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by brettgriffin 385 days ago
> Those are tools that if I lost them, it surely would slow me down and be annoying.

Yes, but the post above is pointing out that you would be significantly slower without an IDE, compiler or debugger than you would be without a pen/paper. In fact, I don't think you would be a professional programmer if you didn't have them.

Saying you like a notebook and pen while designing and writing software is very different than saying a notebook and pen are more important than an IDE, compiler, or debugger.
2 comments
tomjakubowski 385 days ago
> significantly slower without an IDE, compiler or debugger … In fact, I don't think you would be a professional programmer if you didn't have them.

This is a strange take. Programmers were around before any of those tools were. And today, even many professional programmers do their work without using any of them: they use text editors, they write interpreted languages, and they use printf()-debugging or other techniques.

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brettgriffin 385 days ago
They are examples, the exactness is not what is important here. Choosing something that is not connected to electricity, an OS, or the internet to be a software developer's _most important_ tool is, in fact, the strange position here.
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reaperducer 385 days ago
Choosing something that is not connected to electricity, an OS, or the internet to be a software developer's _most important_ tool is, in fact, the strange position here.

Like a human brain? I'd say that is the programmer's most important tool, and it is not connected to electricity, an OS, or the internet.

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frankish 384 days ago
Hmm, but doesn't the brain run on electricity? And why couldn't it possibly have something like an OS? I don't think we know exactly how the brain works
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brettgriffin 385 days ago
As much as I hate that answer I think it is better than a pen and and a notebook.
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DoingIsLearning 385 days ago
> you would be significantly slower without an IDE, compiler or debugger than you would be without a pen/paper.

Slower at creating what? With just great tooling there is still a real risk of creating the wrong thing just very fast.

OP's point is that it is a thinking tool more so than a creating tool.

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