Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Other Programmers

A non-exhaustive list.

September 29, 2024

• Programmers will always be able to use keyboard shortcuts.
• Programmers will rarely use a pointing device.
• Programmers using a pointing device will always be using a mouse, or a device which functions identically to a mouse.
• Programmers will always be willing to install thousands of dependencies.
• Programmers will always be able to install thousands of dependencies.
• Programmers will always have at least 64GB of RAM.
• Programmers will always have at least 32GB of RAM.
• Programmers will always have at least 16GB of RAM.
• Programmers will always have at least 8GB of RAM.
• “Seriously? You don’t even have 4GB? Maybe you should rethink being a programmer.”
• Programmers will always be able to see.
• Visually impaired programmers will always be able to read code indented with spaces.
• Programmers will always be able to read indentations which are two spaces wide.
• Programmers will never be able to understand blocks of declaring code unless each line’s components are aligned along a vertical axis.
• Programmers will always use code suggestions.
• Programmers who don’t use code suggestions won’t mind seeing it pop up every time they type a new word.
• Programmers will always use syntax highlighting.
• Programmers who don’t use syntax highlighting are visually impaired.
• Programmers will always use monospace fonts.
• Programmers will always use fonts where space characters are wide.
• Programmers will always use a text editor that supports converting tabs to spaces.
• Programmers will always use a text editor that supports modelines or editorconfig.
• Programmers will always prefer to use tools with many moving parts over those with fewer moving parts.
• Programmers will always use my preferred text editor.
• Programmers will always have my preferred text editor installed.
• Programmers will always be willing to install my preferred text editor if asked to.
• Programmers will always be able to use my preferred text editor if I give them no choice.