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Terminally Incoherent

Personal blog · terminally-incoherent.comprogrammingproductivity

Terminally Incoherent is a personal blog at terminally-incoherent.com about programming and productivity. Since 2007, 34 different Hacker News readers have linked it 43 times, most often “What your text editor says about you”. The last post was in 2016, but the archive is still widely read.

Visit the blog
43mentions?
34HN people?
2007–2021first – last linked?
Links on Hacker News per year · peak 6 in 2008

Most-linked posts?

  1. What your text editor says about you
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2007-08-15
  2. /blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/curves.jpg
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2009-12-12
  3. A day without X
    2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-07-26

What Hacker News says?

  1. Yeah, vim is the exact opposite of user-friendly-app [1] but it pays off in the long term with efficiency dividends. [1] http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads...

    Comment linking /blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/curves.jpg

    on “Apple has gone to extraordinary lengths to make scroll bars invisible”
  2. Submitted Things People Believe About Computers as a story · 39 points

    HN discussion
  3. > That's not the fault of Vim Adventures, that's the fault of the folklore that surrounds vim (e.g. http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads... . ) Archived link: http://web.archive.org/web/20160311183833/http://www.termina...

    Comment linking /blog/wp-content/uploads..

    on “Vim Tutorial as an Adventure Game”
  4. Submitted Command Line and User Friendliness as a story · 38 points

    HN discussion
  5. Hey! This thread keeps popping up! Yay :D In another thread someone recommended me vimtutor isntead of this game. I played both, and for learning I like vimtutor much more. To people who don't know vimtutor allow me to explain :) Vim Adventures still gave me the feeling that vim takes 5+ years to learn and you need to be crazy dedicated and good to understand vim. That's not the fault of Vim Adventures, that's the f…

    Comment linking /blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/curves.jpg

    on “Vim Tutorial as an Adventure Game”
  6. Submitted Repeating HTML Table Headers on Each Printed Page as a story · 27 points

    HN discussion
  7. IMHO the best TeX tutorials on the internet are written by some Helpdesk guy on his blog: http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2010/02/15/lets-le... I'm not affiliated in any way with that site but the pedagogy is very approachable. Also it helps to use a site like WriteLatex.com or ShareLatex.com to do the hard setting up part when you're just starting out. Edit: I see he is no longer a helpdesk guy, and his b…

    Comment linking /blog/2010/02/15/lets-learn-latex-part-1/

    on “Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using”
  8. Submitted AppJet: Another cloud application framework as a story · 27 points

    HN discussion
  9. "A Day Without X" [0] may interest you. [0] http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2007/05/21/a-day-w...

    Comment linking /blog/2007/05/21/a-day-without-x/

    on “Your terminal is not a terminal: An Introduction to Streams”
  10. Submitted A day without X (server) as a story · 26 points

    HN discussion
  11. Presumably inspired by http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2006/08/01/text-ed...

    Comment linking /blog/2006/08/01/text-editor-learning-curves/

    on “Learning Curves for Different Programming Languages”
  12. Submitted Why Vim? as a story · 24 points

    HN discussion
  13. Jacek Dukaj is great, but I don't know when he will be translated. He mostly writes hard sci-fi with political and philosophical elements, often about transhumanism, but he also did weird philosophical alternative history book - "Lód" (Ice). Some English reviews of his books: http://greglewicki.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/perfect-imperfec... http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2012/02/10/black-o...

    Comment linking /blog/2012/02/10/black-oceans-czarne-oceany-by-jacek-dukaj/

    on “The Future According to Stanisław Lem”
  14. Submitted Why LaTeX is Superior to Office as a story · 20 points

    HN discussion
  15. Went down the rabbit hole a bit (thanks Google) and found this thread from 2003 where someone said "real men use vi". https://www.redhat.com/archives/redhat-install-list/2003-Jul... I take it to mean real men do difficult things for no reason, which is not really a positive thing. A 2008 article updated the phrase to "real men and women use vi", still as hyperbole. http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2008/10/0…

    Comment linking /blog/2008/10/01/vim-tips/

    on “Linux x86 Program Start Up”
  16. Submitted Javascript will be the Next Big Language as a story · 12 points

    HN discussion
  17. This is subjective and as old/unsettled an argument as vim vs emacs or spaces vs tabs - although what you're saying is true for you there are many people who argue the opposite. I must have spent at least a day's worth of hours over the years reading long threads with people debating over which is 'correct', 'safer', 'healthier' etc: dark on light or light on dark. People are different. Having a preference is normal…

    Comment linking /blog/2010/05/20/i-hate-websites-with-light-text-on-dark-background/

    on “Leaked screenshots of Xcode 10 on macOS 10.14”
  18. Submitted Re: All Word Processors Suck as a story · 6 points

    HN discussion
  19. this is the image on slide 52, provided for your convenience :) http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/wp-content/uploads...

    Comment linking /blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/curves.jpg

    on “VIM Hacks”
  20. Submitted What your text editor says about you as a story · 4 points

    HN discussion
  21. 1. Jacek Dukaj [0] - virtually unknown due to refusal to write directly in English :( "Perfect Imperfection" is imo the best sf book about trans/posthumanism there is. "Dukaj has interesting take on post-humanism, both as a state of being and as a process. If you recall Accellerando, even though Manfred Macx was a futurist and trans-humanist he was hesitant to augment himself past certain limits. Stross pretty much…

    Comment linking /blog/2011/07/08/perfect-imperfection-perfekcyjna-niedoskonalosc-by-jacek-dukaj/

    on “Ask HN: Which scifi authors to interview about immortality?”
  22. Submitted What does your favorite text editor say about you? as a story · 4 points

    HN discussion
  23. > I mean is there any secret behind VIM that I (and maybe many other programmers) don't know? Yes. This article is probably a good overview of those secrets: http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2012/03/21/why-vim...

    Comment linking /blog/2012/03/21/why-vim/

    on “Ask HN: Why programmers should use Vim?”
  24. Submitted Sometimes bad UI is a feature (and a selling point) as a story · 3 points

    HN discussion
  25. Submitted Why certain text editors make you more productive as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  26. Submitted Getting Git as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  27. Submitted Python: Increase Your Zen, Maximize Your Hapiness as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  28. Submitted Public domain is dead as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  29. Submitted Problems with zip files as folders. as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  30. Submitted Python, Telnet and GUI-fying Legacy Apps as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion

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