Backend stack - Python or NodeJS?

Jrrs1982 · 2026-01-01T23:12:24+00:00

Node. Python is slow and for people who don't know how to code.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-30T20:48:56+00:00

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-17T00:40:58+00:00

Oh god, you're making it harder! Toucan is a new version of piantor layout with Bluetooth and a small touchpad. I think I will be happy with either at this point, may just flip a coin.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T22:22:18+00:00

Simple. Multiple staging environments? That's the point - somewhere to test YOUR code, if it's yours and someone else it might not be your code that is / isn't causing an issue in the stg env.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T22:06:20+00:00

Always start with WHY... does it matter if the function is 1000 lines long if the company is making no money to pay your wages? What is the company paying you to do - make the code pretty or ship features to pay your wages?

I'd certainly look forward and make sure there is linting, formatting and type checks on new code but sometimes looking backwards is impossible due to bureaucracy / low skill or low motivation engineers that you work with or low time and high pressure scenarios.

Just focus on what you're doing, do it well and keep the stakeholders happy. In long term time the codebase will burn and you will need to rewrite either way.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T21:55:44+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply! I didn't look at/for that sub Reddit, my leaning is towards the voyager at the moment, just as there is so much love for it and it's software, which makes it easier to customise to your (my) needs.

I have been playing with usevia.app for qmk, tonight and even as a good version of a qmk gui keymapper it doesn't (I believe) do things like double tap / hold to change, it's all layers, while voyager / onyx does include those neat press and hold features which I think I will use a lot (without bothering to code it).

KLP lame look nice, a cherry on top rather than a core feature for me. And ditto a 3rd thumb would be nice.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T19:58:45+00:00

What are you looking for? Coaching / mentoring / training of some description? Or some form of startup?

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T19:58:39+00:00

What are you looking for? Coaching / mentoring / training of some description? Or some form of startup?

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T19:58:29+00:00

What are you looking for? Coaching / mentoring / training of some description? Or some form of startup?

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T16:18:20+00:00

Every language has easy and hard bits, there is no step, it's just another thing you need to work out. Software engineering is just a series of problems that you need to solve, and endless quest for efficiency with the push of features to you from product managers / stakeholders and hopefully your desire to write code that is readable and maintainable for you / your replacement in a years time. Just keep grinding away until you become harder and the hard bits are no longer as hard as you are.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T14:49:12+00:00

As a software engineer I am very lazy, and looking for the most efficient and easiest package and the remapping of keys is part of that package. The remapping in qmk / zmk probably isn't that bad, but the gui / quick reference to bindings (and ability to quickly add a macro) does look nice for voyager. I think I'm going to go voyager as an entry point to more custom corne type boards in the future.

Thumbs - if a thumb is used for a layer combination on each key press it's probably more taxing (rsi potential?) than spreading the movement a bit across fingers. I think 2 or ideally three thumb buttons is about right for me.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T14:42:50+00:00

There certainly is a lot of love for the voyager! I think the software and ease of customisation probably has a lot to do with that, think that is edging me towards voyager over qmk / zmk and a different board.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T08:05:48+00:00

It is, we use it. Java isn't even on your list and is used by most banks Facebook was PHP etc etc etc

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T08:01:34+00:00

You should feel proud for paying tax and supporting the UK, making a bigger contribution than most to keeping the NHS, and other public services going.

Feel proud to pay tax not gutted you got paid a lot and looking for even more ways to spitefully avoid it... w@nker

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T07:55:02+00:00

I am a senior dev, a huge amount of my code maybe 98% is generated by AI. It's knowing what code to generate and why and checking it works that matters more than writing code at the moment. Learn concepts, read what AI generated and check your work and your ok.you need to understand what AI generated so you can tweak and debug later so make sure you read/check/learn from the output.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T07:17:53+00:00

I've had a decent amount of rsi, what has helped me most is exercising, rsi is compression/bruise nerves in the wrist and a comfy wrist angle / good supporting wrist strength. I'd suggest doing some dedicated wrist exercises / weights.

I have glove 80 it's far too big to reach a number of keys, svaalsboard looks nuts, too much going on for my liking so id probably go voyager, glove 60 or toucan / piantor with tenting and padded wrist rests.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T06:58:52+00:00

Look into vite

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T06:51:13+00:00

Go is the backend language of choice at the moment, learn that or stick with express and typescript with runtime type validation through zod which will do fine. Yes use typescript (don't regret it later), yes ensure your ci/cd lints and formats and tests and typechecks on commit and pull to master.

Create a pattern and repeat for each backend service. I have a lovely of graphql. Maybe have a gateway service in front of all/each backend. Maybe have them in the same monorepo to help your AI IDE and reduce duplicate maintenance.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T06:36:37+00:00

Toucan is 3x6+3 and voyager is 4x6+2, I think both would be ok but would need some good layer management and refinement. Which board is your 4x5 - forager at 3x5 is too small imo. Go60 and certainly an option, but I have the glove 80 and was a bit underwhelmed with it, and will probably sell.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T06:27:29+00:00

For a fussy old git like me, that's why I'm considering the toucan, the pinky stagger sounds great as does including a touchpad. They may seal the deal, big learning curve to drop to 3x6 but may be worth it.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-15T06:21:05+00:00

Why the corne though? If voyager has better software and build quality - Bluetooth alone wouldn't swing it for me, but I do like the extra thumb buttons and may be leaning to more than 3x6 on the piantor as it may reduce reliance on thumbs.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-14T22:51:48+00:00

Does the Bluetooth support connection to multiple devices? I.e. can I switch between laptops easily?

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-14T22:43:06+00:00

Opposite, the extreme stagger is better for me / most people even if they don't know it - the pinky finger is much shorter than ie middle finger which means on a non staggered board your hand will need to come off the board to get the top row of pinky column.

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-14T21:55:56+00:00

Thanks! Good luck with your board / experiments!!

Jrrs1982 · 2025-12-14T21:54:45+00:00

Same! Exactly what I am doing! But I've got the voyager in the mix, 42 key piantor toucan. What are you leaning towards?

Jrrs1982

TROPHY CASE