Ultimate Software Developer Setup? 757
wicked coding asks: "I'm a professional software engineer and I'm planning on building my ultimate setup for longer hours coding and hacking, but I'm kinda stuck when it comes with what to choose. What hardware would you choose to use, if money was no object? Obviously there may be some constraints on space. Leave no stone unturned, I'm looking for suggestions on desks, seating, lighting, keyboard and pointing device, monitors and even the computer system itself. Ideally it needs to be as comfortable and ergonomic as possible. What software would you choose to use, if the intended targets were Java and OO PHP5? Currently I'm using Eclipse on Gentoo. Is there a more suitable IDE that works with most popular OSS (and not so OSS) languages including XML, SQL, CSS, PHP, Perl, Java, and C/C++?"
Emacs (Score:1, Funny)
Ultimate Developer Station? Simple! (Score:1, Funny)
OH! You have to pay for one?
I'm sorry, this might be more to your tastes then:
http://cgi.ebay.com/SUN-SPARCSTATION-2-MODEL-NUMB
-GenTimJS
My advice... (Score:5, Funny)
Seating Schmeating (Score:5, Funny)
Donald Knuth works standing up, and so should you.
You might also want to consider investing in a full-sized pipe organ.
I think it was J00L14s C3454R that said (Score:5, Funny)
I'll leave the translation up to you.
Isn't this like the ultimate troll question? (Score:5, Funny)
Here's a script:
CPPFanBoyMFC "I think Visual C++ is the best. I love MFC with a mighty passion!"
CPPFanBoySDK "No way dude, I use Visual C++ with the straight up SDK and roll my own classes as needed."
CPPKDEFanBoy "Visual Studio blows compared to KDevelop."
CPPMakeFanBoy "When I was a kid, I used to write make files and use Emacs and gdb from the console, and I liked it, so I still do."
CPPViFanBoy "Yeah, but, vi is better than emacs, everyone knows that"
AssemblyFanBoy "90% of you C/C++ guys talking about getting close probably don't even know the calling convention of your functions. Hop along IDE cripples."
VB6FanBoy "Assembly? I can do in two minutes that which takes you two weeks to write. VB 6.0 is the bomb, but MS ruined it with VB.NET"
WinFanBoyD "C# makes the rest of you obsolete..."
SunFanBoy "Too bad you stole it from Java."
PythonFanBoy "Java, Blah! Your weak languages do not enforce indenting..."
DelphiFanBoy "All your strongly typing innovations are belong to us."
Perl "While you guys were arguing, I just finished it all in one line of code... oh wait... where does that greedy matching operator go. I'll see you tomorrow."
Any more?
Re:My advice... (Score:1, Funny)
I had to laugh at the article blurb. Since when do the words "software developer" belong in the same sentence as "PHP"? That's like the kid who pumps your gas at the station an "oil tycoon".
The same could be said of a lot of other languages, I suppose, but what other languages are purely made for WEB design rather than writing programs?
Re:Paper and pencil (Score:1, Funny)
Most code I figure out in my head and usually while taking a shower for some reason.
Hmmmm...
That article was a lot of words ... (Score:5, Funny)
"Flame me and then brag about your setup."
Money is no object? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Isn't this like the ultimate troll question? (Score:3, Funny)
MaleBolgeFanBoy "Hey, would someone help me write a parser to get this hello world thing going?"
JavaScriptFanBoy "Lookit the preeetty coooloors"
FlashFanBoy "My colors are prittier!"
XMLFanBoy "Hey, management approved my project. Start working on better buzzwords, plebians."
Re:Remember, people (Score:5, Funny)
Now with emacs, you can have an editor, an interpeter, a compiler, a linker, a refactorer, a debugger, a CVS/SVN client, a machine virtualizer, an object browser, a documentation browser, and a game of Tetris. All in one convenient, bite-size package.
Re:3 monitors (Score:5, Funny)
One facing straight ahead and two angling into your peripheral vision. Not only do you get a ton of real-estate, but you never have to worry about getting that even-tanned look on your face. :)
Only on Slashdot would this post be modded as informative!
Burn him! (Score:5, Funny)
Whoa! A self-confessed vi user suggesting that emacs may be better at some things? Clearly this one has had his mind tainted. Burn him alive before the infection spreads!
3 monitors not enough you need 8 (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Seating Schmeating (Score:5, Funny)
LISP (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Isn't this like the ultimate troll question? (Score:3, Funny)
RubyFanboy: "Even worse, most languages distinguish between objects and... and... things that... aren't objects. Crazy idea."
HQ9+Fanboy: "H!"
Re:Remember, people (Score:3, Funny)
Nothing you can code but what you know
Nothing you can type that doesn't load
Nothing you can write that doesn't look like a clean compile
It's Easy (dum dah dum dah dum dah dee)
All you need is VI (LAH DAH Dah dah dah dee)...
Thank you John, and I hope we passed the audition.
Re:And here you go. (Score:3, Funny)
Power Generation: This Honda Generator for reliability and gas efficiency, 20hrs of code at a time. (note: after viewing the power consumption of this solution, you may require a second generation unit or higher model number)
Why not get a Prius? Then you can drive your generator home with you.
Swordfish (Score:2, Funny)
Sounds to me like you need to get Jon Travolta on the case. His setup was teh 733t.
I wanna be like Hugh Jackman running around swilling my glass of red wine going "Yes! Yes" every time I add something to my 3-D rendered virus software.
That would r0x0r. And I'd get to see Halle Berry's boobies.
Re:Remember, people (Score:2, Funny)
Shouldn't that be *multi-mega*-bite sized package?
Re:3 monitors (Score:4, Funny)
The one on my far left is a laptop that I use mainly as a music box (one of its USB ports is connected via an external converter to a Hi-Fi preamp and thus to my main stereo system so I don't have to listen to the crappy audio from the laptop's builtin audio system, and the laptop is also connected to an external USB 250GB hard drive containing about 50GB of MP3 recordings of my favorite music.), and to run background computing tasks on - factoring algorithms mostly).
The middle monitor sits on my adjustable computer monitor table next to my desk and an $700 all leather and wood very comfortable office chair..., which I never use anymore now that I've installed a third "monitor."
My third "monitor" is a 4x5 feet front projection screen mounted on the far wall about 8 feet in front of my all leather Barkolounger recliner (Note: Here's something only Slashdotters could appreciate: When I went to purchase my recliner, I told the sales clerk that I wanted a color of leather that would match the color of my computer case! She said that was a first for her, but managed to match it perfectly :-).
Anyhow, a high resolution (1280x1024) video projector is securely mounted near the ceiling above and to the right of my easy chair so that with my wireless keyboard and mouse, I can do my programming and web-surfing from the comfort of my Barcolounger! I don't even need to wear my computer glasses anymore. I'm sure everyone on Slashdot who wears reading glasses knows what I mean by "computer glasses" but for the rest of you, they are glasses with a prescription such that they focus at about arms length (which is how far away my regular computer monitor normally is from my eyes) instead of up closer like normal reading glasses do. I don't need any glasses at all to use my four by five foot computer "monitor" however, and movies look great on it! :-)
As for software development tools, I highly recommend either the free Actel Libero® Integrated Design Environment (IDE) [actel.com] development tools, or one of the Lattice ispLEVER [latticesemi.com] packages. Seriously folks, Verilog HDL or SystemC are just as much programming languages as C/C++ or Java, etc. As FPGA's get larger and cheaper, I expect to see more and more functions that are traditionally performed on old-fashioned sequential computers like your desktop computer, and will be embedded into special purposes devices rather than general purpose computers. As a bona-fide retired 35+ years of experience computer programmer, I think I am qualified to discourage anyone from entering the field of traditional computer programming. I would instead encourage young people these days to study VLSI design and learn at least one VLSI design language if you want to be a programmer, or preferably to instead study something like biological (ie genetic) engineering which is the "next big thing."
Re:Paper and pencil (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously...heard the same thing from my dad.
Re:Paper and pencil (Score:5, Funny)
And no you don't get an allowance!
Re:Screen, Keyboard and Arse (Score:2, Funny)
People are posting and saying that they have fiancees, and do exercise? Where is the pasty-faced poster of days gone by. You know the one; his right arm gets significantly more exercise than his left...
Re:The simpler the better (Score:2, Funny)
No, no, and no!
Re:The simpler the better (Score:3, Funny)
1. Have someplace you can put things to drink. It always breaks concentration when you have to get up, go to another room, and get a drink.
3. Get a pet. Preferrably a cat. [...snip...]Because there is this little thing called Phlebitus that you can get. (It is also called Secretary's Disease.) You get it from spending long hours sitting doing something.
Is it me or can you simplify by getting rid of both the fridge and the pet? If your hourly drinks are a bit away, you'll need to get up for them and have your Phlebitus problem solved. Also I couldn't help wondering: do you or do you not want to have your concentration broken?