Ascetic Computing
106 points by jbauer
106 points by jbauer
More than any specific editor etc, I've noticed trying to program without distractions narrows the set of usable programming languages. I notice some modern languages (or those designed without careful consideration) depend more on IDE features to be usable, or at least encourage a style of programming that does. Lately I've been using Go even when it's not pleasant just because it's one of the only languages where I can 1) locate nearly everything just by reading the symbols on the screen and 2) read documentation offline.
I also turned off syntax highlighting to try to get that feeling and it works really well. It's definitely up to taste, but it makes my computer feel more "at rest".
For many years I wrote all my code with Kate for better or worse. My IDE features included basic syntax highlighting and auto completing based on other symbols found in the same file (which I was more than happy with, and modern IDEs often don't even do this which is annoying), and that's about it. Writing C++ this way is surprisingly easy, and it made me really good at finding files and understanding all syntax, since I had to write it by hand and get it right.
I can't recommend Java without IDE features though, what an absolute nightmare writing import statements for everything. I guess a lot of my code used to be filled with import * for this reason.
This post resonates with me a ton, I love it. It’s so refreshing to see a blog/post by someone with principles and living their life in somewhat accordance with those principles
This is great! I loved the drawings and was looking forward to seeing more as I continued reading :)
I think people who are naturally good at focusing on what they're doing don't understand how all of this is window-dressing. I'm fairly confident the author would be equally as effective on a noisy annoying Windows installation. This aestheticism (not a typo) is just that. You could put someone like me on a Teletype and I'd find a way to fuck about, be distracted and unproductive, even if all I ever want is to focus.
To be fair, the article doesn’t overemphasise the author’s specific tech choices. As I read through I noted that a non-technical person could put virtually all of this into practice with an old Mac with iCloud turned off, for example. TextEdit works just fine. That’s a good thing for anyone who wants to move in this direction, and doesn’t invalidate anything the author is suggesting.
Maybe you have more power to control this than you think. Have you tried leaving your phone in another room?
True, it’s hard to focus if you let yourself become that way and it’s easy to focus with a fire under your rear. I certainly work this way.
I really enjoyed this, thanks for posting it. It's so far removed from the angst and stressfulness of so many things being thrown up online in these days of hype and confusion. Regardless of what's happening around you, there's always a centre you can come back to.
Well written. The same ideas could describe my computing, my choice of car (the one I’ve had my whole life), my choice of tools (real world tools and computing tools).
This could also help others understand my distain for Linux, which is now primarily corporate driven and changes too gratuitously and too often for my liking.
It’s an excellent piece to share to help others understand me. Thanks for sharing!
What OS do you recommend to those of us who are tired of the gratuitous rate of change in linux-land?
This is a fun read thanks for sharing.
I highly doubt they the term ascetic has a non-religious origin and making such a claim comes off as militantly atheist to me. Otherwise why not just use the words disciple, self-improvement, or hard work?
From Brittanica:
asceticism, (from Greek askeō: “to exercise,” or “to train”), the practice of the denial of physical or psychological desires in order to attain a spiritual ideal or goal. Hardly any religion has been without at least traces or some features of asceticism.
Also, maybe this is why I like writing my notes and coding either in shell or in geddit. I like relying fully on myself and my own knowledge
In ancient Greek the word does have a non-religious origin. That may be what the author meant.
In terms of tooling and practices, I agree completely and I've just picked Fedora, Emacs and similar tools that I know are stable and can find everywhere.
I think it's also a good way to approach life decisions, I've been wondering where I should take my career and picking clear constraints in terms of technology, geographic location, interests, etc, has been of some help choosing a direction. I'm still struggling with FOMO and wanting to explore many subjects but constraints are helpful at picking a general path, at least.
I am very much in agreement with the ‘No distractions’ section. I find mobile device usage/notifications as incredibly obnoxious and invasive which is partially a fault of my own setup. I dislike that text messages and similar communications are used for advertising on the same channels intended to be reserved actual messages. I typically work on a machine with no communication software to avoid these distractions and it’s much more enjoyable. I’ve also found LSP autocomplete distracting and have been working without it in some languages.