I was wondering what quirks you guys have as developers.

I consider myself to be a "normal" person, however, I have one odd quirk as a developer. I *need* to use IBM Model M keyboards when coding. You might remember them; they had the "clicky" feel to them. It's what I used in the computer labs in college, and I have a hard time working on anything else. I own 16 of them! :)

So how about everyone else?

I use trackballs. Not any fancy new trackball, but some archaic and unknown one that I find particularly comfortable. I can't be without it. I own 7 of them. They are no longer made, so I must be prepared if they die!

I need music, all the time...

Not that standard "lyric-less classical soothing" music, loud Heavy Metal music :cool:

Most people can't even handle being around me because my stereo is always blasting SlipKnot or KoRn... :p

I need background noise of somekind.

I open the TV, Radio or anything that make some kind of noise.
Programming without backround noise is like driving without radio and other atmospheric noises.

i have to doodle when i code, like littered on my desk are always comic book heros and monsters, its really embarassing when someone sees it.

oh and i have to be blasting techno or oldschool rapmusic;)

A super high sensitivity mouse, I have 3 now. The razer boomslang 2100 is my latest. A 2100 dpi ball mouse. Love em to death, I can't stand the laser mice, even with the sensitivity maxed out the feel sluggish and inaccurate.

I have a Wacom Intuos pen tablet and I subconsiously switch between it and the mouse. At times I find myself using the pen for navigation while using the mouse's scroll wheel at the same time (I'm left-handed for pen, right-handed for mouse).

And when I go to you the keyboad I often subconsiously hold the pen with my mouth. Man, I'm a nut.

Oh, and nothing less than 1600x1200 resolution when working on the game.

~Hanford

I cant go without my MS natural keyboard (and I have a few of them). I even used to take one with me when I was going to be working at a client's premises as I have a hard time typing on anything else. I would actually end up just sitting there with little or no inspiration when faced with the prospect of using anything else. Other than that, I like the fairly bog standard MS wheelmouse. Its nice and small without any frills (or side buttons etc that I always seem to accidentally press on other mice)

Heh I used to use nothing less that 1600x1200, but now that I have a my multi-monitor setup back again, I have dropped back down to 1280x1024 on both. makes text a lot easier to read from a distance and I still have more screen real-estate.

16 sounds pretty excessive though Mike!! (unless you have 16 PCs I suppose)

-Z-

Originally posted by Zoggles

16 sounds pretty excessive though Mike!! (unless you have 16 PCs I suppose)
-Z-

Yes, but I bought them all for 20$ at once.. What I didn't realize was that at 5.5 lbs each, 16 of them in one box was HEAVY! :-)

I am probably the only developer to left who uses 800x600

Originally posted by Zoggles
I cant go without my MS natural keyboard (and I have a few of them). I even used to take one with me when I was going to be working at a client's premises as I have a hard time typing on anything else. I would actually end up just sitting there with little or no inspiration when faced with the prospect of using anything else.



Oh, i switched over to that keyboard a few months ago.. i cringe whenever i have to use a regular one.

I LOVE it

Originally posted by Mike Boeh
[...]
I am probably the only developer to left who uses 800x600

You are not alone ;)

[Well the main reason for me is my crappy monitor] :>

I use 800x600 only because Im forced to...
My monitor broke when shipping so I use an itty bitty one right now.

Im the same way with noise...need some kind of background noise...
and need to keep desk area real clean or I cant be comfortable..

But dont know how anyone develops with a Trackball ;)

Alex

I couldn't live without my Natural Keyboard Pro and non-stop electronic music around me (the not-too-happy sort of electronic music, anyway). I also need lots of chewing gum around me so I don't accidentally consume all my fingernails while coding. Oh, and I'm also allergic to rubbish on my desk. Especially when I'm under time pressure - every single useless object in my field of view freaks me out then :)

Years ago I used to swear by my trusty Northgate Ultra:
http://www.northgate-keyboard-repair.com/ultra.jpg Two sets of function keys, two full numeric keypads (one dedicated for the cursor keys). The thing is built like a tank... all metal chassis. The only two things that will survive World War III are cockroaches and Northgate keyboards.

However, a couple years back I got introduced to Kinesis ergonomic keyboards. (http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/classic.htm) Yeah, they look really weird. And it takes a week to get used to them. But they're way more comfortable, particularly for long typing sessions, than conventional keyboards.


I also dearly love the Logitech Mouseman Wheel Optical mouse (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004W3YK/). I like the shape (though it is really only for right-handed folks like myself), and years back I got really addicted to Hyperjump. I press the "thumb' button and it brings up this graphical pie menu, centered on the current mouse position: http://www.midwinter.com/~lch/logitech.hyperjump.png That represents eight "common Windows functions", but the only one I ever use is Close (upper-right). The mouse is "captured" to that window while the thumb button is held down. So I press the thumb button, swipe the mouse up and right, let go of the thumb button, and bingo! I've closed the current window.

I also listen to a lot of music while I program, which I expect is true of most of us on here. I think of music as being grease for the great machinery of thought. By the opposite token, I don't like machine noise... I have some noisy laptops, and they're near-impossible to work on.


That said, I don't have to have all this stuff to program. But it sure helps.


800x600? That's just crazy. I've got three screens now, on my main desktop; one at 1600x1200, and two at 1280x1024.

Now that I'm back in New Zealand for a while and development has switched onto my parents' clunky old computer, I find myself tapping away on one of those clicky keyboards and it's taking me a while to adjust...

I prefer working at night. When I'm into something interesting I usually go to bed between 6 and 7 a.m.
I think the reason for this is that I really prefer not to have any kind of distractions ruining my concentration. No phones are ringing, no one in the house is awake to make noise or move around or try to talk to me. It really feels quite harmonious to be out of sync with the rest of the timezone =).

If I do want to program during daytime (I try to program as much as possible) I use headphones and music to filter out any living distractions. The "filter" doesn't always work, but it makes it a lot easier.

Like many people I've met, I listen to music while I program. Sure, I listen to classical and techno. But I'm not really all there unless it's something intense and emotional. So I listen to Tori Amos, KoRn, Sarah McLauchlan, Rage Against the Machine. At high volume. And when I'm in a really productive groove, I sing along as I program.

Sometimes if I don't have music there, I sing my code, or about it.

I prefer to work at night, and stay up late doing it. I can't stand interruptions of any sort. I love to work at a huge office building when no one else is there at all.


These things are some of the reasons why I want to be an indie developer. In the corporate world, I always feel like I'm pretending to be someone much more "normal" and socially acceptable than myself.

Instead, as a contractor, my next project and the projects for the people sitting around me depend on my being a model corporate programmer.


Also, I've had a history of upsetting VPs when working on their projects for being too assertive.

Oh, and on Wednesday I was feeling sort of burned out, so I went to the park for lunch, laid on a grassy hill in my suit and took a nap. For two hours. and went back to work. Usually, though, I just sleep in my car when I feel that tired.


Someday, they will probably classify the mental disorder that sometimes causes people to become computer programmers.

Originally posted by mg_mchenry
Sometimes if I don't have music there, I sing my code, or about it.

Now that's just plain scary.

Heh, I must add I too like a tidy desk, and I keep very weird hours (generally I tend to work to a 28/30 hour day instead of the usual 24), prefering the night for most coding due to the lack of distractions.

-Z-

I don't know how you manage to sing along with song lyrics and code at the same time. My brain can't process 2 streams of language at once.


Sometimes if I don't have music there, I sing my code, or about it.


but this... this is just great. Beautiful. :D

I'm glad my idiosynchrosies amuse. :)

Lyrics are an emotion stream. Code is a mathmatical/logic stream. I don't process code as a language that I speak. It comes out of my fingertips... like muscle memory.

I couldn't sing long division and code at the same time, for sure.


I might note another reason that being an indie suits me is that I'm not a particularly good singer.

Hey Mike, didn't you say once that you have a couple dozen graphics cards too? Now 16+ keyboards?.. Can we take bets on how many hard drives you have stashed in the closet.. if its more than 20, you may want to seek proffessional help ;)

I scare myself sometimes because I'll find that I've been listening to the same 90second midi loop for 2 or 3 hours straight. I love the NES.. SNES music, makes me feel like a kid again I guess. It probably helps keep me in the zone.. its got to be trance enducing after a while.

This sounds more like who has what old hardware rather than programmer quirks. I don't really have any quirks, unless you consider the fact that I MUST have every program in fullscreen, I can't stand programs that open in a window, maybe it's a throwback to dos days where every program was full screen. I prefer to alt tab or use the task bar to switch between them. I also can't stand any resolution (for my desktop) higher than 800x600, everything else is just too tiny, and if I blow up the icon size and text size then I gain nothing in desktop area... I can, however, play games in high res's, it's just my desktop i can't bear it ;-)

Keith

I need a good looking blond sitting on my lap when I am codding. :)

Ok, ok, that was a joke. Read what I really need bellow (but keep your children away from computer when you do).

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I need TWO good looking blonds sitting on my lap when I am codding. :D

Hey Mike, didn't you say once that you have a couple dozen graphics cards too? Now 16+ keyboards?.. Can we take bets on how many hard drives you have stashed in the closet.. if its more than 20, you may want to seek proffessional help

I have over 20 video cards... But those have a real purpose, testing :-)

Triple monitor, whiteboards on all surrounding walls, waaay too many post-it notes.

Larry: I use StrokeIt. it's like that mousemenu thing but a MILLION times better! :) It's a mouse gesture thing that you can assign any function too (buttons, even macro's of buttons). Plus it can have different functions for different programs and it's free :D
http://www.tcbmi.com/strokeit/

I need a keyboard, some sort of mouse and a monitor. Oh, and an internet connection is nice.

I prefer coding at night time too, with the lights off. Only lights are the lights of the two monitors staring in front of me.

I used to have radio/tv on but I find that I'm not as productive. Now, I prefer total silence. But soemtimes I do have radio playing in the background because it helps fill a void.

I hate the daytime. I am so unproductive during the daytime. It's hard to concentrate.

Other than that, I have no real idiosynchroncies.

I prefer to work also at night and listening to music like dance, trance and techno.

I'm crazy about keyboard and mice. Current couple is Logitech Elite Keyboard + Logitech Mouse MX-700 (optical+wireless). :D

A double monitor setup. I'm really torn at work, they're offering me a 19" flat panel, but it won't work in my dual screen setup.

I can't start a coding session without a full cup of coffee and an album starting to play. If there's an interruption after the coffee while I'm coding, I need another cup unless I'm very excited about the code. If I get interrupted a lot, that's a lot of coffee consumption ;) Other than that, I think I'm relatively well adjusted. Since this has also turned into a resolution/music thread, I code at 1024x768x32 while listening to bands that include but are not limited to:

Megadeth
Iron Maiden
OOMPH!
Tanzwut
Nevermore
Sasha
Paul van Dyke
John Digweed
Tiesto
KMFDM

Also, Dan's super high sensitivity mouse setting scares me, especially since I sometimes lower mine a notch :eek:

When I read technical books, I don't feel comfortable unless I have a pen in my right hand.

As I begin to read, my right hand starts to feel empty, like something missing. So, I have to stop and look around for a pen to hold. Even If I have absolutly no intention of using it.

I don't feel this urge with any other type of reading material, just technical books.

David

I usually have 4 or 5 things running at once. I can't stand to focus on one thing. I usually have my coder, an image editor or two, a few help files or reference docs, and some other stuff I'm using. :D

And when I'm at home, I'm never really comfortable unless I'm in a reclining position.

I also run at 800x600. Can't stand it any bigger.

Wow, you also can't stand it any bigger, neither can I :-)

Keith

Originally posted by Eagle EXE
I usually have 4 or 5 things running at once. I can't stand to focus on one thing. I usually have my coder, an image editor or two, a few help files or reference docs, and some other stuff I'm using. :D
I run a huge number of things at once. At one stage a psychologist confirmed that this should be a natural state of affairs for me, I have a very short attention span (he believed this was as a result of lack of stimulation while growing up (rather than ADD)). I also have a very good memory and can pick up things where I left off very quickly. The net result is that I time-slice a large number of tasks.

I need Mozzilla because of the tabs. At the moment I have 40 windows open on this machine. 13 of those are Mozzilla. If I cound Tabs as pages then I'd have 48 pages open. If I were using IE and A page per window that'd be 75 windows.

(actually it'd be 77) I opend two windows while editing this message.

Understandably, I'm not one of those weirdo's with 800x600.

(I've actuallly been eyeing up prices for triple head cards along with three 19 inch monitors. They are getting pretty cheap now)

I have to have my MS Natural Keyboard. Unfortunately, it has to be the original one....that they don't make anymore. The newer models just don't feel right. The more expensive model just feels bulky, and the cheaper one has the retarded arrow key configuration, and the even more retarded insert/home/pageup/etc configuration. Makes me wish I had purchases a few extras years ago, but I can't seem to find anyone selling new ones anymore. I had thought about trying to pick up some used ones on ebay or something, but decided against it when it occurred to me that I might get someones porn keyboard (if you know what I mean).

I also love my Intellimouse Explorer, but I could function with a regular mouse. On the topic of mice, Dan mentioned the Razer boomslang. Although I really don't like the feel of the mouse (I think the ball is in a bad position...the way I hold it, it always seems to lift off the mousepad), the Razer will always hold a special place in my heart. I worked at the company that wrote the drivers for it. It allowed us to play many games of Unreal Tournament on the clock :)

For the people with a large amount of windows, if you aren't afraid of spending a week getting used to something new, I highly recommend docking the taskbar to the right side of the screen and setting it on auto-hide. You gain a huge amount of space. I can have 20+ windows open and still be able to read the title text for each. 40+ (1024x768 res btw) results in two columns which still allows for some text to show (you can also make taskbar as wide as you want so it's not a problem). This has the little quirk of making the X button on maximized windows useless (it's too easy to move mouse too far right and have taskbar show up), but thankfully you can just double click on the application icon in the top left of the window to close instead. This system also allows you to have many apps in your system tray without intruding on valuable taskbar space. Works wonders once you get used to it :)

My quirk is the concentration: I simply concentrate so deeply on what's going on a screen (without music/sounds) and when someone asks something I just answer "okay" or mumble something (it's like reflex or something - I can't remember that I said it) and if that somebody asks right after the first question: "what did I just said" I'll answer "what? did you said something? uh... could you repeat that?"

So for me coding is kind of mix of concentration, meditation, writing, autonomic nerve functions, regular functions and pure dementia :)

Oh, and I like to stare walls and think how ball would bounce from the different colored stripes if that would be possible... :p

Ok, so I'm not a developer, but I'll join in anyways. :)

When I do stuff for DIY Games it has to be completely silent. No music, no TV, nothing. I think it's because all I do at work is talk on the phone constantly.. call after call, back to back... ugh. Anyway, sometimes I'll go to the park, the biketrail, or the library and do updates on my laptop using my cellular net connection.

Originally posted by Lerc

(I've actuallly been eyeing up prices for triple head cards along with three 19 inch monitors. They are getting pretty cheap now)

Triple-head cards aren't exactly needed, unless you absolutely need fast acceleration (particularly DX) across all three. I run a GF4 and GF2MX (PCI) for three monitors. I could set the two running on the GF4 to span, for DirectX acceleration on both monitors attached to it. The NVIDIA drivers support accelerated OpenGL across all, though, and it's easier for maximizing programs to run multi-view instead.

Originally posted by Morphecy
I simply concentrate so deeply on what's going on a screen and when someone asks something I just answer "okay" or mumble something Yeah, I've got to plead guilty to that one too. Makes my wife want kick me from time to time :)

I tend not to respond at all, which drives my other half nuts. I do listen, but I don't like breaking the flow of whatever I was doing to reply, so I have to finish typing the line or whatever and then eventually turn my head "What was that?"

At least he's finally learning not to poke me repeatedly to get a reaction (since if I'm doing painstaking pixel art at the time and he jogs my mouse, he will get his head bitten off :) )

Originally posted by Fariz
I need a good looking blond sitting on my lap when I am codding. :)
[...]
I need TWO good looking blonds sitting on my lap when I am codding. :D

Heh... did you see Swordfish? :D

My work area has to be absolutely clear of anything. I can't stand to have a single object other then my monitor on my desk(or the desk next to it). Infact it really helps if the whole room is clean, but my wife and the kids also use the office so that's hard to keep on top of. BUT, everyone in my family KNOWS that they are not ever allowed to leave anything sitting on either of of my desks. Not even a pencil. I guess that counts as a quirk.

I also code in total silence. And my favorite time to code is first thing in the morning. Before I've had breakfast or anything. I just love to come around in the morning while coding.

Originally posted by damon
My work area has to be absolutely clear of anything. I can't stand to have a single object other then my monitor on my desk(or the desk next to it). Infact it really helps if the whole room is clean, but my wife and the kids also use the office so that's hard to keep on top of. BUT, everyone in my family KNOWS that they are not ever allowed to leave anything sitting on either of of my desks. Not even a pencil. I guess that counts as a quirk.

I also code in total silence. And my favorite time to code is first thing in the morning. Before I've had breakfast or anything. I just love to come around in the morning while coding.

Well... er....

this is how my work area looks at this very moment.

I agree with Damon, work area should be kept clean. Unless I need to have a book or some plans open, the only things on my desk during work time are:

Speakers
Phone
Coffee cup and saucer
Ikea paper tray
Two Ikea stacked wire cd racks
Lamp (attached to edge of desk, doesn't waste room)
Keyboard/mouse/mouse pad

There's also not a single cord on my desk. Keyboard and mouse are wireless, everything else that needs to be plugged in is at the edge of the desk so that the cord is neatly hidden. I do eat some meals here so if I'm taking a break there might be a plate. I take care not to spill any food though and I clean up any mess right away. My desk is just a flat surface, no fancy shelves or drawers attached to it. I have a seperate bookshelf to my left which has one shelf exactly level with my desk, which is where I have my pen cups, notebooks, calculator, etc. I tend to do most of my paper planning resting comfortably on my bed, which also helps to keep the computer area clean. Unavoidable loose papers are on the paper tray and are filed or thrown out when no longer required. All planning and assorted scribbling is done in one of several notebooks or paper pads, so I end up with no papers lying around. CDs are always put away when not in use. There's a lot of unused space to create a minimalist and open feel, which is very important since this is a very small room. I could ramble on about my whole system of room organization and layout but I think that's enough for now. ;)

Originally posted by gilzu
Well... er....

this is how my work area looks at this very moment.


Yikes! That picture made my hair stand on end!

Originally posted by damon
Yikes! That picture made my hair stand on end!

honestly, thats how it usualy look. didn't even move a thing.

now where is the remote?

Originally posted by gilzu
honestly, thats how it usualy look. didn't even move a thing.

now where is the remote?

It look like that you collected all your bills on your desk ;)

Wow, that's a messy desk there... :eek:

My desk is pretty clean, but it does have some... odd items on it...

Such as a 1 gallon jug of activated carbon, a huge pile of CDs, and my Halo case :)

Originally posted by damon
Yikes! That picture made my hair stand on end!

If you think that's bad, check out http://www.warmlinks.com/galerie/foutoir.jpg (not my pic, just a link I came across the other day). Notice the comb on the desk...we had a good laugh about that. This guy definitely has a few quirks.

Originally posted by Matthew
If you think that's bad, check out http://www.warmlinks.com/galerie/foutoir.jpg (not my pic, just a link I came across the other day). Notice the comb on the desk...we had a good laugh about that. This guy definitely has a few quirks.


*dies*

Originally posted by Matthew
If you think that's bad, check out http://www.warmlinks.com/galerie/foutoir.jpg (not my pic, just a link I came across the other day). Notice the comb on the desk...we had a good laugh about that. This guy definitely has a few quirks.

Eck! I don't think I'd even step foot in that guys room.

and if we were already on quirks and workstations,

http://www.theworkshop.net/news/stuff/perfect_toilet.jpg

That foutoir.jpg picture is amazing. I had a good laugh at that. :) ... I thought my desk was a mess!.

One quirk I have is I try to avoid ever having sunlight (or movement) behind a monitor (so if I'm in an office and told where to sit), I end up making a sun visor around my monitor out of paper to avoid distractions or sunlight. :) (I've found sunlight behind a monitor can give me headaches). (I try to avoid sunlight generally... while working. ;)

I suppose another quirk is that I also usually wear just black when coding (not usually a problem, as I wear it most times anyway). It is not as mad as it sounds, as it avoids me seeing my own reflection in my monitor and I angle the monitor down slightly so I cannot see roof light reflections. :)

I also code at night, but that's mainly due to slowly falling out of sync with the days.... Its partly due to working later and later each night, and partly I think its caused by not getting any sunlight, so my brain has no feedback on what time of the day it is! :)

One of my quirks is I don’t like telephones. I think they are rude and demanding. I hate answering them and I hate it when I’m talking to someone and a phone rings and interrupts our conversation. Most of the time when the phone rings I let the answering machine take the call. Sometimes I even fantasize about hitting a ringing phone with a hammer. :)

I think email is a far more civilised form of communication.

Originally posted by Davaris
One of my quirks is I don’t like telephones. I think they are rude and demanding. I hate answering them and I hate it when I’m talking to someone and a phone rings and interrupts our conversation. Most of the time when the phone rings I let the answering machine take the call. Sometimes I even fantasize about hitting a ringing phone with a hammer. :)


Me too! It's like this whole post was plucked right out of my own brain! I actually get mad every time the phone rings in my house.

Hate phones. No one who is a friend would call me, they'd email, so if the phone rings it's automatically not someone I want to talk to. In my old apartment I turned the ringer off completely to avoid salespeople - alas, eventually my then-job tried to reach me at home and couldn't, and I had to turn the phone back on.

Of course, now that I'm living with my husband's family in the UK, I'm even more afraid of the phone... It can't possibly be for me, I may not be able to understand whoever it *is*, and hearing my accent might confuse them. :) If I haven't been asked to mind the phone I will probably pretend not to hear it and let it ring.

(Well, understanding people isn't too bad in the south, but I have met completely incomprehensible northern folk once or twice.)

This is kinda weird, but I usually have to keep my left hand busy. I have a few dead batteries (a AA and a 2 AAAs) I'll twirl and otherwise fiddle with using my left hand while my right hand usually rests on the keyboard or mouse while I think/browse my code.

Also, bottle caps (both metal and plastic) work well for this purpose too. :)