6 ms·

Meanwhile, we are still coding throughout the very same interface as 40 years ago: a keyboard.

magduf 8y ago
Unfortunately, the keyboards we had 30-40 years ago were far superior to almost all the ones we have today. They've been getting steadily worse and worse, and have reached a new low now with the ultra-thin-key, ultra-low-travel, flat-top "island" keyboards that laptops all have today.
- stcredzero 8y ago
  How many of those laptops are actually targeted at coders?
  - magduf 8y ago
    I wouldn't say they're "targeted at coders", but Macbooks seem to be very popular with them these days. In fact, I don't exactly see coders being very discriminating on keyboard quality overall. The main people who seem to care a lot about keyboards (and who keep the high-end mechanical keyboard makers in business) are gamers, not coders.
    - stcredzero 8y ago
      I wouldn't say they're "targeted at coders", but Macbooks seem to be very popular with them these days. Seemingly less and less so as time goes on. In fact, I don't exactly see coders being very discriminating on keyboard quality overall. There's a reason why some coders are Thinkpad fans. You don't have to be very discriminating for coding, but a modicum of ergonomics does make a difference. The main people who seem to care a lot about keyboards (and who keep the high-end mechanical keyboard makers in business) are gamers, not coders. Interesting idea. I wonder what the percentages are of clicky keyboards versus switches like Cherry blacks?
      - magduf 8y ago
        >There's a reason why some coders are Thinkpad fans. Some != majority. Sure, I've seen some who are Thinkpad fans (or, like me, Dell Latitude fans). But they're a minority. I'm sure I've seen more that were Apple fans, even the ones doing Linux coding.
michaelmrose 8y ago
Because language is the only meaningful model of computation we have made sufficiently versatile to program with? Do you think we should be drawing spreadsheets or talking to the machine like Scotty... Oh computer! Nobody who complains about this seems to have a serious idea about a better way to program a computer than a keyboard thus far. If you have anything novel to share I'd be interested.
stcredzero 8y ago
I think we should give some serious thought as to why. I think it has to do with the speed with which we can absolutely specify aggregations and connections from among a large number of choices. We simply haven't come up with an interface that beats a keyboard, text displays, and programming languages, combined with the programmer's brain.
kensai 8y ago
And that's probably about to change! :D Please take a look what CTRL-labs are doing. Keynote at O'Reilly: https://wp.me/P9TsXm-53 https://wp.me/P9TsXm-53

Unfortunately, the keyboards we had 30-40 years ago were far superior to almost all the ones we have today. They've been getting steadily worse and worse, and have reached a new low now with the ultra-thin-key, ultra-low-travel, flat-top "island" keyboards that laptops all have today.

stcredzero 8y ago
How many of those laptops are actually targeted at coders?
- magduf 8y ago
  I wouldn't say they're "targeted at coders", but Macbooks seem to be very popular with them these days. In fact, I don't exactly see coders being very discriminating on keyboard quality overall. The main people who seem to care a lot about keyboards (and who keep the high-end mechanical keyboard makers in business) are gamers, not coders.
  - stcredzero 8y ago
    I wouldn't say they're "targeted at coders", but Macbooks seem to be very popular with them these days. Seemingly less and less so as time goes on. In fact, I don't exactly see coders being very discriminating on keyboard quality overall. There's a reason why some coders are Thinkpad fans. You don't have to be very discriminating for coding, but a modicum of ergonomics does make a difference. The main people who seem to care a lot about keyboards (and who keep the high-end mechanical keyboard makers in business) are gamers, not coders. Interesting idea. I wonder what the percentages are of clicky keyboards versus switches like Cherry blacks?
    - magduf 8y ago
      >There's a reason why some coders are Thinkpad fans. Some != majority. Sure, I've seen some who are Thinkpad fans (or, like me, Dell Latitude fans). But they're a minority. I'm sure I've seen more that were Apple fans, even the ones doing Linux coding.

michaelmrose 8y ago

Because language is the only meaningful model of computation we have made sufficiently versatile to program with? Do you think we should be drawing spreadsheets or talking to the machine like Scotty... Oh computer! Nobody who complains about this seems to have a serious idea about a better way to program a computer than a keyboard thus far. If you have anything novel to share I'd be interested.

stcredzero 8y ago

I think we should give some serious thought as to why. I think it has to do with the speed with which we can absolutely specify aggregations and connections from among a large number of choices. We simply haven't come up with an interface that beats a keyboard, text displays, and programming languages, combined with the programmer's brain.

kensai 8y ago

And that's probably about to change! :D Please take a look what CTRL-labs are doing. Keynote at O'Reilly: https://wp.me/P9TsXm-53 https://wp.me/P9TsXm-53