
Douglas Crockford
Developer, writer
Who are you, and what do you do?
I am Douglas Crockford. I am famous for having discovered that JavaScript has good parts. That was the first important discovery of the twenty-first century. I also discovered JSON, the world's best loved data interchange format.
I am a programmer and a writer. My most recent book is How JavaScript Works. I am currently working on four more books about security, mathematics, Charles K Bliss, and the Misty language. I do not know yet which will be done first.
What hardware do you use?
My primary machine is a Dell 17 inch laptop. I also have an Asus NovaGo that I use when travelling, and for testing my ARM projects, such as the DEC64 library.
And what software?
I do most of my text editing with Sublime Text. I like it because it is fast and it lets me turn off most of its annoying advanced features. I like simplicity.
I improve my JavaScript with JSLint. I test my JavaScript on Firefox, Chrome, and Edge, in that order.
I use Visual Studio 19 to compile C and assemble x64 and ARM64. Microsoft provides a lot of value for free.
I keep my projects on OneDrive. I use GitHub Desktop to push my public code.
I use Prince to make PDFs of my books.
I occasionally use these Adobe CS4 programs: Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, and Flash. I don't use any of them enough to justify a subscription to their latest cloud offerings.
What would be your dream setup?
When I started programming, my university's computer had 16k of memory, filled a large room with a raised floor and fire suppression system, required constant maintenance, and cost millions of dollars.
I am happy with the hardware situation. I can easily carry both of my laptops in one hand. They are cheap and very reliable, and literally a million times better than the computer I shared at school.
Unfortunately, software is only about a hundred times better. We still have a long long way to go to make the software for the dream setup.
Uses This is supported by ZSA, makers of the Moonlander, ErgoDox EZ and Planck EZ keyboards. They also publish an awesome newsletter.