"Most IDEs I've used are stuck in a single code window at a time."

So which IDEs have you used then? Because either you haven't used any, or you haven't even bothered to learn the most basic features. One of the most popular and well known IDE's - Eclipse - can display as many code windows as you like (hint:click on tab, Window menu, then new Editor - there, that was easy, wasn't it? If that's too difficult, you can drag the tab sideways and it'll open another editor), hell you can even drag them out of the main UI and spread them all over the desktop if you like.

"Very few have anything near to the customization you get with Emacs or Vim, you're stuck with just a few tweaks to indentation style for example."

Where do you come up with this rubbish?! I've read a few of your comments now, and either you're a troll, or totally ignorant about most of the subjects you're gifting us with your opinions about (your post claiming that Windows has no scripting language is just... wow). Honestly, have you actually used an IDE in the last 10 years? You're being beyond ridiculous.

"GUIs are from the 70s, so why not claim that those are ancient relics?"

I would if they still looked and functioned almost exactly the same as the ones we have today. The fact is, that vi and EMACs were designed to be used on dumb character terminals connected over slow serial/parallel cables to relatively slow servers. They still work well over ssh, as they're pretty lightweight and there's no need for a GUI. However for developing on a desktop, it's ludicrous to use them in preference to an IDE for anything except the most basic editing.

"...why does the AVR debugger have to be a part of the IDE instead of a standalone tool..."

Here's a clue; try looking up the "I" in "IDE".

You've obviously completely missed the point of IDEs, and seem unable to accept change, even when the vast majority of professional developers do understand it. There are many things beyond a "class browser", so break out your copy of lynx or gopher and see if you can find a "search engine" like Google. You can then type stuff into it and it'll give you information. You're different and special, and quite frankly I don't have the patience.

And I'm not a "vi hater". Like I say, I've used it for over 30 years, along with EMACs (though nowhere near as often) on various flavours of UNIX and Linux - probably a damn sight more than most people here. I'm fully aware of their limitations, and the fact they cannot compare to an IDE for serious development work. If you're using them, and still manually creating makefiles in the 21st century, you're some kind of masochist, or you enjoy fiddling around with scripts more than getting stuff done(tm).

This is the most idiotic thing I've read here in a while (excepting the AC posts). An IDE is not a "glorified text editor"; the fact you believe this shows you have little, if any experience of using one. I've spent almost 30 years writing code in various platforms, in various languages, and while I've used vi and EMACS in the past, would never return to that. Those text editors from the 1970's were designed for an entirely different environment, and using them in preference to an IDE is at best like tying one hand behind your back, and at worst a deliberate and willful waste of time and money. Sure, I still use vi to edit shell scripts and config files on a server, and that's where I believe its strength still lies.

Continue to be a dinosaur if you like, swapping between text files in a "dumb" text editor, ignoring all the productivity aides an IDE can provide, but don't try to kid yourself that you're being efficient, or even smart by doing so. Things move on - we don't travel the country in horse-drawn carriages any more, and we certainly don't need to be the janitors in our own development environments.

Don't know about the US, but in Europe the turn signal (or, "indicators" as we call them) can be on either side, depending on the manufacturer. It's mostly on the left, but typically cars from Japan (for example) have it on the right. Not exactly life threatening to turn on the wipers though :)

I'll just leave you with this clue though. People keep money in banks. Govt could theoretically seize bank assets (look at Cyprus, doing it LEGALLY). Even if they needed cash - which they wouldn't - they could get it at any time. I'm sure you still won't understand what I'm saying, but at least I tried with you. That's all I can do.

Sigh. Yes you're right. At some point a tank driver would find his credit card being declined at Shell petrol station, turn round to the rest of the army dudes and say "well that's it I guess guys, time to give up and go home." - The End.

I'm going to leave you alone now; you're giving me a headache.

Exactly, I mean I'm sure they could stay in there for some time, but if they have no connection to the 'net, then really who the hell cares? In fact, why don't they cut the wires, and bury the place in concrete? They can stay in there forever :)

You were talking about funding. I replied specifically about the fact that funding is irrelevant in a war situation. If people want ammo, rations, or fuel to avoid being killed, then they'll take it by force. I didn't mention anything about motivation or allegiance, you're just trying to change the tune to dodge the issue.

Yeah good point. Because there's no way a bunch of heavily armed guys in an 80 tonne tank could possibly coerce a garage owner into refuelling it for free...

I own a Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and the latest iPad (also owned previous iPads, iPhones, and numerous other Android phones/tablets). The build quality and battery life of the iPad is certainly higher than the Nexus devices. It's pretty obvious if you've used both extensively. I've also had more glitches on the Android devices (e.g. current Google Nexus phone not ringing when people call after it's been running for a week or so, sometimes staying on lock screen when a call comes in, occasional UI quirks). Also the iPad mail app is much better than the Android offerings. Nexus 7 has terrible sound quality through external speaker - not a show stopper, but really should be addressed.

That said, I much prefer using the Android devices for day to day use. I also spend far more time developing for Android than iOS (in fact let my iOS dev license expire now) and I recommend Android to clients for the type of work I do - my apps are generally not available to the public. I hate being tethered to iTunes, forced to distribute apps via the Apple iTunes store, and Apples general lack of innovation or improvement (not adopting NFC for example).

So that's my experience; day to day I carry a Nexus 7 around with me, along with my Nexus phone. If I'm anticipating doing a lot of email, I'll either take my laptop, or the iPad2 instead. Im not a fanboi of either camp - just use what I think is most suitable.

I would imagine that people will also look at the other options before buying one of these consoles. Sony and MS (and Nintendo I guess) are no longer the only games in town. Alongside the raft of Android kit that's in the pipeline people obviously have their phones and tablets, and PCs have never been stronger (and in fact PC players buy as many games as either XBox or PS3 players, no matter what Bungie may want you to believe.)

Hopefully this will finally wake people up to the fact that consoles are NOT a good buy, unless you really don't own a PC, and want to game with your thumbs (which I consider to be as effective as playing the piano in oven gloves.)

"And not really even MMO. It's more, as I understand it, like Journey. That is, you encounter other people in certain circumstances."

So it's like SWTOR then?

I think it's a bit unfair to bash it and call it crap because you haven't spent any time using it. It actually has a very good console, profiler and step-through debugger that's at least as good as Firebug, or the Web Developer plug-in for FF. Personally I develop with Firefox or Chrome when I'm on web projects, but I have taken the time to find my way around IE's debugging tools too.

Not being rude, but if you can't spend £150 or so on a PC with 4GB RAM for development, you're not charging your clients enough! Sounds like that laptop is so old it probably came with a version of Windows with IE5/6 on it anyway!

s/Do want/Don't want/ - doh!

I thought I was pretty much opposing your point. If you have to do more work for a client, charge them for it. It's like any piece of software development; agreeing the deployment platform(s) is a fundamental part of the technical planning stage. If I'm working on a mobile app, I need to know whether it's Android or iOS (or both), for embedded work I need to know the hardware platforms. For web development, the server architecture and browser/device support are pretty much top of the list. I always try to find out this information as early as possible, since IE6 support can sometimes be trivial if the design of the site isn't too outrageous and the client has indicated IE6 might be on the agenda. It's always an extra cost though; and is something I'll always make clear before any development takes place. As you no doubt know, it's far easier to work on templates and structure your CSS and markup if you know you need IE6 support, than it is to try to retrofit it later!

Some clients will be aware of the additional effort required, and make a decision, others require some explanation (I will generally suggest they check any existing stats if it's a rebuild, to see if it's worthwhile). It's hard to overstress how important it is to nail this down early; preferrably in a written contract that's signed off before development begins. It protects both you and the client, as you both know where you stand and there's no "oh, I thought it would work in IE6?!" confusion at the end that leads to a lot of wasted time, or aggravation. Usually at the developer's cost.

I've been quoting separately for IE6 for at least 5 years, and also IE7 for the last few. Of course, the additional cost is growing higher. Browsers have improved, while IE6 has not, and so the gap has in some ways widened. I'm finding that far less projects these days require IE6 support (of course, I do still check the sites are functional, but any styling issues are irrelevant.)

Do want to sound like I'm preaching, just been through it for so many years that this stuff is sort of automatic now!