Working with Vim

Many newcomers to the world of Linux and the Linux programming environment are scared of Vim! Similar was my situation a few months ago when I was reliant on Eclipse CDT for my programming needs. I had acknowledged the flexibility of Vim at the first stance and was willing to try it since quite long; after all, there had to be a reason to why some of the most prolific programmers I have met were not willing to move ahead of it.

Working with massive projects, I discovered the answer-
When abstraction eases out things for you, you tend to enjoy its benefits and avoid looking into unnecessary details with all your focus on implementation. When you are in the urgency to begin outputting, you tend to work this way leaving out the details for future research. That's a newbie approach.

But when you are used to stuff on a daily basis you look for ways to shorten repetitions so much that you wish certain aspects of life are fast-forwarded in macro style. Even an unnecessary mouse click becomes heavy! When you do not want to bother your brain with minute things and reserve it for that juicy algorithm/system design you had planned all the way, its your Peripheral Nervous System that readily volunteers for handling teeny-weeny issues. That's what Vi(m) exploits. Its commands are a bit hard getting used to in the beginning but once internalized, you can even use them while dreaming!

I am loving the tool! Certainly some things win hands down.

Danni, you made my day!

The grieving effect of Jobs' demise had just began to ruin my mood (he being one of my role models) when Danielle's honoring gesture made my day!

October 7th is Ada Lovelace Day. A day that showcases women in science and technology by profiling a woman technologist or scientist on your blog.

This calls me to write about an influential woman in technology I know of.
Though it won't be hard to figure out but if you ask me who is my Ada, she is-

Danielle Madeley

Danielle was the one who introduced me to the FOSS developer world and continues to hold immense trust in me. An unprecedented optimist full of ideas and always ready to help. Oh she knows the Linux box inside out and has the answer to any system related issues I face ever! No doubt she loves penguins (the real ones) and is playing with them (the tux here) since the age of ten [edit: not age of ten but tenth standard] when her dad gifted her a Linux CD. She loves her work a lot and I have even caught her working on a Sunday!

She is a super skilled developer who is very patient (a rare combination because codes make people go crazy at times. ;)  When asked, how are you so patient, she says, "I also do my screaming locally, when there is no one to hear it, but occasionally my housemate."

Her hobbies are playing saxophone, photography and lately, swing dancing and playing netball too. And its worth mentioning, I have never seen a more concerned environmentalist as her before who even cares about the pests infesting her chilli plants [?].