* arnuld:
well, if you really ask me & if i feel i must give you an advice, then
i will say, "If one really wantes to be a programmer, 1st thing he must
do is to install UNIX & *use* it as *his* OS".
OK. I'll bite.
Really useful advice, especially if your primary target is Windows.
I'm starting to get rather annoyed at all the goofs who seem to be thinking
that the OS used by the programmer is *any* kind of indication of his
programming skills. I know programmers that don't know ints from floats
while using l33t linux, and I know several gifted programmers who prefer to
use Windows. Furthermore, you casually forgot that there's often a company-
wide policy regarding what software to use. You may think it's unl33t and
not h4x0r, but if you're working with a couple of people on the same
project, it really helps if people use the same toolchain and environment.
It means that if I'm working on something with a coworker, I don't have to
spend a lot of time familiarizing myself with his editor-of-choice-of-the-
day.
So yes, I'm using Windows at work; Visual Studio 2005 if you insist, using
gcc for our non-windows targets, and using the Microsoft compiler for our
Windows targets. And no, that's far from my preference. The VS2005 editor is
broken beyond any hope of recognition, Intellisense is almost always wrong,
it crashes, eats memory like a pig, and to top it off, it's not my favourite
OS to begin with; I prefer NetBSD (Don't let the User-Agent header fool you).
But I fail to see how my *personal* preferences make a huge impact. As
crappy as VS2005 is, I haven't seen anything better either, especially
if I stick to my preferred OS. No java->No eclipse et al. Last time I tried
KDevelop and Anjuta, they both crashed when I tried to make a project of
all our sourcefiles, and to top it off: it insisted on using GNU Autofools.
Finally, and as much as I dislike Windows, part of our product consists of a
Windows-based UI. No, there's no real reason why we couldn't have used
something different, but switching to something else is going to cost a *lot*
of time and effort (and hence: money), which I don't want to do *just* because
someone thinks that the minute you're using a Windows PC, you're a crap
programmer. Cross-compiling from l33t l1n00x to Windows, while still using
the MFC, is asking for trouble.
Really, if you want to claim I'm a worthless programmer, go right ahead. You're
probably right. However, if you're doing so only because I happen to be using
a Windows PC at work, you're off your rockers.
--
Martijn van Buul -
pi**@dohd.org 
