So in October this year it will have been 30 years since I started my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Lancaster University.
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So in October this year it will have been 30 years since I started my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Lancaster University.
It got me to thinking that I've been using vim and it's ancestors since around that time and it's something I still reach for every single work day even now in 2026.
Some 30 years on, I can probably count on one hand the technology things I still use every day, Linux, Vim, assorted GNU tools. For an industry that moves at break neck speed to jump at the next thing, that there's anything I'm still using is a mild surprise!
Do you have tools from your undergrad days you're still using now? Top five?
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So in October this year it will have been 30 years since I started my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Lancaster University.
It got me to thinking that I've been using vim and it's ancestors since around that time and it's something I still reach for every single work day even now in 2026.
Some 30 years on, I can probably count on one hand the technology things I still use every day, Linux, Vim, assorted GNU tools. For an industry that moves at break neck speed to jump at the next thing, that there's anything I'm still using is a mild surprise!
Do you have tools from your undergrad days you're still using now? Top five?
@idnorton i never was an undergrad, but i've been using emacs this whole time.
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@idnorton i never was an undergrad, but i've been using emacs this whole time.
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So in October this year it will have been 30 years since I started my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Lancaster University.
It got me to thinking that I've been using vim and it's ancestors since around that time and it's something I still reach for every single work day even now in 2026.
Some 30 years on, I can probably count on one hand the technology things I still use every day, Linux, Vim, assorted GNU tools. For an industry that moves at break neck speed to jump at the next thing, that there's anything I'm still using is a mild surprise!
Do you have tools from your undergrad days you're still using now? Top five?
@idnorton Emacs, Linux, Apache httpd.
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@idnorton Emacs, Linux, Apache httpd.
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So in October this year it will have been 30 years since I started my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Lancaster University.
It got me to thinking that I've been using vim and it's ancestors since around that time and it's something I still reach for every single work day even now in 2026.
Some 30 years on, I can probably count on one hand the technology things I still use every day, Linux, Vim, assorted GNU tools. For an industry that moves at break neck speed to jump at the next thing, that there's anything I'm still using is a mild surprise!
Do you have tools from your undergrad days you're still using now? Top five?
@idnorton Same as you: Linux, vim, and a ton of GNU (bash, coreutils, GCC, ...).
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@idnorton Emacs, Linux, Apache httpd.
@pdcawley Apache is a good one, missed that off my list!
Also bash!
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@pdcawley Apache is a good one, missed that off my list!
Also bash!
@idnorton I'm old enough that I started with the Bourne shell, then csh and, in more recent years, zsh.
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So in October this year it will have been 30 years since I started my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Lancaster University.
It got me to thinking that I've been using vim and it's ancestors since around that time and it's something I still reach for every single work day even now in 2026.
Some 30 years on, I can probably count on one hand the technology things I still use every day, Linux, Vim, assorted GNU tools. For an industry that moves at break neck speed to jump at the next thing, that there's anything I'm still using is a mild surprise!
Do you have tools from your undergrad days you're still using now? Top five?
@idnorton top 5 frequently used tools? Probably: bash, Vim (although for anything longer than 2 lines I use Emacs in Evil mode LARPing as a nicer Vim), Apache, Mutt, Firefox
Honourable mentions still in use: gnu tools, ssh, exim, wget, irssi, perl, tf
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@idnorton top 5 frequently used tools? Probably: bash, Vim (although for anything longer than 2 lines I use Emacs in Evil mode LARPing as a nicer Vim), Apache, Mutt, Firefox
Honourable mentions still in use: gnu tools, ssh, exim, wget, irssi, perl, tf
@morix I kinda miss working with Exim
SSH is a good one!
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@morix I kinda miss working with Exim
SSH is a good one!
@idnorton I'm not really using it at work, but its frequently in use on my personal infrastructure.
Also yes, ssh makes the world go around despite mosh being sometimes useful these days.
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So in October this year it will have been 30 years since I started my undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Lancaster University.
It got me to thinking that I've been using vim and it's ancestors since around that time and it's something I still reach for every single work day even now in 2026.
Some 30 years on, I can probably count on one hand the technology things I still use every day, Linux, Vim, assorted GNU tools. For an industry that moves at break neck speed to jump at the next thing, that there's anything I'm still using is a mild surprise!
Do you have tools from your undergrad days you're still using now? Top five?
@idnorton Mutt (well NeoMutt now) for personal email, Thunderbird for work email, screen, irssi, and I still write Bash scripts.
But Docker, Git and VSCode have all come out since I left uni and I use them just as heavily.
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