Re: computer and wheel time

[Daniel Corbe]

Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> writes:

> Emanuel Berg <embe8573@student.uu.se> writes:
>
>> Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:
>>
>>> Yeah, sure. That's a good idea in general, but it has
>>> one drawback: there's only 24 hours per day. [...]
>>>
>>> Again: in general, yes. OTOH, there are so many
>>> other enjoyable, interesting, and creative
>>> activities out there, even if you use ready-made
>>> solutions to /some/ of your problems... And writing
>>> rather simple and boring Elisp code is not really
>>> very high on my list. (Not that writing Elisp is
>>> simple or boring in general: just that coding this
>>> particular thing seems to me a lot like
>>> reimplementing well-known things, and reimplementing
>>> a "format"-like function, for instance, seems to be
>>> not very enjoyable/interesting/creative...)
>>
>> In general, I'd say using a computer isn't a good idea
>> if you are concerned with time. In particular, using
>> Emacs and even more so, configuring/extending it will
>> in effect disintegrate even the most sparse schedule!
>
> Actually, you spend a little time customizing then
> real work goes faster, more accurately.  It's
> a win win.
>
> The more you customize, the less time regular work
> takes.
>
> Just try to keep the ratio under control.

Eventually you begin to butt up against the law of diminishing returns.
Spending half an hour on something that's going to save you 10 minutes
every day is a net gain; however, you'll eventually run out of those
types of problems to solve.

Pretty soon you'll be spending half an hour on something that saves you
30 seconds here and there and that's likely to be a net loss.

Then again, emacs really *can* do some pretty cool things.