It probably goes without saying that successful development projects need first class tooling. The centerpiece of which is, of course, an excellent code editor.
What makes an editor stand out for any one person is, obviously, extremely subjective. But there is at least one uncontroversial aspect in that editors should improve our ability to efficiently produce high quality code.
I personally prefer comparatively minimalist editors for a couple of reasons: they are usually more performant, less distractive, and force me to engage deeply with the tech stack I'm using.
Minimalism, however, is not the be all and end all. There are many complex features that, in my opinion, shouldn't be missing from a modern editor, because they reliably improve coding efficiency such as fuzzy finders, IntelliSense, or, arguably, AI integration.
One of the editors that I found to do a remarkably good job at squaring this circle and delivering a performant and minimalist editor with just the right amount of modern productivity features is Zed, the new editor by the makers of Atom.
Continue reading to find out more about Zed in this—admittedly opinionated and somewhat fanboyish—introduction to Zed.
Posted on Monday, July the 28th 2025
25 min read
Field Note
Reducing Large Git Merges with `git checkout`
git git-merge-conflict-resolution git-checkout
Large Git merges can become complicated especially if there are a lots of unrelated changes to deal with. There is a little trick using `git checkout`, however, that may be useful to resolve merge conflicts quickly.
Pair programming is the work mode in development in which two people collaborate on the same task in split, but frequently reversed, roles (one thinking high level, the other implementing the changes). Compared to solo programming, pair programming may have multiple positive effects, for example, on code quality. Utilizing pairing correctly, therefore, is an important—but non-trivial—aspect of coordination within highly effective development teams. With the emergence of capable generative AI coding assistants in the last few years, pairing between human programmer and an AI coding assistant (sometimes called "pAIr programming") has also developed into an established pattern. Since I personally enjoy traditional human/human pair programming but also use and see the benefits of AI coding assistants, I was curious about what the literature has to say on the pros and cons of both work modes. Here is what I found out.
Posted on Tuesday, March the 25th 2025
12 min read
Random
Rich Roll x Jeff Krasno: Benefits of Deliberate Discomfort
productivity health podcast rich-roll
Posted on Wednesday, March the 19th 2025
2 min read
Field Note
Conda's Long Path Problem on Windows
conda windows long-paths bug
Posted on Friday, March the 14th 2025
1 min read
Field Note
PowerShell's `Remove-Item -Recurse` is Buggy
powershell remove-item bug
Posted on Thursday, March the 6th 2025
2 min read
Field Note
Inspecting Docker Image Layer Size
docker image layer size
Posted on Wednesday, February the 26th 2025
2 min read
Field Note
The Curious Behavior of PowerShell's `ValidateSet` Attribute
powershell validate-set attribute
Posted on Tuesday, February the 25th 2025
2 min read
News
Website Update
friedrichkurz-me update astrojs nushell
I‘ve been looking forward quite a lot to this post because it marks the transition to my new website design. Alongside the visual update, there are also a couple of significant under the hood improvements that I find worthy to talk about. In particular, the switch to AstroJS as my static site generation framework and improvements to my dev tooling and workflow. I quite enjoy the changes, so if you're looking to start a blog or any kind of content-driven website in 2025 this post may contain some pointers for you.