Ergonomics on Andrew Quinn's TILs

Claude Code disproportionately benefits those who touch type

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I use Claude Code. I like Claude Code. According to Steve Yegge’s Eight-Circuit Model of Claudesciousness, I’m a pretty solid Stage 6, edging into 7 on heavy days. I think most engineers, most of the time, can get most of their work done faster with one of these tools than not, although the force multiplier of that speedup is probably not as extreme as it is in my case. Why is that?

Copy-Item is 27 percent slower than File Explorer drag and drop on Windows

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

File Explorer drag & drop     ########## (112 MBps)
Copy-Item                     #######    (82 MBps)
Built in SFTP client          ######     (70 MBps)
Built in robocopy (/MT:32)    ##         (25 MBps)
WSL 2 rsync                   #          (13 MBps)

In table form:

Tool	Speed (MBps)	Difference
Drag and drop	~112	—
`Copy-Item`	~82	-27%
`sftp`	~70	-37%
`robocopy` (with `/MT:32`)	~25 MBps	-78%
`rsync` (WSL 2)	~13 MBps	-88%

I feel like I’m losing my mind.

PHP and Web Dev Phobia

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

PHP is, for better and for worse, the Python of web dev in my eyes. It is exceptionally easy to get started, in a way which I think younger developers may not be fully aware of.

So here I’d like to make them aware of it! That’s right, this is a Slowstart for people who have never touched PHP or web dev before.

Start the way we usually do on this blog, with the “tutorial-in-a-box” by installing Vagrant and Virtualbox so you can create a disposable virtual machine with just a few commands.

Software engineers as mental athletes

Sat, 15 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This week I achieved a modest personal dream of mine I’ve had since I was a high schooler: I purchased a proper standing desk, with a low-profile treadmill underneath.

The total cost for a setup here in Finland came out to only about $350, something I can easily afford with a week’s take-home pay. The primary hurdle for me was psychological: How could I justify spending so much money on a more ergonomic setup when I’m not even sure this whole “software engineering” thing will work out for me? Nevermind that I taught myself to program at 14 from a Civ 4 hacking tutorial, nevermind that I’ve been living my life as a budget cyborg for the last 15 years, nevermind that every job I’ve ever had post-college has been at least 60% WFH – how could I be sure this investment in my home office will pay itself back?

Trackballs are great for the mostly-mouseless

Sun, 26 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I was 100% mouseless back before it was cool. Between dropping out of high school and enrolling in community college, I replaced my laptop with a $80 HP EliteBook I found on eBay; when I discovered its trackpad didn’t work anyway, I went all in on a no-X setup. I eventually concluded that going 90% mouseless got me almost all of the benefits, with almost none of the downsides. It’s almost as if returns are usually diminishing!