (i.e. never written code for "production") but I've done a lot of database-backed cgi type stuff in Perl. I don't code on paper but often it helps to make notes or flowcharts (not with the fancy symbols, more like an outline). More like thinking out loud. Ok what problem do we need to solve here and what information do we need to do it, and where do we get it from, etc. My code comments often look like that. And often they look like /* what follows is a hack */

I keep seeing this topic, and thinking about roasting peeps over a fire, making smores out of them.
(The colored sugar carmelizes kinda when you do that, and it's so nummy...)

It's funny.... I've been a geek my whole life... but I've always been a non-coding geek.

I mean, yeah, when I write html for web pages, I do so in notepad... but that doesn't count.
I have a LOT of respect for y'all who actually know other languages..... and I truly believe that when people say "do you know any other languages?" programming languages should count.

I have no idea what my point was.
I guess just that..... yeah... I'm a hardware geek... so I'm envious of you folks who actually have interest enough to code.

> non-coding geek

I couldn't find a definition for this anywhere online, could you explain what this "non-coding geek" thing is?

if(Nate.getProgrammingAptitiude() < CS_STUDENT_LEVEL ) {
System.out.prinln("Nate isn't a programmer");
}

Output:
Nate isn't a prorammer

hm, you forgot to instantiate Nate:

Human Nate = new Human(1); /*using overloaded constructor that takes level of coding aptitude� */

Well, yeah... but... shouldn't it be:

Human nate = new Human(0); // I mean, he'd be a zero, right? ;-)

html has to count for *something* :P

besides, the object Nate you used was Nate and not nate, so your code would say that there is no object nate :P

*rolls eyes*

y'all have FAR too much time on your hands.

And, besides.. you're wrong.

:D

i'm wrong about what? html counting for something?

because my statement about the object nate not existing is right, because it's case sensitive - i could create object nate and Nate and they would be 2 different objects :P

oh bite me.

:D

I sometimes read over Doug's shoulder and make up my own meanings for the weird clusters of letters he's typing.

For example:

SQL = squirrel
MTL = Matlock

those are all I can remember right now.

Occasionally, when I get bored, I draw a SQL squirrel on his hand. Usually in the bank.

Another inside joke we have was one time, I asked him if there was anything I could do to help him while he was working, and he said no, unless I could learn Python. So I hissed at him and told him that I was helping him with his work. Get it. Python. Snake. Hiss.

I am such a wit[1].

[1] read as "moron"