
The Setup: Joe Armstrong - lispython
http://joe.armstrong.usesthis.com/
======
keithpeter
From OA under Dream Setup

" _If the machine broke I would like to go to any other machine and resume
work within a few seconds without losing any data._ "

cf Rob Pike

" _I don't install a lot of extra stuff on those Macs, mostly to reduce
maintenance. I like the freedom to wipe and reinstall without losing my
world..._ "

These older developers know how to get things done and not waste time. As an
end user, I've arrived at a similar place albeit using kludgy dropbox and
rsync scripts.

~~~
jzelinskie
Find anybody who has used Windows on a regular basis and you'll find they do
the same thing. I expect to have to reformat Windows multiple times a year.
I've carried this mentality everywhere. I've used Arch Linux and configured
every little bit of my OS and found that having a portable config and being
used to system defaults is much more valuable than finding an obscure way to
make yourself more productive. I can basically pick up any unix-like OS, clone
my dotfiles, and I'm good to go.

~~~
michaelwww
Why do you have to reformat Windows multiple times a year? I could understand
this if you are using versions other than XP and 7 (too soon to tell with 8)
but if you're doing it several times a year on those versions then you have
some other problem.

~~~
jzelinskie
It usually isn't so much a "I need to reformat because of this issue"; it's
usually "Windows has accrued enough cruft that I could benefit from starting
anew". I suppose you could call it OCD; I'd call it a sanity check. I find
developers and gamers who install lots of beta software or are "frequently"
installing and uninstalling software suffer from the poor system of
installation of applications on Windows. Windows installation wizards pretty
much throw files wherever they please and uninstallation wizards almost never
actually remove everything. There are plenty of applications like Revo
Uninstaller which are meant to help clean up after uninstalling an
application, but there is no silver bullet. Say you do encounter an issue,
having a clean filesystem/registry means you're more likely to be able to
reason about your system. For everyone else, this problem has pretty much been
solved by package managers in free software and a combination of the AppStore,
homebrew/macports, and ".app"s in OSX.

It depends really what you do and how much time you spend in Windows because
that's what determines how quickly the cruft accrues. If you've ever
uninstalled software, I can almost guarantee that your already poorly
organized Start Menu has a few folders and shortcuts that are empty/broken.

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rawland
"Evernote for a web clipbook, and chandler to organise jobs."

What is chandler? Is it this one: <http://chandlerproject.org> ?

Seems interesting but also pretty abandoned.

~~~
pessimizer
I remember being obsessed with it for an afternoon. The design of it looks
awesome, but I think it's a victim of being built on a particularly annoying
stack.

Redone as a webapp w/an easily setup server, even with no other UX changes,
and I'd absolutely use it. I'm going to put researching that on my substandard
todo list:)

~~~
draven
It looks like the project has some kind of web thingie:
<http://chandlerproject.org/Projects/CosmoHome>

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krmboya
> Emacs bash and make for all programming

It seems if you pick your tools well you can accomplish a lot with a little

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xal
Living mostly on a Chromebook and programming through action.io, I'm probably
closer to where Joe wants to be then he thinks is possible.

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ciupicri
> What would be your dream setup?

> Software that’s not broken.

As someone who has just reported yet another bug [1], I couldn't agree more.

[1] <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=929329>

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cgrubb
Which implementation of Prolog does Joe use I wonder?

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nisse72
I'd guess SICStus: <http://sicstus.sics.se/>

~~~
cgrubb
I went ahead and asked him and here is what he said:

@clarkgrubb I use the #erlang Prolog system github.com/rvirding/erlog from
@rvirding and swipl.

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coldtea
Joe Armstrong is great, but come on: of course he took drugs!

I mean, how else could he write such an innovative language while pedaling his
bike to the moon -- much less blow his trumpet at the same time?

~~~
lazyjones
> I mean, how else could he write such an innovative language

He used Prolog and was inspired by it... Prolog is far out.

