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  • 20 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • I use Helix

    TLDR: Yes I think helix is worth trying out. It has some missing features but it is an amazing piece of software.

    Yes I use helix daily. It is very fun to use and you can do many things faster. It is particularly good when navigating a (large) codebase you know fairly well. You are able to jump around and find/edit relevant code very quickly.

    Compared to vs code:

    • it is much faster and more minimal
    • It might be harder to get things up and running than in vs code, e.g. to get auto-completion working in helix you need to have the LSP for that language installed. It can be a bit confusing if you have never done it before but it is easy once you have done it a few times.

    Compared to neovim I think it is:

    • easier to learn
    • slightly faster - especially with large files
    • you will have a much smaller/simpler configuration. AFAIK Helix has more features working out of the box than neovim (file picker, lsp support ect) and needs less configuration to get things to a workable state.

    The downside of helix compared to both neovim and vscode is that it does not have plugin support yet so you will need to use other tools in combination with it to get an equivalent experience. Here are some tools that are commonly used with helix:

    Helix really shines when:

    • performance matters - I have edited files with millions of lines and had no trouble on codebases where my colleagues IDE’s become very slow.
    • You want to use multiple cursors at times
    • You want a simple or no configuration
    • It is taking too long to learn the vim keybindings - vim keybindings are more concise but less intuitive and harder to learn

    I recommend you use the tutor (hx --tutor) for a few minutes each day to learn the keybidings.




  • object oriented

    Python does have OOP but you are not at all forced to use it. You can write code in a functional or even procedural style.

    typing

    I do hate that python doesent have proper support for typing but I think weakly typed variables will actually help beginners as it is less to think about to start off with.

    indentation

    I think there are pros and cons here. In other languages it is considered good style to use indentation anyway.

    I’m sure it is difficult to teach a large class like that though. It was hard enough for me to learn with a much more favourable teacher to student ratio than you probably have. Sorry but honestly I do sympathise with admin as well.










  • You can install alternative android distros on an android phone that will keep updating long after the manufacturer has stopped. For example lineage OS which supports lots of devices (but not all).

    There are also Linux distros targeted to mobile devices.

    You just need to pick a device that is supported when buying.



















  • That seems like an argument for maintaining a frozen repo of packages, not against containers.

    I am not arguing against containers, I am arguing that nix is more reproducible. Containers can be used with nix and are useful in other ways.

    an argument for maintaining a frozen repo of packages

    This is essentially what nix does. In addition it verifies that the packages are identical to the packages specified in your flake.nix file.

    You can only have a truly fully-reproducible build environment if you setup your toolchain to keep copies of every piece of external software so that you can do hermetic builds.

    This is essentially what Nix does, except Nix verifies the external software is the same with checksums. It also does hermetic builds.