Top all-time · #2268
Terminally Incoherent
Personal blog · terminally-incoherent.com/blogprogrammingsystems
Terminally Incoherent is a personal blog at terminally-incoherent.com about programming and systems. 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.
Too few sampled comments (12) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Personal blog by a former helpdesk worker, covering Vim, TeX and science fiction. HN readers link it for approachable TeX tutorials and a Vim overview, and cite its Vim posts as examples of Vim folklore.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 12 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- What your text editor says about you3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2007-08-15
- /blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/curves.jpg3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2009-12-12
- A day without X2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-07-26
What Hacker News says?
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”Submitted Things People Believe About Computers as a story · 39 points
HN discussion> 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”Submitted Command Line and User Friendliness as a story · 38 points
HN discussionHey! 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”Submitted Repeating HTML Table Headers on Each Printed Page as a story · 27 points
HN discussionIMHO 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”Submitted AppJet: Another cloud application framework as a story · 27 points
HN discussion"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”Submitted A day without X (server) as a story · 26 points
HN discussionPresumably 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”Submitted Why Vim? as a story · 24 points
HN discussionJacek 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”Submitted Why LaTeX is Superior to Office as a story · 20 points
HN discussionWent 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”Submitted Javascript will be the Next Big Language as a story · 12 points
HN discussionThis 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”Submitted Re: All Word Processors Suck as a story · 6 points
HN discussionthis 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”Submitted What your text editor says about you as a story · 4 points
HN discussion1. 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?”Submitted What does your favorite text editor say about you? as a story · 4 points
HN discussion> 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?”Submitted Sometimes bad UI is a feature (and a selling point) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why certain text editors make you more productive as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Getting Git as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Python: Increase Your Zen, Maximize Your Hapiness as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Public domain is dead as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Problems with zip files as folders. as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Python, Telnet and GUI-fying Legacy Apps as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
