8mo ago

How big is your desk?

66 comments

You're supposed to put each machine on top of each other, hence the term full stack developer.
- Well, now I feel like an idiot. I've always assumed that was just an expression!
  
  Yes, but it’s a regular expression.
  
  Stacks are real
- It's called a tower PC for a reason
  
  For most devs, it's a Jenga tower. Only fancy algorithm devs get a nice Hanoi towers setup.
  
  I thought Tower PC was named after the record store.
- And I thought it meant those programmers are bad at memory management because their stack is always full.

Actually long desks are no longer considered best practice. At my work, some devs have a lazy suzan, while others prefer a circle that they can pivot around to face the right computer.
- I got one of those desks with a vertical pneumatic lift so I can stack the computers vertically in a rack and just raise/lower it so the right one is at eye height
  
  Waste of money. Build the chair to go up and down instead.
- At one point, before we virtualised everything, I had a custom desk built in an L-shape. Instead of a desk and a return, I had the refurbishment team put together a desk with two desks instead. It gave me two sets of drawers, two computer cubby holes and the gap was too small for the horrible keyboard adjustable shelf that kept hitting your knees, so they replaced it with a fixed surface instead.
  People laughed.
  Colleagues sniggered.
  Then they wanted one too.
  Now I have a mobile lectern with an iMac clamped to it. Height adjustable, wheels, enough space for keyboard, trackpad and USB hub. I move around my office as the mood or light takes me.
  
  I swear, overcoming fixed functional-ness is like a superpower when you can apply it.
  I once shared a small office with a co-worker. I had the idea to move the desks away from the walls and place them back-to-back, diagonally, in the middle of the room. Other co-workers scoffed and remarked at how dumb and unconventional this looked. Then I explained that we each now had nearly full privacy from each other, much more personal space in our respective corners, no more glare from the window, and nobody could sneak up on us from the door anymore. Things got pretty quiet after that.
- A TARDIS console.
  
  Useful? Not exactly. But you'd never look lazy or idle, that's for sure.
- Ah, the Neil Peart drum kit solution

- An this was back in the 80s where there were only 8 programming languages...
- Rocking those classic 990s

So, when you use 40 or so programming languages, your employer needs to supply a mansion..
I'm okay with that.
Now, where is the boss?
- 'Yes boss, I need 16-Bit, 32-Bit and 64-Bit Arm and x86_64 ASM as well as MySQL, SQLite, Postgres, Firebird, Mongo and all other stuff too, so I need a lot of computers ... of course all with Threadripper PRO 7995WX's.
- Corporate be like "mandatory return to ~~office~~ aircraft hangar."

Reminds me of a scam call center person telling Kitboga “your IP address is tied to your house address. You don’t get a new one unless you move houses”
- I wish

I hate working in frontend because I have to keep switching computers between Javascript, HTML, CSS and sometimes SVG
- come on, only one out of those four is a programming language
  edit (begrudgingly): ok fine, half, but still
  
  CSS is turing conplete.
  
  SVG? SVG isn't half a language, it's a completely functional one!
  
  come on, only one out of those four is a programming language
  that's part of the joke ;)

Early on in my career, I had to do a project in Python, together with another junior. Neither of us had any clue how to handle Python and he was on Windows, so, if I remember correctly, he had to install some dependencies from Pipenv, others from Conda, and his setup would break every two weeks in novel ways.
Eventually, we became quite good at installing a working setup, but correctly removing the broken setup was a pain. Often times, I thought that just reinstalling the whole OS would be quicker. 🫠
- Every now and then a new hire comes along with a windows pc, every time they decide they want to try to get everything working on windows, after a week they give up.
  On linux it's one pip install and you're done
  
  On linux it’s one pip install and you’re done
  Isn't that how packages/dependencies work on windows as well? Once I got pip updated, I've never had any issues with it.
  
  Last time I checked, it was way easier in Windows to have a VM running Linux just for Python, than to get Python to reliably work nativelly in Windows.
  
  We have a development system for python on Windows at work, works very well also.
  On linux is one pip install, buy maybe first do a venv^^

This is why we need 3, 4, or even 5 monitors at a time.
- More monitors the better

HTML CSS XML JSON SQL CRAYONS
Okay, it's starting to add up.
- Not a single real language 😈
  
  JSON and XML can be "real" languages. Mostly because of people who didn't stop to ask if they should.
  
  It really depends on whether that SQL is the standard one (such as SQL92) or with the database specific extensions (such as PL/SQL).
  The latter often adds up to a "real" programming language (were you can define your own functions and everything), depending on the database.
  But yeah, the rest not so much.

Docker fan mindset

I have a KVM switch so I can control my array of computers with one monitor setup. I have a normal desk and a big closet to house all the computers.
- We just have a warehouse with a few big computers. We just use our desks to access them.

I use a KVM switch tree and run it off an alternator connected to my desk bike

That's why programmers have all those monitors. They're each hooked up to a different computer.

Those people you see on LinkedIn with like 20 programming languages on their resume are really looking for a job just to pay off the debt of buying 20 computers

Many, many years ago I used to have two Wyse50 terminals, running split screens each with two parts. I did a lot of support on remote systems (via modem!) and I would have a session on a customer system, source code and running on our test system and internal stuff. I didn't have space for a third terminal.
At another job I had an office with a "U" shaped desk. I would spread printouts across half the "U" and swivel around between the computer and the printouts.

Would it be possible to work around this by using virtual desktops? 🤔
- Technically yes, but the thermal load of putting all those computers inside the other computers is generally prohibitive, and image quality once you get 3 monitors deep in the tool chain is poor enough you have to start making the text bigger.

@ZeroCool my desk is currently 52,572,500 miles long but I need a bigger one.

If your desk is only 3/4ths of a chain long, how will you fit more than one computer?
- That's the whole advantage of block chain. You can add more lego blocks to your desk and keep the chain going.

That is the reason why some developers are “full stack”. All computers are stacked 🤪

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