My slow conversion to Mac
Let me start by saying, I'm a windows developer. I worked at Microsoft for 7+ years and loved the new surface projects. However, I recently have worked at a large digital agency and now in the finance world with a bunch of python developers.
I used a mac for my first 3 months at my last job and hated it. I hated the not knowing the keyboard, that powershell wasn't my default, and that there is no easy way to navigate folders in Finder. It was like typing on a Dvorak keyboard. I did it, I even delivered a project on it. And then I got put on a .Net project and embraced my pc again.
I have since left that agency and now work in the financial research world. It is a dream of mine to be part of this world and to understand how it works, and I feel all of my work that I have done in my past has gotten me to where I am now. Anyway, back to my slow conversion to Mac.
I asked for a PC and he mentioned that the designer uses Sketch (like all designers do) and that only works on a Mac. So I conceded and reluctantly got a Mac for my new job.
Here is what I have learned:
The touchpad is like NONE other
I love my macbook touchpad. I have learned the multi-touch gestures that gives me multiple desktops, windows, switch between full screen easily, and it responds better than ANY touchpad I have ever used.
The touchbar isn't horrible
I heard horror stories of the new touchbar, where is the escape key, how do I get to function keys, where is the power button, etc...
All of those are valid complaints and I did adjust the touchbar to add a screen lock key, and fixed the volume to where I wanted it. Editing the touchbar is kind of cool for the record. :-)
Docker is amazing on a Mac
Why? Because the underlying container is already running linux so it just works! I love that! I got docker containers spun up, created new images, and felt like a devops guru in a day. I know people are going to say, well, docker on windows server works great too. Trust me I know! I love my PC, I didn't say my over-night conversion to Mac, I said my slow conversion.
That is one thing I hate about writing a blog, there is always that idiot who feels compelled to tell me something they think I don't know or that I haven't considered. No, I've considered everything and I don't want to write about every single detail here in the blog to defend myself against every possible troll who googles some random fact that I may have overlooked to show me something I don't know. I'm writing for my own education and if you get something from it great, if you have a better comment, great, write your own blog.
Ok, back to the topic...
Pip, brew, and python are better on Mac
A few reasons, Brew only works on Mac, Python is pre-installed on a Mac, yes, it is not the latest, but it gets you running python pretty quickly. Also, pip and the requirements.txt file makes for some easy setup for python.
Flask is pretty awesome
I've done .Net Core, .Net from 1.0 - 4.6, even Classic ASP (before it was called classic), and I have used Metalsmith, Jekyl, React, and Vue.js. And I still love React. However, the magic that I discovered with using Flask and how you can EASILY (which I rarely say regarding coding) learn and pass parameters around made it pretty awesome. I learned a new framework well-enough in a couple days that I was able to add new functionality, determine some configuration files, and migrate an entire app to a docker container, and push it the GCP.
Ok, the mac-only apps are pretty cool too
Yes, I like Garage Band, and Sketch is pretty awesome. All in all, I'm really enjoying my Macbook and even though I'm writing this on my PC, I'm slowly learning to appreciate some advantages to the macbook.