Tools

I’ve learned a lot by observing how other people work. What computer do they use? What operating system? What development applications and utilities are installed? What kind of workspace and desk set up do they prefer?

Everyone has their own way of working that best suits them. There is no perfect set up, and heated arguments to the contrary, there is no perfect operating system. Here is a brief description of my tool set and work environment.

Computer

My primary computer is a 27″ iMac with 2.8 GHz i7 quad-core processor, 16 GB of RAM, and a 2 TB hard drive running OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard. When working from home I use a 17″ 2.33 GHz Macbook Pro with 3 GB of RAM and 160GB hard drive, recently upgraded to OS X 10.7 Lion.

For road trips I take an iPad 2.

Chronologically, my coding career involved the use of the following computers/operating systems:

  • Commodore PET
  • Vic-20 / Commodore 64
  • IBM PC DOS 3.x
  • DEC VAX/VMS
  • Windows 3.0 – 95
  • IBM OS/2 Warp v3 and v4
  • Windows 98, NT, 2000, XP, and Windows 7
  • Mac OS X 10.3 – current

Software

As mentioned, I use Mac OS X. I have Parallels Desktop installed with Windows XP Professional and Windows 7 virtual machines at the ready. I use them when one of my users has a Windows-related tech support problem.

Here is a list of my frequently-used applications:

  • Eclipse-PHP (PHP source editor / IDE)
  • Coda (PHP, HTML, CSS source editor)
  • Transmit FTP
  • Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera
  • Dragon Dictate
  • Adium
  • TextWrangler
  • Scrivener
  • Mac Mail
  • Terminal
  • CoRD remote desktop client
  • SVN
  • Evernote
  • Microsoft Office 2011 (Mac)
  • Parallels (Windows 7, Windows XP, Ubuntu)

Workspace

I have been teased by co-workers and clients alike for many years because I have always preferred to work in a darker space rather than one with a lot of light. My window shades are always down and the only light is a single incandescent lamp, usually off to the side. My office at my current job is often referred to as “Storage Room B” by my co-workers because it’s so [relatively] dark.

I prefer corner desks with my computer in the corner. I sit low and lean back in my chair, resting my arms from the elbows forward on the desk surface. This eases strain on my back and shoulders and allows me to sit and write code comfortably all day.

“And on the 8th day, God put on a pot of coffee and started coding…”